Disney x Airbnb's Immersive X-Mansion: A Marketer’s Dream Come True

I was lucky enough to participate in the X-Mansion Day Training Experience, a promotional event for the X-Men 97 series reboot.?

It was an absolute masterclass in experiential marketing, social media engagement, and authentic influencer creation. Hosted by Airbnb’s Icons Program, the day was designed to allow superfans to live and breathe the X-Men universe in a way that generated a veritable treasure trove of user-generated content and word-of-mouth promotion.

?The Icons Program: More Than Just a Stay

I’m not sure exactly how it got started–that’s a blog for another day–but Airbnb’s Icons Program is a fantastic exercise in co-branding. It creates pop-culture-themed, transportive destinations at Airbnb properties that go far beyond just booking a room. Past programs have included Barbie’s Dreamhouse and Shrek’s Swamp. The latest iteration is the X-Mansion Day Training experience.?

First Step: Find Your Superfans

One could not simply sign up for the program. The process of applying to attend was highly curated—potential guests had to submit an essay explaining why they should be selected, a move that ensured only the most passionate superfans made the cut.

They did a great job choosing. The devotion of these fans was clear. On the day I went, attendees flew in from Florida, Washington D.C., Texas, and even Canada—all for a single day. Almost everyone showed up wearing X-Men paraphernalia; some came in full-on cosplay. This wasn't just about promoting a show; it was about engaging deeply with a passionate community.

Priced to Perfection

The price point of $38 was spot on—not too expensive, yet enough to create a sense of value and exclusivity. It made the experience accessible to most while ensuring it felt like an elevated event. From a marketing perspective, the price struck the perfect balance between creating buzz and making it achievable for a wide range of fans. By charging people to attend, they also got to avoid any pesky FTC ad disclosures.

Social-First and Content Creation Heaven

From the very beginning, it was obvious that this experience was designed for content creation—from the X-Men branded vans that picked us up to the elaborately themed rooms within the mansion. The event organizers were laser-focused on ensuring we had as many opportunities as possible to capture these moments.

Every X-Men trainer was more than happy to take photos and videos for you, often suggesting poses or angles that would make the content more dynamic. Whether we were standing next to a severed Sentinel head or wearing Magneto's helmet, the trainers would pause, guide, and capture the perfect shot, creating both memorable experiences and shareable content for all of us.

The afternoon was also filled with giveaways, from themed memorabilia to student ID cards. By offering tangible takeaways, the event encouraged fans to not only live in the moment but also to capture and spread it across their networks.

This emphasis on content creation was a very smart aspect of the experience. The event offered endless and nearly effortless opportunities to film videos, take group shots, and document individual moments, all of which could be uploaded in real-time across social platforms to seriously amplify reach.

The Best Influencers are Authentic

Smart brands know that superfans make the best influencers. They are not only passionate about the brand, but are also authentic in their enthusiasm. Instead of using paid influencers, Airbnb and Disney+ relied on the natural word-of-mouth marketing that superfans generate. We were all eager to share our stories, post about our adventures, and encourage others to tune into the reboot of X-Men 97.

Here's why that works so well: superfans aren’t just sharing for the sake of social media—they’re genuine advocates of the brand. People on today’s internet are savvy and are tired of being sold to. Truly authentic content is much more compelling than a paid promotion. This event perfectly tapped into that energy, making each of us feel like a part of the X-Men universe, while simultaneously turning us into the series’ most vocal promoters.

Immersive, Accurate, and Inclusive Activities

After a short ride up a winding road in Westchester (the canonical location of the X-Mansion), we arrived at a massive mansion, painted both inside and out to look like a comic book. This wasn’t just a themed Airbnb rental; it was like stepping into the actual animated world of the X-Men. Each room was designed with extreme attention to the lore, and we were split into small groups of four to rotate through different activities, ensuring that everyone had a chance to fully absorb the environment.

What truly set this event apart was the famous Disney-level immersion that guests experienced from the moment they stepped into the X-Mansion. The costumed actors who led the training sessions were knowledgeable about all things X-Men and were expertly trained to never break character.??

The day started with a scavenger hunt in Professor X’s library/classroom, where we began at school desks and solved challenging trivia questions that tested our knowledge of our favorite mutants. We were given freedom to roam the mansion in search of clues, which also allowed us to soak in the incredible attention to detail. The level of difficulty made it clear this was for the die-hards. Really nice prizes—in our case, Bluetooth speakers in X-Men logo colors—were given to the winners.

In the Danger Room, we perfected our superhero power poses and lifted comically large weights to show off our "super strength." We then moved on to Beast’s lab, where we crafted an elixir aptly named Storm’s Brewing (a delicious mix of passion fruit, ginger beer, lemonade, and green tea), which we drank out of reusable beakers as we explored the lab.

The final activity took place in the War Room, where we took a quiz and an aptitude test to determine our mutant powers.

What stood out to me most was how inclusive the experience was. Each activity was thoughtfully adapted for attendees on the autism spectrum or those who might have had difficulty reading, all done seamlessly and with care. This ensured that every participant, regardless of ability, felt included and empowered to engage fully. The X-Men trainers were surely products of the famous Disney cast member tradition.

To Recap: Why This Was Marketing Perfection

The X-Mansion Day Training Experience hit all the right notes for an effective marketing campaign:

1. Nostalgia Meets Modern-Day Content Creation: The event expertly tapped into the nostalgia of longtime X-Men fans while providing an experience designed for modern social media sharing.

2. Authentic Influencers: By selecting the most loyal devotees, Airbnb and Disney+ ensured that the attendees would authentically promote the event across their channels, resulting in genuine UGC.

3. Shareability: Every aspect of the experience was designed to be social-first. From perfectly curated photo opportunities to detailed themed rooms, the day was built for Instagram, TikTok (and even LinkedIn).

4. Exclusivity: The small group size—about a dozen people total—and highly immersive setting made the event feel incredibly exclusive, heightening both the sense of community among attendees and the content’s impact online.

Conclusion

The X-Mansion Day Training Experience wasn’t just a fun day of fandom—it was a brilliant marketing campaign that leveraged superfans, immersive storytelling, and social shareability to create a memorable event that promoted the X-Men 97 reboot authentically and effectively. By focusing on low-cost, high-value engagement, Airbnb and Disney+ proved that catering to your core audience pays off in spades. It’s not just about broadcasting a message—it’s about creating a two-way interaction where the audience feels actively involved in the brand’s narrative. The experience reaffirmed just how powerful experiential marketing can be when done right—and I’m already looking forward to seeing what Airbnb’s Icons Program will come up with next.

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AI disclosure: I, as a human, wrote this article based on my personal viewpoints, experiences, and ideas. I then used AI to assist with editing and refining the content for clarity and flow.