Disney has announced that the Bibbidi Bobbidi boutiques at the Disney Parks where children can get dressed as their favourite Disney characters will no longer have Fairy Godmothers but 'Fairy Godmother's apprentice'.
The updated terminology appears to follow a recent trend of making Disney theme parks more gender-neutral after the company added “inclusion” to its list of customer service priorities in 2021, The Telegraph reports.
The salons, which give makeovers to kids aged 3 to 12 who want to get dressed up as princesses, knights, and other characters, will drop the term 'fairy godmothers in training' for their staff, instead referring to them as apprentices, reports Daily Mail.
The report quoting a release on the Disney blog, Streaming the Magic, said, "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."
The sweeping change comes into effect from August, when the boutiques in both Disney World and Disneyland will reopen from long-term closures brought about by the pandemic, according to an update on Disney resort websites.
Disney said the change can help cast members who do not identify as female to be still part of the dress-up & style the children without having to refer themselves as a female Disney character.
A report in Newsweek in March this year quoted Vivian Ware, Disney's diversity and inclusion manager, as saying in a video that, "So, we no longer say 'ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls'. We've provided training for all of our cast members and in relationship to that so now they know it's, 'hello everyone' or 'hello friends.'"