Despite its reputation as “The Happiest Place On Earth,” Walt Disney World may actually be “The Grabbiest Place On Earth” — just ask Dara Eliza, a former Disney performer who learned firsthand (pun unavoidable) just how much middle-aged women love Mickey Mouse.


Over the weekend, 24-year-old Eliza hopped on the TikTok trend of sharing a “funny” piece of trauma, revealing that she dealt with “a lot of unwanted groping” while portraying not only Tinkerbell, but more commonly Mickey Mouse, by “drunk, middle-aged ladies”


@darlaeliza #stitch with @Madi Hart ♬ original sound -



“Mister Mortimer Mouse would get groped a hell of a lot more than my pixie pal,” she explained in her now-viral reply. “They’d go to meet Mickey, and they for some reason think that the 4-foot-8 person in the costume is an adult man and not a short woman.”


Considering these strange expectations from down-bad Disney guests, Eliza said she had to endure a whole lot of handsiness, these women grabbing the back — and front — of her comically oversized red shorts. “More often than not when these drunk old ladies would come meet Mickey, they’d put her hand around him and just take a big grab of ass,” the performer continued, noting that “sometimes they would reach for his crotch.”


While most guests kept it at that, one decided to shoot her shot — Minnie Mouse be damned — encouraging the Steamboat Willie star to stop by her hotel room after hours. “There was one particular time where this bachelorette party showed up,” Eliza explained. “The lady got a big handful of me, and she whispers in Mickey’s ear, ‘We’re staying at the Polynesian, our room is da da da da da, if you want to stop by after work, honey.’”


It’s unclear what, exactly, the woman expected, but whatever it was clearly didn’t involve a short blonde woman, a fact she discovered when Eliza actually dropped by her hotel room following her shift. “She thought I was housekeeping,” Eliza recalled of her brief visit, one that left the woman “confused.”


Based on Eliza’s experience, it’s pretty apparent that these women are going to Disney World looking for a whole different kind of Mickey Mouse ride.