As a Disney content creator, Toni Kulusich posts meet-and-greet videos with lots of different Disneyland theme park characters. But her favorite is Peter Pan.
A hugely popular character in the Disney parks, Peter Pan has a large internet fan base and is beloved for his spontaneity and playful interactions with guests as well as his sharp-tongued, often bratty personality. Kulusich, a 27-year-old Los Angeles native who goes to Disneyland about once a week on her annual pass, loves making videos of herself with Peter, posting videos of herself playing tag with him or skipping around the parks.
Kulusich, who uses her middle name online for privacy reasons, never thought there was anything problematic about her Peter Pan content until August 2, when she saw that a video in which she’d gifted Peter a crocheted duck keychain was getting a lot of attention. As the views grew from 10,000 to a million, the negative comments started to pile up. “Slice that duck open and make sure there’s no AirTag inside,” one commenter wrote. “Imagine being known for being the creep that follows Peter Pan around,” another said. As the controversy unfolded, her TikTok following more than doubled, from about 50,000 followers to 125,000.
Kulusich was surprised. She knows about the internet’s antipathy toward so-called “Disney adults,” or people obsessed with the Disney movies and theme parks, with many accusing them of being self-indulgent, overgrown children. But she also doesn’t think her Disney fandom has crept into the rest of her life in an unhealthy way. She has a husband of four years and a full-time job as the manager of a big-box retail store. She has no formal affiliation with the brand and just makes Disney content as a hobby. “It’s not like I’m going to the store or to my job and thinking about Peter Pan,” she says. “It’s just that when I’m inside Disney, I’m able to release my inner child and the kid who doesn’t want to grow up. And that’s what [Peter Pan] stands for.”
But that’s not what the people combing through her Instagram and TikTok accounts thought. They unearthed 10-year-old videos of her meeting Peter at Disneyland as supposed evidence of her obsession, even circulating a Change.org petition to have her banned from the parks. They analyzed Peter Pan’s body language in the videos, saying it reflected his discomfort with her; they commented on her wedding video and expressed sympathy for her husband, accusing Kulusich of secretly being in love with Peter Pan. (Kulusich’s husband, a marine, is a more casual Disney fan but is “really supportive” of her content, she says, though he prefers Cars’ Lightning McQueen to Peter Pan.)
Worst of all, Kulusich says, someone figured out where she works and posted the address, prompting her manager to change her hours for security reasons.
“It’s definitely taken a toll on my mental health,” she says. “Imagine waking up to thousands of comments saying you’re a crazy stalker lady every single day.”
By the end of last week, Kulusich was known worldwide as the deranged “Peter Pan Girl,” the Baby Reindeer of the Disney influencer ecosystem (a reference to Netflix’s 2024 black comedy series about a Scottish comedian’s stalker). “People really just took a five-second video of me with Peter Pan out of context and ran with it,” she says.
The internet obsession with “Peter Pan Girl” touches on a few different internet culture flash points: the rapid spread of social media misinformation, the hysterical nature of TikTok armchair analysis and dogpiling, and of course, the widespread loathing of Disney adults.