Johnny and Daisy have been queuing for half an hour in the sweltering Parisian heat. Johnny grins from ear to ear while Daisy bounces gently out of sheer excitement.
‘I’ve never had a picture with Minnie Mouse,’ Daisy reveals, giddily. ‘This is, like, literally the best day of my life.’
For young children, there’s nothing to match the excitement of a trip to Disneyland.
Only, Johnny and Daisy aren’t children.
In fact, it’s their honeymoon. And the couple, now in their early 30s, tower above the youngsters waiting patiently behind them in the queue.
Welcome to the world of the ‘Disney Adult,’ the wildly eccentric sub-culture of fully grown men and women for whom Disney was no passing fancy but a lifelong obsession – a love affair with the stories, characters and fantasies dreamt up by a plucky 21-year-old animator from California known as Walter Elias Disney.
And then churned out to dizzying success by the $200billion-dollar conglomerate he founded in 1923.
Of the 12million people who visit Disneyland Paris each year, an estimated three million are – like Johnny and Daisy – grown-ups travelling without kids. It is a fully fledged phenomenon.
So just what is it with mature adults and the world of Mickey Mouse?
This summer, I spent a week at Disneyland Paris to find out whether the Disney Adult craze is just a bit of harmless fun or something altogether more sinister.
The House of Mouse is still reeling from the reputational damage it suffered earlier this year, when 39-year-old Briton Jacky Jhaj, a convicted sex offender, was arrested having organised a mock wedding at Disneyland Paris – a wedding in which he was to ‘marry’ a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl.
The bizarre stunt, which Jhaj claimed was a joke for social media, is thought to have cost him more than £100,000 to set up, including fees for more than 100 ‘supporting artists’, otherwise known as extras.
Thankfully, one of those extras, a 54-year-old former Soviet paratrooper known only as Vitalijs, discovered the true age of the bride-to-be and alerted the French police – who swept in.
Of course, there is no suggestion that adult Disney fans (or indeed Disney itself) are involved in anything nefarious but their substantial presence at the Paris site raises questions as to why they are so keen on children’s entertainment.
‘This is an escape from the bonfire that is the world,’ says 32-year-old Teegan Bartlett sitting beside the entrance to Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast and clutching her Stitch soft toy from the eponymous cartoon.
‘Whether you’re here for the rides or for the characters, we’re all here to be in the Disney bubble. We can wear what we want – within reason – and people don’t judge you for anything.’
Teegan – who is disabled and identifies as queer – is here with her wife and autistic cousin courtesy of her very generous father-in-law.
‘We don’t come here often,’ she admits. ‘We can’t afford to. Some people come three times a year, but I’ve been here three times in total. I love it because in Disneyland, you can forget about reality for a bit and relax, be yourself.’
But is Disneyland really where people go to be themselves? Or is it quite the opposite – where people go to forget themselves?
‘I work in Insurance,’ declares 23-year-old Quenby in a multicoloured Mickey Mouse-inspired dress. ‘But here the outside world just disappears.’
Nodding in agreement is her 25-year-old partner of six years, Connor, who works as a chef in Norfolk.
‘We’ve been into Disney since childhood,’ says Connor, boasting impressive orange hair and a large tattoo of the floating house from the beloved Disney film ‘Up’.
‘The first [Disney theme]-park I went to was Orlando in 2018 and I’ve loved the parks ever since.’
‘The first time you come here, it’s about the rides,’ continues Connor, confidently. ‘Then once you’ve done all the rides, it’s about the interactions with the characters.
‘And the shows,’ chimes Quenby, referencing the park’s vast number of West-End-quality productions, all dedicated to the world of Disney films.
With adults as well as children keen to interact with their favourite ‘characters’, played by actors of course, the queues for many such meet-and-greets are now virtual. That means visitors can enjoy the park and get a buzz on their smartphone when it’s time to meet Woody and the gang.
‘It is a good thing,’ says Connor. ‘Last year it was a three-hour wait to meet Mickey!’
Quenby agrees: ‘And at the Princess Pavilion, you only meet one princess in your time slot, but you don’t know which one. So, it’s a bit risky if you’re queuing for three hours.’
Some people are disappointed, even so. Indeed, when the Daily Mail tried to enter the Princess Pavilion shortly after 10am, we were told the Princess was fully booked for the whole day and would see no further suitors.
Short of meeting the characters, super-fans can also collect Disney ‘pins’, or badges, depicting their favourite rides, characters and scenes.
‘I do collect the pins,’ says Connor. ‘But I don’t trade.’
‘You’re precious about your pins!’ replies Quenby with a grin.
‘Yeah, I mean, when I buy a pin,’ Connor continues, ‘it has to be sentimental – connected to something that I’ve done. Like a favourite ride or a favourite character.’
The pins vary in price from between nine and 15 Euros, though some limited-edition pieces cost more.
Do people judge the pair for their eccentric tastes and expensive habits?
‘People might say stuff behind our backs. I don’t really care what people think,’ says Connor. ‘We all have our thing. We like what we like. Other people like football. And I don’t judge them for that.’
Kira Freiburg and Jen Brooks, both 25, work in Wetherspoons back home in Peterborough. But in Disneyland, they’re witches and wizards.
‘We’ve been making wands!’ says Kira as the two emerge from Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. ‘You get to pick the colours you want, pick what goes on top.’
‘I’ve got a dragon,’ adds Jen, displaying her plastic toy with pride.
Kira has a string of impressive Disney tattoos including characters from Alice in Wonderland, How to Train your Dragon and Lilo and Stitch.
They’ve both been to Disneyland in the States, but this marks their first visit to the Paris park, known as EuroDisney until the name was changed, following, it is claimed, poor ticket sales.
It’s fair to say Jen and Kira are making the most of their holiday.
‘We are staying in the Cars-themed hotel,’ continues Jen. ‘And we can’t stop singing Life is a Highway!’
‘We’re here for five days until Friday,’ says Kira. But a week in Disneyland, surely, is a long time for even the most ardent of fans.
So, might the pair – who have never been to Paris – find time to take in the Eiffel Tower? A walk along the Seine? A dish of Sole Meunière on the Champs-Elysees?
That would be a ‘no’…
‘We’re spending all our time here,’ says Jen resolutely.
The pair paid around £1,600 for their hotel stay, which includes access to the park. It might not be cheap, but compared with some other possibilities, it’s loose change.
Stuart from Dundee is wearing a pair of Mickey Mouse ears at the behest of his four-year-old daughter. Perhaps more embarrassing, he suggests, is the £2,500 he forked out for just one night in the fabled Disney Hotel, from where the view of each night’s fireworks is understood to be unrivalled.
The true financial cost of Stuart’s trip, however, is only made plain after you factor in the cost of food and the myriad plastic gifts on sale at every turn.
The mouse ears start from €25 (£21.50) – a quick look at the label shows they’re made in Vietnam. Mugs featuring Disney characters retail at €25, too, while a plastic wand for blowing bubbles comes in at €35 (£30). Plastic straws featuring Yoda from Star Wars now cost €6 (£5), while a figurine will set you back an eye-watering €60 (£52).
Perhaps it is no surprise that Disneyland Paris posted staggering revenues of $3.1billion (£2.28billion) in 2023, and a profit of $343.4million (£253 million).
But the cost is worth it – for some at least.
‘I love seeing my daughter having fun,’ admits Stuart. ‘Disneyland is a fun and happy place. It takes you back to your childhood and all the things you used to watch.’
Nostalgia is without doubt a large part of the attraction. Perhaps none more so than for friends Adam and Ben from Dublin, 21 and 22 respectively.
The Daily Mail met the Irish lads in the 75-minute queue for the iconic gold-rush inspired Thunder Mountain ride.
‘It’s one of my favourites,’ says a gleeful Adam, who is dressed in a brightly coloured Mickey Mouse t-shirt. ‘But I love Space Mountain as well.’
And it’s more than just the rides that attracts these fellas.
‘It’s the nostalgia. Feeling like a kid again,’ says Ben. ‘I’ve been twice before. This is my third time.’
This is Adam’s first trip to Disneyland Paris. ‘Though I’ve been to the Florida park 12 times,’ he continues, showing me an impressive collection of pin badges on his backpack.
Shortly before our visit, the Daily Mail sought the advice of 49-year-old Disney super-fan Carrie-Anne Hall, based in London. She has been writing a blog called ‘Crepes and Castles’ since lockdown, sharing tips on how to make the most of your experience at the parks.
Can she shed further light on what attracts grown adults to Disney?
‘I guess it’s just a place where you can actually feel magic. You can just leave all of your worries at the door.
‘Disney…’ Carrie-Anne trailed off, ‘it’s more of a feeling than anything else.
‘I go several times a year now. Probably at least every other month. I often go solo. You can still enjoy it alone,’ continued the mother-of-two, admitting that such frequent visits are necessary for keeping her blog up to date.
Does she prefer going with family?
‘They’re just two very different experiences,’ she insists. ‘Children are younger and you’re experiencing the magic through their eyes. As an adult going alone, you can do whatever you want to do, whether that’s grabbing a glass of champagne as the sun goes down around the castle, queuing up for a big hug with Chip and Dale, or maybe it’s just going to see a show.’
So, does Carrie-Anne – now on the verge of 50 – worry about what people think of her?
Like almost everyone the Daily Mail met at Disneyland, her answer is unnervingly enthusiastic.
‘Experiencing joy isn’t something that you outgrow. The world is scary enough as it is. Can we not just park that at the gate for one day?’
‘My response to those people is: Why does someone else’s joy make you feel uncomfortable or confused?’
Carrie-Anne’s in-laws were among those who were sceptical, initially at least.
‘They really thought it was strange,’ she recalled. ‘But I think I just wore them down with my obsession.
‘When you’re in your teens, I think it really matters a lot what other people think about you. And maybe at that time, I wouldn’t have been so open about saying how much I love Disney.
‘But then, when you meet your tribe, you can just kind of let your freak flag show.’
Or, in the rather different words of Walt himself, Disney is ‘a believable world of dreams that appeals to all age groups’.
Even back in the 1930s, he was selling Mickey Mouse watches targeted at adults.
By 1989 the organisation had opened a nightclub complex in the ‘Pleasure Island’ resort neighbouring Walt Disney World in Florida.
Today, the company actively promotes itself to couples wanting to propose, to marry and celebrate wedding anniversaries at Disneyland.
Then there are the sales of Champagne as the sun goes down…. as far as this economic juggernaut is concerned, every wallet is welcome.
During my time shuffling among the throng at Disneyland Paris, the same words kept coming up again and again: nostalgia, escapism, fantasy, innocence.
And as I left the House of Mouse for the final time, with its unrelenting cheery music and blindingly bright colours, I couldn’t help but feel it all made perfect sense.
Peter Pan himself refused to grown up, after all. And for every wallet, the Magic Kingdom has a welcome…
