The most magical place on Earth was looking particularly hellish.

Mature adults sporting sparkly Mickey Mouse ears found themselves in a scuffle, shouting, pushing, and even throwing punches to reach a collectible in a theme park gift shop.

Each was determined to snag a 50th anniversary Starbucks tumbler, issued to mark the 1971 opening of Walt Disney World in Orlando.

Former Disney enthusiast AJ Wolfe describes the scene as ‘a frenzy.’ That altercation in October 2021 is just one instance of the shocking conduct often witnessed within the House of Mouse.

Welcome to the warped world of ‘Disney adults’, the subject of Wolfe’s new book that explores this strange subculture – and which is, she says, part celebration of her ‘tribe’, part cautionary tale.

‘One of those psychological things that Disney can do to people is make you feel like this is a need,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘That [the latest Disney product release] is an absolute requirement for you to live a fulfilled life. And it is scary when you’re in the middle of it.

Wolfe, 46, plunged herself into $17,000 of debt to pay for her own Disney addiction. She spent most of her money on stays at the theme parks where even a standard room can cost more than $1,000 a night. 

‘You kind of come to later; you wake up, and you’re like – why do I have all this Star Wars stuff? Why do I have a droid right now? I don’t even know what this is. You feel if you don’t get it, you’ll regret it and forever be sobbing in your closet, because you don’t have this poor puppet.’

Welcome to the warped world of the Disney Adult – a world into which Wolfe delves in her new book that she says is part celebration of her ‘tribe,’ part cautionary tale. (Pictured: A woman has her picture taken in front of the castle in Disneyland Paris in 2023)

‘One of those psychological things that Disney can do to people is make you feel like this is a need,’ said Wolfe (pictured)

Wolfe even admitted to the Daily Mail: ‘My life, at one time, revolved around my next Disney World trip. I dissected Disney guidebooks and had Disney planning spreadsheets. I spent every evening and weekend in bed reading Disney message boards.’

And when those costly trips were over, she suffered from what she terms PDD – Post Disney Depression – an affliction so intense that she would book her return trip before she had even left in a bid to stave off its creep.

‘I experienced legitimate painful longing for the day my next Disney trip would arrive,’ she said. ‘Without exaggeration, I wasn’t sure how I would live until then.’

It’s an extraordinary admission and a window into the dark reality of living with this level of obsession.

Indeed, husbands and wives have walked away from their spouse when their Disney obsession overwhelms.

Wolfe has heard of marriages falling apart, with Disney devotees meeting on fan forums and then making their affair real with furtive meetups at Disney complexes.

Some sell everything they own to move to Orlando and immerse themselves in Disney – only to learn they have made a terrible mistake.

Others line up for six hours for a popcorn bucket or spend hard-earned cash on vials of water from the Splash Mountain log flume, which closed in January 2023: some flasks were offered on eBay for thousands of dollars.

Wolfe said: ‘You feel like, if you don’t get it, you’ll regret it and forever be sobbing in your closet, because you don’t have this poor puppet.’ (Pictured: Guests in Walt Disney World in Shanghai, China, in 2020)

Wolfe has heard of marriages falling apart, or people walking away from their spouses when their Disney obsession overwhelms

Wolfe delves into this world in her book, ‘Disney Adults: Exploring (And Falling In Love With) A Magical Subculture’

Wolfe regularly speaks with Brandon, a Hollywood drag queen who goes by the name ‘NayNay,’ and has turned his home into an homage to Disney.

He has recreated Disney World’s retro diner, ’50s Prime Time Cafe,’ in his dining room, complete with Formica tables and a television playing vintage commercials on a loop.

His kitchen is themed after the Carousel of Progress designed by Walt Disney for the 1964 World’s Fair and now found in Tomorrowland in the Magical Kingdom in Florida.

His bedroom is designed to feel like a Florida beach resort and, like all the rooms in his house, is scented by automated dispensers filled with perfumes formulated by the same company that Disney uses to scent its theme parks and hotels.

To add to this rather eerie scene, when guests step into his home, it is to the strains of the Epcot music which plays on repeat downstairs.

By Brandon’s own admission, ‘A lot of people don’t understand.’

Yet there are, according to Wolfe, fans even more slavish than Brandon.

Followers of the Disney TV show The Mandalorian are among the most obsessive niche subculture, she explains. They are known for dressing up their Baby Yoda dolls and styling them in social media posts.

‘Those are folks who are doing things that even Disney adults feel are a little weird,’ she said.

Wolfe insists that her book is not a defense of Disney adults but it certainly reads that way – and she is prickly in the face of criticism.

She said, ‘It’s fascinating to me that people are allowed to have other hobbies, spend a lot on it, and they’re not allowed to have this one.’

She added, ‘Part of it is gendered. People are constantly annoyed with Taylor Swift fans for spending this much money to go to her concerts, but Barry, who lives over here and goes to every single Orlando Magic game, that’s fine.

‘The primary issue that folks subconsciously have with this is that it’s for kids.

‘Adults are not allowed to love it, or spend their time and money on it, unless they’re doing it with kids.’

Wolfe regularly speaks with Brandon (pictured), a Hollywood drag queen who goes by the name ‘NayNay,’ and has turned his home into an homage to Disney

Some Disney devotees spend big on their obsession, while others deck out their houses in an ode to the Mouse. (Pictured: A woman poses in front of a Donald Duck balloon at an event in Thailand last year to celebrate the character’s 90th anniversary)

‘It’s fascinating to me that people are allowed to have other hobbies, spend a lot on it, and they’re not allowed to have this one,’ Wolfe said. (Pictured: Guests at Walt Disney World in Florida in 2023)

‘The primary issue that folks subconsciously have with this is that it’s for kids,’ Wolfe said. ‘Adults are not allowed to love it, or spend their time and money on it, unless they’re doing it with kids.’ (Pictured: Guests inside the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World in 2020)

Wolfe now lives in Dallas with her husband and their 11-year-old son.

She began the Disney Food Blog in 2009 as a creative outlet for her Disney fandom, sharing tips and advice on visiting the theme parks. It now gets ‘several million’ views a month, while her YouTube channel and Instagram page both have over a million subscribers.

‘My husband and I both do this full time now – when we started, we both had full-time jobs,’ she said. ‘We have been able to build a team of 50 people: it’s a significant business.’

Wolfe refuses to say how much money the blog generates, but it provides the family with ‘a comfortable living.’

‘It has enabled me to create my ideal life, which is, I get to talk about something I love every single day. I get to help people every single day not spend too much money; not go to places or do things that they’re going to see as a waste of time, because time is money in Disney world,’ she said.

‘You’re spending at least a mortgage payment to be there, if not more. And you only have a week, and there’s so much to do. I mean, Disney World is the size of San Francisco. It’s the size of two Manhattan islands.

Wolfe said some obsessive fans drain their bank account to fuel their Disney addiction or wait in hours-long lines just for a chance to snag some limited edition merch. (Pictured: People in line at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, to buy merchandise)

Some park guests dress for the part when visiting the Magic Kingdom, often wearing themed mouse ears and other Disney merchandise. (Pictured: Guests at Disneyland Paris take a selfie)

‘My life, at one time, revolved around my next Disney World trip. I dissected Disney guidebooks and had Disney planning spreadsheets. I spent every evening and weekend in bed reading Disney message boards,’ said Wolfe (pictured)

And Wolfe claims she has emerged from her ‘addiction.’

She realized something was wrong when, on the day her father died, she stepped away from his bedside in the Intensive Care Unit to take a call about her Disney blog.

‘I’ve lived through my addiction period,’ she said. ‘Now I can look at it objectively.’

Indeed, she is speaking from a family vacation not in Orlando, Florida, or Anaheim, California, but Maine.

She says she and her husband work closely with Disney but are determinedly independent. Disney may invite them to preview a ride or a restaurant, as they would with other outlets, but her staff – who are inside the parks every day – pay their own way.

The 102-year-old company, with 170,000 employees, has certainly benefited from the devotion of Wolfe and others.

Its theme park division reported a record revenue of $34.15 billion for fiscal 2024, and CEO Bob Iger was paid $41.1 million last year.