Toon Disney Searches Coast to Coast for Most Animated Kid in America

Feeling Goofy? Toon Disney Searches Coast to Coast for Most Animated Kid in America
Kids Nationwide Help Create Hercules Toon City by City, Cel by Cel

Toon Disney, ABC Cable Networks Group's 24-hour all-toon channel, will hit the road later this month with its first national promotional tour, Toon Disney's Most Animated Kid Search.

All summer long, Toon Disney's 30-foot-long "Chillin' with the Villains" vehicle, complete with an on-board frozen drink machine, will visit kids and families in more than 50 locations across the country. At each local event, kids between the ages of 4 and 14 will have the opportunity to take a "toon" screen test to show their wackiest, tooniest side on camera and compete for a chance to be named "most animated kid" in America.

Designed to increase consumer awareness and interest in Toon Disney among kids and families, Toon Disney's Most Animated Kid Search! tour debuts at Doyle Park in San Diego, Wednesday, May 23 from 12 p.m.-5 p.m. (complete tour schedule attached). Toon Disney affiliates set to participate include AT&T Broadband, Charter Communications, Classic Cable, Comcast, Cox, Daniels Cablevision, DirecTV, DISH Network, Insight Communications, Midcontinent Communications and Time Warner Communications.

"Toon Disney's Most Animated Kid Search provides us with a tremendous opportunity to extend this growing network's visibility to both consumers and affiliates," said Adam Sanderson, ABC Cable Networks Group's senior vice president of marketing. "This program gives us the chance to visit markets where Toon Disney has already launched, as well as the opportunity to demonstrate the growing consumer demand for Toon Disney to affiliates who have yet to carry the service."

At each tour stop, activities will include:

• "Toon" Screen Test: Kids get to show off their wackiest, "tooniest" side on a green screen stage. As kids perform, their image is instantly run through a special effect processor, and the resulting "toon" screen test footage is streamed on a giant LED screen. Local winners in each market will win Toon Disney prizes and compete for the national grand prize. At the conclusion of the tour, 10 semi-finalists will be shown online at Disney.com/Toon, where kids will vote for the "most animated kid In America." One Grand Prize winner will be awarded a trip for four to Hollywood to be animated in a real toon that will air on Toon Disney.
• Coast-To-Coast Animation CEL-ebration: At this affiliate-presented animation station, kids will become real-life animators as they color animation cels of Hercules, star of the popular series Disney's Hercules which airs daily on Toon Disney. Thousands of cels will be collected during the tour and used to create an actual cartoon that will air on Toon Disney at the tour's conclusion.
• Chillin' with the Villains Vehicle: Kids and families attending local events will have their choice of a complimentary Frozen Minute Maid treat - Hades Freeze or Cruella's Concoction, courtesy of The Coca-Cola Company.

Toon Disney, the 24-hour all-toon channel, showcases Disney's vast library of animation from seven decades of magic with series and specials to shorts and movies, as well as a variety of acquired animated programs. Currently available in more than 20 million homes, Toon Disney is a division of ABC Cable Networks Group, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.

TOON DISNEY'S MOST ANIMATED KID SEARCH
TOUR SCHEDULE

May
5-23      San Diego, CA
5-26      Long Beach, CA
5-27      Huntington Beach, CA


June
6-2       Englewood, CO
6-3       Denver, CO
6-9       Charlotte, NC
6-11      Greensboro, NC
6-14      Nashville, TN
6-16      Charlotte, NC
6-19      Taylors, NC
6-22      Orlando, FL
6-23      Tampa, FL
6-25      Sarasota, FL
6-27      Miami, FL
6-28      Miami, FL


July
7-1       Atlanta, GA
7-7       Washington, D.C.
7-9       Glen Burnie, MD
7-11      Philadelphia, PA
7-13      Sparta, NJ
7-15      New York, NY
7-16      Brooklyn, NY
7-17      Newbergh, NY
7-21      Boston, MA
7-22      Boston, MA
7-23      Laconia, NH
7-27      Coudersport, PA
7-28      Buffalo, NY
7-31      Pittsburgh, PA


August
8-2       Columbus, OH
8-4       Dayton, OH
8-5       Covington, KY
8-7       Knoxville, TN
8-9       Cleveland, OH
8-12      Detroit, MI
8-15      Chicago, IL
8-16      Chicago, IL
8-18      Rockford, IL
8-21      Rapid City, SD
8-24      Kansas City, KS
8-27      St. Louis, MO
8-31      Terrell, TX

September
9-2       Houston, TX
9-7       Las Vegas, NV
9-11      Medford, OR
9-14      Sacramento, CA
9-16      San Francisco, CA
9-18      San Diego, CA
9-20      Los Angeles, CA

                 DATES & LOCATIONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

-- Posted May 15, 2001

Source: Company Press Release