Disney Adults And The Rise Of Peter Pan Syndrome
Last week, the internet exploded with drama over "Peter Pan Girl." The 27-year-old adult Disney fan, Toni Kulusich, has been a Disneyland annual pass holder since 2015. Over the course of the past 10 years, she's made a habit out of visiting the theme park once a week and always tries to find the male actor playing Peter Pan in the park.
She'll often film her interactions with them and enjoys bringing them small gifts, like a handmade crocheted dinosaur. She posted a video of one of her character interactions in late July that earned nearly 45 million views. Many people rushed to the comments section to call out the behavior for being inappropriate, with some alleging that it was "stalking." Other Disney park character actors chimed in that they felt sympathy for the Peter Pan actor, as they had also experienced unwanted, uncomfortable attention from guests in the past. Kulusich defended her interactions with the Peter Pan actors, saying, "I would never put him in a situation that would harm him or his role or his career or his character integrity." The actor seen in Kulusich's viral video spoke out about the interaction, taking the time to explain the situation, saying, "As you can see in the video, Toni's behavior did make me feel a little awkward and uncomfortable, but at no point did it cross any boundaries of what character interactions should look like at Disneyland."