Are you a Disney Adult?

[Farerb]

I’m definitely more of a Disney adult when it comes to the Walt era and much of what came after it in films and the parks until about the year 2000. I hate watch much of the post 2000 film releases and my boyfriend and I don’t go to the parks nearly as much as we did in the ‘90s and early ‘00s. The last time we went to WDW was 2019 and Disneyland was 2013 (we’re east coasters).

Unfortunately I don't see what the company has to offer classic eras Disney fans anymore. They barely release the old films on 4K, they completely dropped the Legacy Collection. I guess there are still books about classic films but it's not enough in my opinion.

[carolinakid]

Totally agree with your assessment, Farerb. When you put it that way, I guess I’m not really a Disney adult as fits the current definition. We have a classic Disney night once a month where we watch something before the year 2000, usually something celebrating an anniversary . Whether it’s an animated or life action DVD or Blu-ray, or one of the Treasures or Legacy volumes.
Disney seems to have no interest in national rereleases of their classics, even if it’s just for 2 or 3 days like Fathom Events Big Screen Classics.
We saw Sunset Boulevard (1950) in the theater last weekend and I’d guess there were 30-50 people there for the 1pm Sunday matinee. Next month....The Sound of Music.

[PatchofBlue]

Okay, that's useful context, Umbrella Fish. I'll give her video here a look before too long.

I wouldn't have naturally caught onto the distinctions between Disney Park fandom or general Disney fandom, but I guess I can see it now that it's pointed out to me. I see myself as a part of both fandoms. I'm the kind of person who probably would be a regular annual passholder if I lived closer to the parks, but like ... I've never eaten at the Blue Bayou. (Though I have had hot chocolate at Club 33!) So maybe I don't qualify. I guess that distinction makes sense, though I still wonder how useful it is seeing how most outside observers probably won't distinguish between the two anyways.

I just tend to be ultra-attentive to anti-Disney fan/Disney adult rhetoric because I have 1000% felt that firsthand--in both casual and academic spaces. Like, I have experiences presenting my Media Theory Paper at an academic conference (not even on a Disney subject), and when I tell other patrons that I happen to be a huge Disney fan, it immediately changes how they interact with me. It's like ... folks, you grew up watching Truffaut, I grew up watching Musker & Clements, and here we both are talking about movies.

[UmbrellaFish]

I agree 100% that there is a stigma attached to liking Disney films as an adult— I just think parks fans probably carry the brunt of the burden because their fandom behaviors are a lot more visible on social media. I agree, going back to the films, fellow movie fans snobs perceive you as a shallow cineaste when you offer up a Disney flick as one of your favorite films. I find comfort in telling myself that anyone who would judge me for ranking Mary Poppins or The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast among my favorite films isn’t worth my time— but that’s easier said than done, especially when you’re in a social situation and someone puts on a forced smile and you suddenly realize they now think you never mentally developed beyond the 5th grade.

That may be true, but I also own a bunch of Criterion DVDs and I’ve watched one or two of them.

Still, it’s a perception that, once other people have formed it of you, is hard to shift.

[UmbrellaFish]

Another video on Disney adults: https://youtu.be/NbHaKyoHNuY?si=XUKyDe5VY9lhcx16

This one points out Michael Eisner’s impact. I’ve always said I had little choice but to grow up loving Disney as I was born smack dab in the middle of the “Disney decade” lol.

[PatchofBlue]

It is kind of interesting to me to think about whether I was "destined" to be a Disney adult because my journey with Disney-dom was not linear. There was a sizeable part of my childhood where I didn't interact much with Disney at all--a time that coincided with the post-Renaissance drop. Didn't see any of their movies in theaters. Went years without seeing even like The Little Mermaid on VHS. I found my way back as I started gaining an interest in the larger film world (like, a middle-schooler's interest, but an interest nonetheless) which also coincided with Disney starting to just make better movies.

There are voices that would probably be very quick to attribute it all to "Oh, but that's the nostalgia!!!!" I don't think the intervals quite line up right (or, for all I know I could have had my first mid-life crisis at fourteen, it's definitely not beyond me), but the nostalgia heist model does tend to be a catch-all for all possible schematics, overriding all other factors and completely reducing the autonomy of the community to pure conditioning.

Anyways, I haven't seen this guy's video yet, but the comments section leaves me thinking I won't necessarily be surprised by his thesis or his argument. These things tend to be very repetitive.

[UmbrellaFish]

The last video I shared appears to also be inspired by AJ Wolfe’s book (which I still haven’t read) as she is the only person interviewed. So I would say you are right that it is repetitive. I also found the video creator’s final verdict a little bit insulting: “Our passions should ask more of us than just our money, and they should give us more than just pleasure.” I mean, I don’t think he’s necessarily wrong, but I dislike the implication that Disney fans’ interaction with the brand is entirely surface level, uncritical, and unintellectual. There seems to be actually quite a lot of Disney fans, from all sectors of the company, who appear to receive more agony than pleasure from the brand, to be honest!

Anyway, for me I think the Disney love was inescapable. Like I said, I was born at just the right time, 1995, to be inundated with tons and tons of Disney content. But also, my mother was a Disney fan before I was— my first Halloween costume was of Dumbo the elephant, and the first birthday present I remember getting was a tape of episodes from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh TV show. I have so many early, early memories associated with Disney characters. VHS tapes and toys and commercials and all sorts of things.

We didn’t go to the parks much growing up (I only went once to MK and DAK at 7 years old. It was a big extended family trip that put a bad taste in my Dad’s mouth, so he refused to return until many years later. Now, he loves it, too— I’m sure, in part, because he’s a Star Wars fan and there’s more for him to do now), but we saw the movies and bought the tapes and later, DVDs. I was the “Disney kid” in elementary school and middle school— I don’t remember how I earned that reputation! I must have talked about it a lot lol. I remember my 4th grade teacher visited the parks over Christmas break, and when I returned to school, there was a small bag of freebies and paper goods from the parks at my desk. That was really an exceptionally kind gesture, now that I think about it.

By high school, I kind of hated the designation of “Disney fan” because who wants to be associated with Disney (read: kid stuff) by their peers when they are a teenager? But it really was inescapable at that point because my high school wasn’t especially small, and many people remembered my fandom from middle school. But I have to say, I did absolutely crush the Disney trivia game during Spirit Week.

In undergrad, it was not as big a part of my persona. I think partly because it was something I chose not to talk about, and also partly because I really had grown away from it. Undergrad was 2014-2018, and that’s also a period where Disney was kind of focusing on masculine properties. Big Hero 6, Wreck it Ralph, even Zootopia and Moana didn’t appeal to me as a princess and romance lover (and actually, the romance part of me is still thirsty as a Disney fan. I saw some more concept art of the human-version of Star from Wish again this week and I will be ever disappointed they didn’t follow through with it, as much as I enjoy the character in the finalized film. We need a new romance from Disney again!). The only film of those I saw in theaters during their original run was Zootopia. Plus, Star Wars and especially Marvel were dominating the cultural conversation and I just didn’t care enough about those franchises to want to participate. That’s also around the time I stopped posting as frequently on this message board.

Then, after graduating college, I went straight into the Disney College Program sort of on a lark (I was a theatre major, and all my opportunities for post-graduation were falling through. The DCP was my backup, backup plan until I ended up being accepted and going through with it). And I was like a sleeper cell, it just reactivated that intense Disney fandom within me. I always say, I own more Disney merchandise today than I ever did during my actual childhood. But I had amazing experiences during the program— the parks became more than just the place with the big castle, it became a place of special memories spent with close friends and family. I actually grew up a lot at WDW! Which might seem paradoxical to those who want to paint Disney Adults as Peter Pans. But it was my first time on my own, after all, as I lived at home during college.

But there is a world, maybe, where if I hadn’t done the DCP, I might no longer identify as a Disney fan or a “Disney adult.” I’d still love the things I loved, I never grew out of Mary Poppins or The Little Mermaid, exactly, but I’d probably be much less in tune with what’s coming from WDAS and the theme parks than I am now. I’d probably care less.

But here I am instead, impatiently waiting for newsworthy Destination D23 announcements… lol

[PatchofBlue]

That's a very nice chronology, Umbrella Fish, and certainly indicative of the complexities around the origins of adult Disney fandom.

In my experience, it's not that people don't believe that childhood passions can springboard authentic, productive adult living. (I don't observe nearly as much stigma around something like the fandom surrounding Avatar: The Last Airbender, as one example). There's just heavy conditioning in the larger public to see Disney fans as uniquely stupid and the Disney company as uniquely corporate.

[PatchofBlue]

RFK Jr. Sparks Vaccine Chaos | Bad News For Disney Fans | Why Trump Hates Windmills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFUMFxkoIJA

In his opening monologue for his Thursday show, Stephen Colbert ironically referred to "Disney Adults" as America's most vulnerable population (around the 8:30 mark).

It's a passing mention, and obviously satirical, but still on the record.

[Disney's Divinity]

Not sure what those headlines have to do with this thread... But that's interesting that Colbert mentioned the term "Disney Adult." Although I imagine the term is mentioned on quite a lot of shows in passing these days (news, comic, and otherwise).

[Sotiris]

Andrew Santino on Hulu Special ‘White Noise’ and Going to ‘War’ With Disney Over Disney Adults Bit: ‘They Definitely Changed the Jokes’
https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/andrew ... 236513128/

[UmbrellaFish]

Was musing today on Liz Taylor and her love of Disneyland (seriously, if you haven’t ever looked it up— she loved Disneyland and there are pictures of her enjoying the park every decade through the 90’s, when she famously rented out the park to host her 60th Birthday party) and I remembered the photo below. I have often self-identified myself with Liz in this photo. There’s just something so funny to me about Liz who is absolutely beaming and her teenage children who rather be anywhere else. I think if “Disney Adult” were put into a dictionary or encyclopedia, this might be a good picture to accompany the entry.

[Disney Duster]

Liz Taylor was a Disney Adult like us? That is awesome!! And the picture is funny! Yeah, they should use that for a dictionary picture next to the word!