I love being a Disney adult
Photo courtesy of Caleb Oquendo/Pexels
Urban Dictionary defines a Disney adult as “An adult with an intense and extreme love of The Walt Disney Company films, television shows, franchises, characters, theme parks, merchandise/ memorabilia, and/or products.” Under this definition, I am considered a Disney adult.
I first heard of this term back in 2020. The Walt Disney World theme parks shut down for almost four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the parks reopened, videos of Disney adults running into the Magic Kingdom and falling to their knees in tears because of how happy they were to see Cinderella's Castle again circulated the internet. To me, that is the most Disney adult a person can get.
After those instances went viral and people started to recreate them, being an enjoyer of Disney parks as an adult became a negative thing. I was 15 when this all happened. I loved going to the Disney parks. Every five years my family would take a week-long trip to Walt Disney World and that was the only place we vacationed. I knew that once I turned 18 in a few years the label “Disney adult” would apply to me.
There was this impending doom that came over me. I did not want to be categorized with the people I saw in those videos. I loved going to the parks with my family and watching Disney movies and shows, but if I kept that up I would be deemed a “Disney adult.” For a couple of years, I stopped allowing myself to enjoy those things.
But the inevitable happened. I turned 18 years old and I still had an extreme love for everything Disney-related. I had the guilty pleasure of watching Disney Park vlogs on Youtube, I followed Disney blogs on Instagram, and I still consumed Disney media. And guess what? The world did not end. Looking back now, I feel silly that I let the label “Disney adult” stop me from loving the place that had given me some of my fondest memories.
Using negative terms like that to label people who are passionate about something is foolish. At the end of the day, who cares? If something brings joy and whimsy to your life you should be able to embrace that, not resent it.
I am now 20 years old and would consider myself a Disney adult. Would I go out of my way to fall to my knees in tears over seeing Cinderella’s Castle? No. But I wholeheartedly love going to the Disney Parks, and when I am not there, I often dream about being there.
Luckily, I can live vicariously through Disney vloggers. My favorite is AllEars.Net. They do anything from informational videos for first-time Disney vacationers to seasoned park goers. My favorite videos are when they do silly challenges. They played Traitors at Disney World, based loosely off the reality TV show, The Traitors (2023-). They have also tried to ride every single ride in Disney World in one day. Watching those videos brings me a sense of comfort. It reminds me of all the memories I made when I was in the parks.
I do believe that there are a lot of issues within the Walt Disney Company. There are too many to name in just one article, but one that sticks out like a sore thumb is how unaffordable a trip to the Disney Parks is. When you add up the cost of tickets, a hotel stay, travel, food, merchandise, and everything extra for a Disney vacation, it is unattainable for many people.
But despite that, I do not have to be there in person to enjoy the atmosphere that Disney provides. I keep up to date with the parks through social media. I often find myself wishing I were in Hollywood Studios riding Rise of the Resistance and eating a ronto wrap. The great thing about Disney World is that it makes it so easy to experience different worlds right in the same park. In Epcot, I can learn about the different cultures around the world without having to spend the money on eleven different vacations to each of the countries. I can see my favorite fictional Disney characters in the Magic Kingdom. I can sit and people watch in Hollywood Studios as they walk down Hollywood’s iconic Sunset Boulevard. I can experience a real-life safari at Animal Kingdom.
At the end of the day, I cannot deny myself the title of a Disney adult. Disney brings joy, comfort, and whimsy to my life and I would not change it for the world.