Do You Wear Shirts To Match The Characters You Meet?

“So, do you wear shirts to match the characters you meet?” asked a colleague who just learned about my love for Disney and was looking at pictures I had on display at work.  Well, short answer, “yes, sometimes.”

Longer answer. . . there is much more planning and thinking that goes on behind that magical picture of us meeting Ralph wearing shirts with Ralph on them.  In order to have our shirts and characters match, we have to know what characters are available to meet.  Having met Ralph and Venelope before at Disney’s Hollywood Studios—click here to read more—and knowing that they were still going to be there for our upcoming trip, it was a safe bet to custom design shirts featuring them—click here to read more.  Of course, that has to be done in enough time prior to a trip to get the shirts made and shipped.

A short cut, would be to make a stop at Design-A-Tee at Downtown Disney and have shirts made that day to wear during the rest of our trip.  Click here to read about Design-A-Tee.

Once the shirts have been designed or bought, then there is the making sure you are wearing them the day you are going to the park that features the characters.  Again, Ralph and Venelope are only at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, so we wore our shirts on a day we went to that park. 

Then, there is the finding and meeting of the characters.  Checking the Times Guide to find out when the meet and greets take place; making sure you know the location.  This is about precision, not chance.

Of course, we took it another step farther.  We also had shirts featuring Mike and Sully, so we wore those shirts on another day we visited Hollywood Studios and made sure we met the characters.

Why do we do this?  It is fun!  It gets recognition and the characters love it.  Characters we have met have very much enjoyed seeing themselves featured on our clothing or pins.  While Disney characters try to spend time making guests feel extra special during the interactions, the character’s reaction to seeing themselves is definitely extra special.  Other guests enjoy our shirts as well.  We get questions and comments and are happy to respond. 

So, do we try to match our shirts to characters?  Yes.  And, we try to match the shirts to the occasion as well.  We donned our Mickey polo shirts when dining at Chef Mickey’s and then proceeded to Magic Kingdom to meet some Princesses and other characters.  Our preppy prince was a hit with the ladies. 

When we had breakfast with Stitch, we wore our Stitch shirts.

Spirit of Aloha dinner?  Mickey Hawaiian shirts were packed and worn for the occasion.

For me, it is all just part of the fun of planning for a magical Disney vacation.  And, it makes packing a breeze, too!

P.S.  Thanks to Disney Photopass Photographers for capturing all of our magical moments!