The Thinking Behind The Wardrobe Selections For Walt Disney World

Packing for a Walt Disney World vacation is no easy task.  There are books/sites with packing lists, reminders, even Disney sends emails to future guests about what to remember.

For us, I make a new packing list every time.  Writing it all down, helps me think about and picture items.  We also have some things perpetually packed, such as the park bag.  But then there are the wardrobe selections.

Let me begin with it is evident that our family tradition is to dress in matching shirts each day of our vacation.  This does make packing somewhat easier after shirts are chosen.  But how to chose which shirt sets AND what day during our vacation will we wear them?

A consideration for wardrobe selection, after weather of course, is what shirts go with certain parks.  We have worn our Zootopia shirts to Animal Kingdom before, something we also try to avoid--repeating shirts at the same park--but the them of the shirts just fits with this park.  Cast Members make many comments and we get asked where we got them.  Answer:  DisneyStore.com right when the movie came out and the shirts were a limited edition.  We haven't seen them since.  If Zooptopia characters were added to Animal Kingdom, wearing these shirts to meet them would be an added bonus!

Speaking of having wardrobe selections to match characters, we had great fun wearing our Star Wars Christmas sweaters on Christmas Day to Disney's Hollywood Studios to meet Star Wars characters.  Chewbacca wanted one in his size!

Since we would be at Walt Disney World on Christmas Eve and the day before that, we decided that some holiday shirts were needed.  Santa and Mrs. Claus got a kick out of our "I Tried" shirts.

Santa was not Grumpy but he did ask about our shirts.

Often, characters recognize our wardrobe selections and make comments--even those characters that cannot talk.  These Olaf sweaters were worn on Christmas Eve Day with our "I Tried" t-shirts underneath.  It was nice to have a warm layer during the cold morning and then be able to take off our sweaters and then put them back on in the cooler evening.  Where do the sweaters go when we aren't wearing them in the park?  In the park backpack.

Guests can find Olaf at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Character Spotlight.  Give him a warm hug--he likes those!

While Olaf is at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Anna and Elsa from FROZEN can be found in EPCOT at their Somerhaus in the Norway Pavilion in World Showcase, not far from their new ride.  Both Anna and Elsa appreciated our Olaf sweaters.

Note:  It's easy for guests to travel back and forth from Disney's Hollywood Studios and EPCOT using the boat launch from the front of Disney's Hollywood Studios and EPCOT's International Gateway.  The trip takes about 25 minutes as the launch makes three stops at resorts.  The ride is a great way to rest, re-charge, and take a break from the parks.

At EPCOT's Character Spot, we met the mouse himself, Mickey Mouse and took the pose of him from our shirts.

On another day at Disney's Hollywood Studios, we wore our Carsland shirts from Disneyland.  Reason?  I knew we would be meeting Cruz Ramirez a character from Cars 3.  As a note, other guests and Cast Members inquired about our Carsland shirts.

Since the boy's favorite character is Stitch, we have at least one set of Stitch shirts.  We wore them to meet Stitch at 'Ohana's on another trip, but this trip, we wore the shirts to Disney Springs.

While at Disney Springs, we enjoyed the Christmas Tree Trail, where each tree has a different Disney theme.  We found the Stitch tree AND a Disney Photopass Photographer who was taking photos along the trail.  Voila!  Pictures of all us in front of Stitch's tree wearing Stitch shirts.

Yes, I do have these types of experiences and photo opportunities in mind while planning and packing.  Although the Stitch tree with the Stitch shirts was a bonus!

We see various versions of our strategy while on vacation such as girls changing into Princess dresses to eat or before a character meet and greet or boys wearing Buzz and Woody attire prior to meeting the Toy Story friends.

For anyone thinking that making wardrobe selections specific to parks or characters might be uncomfortable/embarassing for adults or older children, let me ease your worry right now.  The boy continues to be excited about our family's tradition, even making wardrobe suggestions.  And, DisneyBournding, where folks wear clothing in colors or designs that are a tribute to their favorite Disney character is all a rage.  This is Disney folks.  We come to play and have fun!

I have written about this before with another post:  How Do We Decide What Matching Shirt Sets to Wear?
It's a fun post and contains photos and shirt sets from a few years ago.  My, how the boy has grown!

And, here's another post:  Do You Wear Shirts to Match the Characters You Meet?
Again, more fun pics of the boy and the family!