Girl dressed as Tinkerbell not allowed into Disney theme park

Leah Zanolla | Posted: Jun 5, 2012 | Updated: Oct 19, 2014 - 9:25:27 AM

A 15-year old girl dressed as Tinkerbell was asked to change clothes at Disney's Animal Kingdom on Sunday, June 3. April Spielman was taking her boyfriend to Walt Disney World for the first time, so she planned for the two of them to wear Peter Pan and Tinkerbell costumes. Spielman said she spent two hours doing her makeup, an hour doing her hair, then painted her nails and sprayed herself in body glitter. The pair was allowed into Disney's Hollywood Studios with no issues, but they were stopped by security officers at the Animal Kingdom later that day. Spielman was told she would have to change the clothes to enter the park.

On Disney's website they have a policy stating, "adult costumes or clothing that can be viewed as representative of an actual Disney character may result in refusal of admittance." Park officials were concerned that children visiting the theme park might confuse her for the actual Tinkerbell character.

According to Spielman, "They said I looked too good. It just broke my heart. I didn't want to take off the costume. They were talking how the little girls, it ruins their dreams. But it ruined my dreams because I just want to be Tinkerbell."

She was provided with a free t-shirt to change into, as well as FastPasses for her family to compensate for the time she was changing clothes.

Interestingly, nothing has been said about her boyfriend's attire; he was dressed as Peter Pan that day.