Do you have a phobia that makes it hard for you to enjoy Walt Disney World? There are some fairly common phobias that could make a Walt Disney World vacation difficult to almost impossible to enjoy…
Fears are perfectly normal. As we mentioned in our previous post about Scary Attractions, Fear is a perfectly natural and even necessary part of life. Phobias, on the other hand, are when your fear becomes excessive or even irrational. Depending on what your phobia is, this can make life difficult. People who suffer from Samhainophobia (Fear of Halloween) and/or Triskaidekaphobia (Fear of the number 13) probably aren’t enjoying our 13 Nights of Halloween series.
If you suffer from Agoraphobia, you may not be able to go to Walt Disney World… ever. I had mistakenly thought Agoraphobia was the fear of being in public, but it’s actually the fear of being in caught in places that you cannot escape from. Severe Agoraphobia causes people to only feel safe inside their own homes. Even mild cases of Agoraphobia would make it difficult to enjoy many Walt Disney World attractions.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
A major part of a Walt Disney World vacation for most of us is getting there. It usually requires some traveling, and that’s not easy for everyone, especially for those with one of the following phobias:
- Hodophobia – Fear of Travel
- Aviophobia or Aviatophobia – Fear of Flying
- Siderodromophobia – Fear or Trains
- Amaxophobia – Fear or riding in a car
Social Phobias
No matter what time of year you go to Walt Disney World, you can be sure you won’t be the only people there. Suffering from one of these phobias would make being in the parks intolerable.
- Anthropophobia – Fear of people or society.
- Demophobia – Fear of Crowds
- Xenophobia – Fear of Strangers
- Pedophobia – Fear of Children
- Mysophobia – Fear of Germs
Park Specific Phobias
Magic Kingdom Park is the “Most Magical Place on Earth”, so anyone suffering from Rhabdophobia (fear of magic) will probably want to skip that park.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom is obviously a park to avoid if you’re afraid of animals, which is known as Zoophobia.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios celebrates the movies. It’s probably a stretch to say that Photoaugliaphobia suffers should avoid the park completely, but they should definitely consider avoiding the Streets of America during the holidays. That’s when it’s taken over by the Osborne Family Festival of Lights and their fear of bright and glaring lights would come into play. Another weird fear for this park: cocklophobia. That’s the fear of hats. This park has a huge hat as its icon.
EPCOT: Xenophobia, the fear of strangers and foreigners mentioned earlier, could be intensified in the World Showcase. While there is no term for a fear of the future, Prosophobia (Fear of progress) could apply to Future World.
General Disney Phobias:
- Musophobia – Fear of Mice. Would this fear extend to Mickey and Minnie Mouse? It’s widely circulated on the Internet that Walt Disney ironically suffered from musophobia. It’s so bizarre that I’d like to believe it. However, I can’t find any evidence to support the claim, and there’s at least one reference out there to Walt having kept mice as pets in his office.
- Masklophobia – Fear of Costumed Characters, Mascots, or people in masks. Disney characters are in every park and at some of the resorts. Some might argue that Walt Disney World is the cause of this phobia.
- Ambulophobia – Fear of walking. Walt Disney World is huge, and there’s a lot of walking involved. ECVs aren’t just for the physically challenged.
- Technophobia – Not a fear of techno music. This is the fear of technology, and Disney is always on the cutting edge of technology. Try getting the new Magic Bands on the wrists of a Technophobe.
- Decidophobia – Fear of making decisions. With so many things to see and do at the resort, this is potentially crippling. This could affect you 180 days before your trip when it’s time to make Advanced Dining Reservations and then later when choosing your FastPass+ options.
Attraction Phobias:
- Macrophobia – Fear of Long Waits. I think we can all agree on not enjoying long waits for anything, but an irrational fear of them would make Walt Disney World unbearable.
- Automatonophobia – Fear of humanoid figures. Disney’s audio animatronics are a key part of many of its attractions.
- Pediophobia – Fear of Dolls. Sing it with me… “It’s a Small World after all.”
- Acrophobia – Fear of Heights. Depending on the intensity of this fear, it could affect you on rides as low as Dumbo, the Flying Elephant, the Monorail, and of course, most of the thrill rides.
- Basophobia – Fear of Falling. Tower of Terror.
- Nyctophobia – Fear of the Dark. Walt Disney World is famous for classic Dark rides like Pirates of the Caribbean. Your ability to handle these may depend on the intensity of your fear. Very few rides have moments of complete darkness.
- Claustrophobia – Fear of confined spaces. Mission: Space is notoriously confining and there are several other rides that require being harnessed or having a lap bar. This fear could also be a form of Agoraphobia, since it’s a feeling that you can’t escape on your own.
- Acousticophobia – Fear of noise. The nighttime shows/fireworks can be very loud. Depending on the sensitivity level of the affected person, just being in the parks with all those people talking could be enough to trigger this phobia.
“Mouse”cellaneous Phobias
- Apeirophobia – Fear of infinity. Would this cause you to be afraid of Buzz Lightyear?
- Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia – Fear of long words. Can you say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
- Ombrophobia – Fear of rain or of being rained on. Not a fear for anyone living in or visiting Central Florida.
You could put the following phobias together to make the fear of Magic Kingdom’s Mountain Chain:
- Alpineophobia – Fear of Mountains
- Astraphobia – Fear of Thunder
- Astrophobia – Fear of Space
- Aquaphobia – Fear of Water
Now, not every fear is common enough to get it’s own official phobia name. So we’ll have to invent some to complete our list with phobias you might not have had before visiting Walt Disney World.
- Coordinatophobia – Fear of matching shirts. A fews days around families that all match, or a few tour groups could make you never want to wear a shirt remotely the same color as someone else.
- Strolleraphobia – Fear of Strollers. Get hit in the ankles enough times, and you’ll develop this one quick. This could also include ECVs.
- 101aphobia – Fear of attractions being closed. 101 is the WDW Radio Code for an attraction being down.
- Griswoldaphobia – Fear that the entire park will be closed. You’ve watched National Lampoon’s Vacation one too many times.
- Whipaphobia – Fear of Aloha Isle being closed, or Fear of no Dole Whips.
Lastly, is a fear we suffer from. This one is not made up, and every trip is gets a little worse.
- Nostophobia – Fear of returning home. The only thing that helps with this is to book another trip ASAP!
