In recent years, Disney adults — grownups who love Disney movies, Disney Parks, and Disney characters — have taken an unfortunate amount of heat, especially in the online space.
From the “childless millennial” drama of 2019 to the national scandal some Disney Park goers caused when they began harassing characters with inappropriate questions, a certain faction of the internet is definitely not fond of adults who enjoy Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort.
One individual recently took to Reddit to ask how the community there deals with defending their passion for the Parks, writing:
Just to be clear, I have no hate for the self-identified Disney adults in this subreddit, y’all seem like awesome people 🙂 From my understanding, the stigma around that label comes from the rotten bunch of the community, and because of how Disney is (in my opinion) a questionable company. I personally love Disney theme parks because of the amount of work the imagineers put into it, and yet it also seems controversial for an adult to like a Disney theme park. How do you guys brush all the hate off? I would like to know some ways on how to ignore the critics.
Nearly 100 people have already responded to the thread, with u/chernaboggles noting that the “hate” tends to be more noticeable online than in real life:
In my experience the hate only exists in specific online spaces. In real life? Nobody cares.
The original poster weighed back in, noting that they agree, but have had some in-person experiences that made them nervous to share their love for Disney theme parks:
Yeah I see that a lot of the hate comes from people online. Though, I’ve been in clubs/groups where people sadly make fun of Disney adults, which makes me kind of scared to talk about my love for Disney parks.
Another Redditor, u/maiden-of-might, has tried to take a positive approach to dealing with any ill will from others who do not share their Disney fervor:
I had this issue in my workplace. I chalked it up to my toxic co-workers not having joy in their lives and jealous that I did
Another Disney lover has taken a similar approach in their daily life:
I embrace it and I don’t really care. Disney is my happy place. Different people have their own. Going on a cruise would give me zero pleasure, but I’m not going to dump on people who enjoy that. Same goes for my love of Disney.
Finally, u/LuciPichu pointed out that Walt Disney himself said he wanted the enjoyment of his Parks to know no age:
It’s simple. Walt Disney stated he wanted to make the parks for all ages.
What do you think about Disney adults having to defend their love of Disney Parks?
Visit the official Disney World website to plan your next magical vacation to Walt Disney World Resort’s four theme parks — Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios — and the Disney Springs shopping and dining district OR the official Disneyland website to plan your trip to Disneyland Resort’s two theme parks — Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park — and the Downtown Disney District!
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Credit: Disney
