‘It keeps you young at heart’: The candy-coated cult of Disney

THE Disney fairytale isn’t just for kids. Many adults love Walt’s nostalgic fantasy world and Australia is home to some of the world’s greatest enthusiasts.

THE candy-coated Disney fairytale isn’t just for kids. Many adults across the world love Walt’s nostalgic dream world even more.

Australia is home to some of the greatest enthusiasts on the planet, a group so enamoured of anthropomorphic mice that they made the most ambitious pilgrimage in history.

Wayne Godfrey, who founded Down Under Disneyana 22 years ago, took his merry troupe on a tour of every Disney theme park in the world in 2006, taking in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, Florida and Los Angeles.

They wore matching T-shirts, met fellow fans and gained special access to the Disney studios and an exclusive viewing of the train line that Walt Disney himself built in his backyard.

While wandering past one of Paris’ greatest tourist landmarks, Notre Dame Cathedral, they spotted a flyer for an attraction that really made their hearts beat — a “Snow White exposition”, the biggest display of Disney artworks in the world.

The Aussie Disney-ites at the Hong Kong theme park.

Barry Mouse.

Della with Disney bears Duffy and ShellieMay.

And the romance still hasn’t died for these ordinary Australians. The upcoming opening of Shanghai’s Disneyworld will see Godfrey’s club out on the road again, rating rides on the club’s meticulously detailed online forum and sharing information on the most “unique” aspects of the latest park.

“It keeps you young heart,” Godfrey told news.com.au of his wide-eyed delight in all things Disney. “It’s just the magic, and the great characters.

“It’s been a lot of fun meeting new people, and I’ve formed some great friendships.

“One member had a house in Melbourne and converted a double garage into a gallery filled with artworks from Disney.”

The 100 club members, who range in age from nine to 80, all have their own specialist areas of interest.

Godfrey, a 57-year-old accountant who shares his passion with his wife, is a particular fan of animated chipmunks Chip ‘n’ Dale, as well as being interested in the literature: theme park books, news items and magazines.

The 57-year-old accountant and his favourite characters, Chip ‘n’ Dale.

Others prefer classic hero Mickey Mouse, love the Tokyo theme park for its unique characters or are focused on collectibles.

Some might label their hobby childish or silly, but these earnest Disneyites see it as an escape from the mundanity of everyday life and the human suffering we see on the news. “You’ve got to remember, it’s storytelling,” said Godfrey.

The club meets regularly at a church hall in western Sydney for trivia nights, screenings, talks by members who’ve been on trips and dinners. In a special event on June 27, they’re raffling off 60th anniversary memorabilia collected by fans who visited the Anaheim park in LA for the significant birthday.

Members of the official Disneyana fanclub in the US often visit Australia’s version around July to share a slideshow from the annual conference.

Down Under Disneyana is more esoteric. Members chat about their favourite aspects of this rose-tinted universe, whether it’s selling Goofy merchandise or buying Cinderella pins from eBay.

Beth meets Pluto.

‘Evil-G’ with Mickey.

Les and Jan hang out with Pluto.

It’s tempting to scoff at the grown adults who buy into the company’s sanitised version of reality. Disney has been the subject of endless serious controversies, over working conditions in its merchandise factories, ethnic and racial stereotyping, corporate greed and aggressive re-editing of foreign films.

Yet the posts on Down Under Disneyana are kookily adorable. “I cried walking in the gates, I cried on every ride and we all howled as we walked out of the gates,” writes Churros.

“I don’t get post-holiday Disney obsessions,” blogs Keith. “Sure, I spend hundreds of hours on the internet viewing YouTube videos and reading website forums about the parks I just returned from. I painstakingly plot the route of my holiday on Google Earth. I bought around 15 Disney books on Amazon when I returned from Anaheim. And next week, I’m planning on purchasing eight Tokyo Disney Resort CDs from HMV Japan (which will go nicely with the 15 I purchased over there, plus a few more I borrowed since I returned). You see, I’m quite normal.”

Yep, they’re as cute as anything their whimsical idol could dream up.