Disney Changes ‘Fairy Godmothers in Training’ to Be More Gender-Neutral

People participate in LA Pride Parade, an annual LGBTQ Pride celebration, in West Hollywood, Calif., on June 9, 2019. David McNew/AFP via Getty Images

Disney theme parks in the United States recently changed the title of their employees in the “Fairy Godmothers in Training” program to “Fairy Godmother’s Apprentices” to be more gender-neutral.

At special “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique” locations in the parks, visiting children have been traditionally dressed and styled by the “fairy godmothers in training” as their favorite Disney characters. But now these workers will have a new name.

“This way cast members that might not identify as female can still be part of the process to dress up & style the children without having to refer to themselves as a female Disney character,” wrote Disney fan blog Streaming the Magic in a July 18 post.

The name has been switched to “Fairy Godmother’s Apprentices” on the webpages for both Disneyland Park in California and Walt Disney World in Florida.

“With the wave of a magic wand—plus a few hands-on tricks of the trade—our Fairy Godmother’s Apprentices will pamper and primp your child until they look storybook stunning,” according to the attraction’s description for Walt Disney World.

A girl chooses her hair style at the "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique" at Tokyo Disneyland hotel in Urayasu, Japan on July 2, 2008. Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP via Getty Images

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is currently open for retail only at Disneyland, with the makeovers expected to return on Aug. 25. Reservations will open in early August. The boutique at Disney World is closed and will also reopen Aug. 25.

This is not the first time Disney has made such a change. In 2021, the Magic Kingdom Park in Florida removed the gendered greeting “ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls” during an evening fireworks and light projection show and instead used “good evening, dreamers of all ages,” according to WDW News Today.

After the more recent change was announced, some Disney fans expressed disappointment.

“This is horrible … sad that we as society are changing things because of gender identity. Let’s just rewrite all of our history to fit today’s narrative,” user James Myer wrote on Twitter.

However, other fans praised the company for the move.

“I don’t see the problem, Disney being more inclusive is a great thing. The world needs less of cookie cutter expectations and images of the world. Newsflash, it’s a big world out there and there are billions of people and everyone is different,” another Twitter user commented.