February 29, 2024 • 32 mins
Discover the secret to perfecting your Disneyland style with the fashion-forward insights of style maven Ilana McBride, who has worked previously at Disney Style and currently is the Director of Marketing and Social at Loungefly. Ilana shares about how she creates he own Disney Style, including what Disney bounding is and how anyone can do it!
Grab your most comfortable pair of Mickey ears because we're also tackling the practicalities of a day at the happiest place on Earth. Last, but definitely not least!
Find Ilana on Instagram on Loungefly's page or her personal Instagram @doublepairmartinis
Be sure to check out the amazing bags at Loungefly.com.
0:00 Intro
0:30 Ilana McBride- Director or Marketing and Social at Loungefly
2:16 How Do You Decide on Your Disney Style
3:30 What is Disney Bounding?
5:35 Getting More Interaction from Characters with Disney Bounding
6:35 Matching T-Shirts: The Pros and Cons
7:33 Alternates to Matching T-Shirts
10:09 Selecting Shoes: Comfort vs Style
12:04 Avoid the Disney Rub: Bike Shorts and Chaffing
13:47 Bring Extra and Use the Lockers
14:39 Bringing Flip Flops for Water Rides
16:41 Be the Onion! Always Pack Layers!
18:50 Why Disney Pros Always Think About Comfort
20:38 Embrace Your Disney Style at Any Level
22:06 Planning Your Disney Style for Newbies
24:29 There is No Right or Wrong Disney Style
25:25 When in Doubt, Grab a Loungefly (not an ad)
27:16 How to Find Ilana
28:28 Lightning Questions with Ilana
31:16 Win a Star Wars Loungefly and Wallet!
Right now, our tools are just for Disneyland, but we hope to expand to other parks soon. Disney changes policies, prices, and shows often. Be sure to visit our website at Parkmagic.com or Disneyland's Website for more information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Park Magic podcast, your place for
insider tips for your nextDisneyland adventure.
Whether you're a first-timer orfirst-time in a while visitor,
we're here to unwrap the secretsto creating and simplifying
your dream Disneyland vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Today we're talking about dressing in the parks and
I have the best person in theentire world here to talk to us
about dressing for Disney.
Not only is she the director ofmarketing and social media for
Lounge 5, previously she workedfor Disney Style and she has
more style in her pinky nailthan I do my entire family's
body.
So I'm so glad to have AlanaMcBride on to talk about how to
(00:55):
dress for Disney, because Ithink sometimes people come in
with like there's this one wayto do things and there are so
many fun ways and some of themmight even get you more
attention from the characters,especially if you have a little
one that's like obsessed withone.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Totally.
There's so many different waysto approach it and the most
important thing is that peopleare actually wanting to do that
now and think about that before.
So your experience of going tothe theme parks now starts in
your own home.
Right, it's not just packingand making sure you have a water
bottle and sunscreen, but like,how do I look to make sure that
I'm going to have this maximumexperience in the park?
(01:30):
So, yes, that was part of mygoing on.
What I did at Disney Stylereally was about creating just a
concept of Disney Style.
Think about that.
That didn't exist a long timeago.
It was just your more a graphicteed with a Disney character on
it, and you hoped that that wascool and not sort of frowned
upon, or, and now it is like anexpression of your fandom that
(01:52):
is so loved and is so mainstream.
So there's so many ways to goabout it.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
What's your Disney Style?
What's your go to when you'regoing to the park?
I mean, I know that you have apretty big following on social
media, so when it's just you andyou're not planning to take
pictures, or when you'replanning on going, what are some
of the things that you thinkabout when you're deciding what
to dress for at the park?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, I think I very much am somewhat.
First of all, I collect vintageDisney in apparel and
accessories.
So I really always like to wearthat new, old thing that I just
got that I'm really excited totake pictures in, and take
pictures in that specific partof whatever land and really just
paint this whole picture formyself.
(02:34):
So I start there with somewhatever vintage, new, new,
vintage thing that I just gotand build an outfit around that.
That's really what my DisneyStyle starts with.
I also do I dabble in Disneybounding, because with who I am
and what I do, I do enjoy a goodDisney bound, particularly
around dapper days.
(02:55):
Or if I'm going with a group offriends and they don't, they're
kind of lost on what should Iwear and how do I?
You know, what should I dressin?
And I don't know.
I don't usually like takepictures in the, let alone in a,
disney park.
What do I do?
Then?
I kind of steer us in thedirection of oh well, why don't
we all Disney bound in like agroup Disney bound?
And then, of course, beingsomebody who works at Lounge Fly
(03:16):
, it always ties back to whichbag am I going to wear?
What is the new one?
And sometimes I like to wearone that hasn't been announced
yet, because I do see peopletaking pictures and getting
posted and putting that littleteaser out.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So for somebody who doesn't know how would you
describe Disney bounding?
Because I think that there canbe a little confusion when
people think it's dressing up asa costume.
It's a little different.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
It is definitely not a costume.
It's really dressing inspiredby the characters in your
everyday clothes.
So if you have to pull incostume pieces, then that is
you're not Disney bounding.
You're putting together acostume and the parks don't
allow costumes for over acertain age, so I think it's 14.
I think so, and so Disneybounding is you're taking your
(04:04):
own sort of creative style andmaking it inspired by a
character or a ride or a.
I've seen Disney bounds of dollwhips and all sorts of stuff and
really taking that colorpalette of whatever you're
trying to be inspired by andthen having sort of like icons
within your look that representthat character.
(04:26):
So if you were a Winnie thePooh Disney bound, for example,
you would maybe do a red shirtof some sort, a yellow bottom of
some sort and maybe likehoneypot earrings or something,
or little bees around a braceletor something of that sort.
But again, these are all piecesthat you can find in regular
stores everywhere.
(04:46):
I love to go thrifting forDisney bounds because it really
is just kind of piecing togetherdifferent things.
What I love most about Disneybounding is that you can also
play with the different kinds ofstyles.
So you might do a 70s Winniethe Pooh Disney bound and that
would feel very different.
And so you can do Winnie thePooh 15 different times, all
looking very differently.
(05:06):
So that is sort of the fun,creative aspect of Disney
bounding too.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
The other nice thing about Disney bounding is you can
use what you already have.
So, especially if you're goingto Disney on a budget, you're
not spending $20 times 10 peoplefor and you can coordinate your
Disney bounds together to belike everybody from Peter Pan,
and then it makes your groupmore identifiable as well.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Characters love to see fans dressed in Disney
bounds.
Of those characters, I havedefinitely met Winnie the Pooh
as Winnie the Pooh once before.
Yeah, the characters reallyinteract with you a lot more
when you are dressed in theircharacter or inspired by their
character, and then, of course,that makes for a great photo.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
If you have a little one that's obsessed with Ahsoka
or obsessed with Cinderella,they don't have to be in the
full costume, but if they seethat your clothing indicates
like I'm a fan of yours, then Ifind that they do tend to
gravitate towards that.
The little one or adult.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, and something I really love.
I did this with my daughter wasnot necessarily thinking
directly about the character youmight meet, but their world in
particular.
So my daughter had a denimdress with a little pink bow on
it and she was Disney boundingas the fairy godmother.
So when she met Cinderella, itwas that completed the picture
and the story and of course shewas like three years old at the
(06:23):
time as a fairy godmother withthis much taller Cinderella, and
those are the memories that Ireally there for me.
She's gonna laugh when she'solder, but I'm really there for
me.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I think we should talk a little bit about matching
t-shirts because I think a lotof times people when they're
like, okay, I'm gonna play on myto end, this is nothing.
If you love matching t-shirts,you live your best Disney life.
We are not.
I'm not trying to get people'syums, but I have found for me
every time we try to do thateither somebody spills on their
shirt, somebody doesn't want towear their shirt, or it's rainy
(06:57):
and cold and now you can't seethe shirts.
The only time that it's reallyworked for me is when I had a
group of like 180 teenagers thatI was bringing to the park.
Then you know, keeping thegroup together.
But what are your thoughts onlike matching t-shirts and like
the pros and cons of that?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, I definitely think.
No hating on the matching shirtgame.
If you are a matching shirtperson, and that is, you've been
doing it since you were little.
If it's tradition, then that'swhat going to Disney is all
about, is building and makingthese traditions.
So I am all for that.
But to your point, they put asweatshirt on one person's cold
one's, not whatever.
So you do really have to findthat thing that is going to be
unified.
(07:31):
And to me it's a lot easier tounify in something like a group
Disney bound.
Or what I like to do with myfriends or my family is like
we'll pick a character and we'lljust say everybody wear Mickey,
you know, like somewhere on you, because for me that means
Mickey jeans or like vintagejeans that have Mickey on them.
For my dad that means a graphictee that he found that you know
shop Disney that has Mickey onit.
(07:53):
So it will have something thatunifies us, but it's not
necessarily like the exact.
So that's one way you can goabout it.
Another again is a group Disneybound I've done, where we were
all 101 Dalmatians of some sortand it was very easy to identify
us walking through the park inwhite with black spots.
Another is just having like aunified, like when I go with my
(08:15):
lounge fly team.
If we have a matching loungefly bag or collection, something
that just signifies all of ustogether but isn't actual
matching graphic tee, becausethose cost money too, that's a
lot of.
Those are a lot of money.
Again, no hate on it If that ispart of your tradition.
It is definitely something thatwe see often, but really you
know, making it your own or notfeeling like you have to do that
(08:36):
as what Disney style is, disneystyle means many things.
Now you have more style in yourpinky than I do.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
But what I did when my kids were little is I would
just make sure that the colorsof the shirts all matched and
then for little kids we hadmultiple shirts for spills and
stuff.
This way, you know, we couldstill have somebody who's
dressed as mini, somebody who'sdressed as cars, but you could,
we would still in the pictures.
We would look like we wenttogether.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, I think that it's really just about what kind
of what it means to you.
You know some people when I gowith my some of my friends who
are not Disney fans, but I makethem come with me because I'm
like you will have a good time,I promise you, and I'm like we
are gonna Disney bound becausethat is the easiest thing.
And they might say like Iliterally only own a black dress
and I'm like, well, guess what?
There's a lot of charactersthat are just black and there's
(09:23):
a lot we can do with that.
I think we and we were eachdifferent.
We had somebody was Figaro in ablack and white and someone is I
was like I will supply thelounge fly bags that will help
identify so that I can get thepicture I want.
But ultimately you're stillgoing and feeling like, look,
I'm Figaro, you know.
And especially if you have afriend with you who might be a
little bit more identifiable ordressed, because then again
(09:45):
you're part of the whole storyand it really becomes just like
an added fun element, aside fromrides and food and characters,
dressing is just another pieceof it, I think that the pictures
can be so much more interestingand can change from day to day.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Like you know, kind of the feel of the match it up
to the park, depending on whatyou're going to.
How do you decide when you'relooking at picking out clothes,
like where to sacrifice comfortfor style and when style needs
to sacrifice for comfort?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Shoes are always gonna be comfort.
I am never you will never seeme in a park in an uncomfortable
shoe.
I will always start with thecomfortable shoes.
My outfit will always just sortof have to match to the shoe
and then the rest of the outfitis always gonna be comfort.
I am, again, a collector ofVintage Disney, so I do a lot of
Vintage Disney t-shirts.
A t-shirt is never gonna beuncomfortable for me at the park
(10:36):
.
I also go to jeans.
What I also like to do is, as afashion fan in general, I like
to look at current trends.
I have Pinterest boards.
I have lots of things of likethis is a cool outfit, just a
general outfit.
How can I disnify that outfit?
And so I might look up like ohshoot, it's gonna be really hot
or really humid today at thepark, so I might look up like
(10:58):
literally hot, like summerstreet style on Google images,
find some outfit that I like,and even if it's just like
shorts, a t-shirt, but she'swearing a little bit higher sock
and that kind of is cute, or afrilly sock to add a little bit
of femininity or something, Imight find something like that
and go okay, I have that sockInstead of this t-shirt I have
(11:20):
this other t-shirt that's aDisney t-shirt, or I have shorts
that have Mickey's on them, orI can add pins to my denim
shorts to make them more Disney,and so I'll just kind of work
in that way too, to makesomething that is normal street
style and just a cute outfitinto a Disney look.
But it will always start withwhat is my day.
I'm going to.
Sometimes I'll just go toDisneyland and get drinks with a
(11:43):
girlfriend, and if that is myday and I know I'm still going
to do a lot of walking, but I'mprobably going to be sitting
outside Carthage people watchingwith a double pair of martini,
and if that's my day, then I canbe in a dress and maybe just
have a jacket, and it's notgetting in and out of rides and
wondering if I need bike shortsunderneath and I still feel more
(12:03):
comfortable.
But ultimately, if I know thatI'm always there's an option for
me to go on rides, bike shortswill always be with me.
So yeah, I just kind of look atwhat is.
What is my purpose of the day.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
So, for those who aren't familiar with the Disney
Lymph of Pain, at the end of theday can we kind of lightly talk
about why those bike shorts areso important?
Cause we went to Disney Worldand my daughter was like I'm
going to wear this skirt and Iwas like that's a bad idea.
And she's like no, I'm going towear the skirt.
So halfway through the day Iwas like I'm going to buy you
these leggings because you'velearned your lesson and we're
(12:34):
not doing this again.
So just to save somebody causeit hurts, let's talk about the
why the bike shorts are soimportant.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Bike shorts or leggings if it's colder, I mean
those will never go out of stylein a theme park.
It really just is not.
Even if they are not stylish inone day, they will never go out
of style in a theme parkbecause you can wear them with a
big baggy shirt, you can wearthem with a crop top.
So there's just many ways andit will always be an acceptable
trend in that in the park,because of the comfort.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Well, and I'm a little more pooh shaped than you
are.
So for me, the leggings, or,like I have, these bay leaf, bay
leaf tennis skirt that hasshorts underneath and it stops
the chafing which, when you're,I mean cause you're walking
seven to 15 miles a day.
You know, on a, on a damagedDisney day if you're, if you're
there like going to like reallyride the rides, if you're like a
(13:24):
not a pass holder but a singleday ticket holder, and so I
think sometimes peopleunderestimate how much cause
you're, especially when it'swarm, how you need to think
about how that will impact therest of your day.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Even so, even if you come wearing, I still my
recommendation is still comewearing the Spanx would bring
extra.
It just is what it is.
If you're starting at Road Dropand your rides all day, my
husband did one day.
He claims he's not a Disney fan, but let me you guys decide if
this is a Disney fan.
He made himself and his friendsa bingo card front and back
(14:03):
laminated bingo card With allthe rides, got there at Road
Drop and did every single rideon both parks at Disneyland and
Disney's California Adventureand and did it in the full day,
except for the rides that wereshut down.
Did every single ride.
Tell me that that's not aDisney fan?
Okay, first of all, laminatedbingo card.
(14:24):
I didn't do that, he did ithimself.
So anyway, but in him, in doingthat, he's like we didn't
account for the fact that, likewe're soaking wet on this ride
and going on this ride, and thatI'm like you didn't, you didn't
know the rules of the locker.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
And I think that's one of the things like season
Disney people have an on.
The whole purpose of this showis to help normal people have
amazing times at Disneyland.
I usually will save GrizzlyRiver Run or what will be
Tiana's Bayou adventure tillright before we're going to go
take a nap or go back to thehotel to rest, because you're
going to need it.
You might need to change afterthat, and then I always bring
(15:00):
flip flops or crocs or something.
I'd bring some sort of sandalto change into for those rides,
because wet socks, I feel like,are the death of a Disney day.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Oh yes, that's.
That's genius also, becauseflip flops don't take up much
space.
Crocs might take a room, butdefinitely don't just to go on
those rides.
I just, I just tuck my feet inthe sides of the and hope for
the best I well.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
So the last time I went, I went right before it
closed for refurb and I packedmy sandals, but I have two pairs
of the same flip flops.
I packed literally two leftfeet, oh so, but I still wore
them because, again, I have nostyles.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I was still worn them , for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I was like I don't want to because it was cold.
It was January and you know, Iwas like I'm not going to have
wet socks in January, becausethat's not.
That's not what I want to do.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yes, and that's also if you, your strategy works.
If you also are staying at thehotel and or you're staying in
one of the hotels, you can goback and take a nap, change, et
cetera, but if you are reallyjust coming in for the day, I
mean, that's the beauty oflockers.
Sometimes, if I know that I'mgoing to change outfits, a lot
of like creators and stuff get alot of backlash for changing
(16:17):
outfits, for different photos.
But you know what To each theirown is what I say.
And if I know that I'm going tohave a total changeover of my
outfit for the day, thoselockers really do come in handy.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
And they're really.
I think that people like thinkabout California as like sunny
California and it is, but likeit's like schizophrenic weather.
I mean the weather just changesso much.
You know you might need threelayers in the morning and one
layer in the.
Can you talk about how you, howdo you like think about the
layers, especially for littleones that might get cold faster?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
First of all, I have a strong belief that it's 10
degrees warmer in a Disney yes,it really is.
So, whatever, whatever you arethinking, add 10 degrees.
So I am.
I'm big on layering.
I'm big on layering even justin the ways that people might
not think about layering, likesticking a turtleneck under a
T-shirt, for example.
(17:11):
I bring thinner layers that arepackable in my lounge fly to put
on under my T-shirt and so Ibring like a turtleneck to put
under my shirt and then, like Isaid, like the leggings to go
under my, or tights I bringtights sometimes to go under my
shorts.
So, just like, coming up withunique ways to layer without
taking up a lot of space is is achallenge but is totally doable
(17:34):
.
And then with little ones whichI only recently figured out
because I have a four year oldand now a five month old Truly,
they're so small at this, atthat age I will talk about when
they get a little bit older, butat that age they're so small
you bring a big old blanket andthat's it.
They don't even need it.
Like you know, they don't wantto put on a jacket, somehow.
That doesn't work, but ablanket does.
(17:56):
So I just break a blanket overon the stroller.
But yes, when you get past theone, the four year old to the 13
year old in layering, youprobably have to pull out those
strategies of under layers andin addition to the over layers.
But you know you can get it.
You can get a beanie, you canget things that are ad warmth
with minimal space.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, I love beanie scarves, gloves, those little
hand warmers, and they don'ttake up much space.
But a scarf really does warmyou up more than you would.
I think it does.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
And then on the reverse too.
An old friend of mine told meto get one of those fans it's
like a neck fan when we went toDisney World.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
And that was such a lifesaver.
When I was so, so hot, I justwore the style again.
Comfort first, style second.
But it's not like a neck fan isreally that unfashionable,
let's be honest.
And so I just had that neck fanon and that's all I needed.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
There's me who's like we're just going to get there,
we're going to survive.
We can try to match the samecolors, but that's about as far
as I've gotten.
But then there's the other side, where you might have so
focused on the outfit that youdon't get the memories because
you're wearing shoes that arepainful and now you're grouchy.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
When I see people wearing heels in the park and
it's not like Dapper Day where Iknow they're just going in to
take a picture and then leaveyou.
Yeah, when I see those people,I'm like you're missing the
point Truly.
You're missing the pointBecause, above all, it is about
having a good time and makingmemories, and so the only memory
you're going to have is oh, myfeet really hurt, even though I
(19:29):
looked cute.
And Disneyland is I used to saythis when I worked at Disney is
that it makes for a greatbackdrop, but it isn't made to
be a backdrop.
And it is the most Instagrammedplace in the world, but it
wasn't built for that.
That Instagram only came, notthat long ago.
(19:50):
So I always sort of stress thatthe yes, you should capture the
photo.
I'm all for getting pictures ofyour outfit and feeling like
that confident and empowered.
There is something soempowering about like I dressed
cute, I feel I'm feeling myselfand I match this small world
wall and I am living my bestDisney life.
That is.
I stand by that with my wholeheart.
(20:12):
But ultimately, if you're inpain doing that, that's not
having the memories and feelingthat empowerment and that
confidence.
So when I see people walkingdown Main Street in heels and
struggling, I am like, please,let me help you.
I can tell you so much, oh, um.
And then the other thing isthat, if you like, going back to
(20:35):
what I said in the verybeginning that if you really are
like I don't even care, I justwant to be comfortable, I'm
going to wear like this I have agoofy shirt and I'm just going
to wear shorts.
You think that that is notdressing up, but ultimately
you're making that choice.
There's a devil wears productquote in here somewhere, but
you're making an active choiceto wear the goofy shirt.
You're probably going to gomeet goofy.
(20:55):
Goofy is going to point outyour shirt.
You're going to have this greatmemory just because of that
shirt and that is why dressingfor Disney is part of this
memory making and part of themagic.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
I think that that's so perfect because I think
sometimes when people look atInstagrams, we see the shiny,
happy, perfect moments of thattrip and I think that sometimes
it can get like, well, I've gotto try to aspire to that.
But I think that the beauty ofwhat you just said is do what
you feel comfortable and whatyou feel confident, doing what
your budget fits, and you cansee that that's not going to
(21:30):
make or break your trip.
It's going to be part of the1,000 things you do.
That will be like little placesfor magic to happen in the day.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Cast members are instructed to look for those
things.
It is not like.
It's not like.
Oh, you got lucky that somebodymentioned that you were wearing
a goofy shirt.
It truly is part of theexperience.
It's an entirely 360 experienceand that includes things,
compliments that are being told,like everything that is built
(21:58):
into the story to make you feellike you had this great time,
and that starts again in yourown closet by putting on that
goofy shirt.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
So let's say somebody has never been to Disney, they
don't know a lot about Disneystyle, but their little one
loves Frozen.
Can you give some ideas of like?
If you didn't have the immenseknowledge about Disney that you
have, where would you start tobuild?
Speaker 3 (22:21):
those outfits, pulling out elements from the
characters for your child butalso for you.
Like, mommy and me are going tohave matching Elsa braids today
because we're going to maybesee Elsa.
That's so exciting and againyou can pull out some of the
colors.
I also let my daughter bringone thing to Disneyland, which
is probably not the best advice,but it does just kind of give
(22:42):
her a sense of safety if she'snot comfortable with a ride or
just gets shy meeting acharacter or something.
But I'm like, remember, youhave that thing with you and so
she will often bring or thefirst time she brought her Elsa
doll.
And so for her to bring her onething that was Elsa, knowing
she was going to go meet Elsaforget even meet Elsa, but just
(23:03):
see her on a poster somewhereoutside the park or see her in
the window at World of Disney orsomething.
Just those small moments to thatsort of resonate are huge,
right that she doesn't know whatshe's about to get into.
So I think that is whatever youcan do to tie back to.
We're taking this thing thatyou love at home and we're about
(23:26):
to go make that real life andthat's going to be really
overwhelming for you as a childor as a just first timer, I
guess, but trying to give thatsort of sense of safety and that
element of familiarity andstuff that the characters can
(23:46):
interact with and speak to.
So that's where I would sort ofstart.
If I've never been to Disney, Iwould go OK.
Well, elsa has a braid and Icould put a braid in my hair
no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Back to that frugal fancy.
If I can do a matching t-shirtfor like a dip versus a Disney
bound, that I can pull from mycloset and then get genie plus
where I don't stand in much inline, for me that's a.
That's a better trade off.
But I'm a I'm a big ride person, so that might not be the right
trade off for every family, butfor me I think it's a good
trade off.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Something that I hear often is that I'm not good at
Disney bounding or I don't knowwhat I'm doing or like.
Is this like you know?
Sure?
You chose four different darkblues instead of a light icy
blue for Elsa, like there is noright or wrong to it, it's more
just a I like.
If I, if I said that I was, Idon't know anything about Disney
(24:35):
bounding, and I pulled out anavy blue dress and I put it on
and I put my hair in a braid andI said I'm Elsa.
If you are a Disney fan, youwould go no, you are not.
She never wears navy blue.
But if you are not a Disney fanand you tell your child that
you are Elsa because you'rewearing blue and have a braid,
that is 100% going to go oververy well and and you can and
(24:58):
you should just feel confidentthat you are making that memory
and and you dressed up as whatyou think is Elsa and that is
all that matters.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah, there's no right and wrong answers.
You know, and you know thereshouldn't be any gatekeeping
around dressing for Disney.
It's just, you know, you and Iknow I feel like very few brands
have distilled Disneycharacters as well as Loungefly
has.
So I think that another tip isyou could just go to Loungefly,
search for that character orsearch for that franchise, and
(25:27):
then you know, I like, even ifyou just color blocks, so like
if you had the you wanted to doyour punzel, maybe your, your
husband, wears kind of the greenthat's on the Pascal of your
bag and you pick the colors thatmatch.
I don't know you again, youhave more style.
Is that something that youwould recommend?
Speaker 3 (25:43):
or, yes, totally, totally.
In fact I went, my husband whohad never been to Walt Disney
World and claims he's not aDisney fan who I dragged to Walt
Disney World and I said youknow, he had nothing to wear and
I let him borrow for one day,let him borrow one of my vintage
Disney shirts.
And for another day we weregoing to Epcot and I said we're
(26:04):
gonna Disney bound as frozen,and he was Anna and he got
chosen as Anna because thatthose are the colors that he had
.
We tried every character andultimately I was like I have
plenty of clothes so I probablycan pull together most of the
characters from Frozen.
But he had a blue t-shirt and alike a maroon t-shirt, and then
(26:26):
he had blue short and I said,layer these two t-shirts.
One is gonna poke out thebottom of your of the other
shirt and poke out the sleeves,so you're getting a dash of the
light blue the burgundy is ontop, and then you have your
brighter blue shorts and blackshoes.
That he already had all.
And he was Anna and next to mewho was fully decked out, and we
(26:50):
went with some other friendstoo and another a friend's
boyfriend was Elsa and I was theDuke of Wastleton, all of us
together taking pictures in,like you know where frozen is,
and in Epcot.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
I think that's great.
I think it highlights who.
You don't have to go out andbuy a whole new wardrobe to
Disney bound.
Yeah, if people wanted to getto know you more or follow like
what you're doing at Loungefly,what's the best way for them to
to do that?
Speaker 3 (27:19):
that is a great question, because I recently had
another baby.
I really am sort of keeping mylife fairly private, but you can
definitely follow along onLoungefly where I host our live
streams.
My dear friend Karissa and I'malso going to use this time as a
very selfish plug, becauseKarissa and I are also creating
our own Disney style accountcalled the double pair martinis
(27:42):
pair as PAI are, which will justbe our fashion account.
Sort of it's soft launchedalready, but it will have a hard
launch with the March Disneybound challenge starting on
March 1st.
So you can look out for thedouble pair PAI are martinis,
because if you've never hadthose double pair martinis at
Carthage, you should.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Do you like the lounge or do you like the
restaurant better?
Speaker 3 (28:05):
There is nothing like sipping a double pair.
Martini, people watchingtalking about your love of
Disney at Carthage.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Feeling fancy in the park and, yeah, having a nice
cocktail, yeah, so, um, we dosome.
I guess we do kind of like thisquick lightning round.
So what?
Yeah, and feel free to be likeI'm not answering, but what do
you think is the most underratedattraction at Disneyland or
California Adventure?
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Oh, my god, it's supposed to be lightning.
I have to think of these fast,fast.
When I am not sitting andhaving a cocktail, what I do
like to do is get a pretzel or asnack and just ride the
railroad all the way around.
I feel like the railroad isused as a form of transportation
to save you from walking, butit actually is a great
(28:51):
attraction to just take thewhole way around.
Grab a snack I usually get aMickey pretzel and you know and
ride it as an actual ride tochill with friends and have this
, you know, and get the air inyour face if it's hot out.
I feel like that I'm going touse as my underrated only
because I feel like people useit mostly just as a form of
(29:11):
transportation.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I feel like the train not only does these cool like
vignettes between some of thestations that you can't see
unless you ride the train allthe way around.
You're off your feet, you canenjoy, like you get away from
the people, like you're sittingwith people, but you're not like
in a crowd as much.
I feel like it's a great way tolike decompress and like get
(29:32):
ready for another wave or likedo something as you're killing
time between like a lightninglane or something.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
I love having a snack on the train, yeah, and I think
people see like a 15 minuteline and they're like, oh, it'll
be faster if we just walk, andit's like, no, it's also just a
15 minutes as compared to otherreally long lines for an actual
attraction.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
That has this amazing , cool history.
There's this group of people onFacebook that they just get
together and they ride the trainall day Like they love.
You know that?
Yeah, like that's their gig is.
You know, like some people goand pin trade like this group of
people, like they just they getto.
We kind of stumbled upon thembecause we were sitting there
and we heard them talking aboutand I was like, oh, this is like
(30:17):
a whole thing.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Oh my gosh, I got to look into that yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
And then what's your favorite quick serve location?
My favorite quick servelocation is probably jolly
holiday Is it, we can officiallygo to Disneyland together,
because that's my favorite too,is it Okay?
Speaker 3 (30:37):
great.
I mean, there's nothing like atomato soup and grilled cheese
combo, especially if it's alittle out, but is that my
favorite?
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
I think I'll call that and I think it's a great
place to people watch too,because you get to watch people
come in and they're seeing thecastle for their first time and
you know like they're trying todecide which direction they're
going to go.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
So it's like one of my favorite in the ducks
sometimes it's little ducks andthe ducks yes, and I'm not if
you're a newcomer to Disney, butI generally find that if I sit
there I'm bound to run intosomebody I know who is?
Also some pass holder who'swalking by and sees me, so I
love that about it.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Well, I want to thank you so much for coming on.
This has been so much fun.
I always enjoy talking to you,so thank you so much for coming
on to the show.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Thank you, thank you for having me.
I love it and I'm happy to comeback anytime.
Robin, we didn't talk aboutthis before, but do you want to
do a lounge fly giveaway on yourshow?
That would be awesome.
I would love that I can giveaway a lounge fly, star Wars
backpack and wallet to one luckywinner, one lucky listener.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
If you go to parkmagic underscore tools and
there's going to be a post therethat says you know with you
know the episode that we havehere, and if you go and comment
on that post, we will go back ina week and we will pick
somebody from that post to winthat lounge fly giveaway.
So I want to thank you so much,that's so generous of you, and
(32:03):
lunch fly, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Thanks for having me and hope to see you in the park
soon.
We'll have to plan a trip, yes.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Park
Magic podcast.
For more tips and planningtools designed to help simplify
your Disneyland adventure, visitparkmagiccom.
If you enjoyed today's episodeand want to hear more tips, be
sure to subscribe to the parkmagic podcast, and don't forget
to leave us a review.
Your feedback helps us spreadthe magic even further.
Leaving a review could alsohelp you.
(32:32):
Each month, we will beselecting one reviewer to win.
A one hour planning sessionwith Robin.
Winners will be announced atthe end of the first episode of
every month.
Thanks for tuning in andremember that we are here to
help you have a less stressfuland more magical trip to
Disneyland.
Welcome to the Park Magic podcast, your place for
insider tips for your nextDisneyland adventure.
Whether you're a first-timer orfirst-time in a while visitor,
we're here to unwrap the secretsto creating and simplifying
your dream Disneyland vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Today we're talking about dressing in the parks and
I have the best person in theentire world here to talk to us
about dressing for Disney.
Not only is she the director ofmarketing and social media for
Lounge 5, previously she workedfor Disney Style and she has
more style in her pinky nailthan I do my entire family's
body.
So I'm so glad to have AlanaMcBride on to talk about how to
(00:55):
dress for Disney, because Ithink sometimes people come in
with like there's this one wayto do things and there are so
many fun ways and some of themmight even get you more
attention from the characters,especially if you have a little
one that's like obsessed withone.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Totally.
There's so many different waysto approach it and the most
important thing is that peopleare actually wanting to do that
now and think about that before.
So your experience of going tothe theme parks now starts in
your own home.
Right, it's not just packingand making sure you have a water
bottle and sunscreen, but like,how do I look to make sure that
I'm going to have this maximumexperience in the park?
(01:30):
So, yes, that was part of mygoing on.
What I did at Disney Stylereally was about creating just a
concept of Disney Style.
Think about that.
That didn't exist a long timeago.
It was just your more a graphicteed with a Disney character on
it, and you hoped that that wascool and not sort of frowned
upon, or, and now it is like anexpression of your fandom that
(01:52):
is so loved and is so mainstream.
So there's so many ways to goabout it.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
What's your Disney Style?
What's your go to when you'regoing to the park?
I mean, I know that you have apretty big following on social
media, so when it's just you andyou're not planning to take
pictures, or when you'replanning on going, what are some
of the things that you thinkabout when you're deciding what
to dress for at the park?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, I think I very much am somewhat.
First of all, I collect vintageDisney in apparel and
accessories.
So I really always like to wearthat new, old thing that I just
got that I'm really excited totake pictures in, and take
pictures in that specific partof whatever land and really just
paint this whole picture formyself.
(02:34):
So I start there with somewhatever vintage, new, new,
vintage thing that I just gotand build an outfit around that.
That's really what my DisneyStyle starts with.
I also do I dabble in Disneybounding, because with who I am
and what I do, I do enjoy a goodDisney bound, particularly
around dapper days.
(02:55):
Or if I'm going with a group offriends and they don't, they're
kind of lost on what should Iwear and how do I?
You know, what should I dressin?
And I don't know.
I don't usually like takepictures in the, let alone in a,
disney park.
What do I do?
Then?
I kind of steer us in thedirection of oh well, why don't
we all Disney bound in like agroup Disney bound?
And then, of course, beingsomebody who works at Lounge Fly
(03:16):
, it always ties back to whichbag am I going to wear?
What is the new one?
And sometimes I like to wearone that hasn't been announced
yet, because I do see peopletaking pictures and getting
posted and putting that littleteaser out.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So for somebody who doesn't know how would you
describe Disney bounding?
Because I think that there canbe a little confusion when
people think it's dressing up asa costume.
It's a little different.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
It is definitely not a costume.
It's really dressing inspiredby the characters in your
everyday clothes.
So if you have to pull incostume pieces, then that is
you're not Disney bounding.
You're putting together acostume and the parks don't
allow costumes for over acertain age, so I think it's 14.
I think so, and so Disneybounding is you're taking your
(04:04):
own sort of creative style andmaking it inspired by a
character or a ride or a.
I've seen Disney bounds of dollwhips and all sorts of stuff and
really taking that colorpalette of whatever you're
trying to be inspired by andthen having sort of like icons
within your look that representthat character.
(04:26):
So if you were a Winnie thePooh Disney bound, for example,
you would maybe do a red shirtof some sort, a yellow bottom of
some sort and maybe likehoneypot earrings or something,
or little bees around a braceletor something of that sort.
But again, these are all piecesthat you can find in regular
stores everywhere.
(04:46):
I love to go thrifting forDisney bounds because it really
is just kind of piecing togetherdifferent things.
What I love most about Disneybounding is that you can also
play with the different kinds ofstyles.
So you might do a 70s Winniethe Pooh Disney bound and that
would feel very different.
And so you can do Winnie thePooh 15 different times, all
looking very differently.
(05:06):
So that is sort of the fun,creative aspect of Disney
bounding too.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
The other nice thing about Disney bounding is you can
use what you already have.
So, especially if you're goingto Disney on a budget, you're
not spending $20 times 10 peoplefor and you can coordinate your
Disney bounds together to belike everybody from Peter Pan,
and then it makes your groupmore identifiable as well.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Characters love to see fans dressed in Disney
bounds.
Of those characters, I havedefinitely met Winnie the Pooh
as Winnie the Pooh once before.
Yeah, the characters reallyinteract with you a lot more
when you are dressed in theircharacter or inspired by their
character, and then, of course,that makes for a great photo.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
If you have a little one that's obsessed with Ahsoka
or obsessed with Cinderella,they don't have to be in the
full costume, but if they seethat your clothing indicates
like I'm a fan of yours, then Ifind that they do tend to
gravitate towards that.
The little one or adult.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, and something I really love.
I did this with my daughter wasnot necessarily thinking
directly about the character youmight meet, but their world in
particular.
So my daughter had a denimdress with a little pink bow on
it and she was Disney boundingas the fairy godmother.
So when she met Cinderella, itwas that completed the picture
and the story and of course shewas like three years old at the
(06:23):
time as a fairy godmother withthis much taller Cinderella, and
those are the memories that Ireally there for me.
She's gonna laugh when she'solder, but I'm really there for
me.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I think we should talk a little bit about matching
t-shirts because I think a lotof times people when they're
like, okay, I'm gonna play on myto end, this is nothing.
If you love matching t-shirts,you live your best Disney life.
We are not.
I'm not trying to get people'syums, but I have found for me
every time we try to do thateither somebody spills on their
shirt, somebody doesn't want towear their shirt, or it's rainy
(06:57):
and cold and now you can't seethe shirts.
The only time that it's reallyworked for me is when I had a
group of like 180 teenagers thatI was bringing to the park.
Then you know, keeping thegroup together.
But what are your thoughts onlike matching t-shirts and like
the pros and cons of that?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, I definitely think.
No hating on the matching shirtgame.
If you are a matching shirtperson, and that is, you've been
doing it since you were little.
If it's tradition, then that'swhat going to Disney is all
about, is building and makingthese traditions.
So I am all for that.
But to your point, they put asweatshirt on one person's cold
one's, not whatever.
So you do really have to findthat thing that is going to be
unified.
(07:31):
And to me it's a lot easier tounify in something like a group
Disney bound.
Or what I like to do with myfriends or my family is like
we'll pick a character and we'lljust say everybody wear Mickey,
you know, like somewhere on you, because for me that means
Mickey jeans or like vintagejeans that have Mickey on them.
For my dad that means a graphictee that he found that you know
shop Disney that has Mickey onit.
(07:53):
So it will have something thatunifies us, but it's not
necessarily like the exact.
So that's one way you can goabout it.
Another again is a group Disneybound I've done, where we were
all 101 Dalmatians of some sortand it was very easy to identify
us walking through the park inwhite with black spots.
Another is just having like aunified, like when I go with my
(08:15):
lounge fly team.
If we have a matching loungefly bag or collection, something
that just signifies all of ustogether but isn't actual
matching graphic tee, becausethose cost money too, that's a
lot of.
Those are a lot of money.
Again, no hate on it If that ispart of your tradition.
It is definitely something thatwe see often, but really you
know, making it your own or notfeeling like you have to do that
(08:36):
as what Disney style is, disneystyle means many things.
Now you have more style in yourpinky than I do.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
But what I did when my kids were little is I would
just make sure that the colorsof the shirts all matched and
then for little kids we hadmultiple shirts for spills and
stuff.
This way, you know, we couldstill have somebody who's
dressed as mini, somebody who'sdressed as cars, but you could,
we would still in the pictures.
We would look like we wenttogether.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, I think that it's really just about what kind
of what it means to you.
You know some people when I gowith my some of my friends who
are not Disney fans, but I makethem come with me because I'm
like you will have a good time,I promise you, and I'm like we
are gonna Disney bound becausethat is the easiest thing.
And they might say like Iliterally only own a black dress
and I'm like, well, guess what?
There's a lot of charactersthat are just black and there's
(09:23):
a lot we can do with that.
I think we and we were eachdifferent.
We had somebody was Figaro in ablack and white and someone is I
was like I will supply thelounge fly bags that will help
identify so that I can get thepicture I want.
But ultimately you're stillgoing and feeling like, look,
I'm Figaro, you know.
And especially if you have afriend with you who might be a
little bit more identifiable ordressed, because then again
(09:45):
you're part of the whole storyand it really becomes just like
an added fun element, aside fromrides and food and characters,
dressing is just another pieceof it, I think that the pictures
can be so much more interestingand can change from day to day.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Like you know, kind of the feel of the match it up
to the park, depending on whatyou're going to.
How do you decide when you'relooking at picking out clothes,
like where to sacrifice comfortfor style and when style needs
to sacrifice for comfort?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Shoes are always gonna be comfort.
I am never you will never seeme in a park in an uncomfortable
shoe.
I will always start with thecomfortable shoes.
My outfit will always just sortof have to match to the shoe
and then the rest of the outfitis always gonna be comfort.
I am, again, a collector ofVintage Disney, so I do a lot of
Vintage Disney t-shirts.
A t-shirt is never gonna beuncomfortable for me at the park
(10:36):
.
I also go to jeans.
What I also like to do is, as afashion fan in general, I like
to look at current trends.
I have Pinterest boards.
I have lots of things of likethis is a cool outfit, just a
general outfit.
How can I disnify that outfit?
And so I might look up like ohshoot, it's gonna be really hot
or really humid today at thepark, so I might look up like
(10:58):
literally hot, like summerstreet style on Google images,
find some outfit that I like,and even if it's just like
shorts, a t-shirt, but she'swearing a little bit higher sock
and that kind of is cute, or afrilly sock to add a little bit
of femininity or something, Imight find something like that
and go okay, I have that sockInstead of this t-shirt I have
(11:20):
this other t-shirt that's aDisney t-shirt, or I have shorts
that have Mickey's on them, orI can add pins to my denim
shorts to make them more Disney,and so I'll just kind of work
in that way too, to makesomething that is normal street
style and just a cute outfitinto a Disney look.
But it will always start withwhat is my day.
I'm going to.
Sometimes I'll just go toDisneyland and get drinks with a
(11:43):
girlfriend, and if that is myday and I know I'm still going
to do a lot of walking, but I'mprobably going to be sitting
outside Carthage people watchingwith a double pair of martini,
and if that's my day, then I canbe in a dress and maybe just
have a jacket, and it's notgetting in and out of rides and
wondering if I need bike shortsunderneath and I still feel more
(12:03):
comfortable.
But ultimately, if I know thatI'm always there's an option for
me to go on rides, bike shortswill always be with me.
So yeah, I just kind of look atwhat is.
What is my purpose of the day.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
So, for those who aren't familiar with the Disney
Lymph of Pain, at the end of theday can we kind of lightly talk
about why those bike shorts areso important?
Cause we went to Disney Worldand my daughter was like I'm
going to wear this skirt and Iwas like that's a bad idea.
And she's like no, I'm going towear the skirt.
So halfway through the day Iwas like I'm going to buy you
these leggings because you'velearned your lesson and we're
(12:34):
not doing this again.
So just to save somebody causeit hurts, let's talk about the
why the bike shorts are soimportant.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Bike shorts or leggings if it's colder, I mean
those will never go out of stylein a theme park.
It really just is not.
Even if they are not stylish inone day, they will never go out
of style in a theme parkbecause you can wear them with a
big baggy shirt, you can wearthem with a crop top.
So there's just many ways andit will always be an acceptable
trend in that in the park,because of the comfort.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Well, and I'm a little more pooh shaped than you
are.
So for me, the leggings, or,like I have, these bay leaf, bay
leaf tennis skirt that hasshorts underneath and it stops
the chafing which, when you're,I mean cause you're walking
seven to 15 miles a day.
You know, on a, on a damagedDisney day if you're, if you're
there like going to like reallyride the rides, if you're like a
(13:24):
not a pass holder but a singleday ticket holder, and so I
think sometimes peopleunderestimate how much cause
you're, especially when it'swarm, how you need to think
about how that will impact therest of your day.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Even so, even if you come wearing, I still my
recommendation is still comewearing the Spanx would bring
extra.
It just is what it is.
If you're starting at Road Dropand your rides all day, my
husband did one day.
He claims he's not a Disney fan, but let me you guys decide if
this is a Disney fan.
He made himself and his friendsa bingo card front and back
(14:03):
laminated bingo card With allthe rides, got there at Road
Drop and did every single rideon both parks at Disneyland and
Disney's California Adventureand and did it in the full day,
except for the rides that wereshut down.
Did every single ride.
Tell me that that's not aDisney fan?
Okay, first of all, laminatedbingo card.
(14:24):
I didn't do that, he did ithimself.
So anyway, but in him, in doingthat, he's like we didn't
account for the fact that, likewe're soaking wet on this ride
and going on this ride, and thatI'm like you didn't, you didn't
know the rules of the locker.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
And I think that's one of the things like season
Disney people have an on.
The whole purpose of this showis to help normal people have
amazing times at Disneyland.
I usually will save GrizzlyRiver Run or what will be
Tiana's Bayou adventure tillright before we're going to go
take a nap or go back to thehotel to rest, because you're
going to need it.
You might need to change afterthat, and then I always bring
(15:00):
flip flops or crocs or something.
I'd bring some sort of sandalto change into for those rides,
because wet socks, I feel like,are the death of a Disney day.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Oh yes, that's.
That's genius also, becauseflip flops don't take up much
space.
Crocs might take a room, butdefinitely don't just to go on
those rides.
I just, I just tuck my feet inthe sides of the and hope for
the best I well.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
So the last time I went, I went right before it
closed for refurb and I packedmy sandals, but I have two pairs
of the same flip flops.
I packed literally two leftfeet, oh so, but I still wore
them because, again, I have nostyles.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I was still worn them , for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I was like I don't want to because it was cold.
It was January and you know, Iwas like I'm not going to have
wet socks in January, becausethat's not.
That's not what I want to do.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yes, and that's also if you, your strategy works.
If you also are staying at thehotel and or you're staying in
one of the hotels, you can goback and take a nap, change, et
cetera, but if you are reallyjust coming in for the day, I
mean, that's the beauty oflockers.
Sometimes, if I know that I'mgoing to change outfits, a lot
of like creators and stuff get alot of backlash for changing
(16:17):
outfits, for different photos.
But you know what To each theirown is what I say.
And if I know that I'm going tohave a total changeover of my
outfit for the day, thoselockers really do come in handy.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
And they're really.
I think that people like thinkabout California as like sunny
California and it is, but likeit's like schizophrenic weather.
I mean the weather just changesso much.
You know you might need threelayers in the morning and one
layer in the.
Can you talk about how you, howdo you like think about the
layers, especially for littleones that might get cold faster?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
First of all, I have a strong belief that it's 10
degrees warmer in a Disney yes,it really is.
So, whatever, whatever you arethinking, add 10 degrees.
So I am.
I'm big on layering.
I'm big on layering even justin the ways that people might
not think about layering, likesticking a turtleneck under a
T-shirt, for example.
(17:11):
I bring thinner layers that arepackable in my lounge fly to put
on under my T-shirt and so Ibring like a turtleneck to put
under my shirt and then, like Isaid, like the leggings to go
under my, or tights I bringtights sometimes to go under my
shorts.
So, just like, coming up withunique ways to layer without
taking up a lot of space is is achallenge but is totally doable
(17:34):
.
And then with little ones whichI only recently figured out
because I have a four year oldand now a five month old Truly,
they're so small at this, atthat age I will talk about when
they get a little bit older, butat that age they're so small
you bring a big old blanket andthat's it.
They don't even need it.
Like you know, they don't wantto put on a jacket, somehow.
That doesn't work, but ablanket does.
(17:56):
So I just break a blanket overon the stroller.
But yes, when you get past theone, the four year old to the 13
year old in layering, youprobably have to pull out those
strategies of under layers andin addition to the over layers.
But you know you can get it.
You can get a beanie, you canget things that are ad warmth
with minimal space.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, I love beanie scarves, gloves, those little
hand warmers, and they don'ttake up much space.
But a scarf really does warmyou up more than you would.
I think it does.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
And then on the reverse too.
An old friend of mine told meto get one of those fans it's
like a neck fan when we went toDisney World.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
And that was such a lifesaver.
When I was so, so hot, I justwore the style again.
Comfort first, style second.
But it's not like a neck fan isreally that unfashionable,
let's be honest.
And so I just had that neck fanon and that's all I needed.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
There's me who's like we're just going to get there,
we're going to survive.
We can try to match the samecolors, but that's about as far
as I've gotten.
But then there's the other side, where you might have so
focused on the outfit that youdon't get the memories because
you're wearing shoes that arepainful and now you're grouchy.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
When I see people wearing heels in the park and
it's not like Dapper Day where Iknow they're just going in to
take a picture and then leaveyou.
Yeah, when I see those people,I'm like you're missing the
point Truly.
You're missing the pointBecause, above all, it is about
having a good time and makingmemories, and so the only memory
you're going to have is oh, myfeet really hurt, even though I
(19:29):
looked cute.
And Disneyland is I used to saythis when I worked at Disney is
that it makes for a greatbackdrop, but it isn't made to
be a backdrop.
And it is the most Instagrammedplace in the world, but it
wasn't built for that.
That Instagram only came, notthat long ago.
(19:50):
So I always sort of stress thatthe yes, you should capture the
photo.
I'm all for getting pictures ofyour outfit and feeling like
that confident and empowered.
There is something soempowering about like I dressed
cute, I feel I'm feeling myselfand I match this small world
wall and I am living my bestDisney life.
That is.
I stand by that with my wholeheart.
(20:12):
But ultimately, if you're inpain doing that, that's not
having the memories and feelingthat empowerment and that
confidence.
So when I see people walkingdown Main Street in heels and
struggling, I am like, please,let me help you.
I can tell you so much, oh, um.
And then the other thing isthat, if you like, going back to
(20:35):
what I said in the verybeginning that if you really are
like I don't even care, I justwant to be comfortable, I'm
going to wear like this I have agoofy shirt and I'm just going
to wear shorts.
You think that that is notdressing up, but ultimately
you're making that choice.
There's a devil wears productquote in here somewhere, but
you're making an active choiceto wear the goofy shirt.
You're probably going to gomeet goofy.
(20:55):
Goofy is going to point outyour shirt.
You're going to have this greatmemory just because of that
shirt and that is why dressingfor Disney is part of this
memory making and part of themagic.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
I think that that's so perfect because I think
sometimes when people look atInstagrams, we see the shiny,
happy, perfect moments of thattrip and I think that sometimes
it can get like, well, I've gotto try to aspire to that.
But I think that the beauty ofwhat you just said is do what
you feel comfortable and whatyou feel confident, doing what
your budget fits, and you cansee that that's not going to
(21:30):
make or break your trip.
It's going to be part of the1,000 things you do.
That will be like little placesfor magic to happen in the day.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Cast members are instructed to look for those
things.
It is not like.
It's not like.
Oh, you got lucky that somebodymentioned that you were wearing
a goofy shirt.
It truly is part of theexperience.
It's an entirely 360 experienceand that includes things,
compliments that are being told,like everything that is built
(21:58):
into the story to make you feellike you had this great time,
and that starts again in yourown closet by putting on that
goofy shirt.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
So let's say somebody has never been to Disney, they
don't know a lot about Disneystyle, but their little one
loves Frozen.
Can you give some ideas of like?
If you didn't have the immenseknowledge about Disney that you
have, where would you start tobuild?
Speaker 3 (22:21):
those outfits, pulling out elements from the
characters for your child butalso for you.
Like, mommy and me are going tohave matching Elsa braids today
because we're going to maybesee Elsa.
That's so exciting and againyou can pull out some of the
colors.
I also let my daughter bringone thing to Disneyland, which
is probably not the best advice,but it does just kind of give
(22:42):
her a sense of safety if she'snot comfortable with a ride or
just gets shy meeting acharacter or something.
But I'm like, remember, youhave that thing with you and so
she will often bring or thefirst time she brought her Elsa
doll.
And so for her to bring her onething that was Elsa, knowing
she was going to go meet Elsaforget even meet Elsa, but just
(23:03):
see her on a poster somewhereoutside the park or see her in
the window at World of Disney orsomething.
Just those small moments to thatsort of resonate are huge,
right that she doesn't know whatshe's about to get into.
So I think that is whatever youcan do to tie back to.
We're taking this thing thatyou love at home and we're about
(23:26):
to go make that real life andthat's going to be really
overwhelming for you as a childor as a just first timer, I
guess, but trying to give thatsort of sense of safety and that
element of familiarity andstuff that the characters can
(23:46):
interact with and speak to.
So that's where I would sort ofstart.
If I've never been to Disney, Iwould go OK.
Well, elsa has a braid and Icould put a braid in my hair
no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Back to that frugal fancy.
If I can do a matching t-shirtfor like a dip versus a Disney
bound, that I can pull from mycloset and then get genie plus
where I don't stand in much inline, for me that's a.
That's a better trade off.
But I'm a I'm a big ride person, so that might not be the right
trade off for every family, butfor me I think it's a good
trade off.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Something that I hear often is that I'm not good at
Disney bounding or I don't knowwhat I'm doing or like.
Is this like you know?
Sure?
You chose four different darkblues instead of a light icy
blue for Elsa, like there is noright or wrong to it, it's more
just a I like.
If I, if I said that I was, Idon't know anything about Disney
(24:35):
bounding, and I pulled out anavy blue dress and I put it on
and I put my hair in a braid andI said I'm Elsa.
If you are a Disney fan, youwould go no, you are not.
She never wears navy blue.
But if you are not a Disney fanand you tell your child that
you are Elsa because you'rewearing blue and have a braid,
that is 100% going to go oververy well and and you can and
(24:58):
you should just feel confidentthat you are making that memory
and and you dressed up as whatyou think is Elsa and that is
all that matters.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah, there's no right and wrong answers.
You know, and you know thereshouldn't be any gatekeeping
around dressing for Disney.
It's just, you know, you and Iknow I feel like very few brands
have distilled Disneycharacters as well as Loungefly
has.
So I think that another tip isyou could just go to Loungefly,
search for that character orsearch for that franchise, and
(25:27):
then you know, I like, even ifyou just color blocks, so like
if you had the you wanted to doyour punzel, maybe your, your
husband, wears kind of the greenthat's on the Pascal of your
bag and you pick the colors thatmatch.
I don't know you again, youhave more style.
Is that something that youwould recommend?
Speaker 3 (25:43):
or, yes, totally, totally.
In fact I went, my husband whohad never been to Walt Disney
World and claims he's not aDisney fan who I dragged to Walt
Disney World and I said youknow, he had nothing to wear and
I let him borrow for one day,let him borrow one of my vintage
Disney shirts.
And for another day we weregoing to Epcot and I said we're
(26:04):
gonna Disney bound as frozen,and he was Anna and he got
chosen as Anna because thatthose are the colors that he had
.
We tried every character andultimately I was like I have
plenty of clothes so I probablycan pull together most of the
characters from Frozen.
But he had a blue t-shirt and alike a maroon t-shirt, and then
(26:26):
he had blue short and I said,layer these two t-shirts.
One is gonna poke out thebottom of your of the other
shirt and poke out the sleeves,so you're getting a dash of the
light blue the burgundy is ontop, and then you have your
brighter blue shorts and blackshoes.
That he already had all.
And he was Anna and next to mewho was fully decked out, and we
(26:50):
went with some other friendstoo and another a friend's
boyfriend was Elsa and I was theDuke of Wastleton, all of us
together taking pictures in,like you know where frozen is,
and in Epcot.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
I think that's great.
I think it highlights who.
You don't have to go out andbuy a whole new wardrobe to
Disney bound.
Yeah, if people wanted to getto know you more or follow like
what you're doing at Loungefly,what's the best way for them to
to do that?
Speaker 3 (27:19):
that is a great question, because I recently had
another baby.
I really am sort of keeping mylife fairly private, but you can
definitely follow along onLoungefly where I host our live
streams.
My dear friend Karissa and I'malso going to use this time as a
very selfish plug, becauseKarissa and I are also creating
our own Disney style accountcalled the double pair martinis
(27:42):
pair as PAI are, which will justbe our fashion account.
Sort of it's soft launchedalready, but it will have a hard
launch with the March Disneybound challenge starting on
March 1st.
So you can look out for thedouble pair PAI are martinis,
because if you've never hadthose double pair martinis at
Carthage, you should.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Do you like the lounge or do you like the
restaurant better?
Speaker 3 (28:05):
There is nothing like sipping a double pair.
Martini, people watchingtalking about your love of
Disney at Carthage.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Feeling fancy in the park and, yeah, having a nice
cocktail, yeah, so, um, we dosome.
I guess we do kind of like thisquick lightning round.
So what?
Yeah, and feel free to be likeI'm not answering, but what do
you think is the most underratedattraction at Disneyland or
California Adventure?
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Oh, my god, it's supposed to be lightning.
I have to think of these fast,fast.
When I am not sitting andhaving a cocktail, what I do
like to do is get a pretzel or asnack and just ride the
railroad all the way around.
I feel like the railroad isused as a form of transportation
to save you from walking, butit actually is a great
(28:51):
attraction to just take thewhole way around.
Grab a snack I usually get aMickey pretzel and you know and
ride it as an actual ride tochill with friends and have this
, you know, and get the air inyour face if it's hot out.
I feel like that I'm going touse as my underrated only
because I feel like people useit mostly just as a form of
(29:11):
transportation.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I feel like the train not only does these cool like
vignettes between some of thestations that you can't see
unless you ride the train allthe way around.
You're off your feet, you canenjoy, like you get away from
the people, like you're sittingwith people, but you're not like
in a crowd as much.
I feel like it's a great way tolike decompress and like get
(29:32):
ready for another wave or likedo something as you're killing
time between like a lightninglane or something.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
I love having a snack on the train, yeah, and I think
people see like a 15 minuteline and they're like, oh, it'll
be faster if we just walk, andit's like, no, it's also just a
15 minutes as compared to otherreally long lines for an actual
attraction.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
That has this amazing , cool history.
There's this group of people onFacebook that they just get
together and they ride the trainall day Like they love.
You know that?
Yeah, like that's their gig is.
You know, like some people goand pin trade like this group of
people, like they just they getto.
We kind of stumbled upon thembecause we were sitting there
and we heard them talking aboutand I was like, oh, this is like
(30:17):
a whole thing.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Oh my gosh, I got to look into that yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
And then what's your favorite quick serve location?
My favorite quick servelocation is probably jolly
holiday Is it, we can officiallygo to Disneyland together,
because that's my favorite too,is it Okay?
Speaker 3 (30:37):
great.
I mean, there's nothing like atomato soup and grilled cheese
combo, especially if it's alittle out, but is that my
favorite?
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
I think I'll call that and I think it's a great
place to people watch too,because you get to watch people
come in and they're seeing thecastle for their first time and
you know like they're trying todecide which direction they're
going to go.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
So it's like one of my favorite in the ducks
sometimes it's little ducks andthe ducks yes, and I'm not if
you're a newcomer to Disney, butI generally find that if I sit
there I'm bound to run intosomebody I know who is?
Also some pass holder who'swalking by and sees me, so I
love that about it.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Well, I want to thank you so much for coming on.
This has been so much fun.
I always enjoy talking to you,so thank you so much for coming
on to the show.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Thank you, thank you for having me.
I love it and I'm happy to comeback anytime.
Robin, we didn't talk aboutthis before, but do you want to
do a lounge fly giveaway on yourshow?
That would be awesome.
I would love that I can giveaway a lounge fly, star Wars
backpack and wallet to one luckywinner, one lucky listener.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
If you go to parkmagic underscore tools and
there's going to be a post therethat says you know with you
know the episode that we havehere, and if you go and comment
on that post, we will go back ina week and we will pick
somebody from that post to winthat lounge fly giveaway.
So I want to thank you so much,that's so generous of you, and
(32:03):
lunch fly, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Thanks for having me and hope to see you in the park
soon.
We'll have to plan a trip, yes.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Park
Magic podcast.
For more tips and planningtools designed to help simplify
your Disneyland adventure, visitparkmagiccom.
If you enjoyed today's episodeand want to hear more tips, be
sure to subscribe to the parkmagic podcast, and don't forget
to leave us a review.
Your feedback helps us spreadthe magic even further.
Leaving a review could alsohelp you.
(32:32):
Each month, we will beselecting one reviewer to win.
A one hour planning sessionwith Robin.
Winners will be announced atthe end of the first episode of
every month.
Thanks for tuning in andremember that we are here to
help you have a less stressfuland more magical trip to
Disneyland.
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