Distinction between "theme park enthusiast" and "Disney Adult"

[Chi84]

About what?

Don’t take the bait. Tries to make every thread about SM or TBA.

 

[Nubs70]

Easy test for me is the answer to this question

"Would you stand in line 6 hours for a popcorn bucket?"

If the answer is yes the likelihood you are a Disney Adult is high

To add:

"Would you purposely make it a point to find the purple wall for the purpose of taking a selfie"?

 

[Walt Disney1955]

What we are seeing is the first generation (kids born in the 1980s) that didn't have children. And by that I mean the birthrate has plummeted. People who were hippies in the 1960s still eventually settled down and had a family in the 1970s. Late Gen-X and early Millennials are the first generation to make childless by choice more of the norm than an exception. The norm before was having an average of 2 kids per family. It forces you to grow up whether you want to or not. Now, I am not saying couples who chose not to have kids (this doesn't apply to ones who lost children or who wanted them but couldn't have them) are all under the spell of Peter Pan syndrome of never growing up. But there is no doubt that the demographic of these people are bigger than ever before. I joked once about the video a grown man did where he openly balled when he saw the new Star Wars trailer, and I was surprised that there were a lot of people that actually thought that this was normal behavior (whether or not the video was done in satire I still don't know). I am not a fan of this new found forever adolescence of the generation I grew up with, but whether we like it or not it exists in droves and I think Disney has little choice but to accommodate this demographic. Where as it used to be targeted more towards families.

 

[Chi84]

What we are seeing is the first generation (kids born in the 1980s) that didn't have children. And by that I mean the birthrate has plummeted. People who were hippies in the 1960s still eventually settled down and had a family in the 1970s. Late Gen-X and early Millennials are the first generation to make childless by choice more of the norm than an exception. The norm before was having an average of 2 kids per family. It forces you to grow up whether you want to or not. Now, I am not saying couples who chose not to have kids (this doesn't apply to ones who lost children or who wanted them but couldn't have them) are all under the spell of Peter Pan syndrome of never growing up. But there is no doubt that the demographic of these people are bigger than ever before. I joked once about the video a grown man did where he openly balled when he saw the new Star Wars trailer, and I was surprised that there were a lot of people that actually thought that this was normal behavior (whether or not the video was done in satire I still don't know). I am not a fan of this new found forever adolescence of the generation I grew up with, but whether we like it or not it exists in droves and I think Disney has little choice but to accommodate this demographic. Where as it used to be targeted more towards families.

I think you mean “bawled.”

 

[Spectro shire]

Did Universal streamers cry for Epic Universe? I know a couple Disney bloggers did but not sure about just the Universal ones.

 

[Pizza Moon]

I don’t want to be that guy, but there really is a huge difference.

I still like Disney merch and stuff, but I really do care more about just vibing with friends, the rides, and the themed environments.

 

[DisneyHead123]

What we are seeing is the first generation (kids born in the 1980s) that didn't have children. And by that I mean the birthrate has plummeted. People who were hippies in the 1960s still eventually settled down and had a family in the 1970s. Late Gen-X and early Millennials are the first generation to make childless by choice more of the norm than an exception. The norm before was having an average of 2 kids per family. It forces you to grow up whether you want to or not. Now, I am not saying couples who chose not to have kids (this doesn't apply to ones who lost children or who wanted them but couldn't have them) are all under the spell of Peter Pan syndrome of never growing up. But there is no doubt that the demographic of these people are bigger than ever before. I joked once about the video a grown man did where he openly balled when he saw the new Star Wars trailer, and I was surprised that there were a lot of people that actually thought that this was normal behavior (whether or not the video was done in satire I still don't know). I am not a fan of this new found forever adolescence of the generation I grew up with, but whether we like it or not it exists in droves and I think Disney has little choice but to accommodate this demographic. Where as it used to be targeted more towards families.

I find the topic of natalism (pro and anti views) quite interesting but have a feeling it would be considered political, so I’ll leave it at that.

Regarding this generation of Millennial fans - in most ways I appreciate their influence on the parks, even as someone who has always visited with a nephew and then child with me. I see that influence as better food, festivals, more plush resort offerings, and the expansion of fun lounges on the cruise lines and in the parks (I know that one is controversial.) It is true that my son is too young for some of the new rides like Guardians and Tron, but the adult members of our party and my oldest nephew enjoy them.

My concern is more what happens after this generation. Are the highly digital Gen Z and Alpha going to find a home in the parks, or are they going to stay at homing gaming? I’ve already seen with the kids I know that very few things compete with an iPad in terms of entertainment. Parents can agonize over how much to allow or curtail screen use to a certain age, but at some point kids grow up and have autonomy over those decisions, and I’m wondering how non-digital experiences will compete overall.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

What we are seeing is the first generation (kids born in the 1980s) that didn't have children. And by that I mean the birthrate has plummeted. People who were hippies in the 1960s still eventually settled down and had a family in the 1970s. Late Gen-X and early Millennials are the first generation to make childless by choice more of the norm than an exception. The norm before was having an average of 2 kids per family. It forces you to grow up whether you want to or not. Now, I am not saying couples who chose not to have kids (this doesn't apply to ones who lost children or who wanted them but couldn't have them) are all under the spell of Peter Pan syndrome of never growing up. But there is no doubt that the demographic of these people are bigger than ever before. I joked once about the video a grown man did where he openly balled when he saw the new Star Wars trailer, and I was surprised that there were a lot of people that actually thought that this was normal behavior (whether or not the video was done in satire I still don't know). I am not a fan of this new found forever adolescence of the generation I grew up with, but whether we like it or not it exists in droves and I think Disney has little choice but to accommodate this demographic. Where as it used to be targeted more towards families.

The constantly increasing price of the parks has likely magnified this as its priced out more and more families with kids, it’s expensive to go to Disney as a childless couple, add a couple kids and it becomes incredibly expensive.

Kids are expensive, other than a couple Utah friends I can’t think of anyone I know that has a big family now, few people can afford a big family anymore, and if they do have a big family they probably aren’t taking increasingly expensive Disney trips very often.

 

[Jrb1979]

I find the topic of natalism (pro and anti views) quite interesting but have a feeling it would be considered political, so I’ll leave it at that.

Regarding this generation of Millennial fans - in most ways I appreciate their influence on the parks, even as someone who has always visited with a nephew and then child with me. I see that influence as better food, festivals, more plush resort offerings, and the expansion of fun lounges on the cruise lines and in the parks (I know that one is controversial.) It is true that my son is too young for some of the new rides like Guardians and Tron, but the adult members of our party and my oldest nephew enjoy them.

My concern is more what happens after this generation. Are the highly digital Gen Z and Alpha going to find a home in the parks, or are they going to stay at homing gaming? I’ve already seen with the kids I know that very few things compete with an iPad in terms of entertainment. Parents can agonize over how much to allow or curtail screen use to a certain age, but at some point kids grow up and have autonomy over those decisions, and I’m wondering how non-digital experiences will compete overall.

The bigger concern is the next generation that are kids now aren't as attached to Disney Brand as the adults now are.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

What we are seeing is the first generation (kids born in the 1980s) that didn't have children. And by that I mean the birthrate has plummeted. People who were hippies in the 1960s still eventually settled down and had a family in the 1970s. Late Gen-X and early Millennials are the first generation to make childless by choice more of the norm than an exception. The norm before was having an average of 2 kids per family. It forces you to grow up whether you want to or not. Now, I am not saying couples who chose not to have kids (this doesn't apply to ones who lost children or who wanted them but couldn't have them) are all under the spell of Peter Pan syndrome of never growing up. But there is no doubt that the demographic of these people are bigger than ever before. I joked once about the video a grown man did where he openly balled when he saw the new Star Wars trailer, and I was surprised that there were a lot of people that actually thought that this was normal behavior (whether or not the video was done in satire I still don't know). I am not a fan of this new found forever adolescence of the generation I grew up with, but whether we like it or not it exists in droves and I think Disney has little choice but to accommodate this demographic. Where as it used to be targeted more towards families.

The birth and fertility rate in the US has been been pretty steady over the last 50 years. It was 1.74 back in 1976, and has decreased slightly to 1.66 as of 2024, with there actually being numerically slightly more births overall in 2024 as opposed to 1976. While it has gone down slightly, and the trend has shown that women are waiting longer to have kids, but no means do we have a generation that "didn't have children"

 

[Tom Morrow]

The bigger concern is the next generation that are kids now aren't as attached to Disney Brand as the adults now are.

Which is another reason Disney is hurting the reputation and future of their parks by chasing short term gains right now by lazily plopping IP everywhere. Their parks became successful because they were fun, high quality places for everyone to enjoy, not just people who are deeply invested in the Disney brand.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

The bigger concern is the next generation that are kids now aren't as attached to Disney Brand as the adults now are.

So true. I see this with my grandkids. They aren't interested at all. They will go if it is a part of another trip though. There is so much "out there" to experience now that the younger generation can enjoy. My kids went to WDW when they were young, and as young adults they made a couple of trips with us. But they have no interest anymore. The Disney bubble did not grab them. The demographics are changing. I think more young adults with extra money to spend are going to Disney now. Just IMO.

 

[HauntedPirate]

So true. I see this with my grandkids. They aren't interested at all. They will go if it is a part of another trip though. There is so much "out there" to experience now that the younger generation can enjoy. My kids went to WDW when they were young, and as young adults they made a couple of trips with us. But they have no interest anymore. The Disney bubble did not grab them. The demographics are changing. I think more young adults with extra money to spend are going to Disney now. Just IMO.

I thought the current generation was doing so much worse than previous generations and had no money because of the COLDEVILUNCARING© Baby Boomers?

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The demographics are changing. I think more young adults with extra money to spend are going to Disney now. Just IMO.

I think for some the escapism provided by the Disney parks is becoming less about escaping your work life for a week and more about escaping life in general and a feeling of hopelessness.

Most of my friends who live in the LA area have DL APs, most of them don’t have any kids, most of them still live at home (or share homes with other renters), and most of them are struggling financially (despite most having college degrees). The American Dream is getting harder to attain by the day, if you don’t have a high paying job an area like LA almost requires something like DL just to give yourself a break from the day to day grind of trying to survive.

I think that’s why the “Disney adult” has become more of a thing, for a lot of people Disney is no longer a short vacation from life, it’s become their constant escape mechanism from life.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I think for some the escapism provided by the Disney parks is becoming less about escaping your work life for a week and more about escaping life in general and a feeling of hopelessness.

Most of my friends who live in the LA area have DL APs, most of them don’t have any kids, most of them still live at home (or share homes with other renters), and most of them are struggling financially (despite most having college degrees). The American Dream is getting harder to attain by the day, if you don’t have a high paying job an area like LA almost requires something like DL just to give yourself a break from the day to day grind of trying to survive.

I think that’s why the “Disney adult” has become more of a thing, for a lot of people Disney is no longer a short vacation from life, it’s become their constant escape mechanism from life.

I also think in previous generations the needs of the immediate surrounding community took up a lot of one’s attention. Churches, PTA, how the neighbors were doing and so on. Now people may not know the people who live physically near them at all, but instead seek out those with similar interests.

 

[Nubs70]

Pondering this topic more - Disney adults don’t bother me at all (also I guess I am one, depending on your definition of the word,) but what does bother me is the reaction to them. How did young, TikTok-ing Disney fans become the Hufflepuff, or perhaps the Ralph Wiggums, of the fandom world? In a world where we are moving towards it being socially unacceptable to bully people for differences, why is openly mocking DAs for basically just being naive and nerdy still totally fair game?

I feel I should note, this seems like a mostly online thing to me. In real life, the passionate Disney fans I know are teachers, nurses, moms and dads. It’s one more fun aspect of their life to talk about and something that a lot of people have in common. The idea of getting grief over it would be ridiculous, in the same way getting grief over being a soccer mom or gardening just doesn’t really come up.

Seeing the cute young TikToker set be bullied over this makes me sad though. I’m hard pressed to think of an analogy. Maybe horse girls? Horse girls get a fair bit of grief sometimes. I’m not really sure what the issue is though, other than maybe Disney (and horse) fandom involves a level of emotionality and vulnerability that is frowned on in other fandoms.

It's not bullying. We are stating opinions.

Time to grow a.thicker skin, reach down and give em a tug

 

[DisneyHead123]

It's not bullying. We are stating opinions.

Time to grow a.thicker skin, reach down and give em a tug

We could get into an endless semantic debate about bullying with no ultimately correct answer, but either way, I think we can agree the entire point of these videos is to mock, belittle, and laugh at a group of people. Search “Disney Adults” on YouTube, it’s a slightly gross genre of video.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

We could get into an endless semantic debate about bullying with no ultimately correct answer, but either way, I think we can agree the entire point of these videos is to mock, belittle, and laugh at a group of people. Search “Disney Adults” on YouTube, it’s a slightly gross genre of video.

So you’re saying someone said something that somebody doesn’t like….on the internet. Shocking!

I mean seriously there are videos on YouTube that talk about the world being flat or that the government is run by aliens. If you don’t like something that someone said on the internet…:don’t watch it and move on.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Visiting Disney parks as an adult (not taking your kids) is certainly some form of escapism. The real world is full of tragedy. To be at Disney and be sad about a theme park ride closing is certainly better for mental health?

 

[DisneyHead123]

So you’re saying someone said something that somebody doesn’t like….on the internet. Shocking!

I mean seriously there are videos on YouTube that talk about the world being flat or that the government is run by aliens. If you don’t like something that someone said on the internet…:don’t watch it and move on.

Sure, but it’s not like I’m calling for the heads of people making these videos. I just made a comment that I don’t like them.