“Warning: will ruin Disney magic.” This is the solemn message that precedes videos dubbed ‘illegal Disney,’ which range from slideshows of beloved Disney World characters’ heads on a shelf, to how said heads look from the inside to Halloween-mode Mickey and Minnie twerking on each other.
At this point, employees from pretty much every industry can be found on TikTok goofing around and making funny content in the workplace, but what makes accounts like @illegaldisney, @illegal_disney, and the now-defunct @Nomad16 so unique is that Disney is notoriously strict over how cast members of the theme park act both on the job and outside of work on social media.
With photographic and video access to the places where cast members go to get ready or store their customers away, along with content showing cast members joking around with their costumes and showing how they have to layer up, it’s clear that the person behind the account has untapped access to what commenters are calling the “backrooms of Disney.”
@illegaldisney ♬ original sound – Illegal Disney
Although the account user for @illegaldisney hasn’t confirmed their identity, they did reply to the flood of comments asking them if they’d been fired yet by saying, “I don’t work for company.” They later replied to another commenter saying they left their job at Disney “a year and a half ago,” meaning that the footage and photos they’re posting were likely captured when they were still employed at the company (presumably as a cast member).
The account holder also alleged in a further comment that Disney already knows who they are—although whether they plan to take action against the videos remains to be seen.
It’s currently unclear if @illegal_disney or @Nomad13 are all run by the same person or if they’re run by another current/former cast member or someone else with close connections to Disney.
Daily Dot reached out to @illegaldisney and @illegal_disney via TikTok direct message and TikTok comments, respectively. Neither account immediately responded prior to publication.
While the majority of commenters are amused and fascinated by these types of ‘illegal Disney’ videos, there are also some complainants lamenting about how such videos “ruin the magic” of Disney World. So much so that TikToker Jess Alexander (@omg_jess) took aim at those critics in a video that has now amassed 1.5 million views.
“Here’s the deal. I feel like there’s a difference between Disney adults and adults that love Disney,” she explained. “And the fact that these Disney adults are getting angry because the magic was ruined for them… Baby, do you not know that those are people in costumes? Like, what magic is ruined for you?”
@omg_jess Sorry to most people but Bob Iger or #disneyadults #illegaldisney #disneyadult #disneyland #disneyworldtips ♬ original sound – Jess Alexander 👻
She added, “I’m honestly wondering, what magic was ruined for you because you saw Goofy’s head on a shelf? […] We gotta store the props somewhere, man!”
But Disney adults aren’t the only ones enraged. An anonymous source told The Sun that Disney is aware of and unhappy about the account.
“It looks silly, but for Disney protecting the integrity of those characters is absolutely paramount,” the source told the outlet. “The last thing Disney wants is decapitated Mickey and Minnie heads going viral online and, even worse, anything that looks at all risqué or adult. Some of the clips show the characters dancing and twerking in their outfits — it’s just not on-message.”
The Walt Disney Company didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via email.
