Dictionary

Disneyfy en · VERB

Etymology

From Disney + -fy, with reference to the Disney theme parks.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, transitive, usually) To make something (especially a location) more acceptable or marketable by removing potentially distasteful, controversial or boring elements, particularly at the cost of its history and culture.
   • Jazz was not always an accepted music, and, of course, today we have the problem of remaining faithful to the cultural roots of jazz, not just candifying, Disneyfying the music. 1994, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks, and Forests, Workshop and hearing on New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park:
   • Frieze has become a corporate snooze. Have the galleries been actively encouraged by its big-business owners to Disneyfy themselves? 2023 October 11, Jonathan Jones, “Frieze London art fair review – a graveyard of creativity for tasteless one percenters”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Oct 2023:
   • The overall feel on today is prehistoric. There is a mood of dilophosauri and raptors lurking hungrily in the oak copses—of the savagery that lurks to recapture even the most Disneyfied of environments in the absence of vigilance. 1996, Douglas Coupland, “Postcard from Palo Alto”, in Polaroids from the Dead, New York, N.Y.: ReganBooks, →ISBN, part 2 (Portraits of People and Places), page 117:
   • Every summer, the most popular European destinations get stuffed to the gills with tourists, who outnumber locals by many multiples, turning hot spots into sweaty, selfie-stick-clogged, “Disneyfied” towns. 2018 August 29, Farhad Manjoo, “‘Overtourism’ Worries Europe. How Much Did Technology Help Get Us There?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Aug 2018:

Forms

Relateds

Disneyfication · G-rated · Disneylandification

Translations (3)

de disneyfizieren (Translations) · eo diznejigi (Translations) · fr disneyifier (Translations)