UNITED STATES: According to the U.S Disney Land’s website, Disney has now replaced the title of “Fairy Godmothers” with “Fairy Apprentices” to create a more gender-neutral environment and be more inclusive at dress-up boutiques in its U.S. theme parks.
This change now requires that cast members at all the ‘Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique’ locations who were previously referred to as ‘Fairy Godmothers in Training’ are to now be called ‘Fairy Godmothers Apprentices’. This way, cast members who may not be identified as females can still partake in the dressing up and styling of the participants.
This change shows the extra effort being made by Disney to make their parks a more inclusive environment.
The Fairy Godmother stemmed as a supporting yet very important character in Cinderella, Disney’s 1950 animated film. The character’s importance was to bring a sense of hope to the storyline by making Cinderella’s dreams come through. The character is a fairy responsible for making dreams come true for the kind and pure-hearted by using her famous words “bibbidi-bobbidi-boo”.
Members at the ‘Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique’ at the Disney parks help children live their dreams by transforming them into famous Disney characters by waving their ‘Magic Wand’, including doing makeup, hair, nails accessories and costumes of the children’s preference, allowing them to feel pampered for the moment.
A spokesperson from Disney said the cast members’ outfits would now allow “forms of personal expression surrounding gender-inclusive hairstyles, jewellery, nail styles, and costume choices,” and members would also be allowed to show “appropriate visible tattoos,” in his statement.
After their pandemic closures, the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and Magic Kingdom at both parks will be reopened on August 25.
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