When I went to Disneyland last week, I knew I wanted a cute outfit to wear while I was there. Dressing up for Disneyland isn’t required—It’s easy to get hot and sweaty under the summer sun, after all—but I wanted to celebrate my trip with something Disney-appropriate.
This post contains some affiliate links.
Get there when the park opens for headshots with fewer people in them 😉
What surprised me the most was that a lot of people had the same mindset as me. So many people had on Disney-related shirts. Mickey and Minnie, various movie characters, and Star Wars shirts were very popular and hit varying levels of classiness. I saw my own shirt twice and I saw a couple of people wearing the shirt that I almost bought before I decided on the one I wore.
The mouse ear caps are classic, but I noticed that mouse ear headbands were extremely popular. This surprised me because personally, I don’t consider headbands comfortable. Some nice ones can be purchased in the park (these were so popular and I loved these). I saw a whole lot of custom ones for more specific characters or color schemes, though: I overheard a couple people say they got theirs on Etsy, so I had to investigate and was blown away by some of the options (cute, pretty, and wow).
Disneybounding is a cosplay-inspired Disney tradition. It is against Disneyland rules for adults to wear a costume in the park, so many fans wear Disney “inspired” outfits that are a nod to a particular character. I think this is so cute. I saw a girl in line wearing a yellow Pinocchio cap and one wearing a pretty stained glass patterned dress and other Beauty and the Beast themed accessories. Some Disneybound outfits are more obvious than others but it is very fun to try to pick them out.
I’ve been to Disneyland probably 20 times over the course of my life so far, and last week I was shocked to note that large families in matching tie-dye shirts are a thing of the past. A little bit sad from a nostalgia perspective, but understandable since the kids that were forced to wear the embarrassing matching tie-dye in the 90s are now the ones bringing their littles to the park. I did see a handful of matching solid-colored shirts with family names printed on them in Disney font, but, alas. Tie-dyeing just may be a lost art form.
Have you ever bought an outfit for a specific day trip? I felt a little silly leading up to it, but once I was at Disneyland, I was happy to be cute and comfortable in my Mickey gear.
