I am a girl who loves a good theme. I have been known to show up to a Downton Abbey viewing party dressed as Lady Mary. It was not a costume party. I am just really dedicated to good television.
So when I learned about this thing called DisneyBounding while preparing for our trip to Disney World, I was all in. DisneyBounding, if you haven’t heard of it, is dressing in the theme of a Disney character. The idea isn’t to wear a costume but rather mimic the overall aesthetic of your favorite characters.
My six-year-old daughter was also thrilled with this idea and so I let her choose all of the characters that we would dress as, because I am fun and also because I did not anticipate that she would declare my unmentionables the perfect ensemble for Ariel.
Honestly, this was one of the best parts of our Disney trip. She was just so excited for us to dress-up together each day and I am so glad that we did, because how long is she going to want to wear matching Mommy & Me outfits, you know?
Plus, it was incredibly sweet to watch Scarlette run up to her favorite characters and say things like, “LOOK! I AM THE SAME AS YOU! WE ARE TWINS, PROBABLY, EXCEPT HOW YOU ARE HUMAN AND I AM JUST A LITTLE KID STILL.”
(Scarlette refers to all grown-ups as “humans” despite our continued attempts to convince her that she is also a human. Belle looked a tiny bit taken aback by that proclamation.)
Here is a peek at our family DisneyBounding experience. It was such a fun addition to our trip!
Family DisneyBounding: Beauty & The Beast
Scarlette and I were both versions of Belle and the baby was the Beast. Which was appropriate because he spent the morning in beast mode. I noticed that the cast members and characters really went out of their way to acknowledge her as “Belle” whenever we were in New Fantasyland and when we had dinner at Beast’s castle, which she loved.
{*some links are affiliates yellow tutu dress // pink crocs sandals // blue sundress // embroidered sun hat // black ballet flats}
My self-imposed rules were that I didn’t want to spend a lot of money to create our ensembles because we’re on a budget over here. And I wanted to be comfortable. So after going through pieces we already had, we went shopping few new things we could mix into our summer wardrobes – buying secondhand at ThredUp was really helpful for a couple of statement pieces, like Snow White’s belt.
Family Disney Bounding: Snow White
In hindsight, I should have saved this outfit for Epcot, where you can actually meet Snow White, especially because Scarlette was determined that she wanted to be Happy Dwarf. This is also where I realized that DisneyBounding with a baby is tricky on account of how he needed multiple outfit changes since he enjoys wiping food all over himself.
{coral glitter shirt // green utility vest // chambray striped shorts //pompom tennis shoes // floral hair clip // navy fitted tank // wide red bow belt // yellow circle skirt // black ballet flats}
Family Disney Bounding: The Little Mermaid & Inside Out
Scarlette wanted to be Flounder from the Little Mermaid. I gave her several options of cute Ariel outfits but she was really insistent that she wanted to be Flounder. (She was also really insistent that I wear a sparkly seashell top but that campaign was not successful.) She also wanted to be Joy from Inside Out but I didn’t want to spend time in the parks doing several costume changes so we found a Flounder outfit that could double as Joy. Ridley was Prince Eric but he was unimpressed by his newfound royal status.
{highlighter yellow top // sequin tutu skirt // teal slip on shoes // colorblock dress // black ballet flats}
Family Disney Bounding: Lilo & Stitch
Scarlette wears this dress all the time and insists that everyone call her Lilo when she has it on. She also enjoys pretending that Stitch is being naughty and it is not uncommon to find stuffed Stitch next to a pile of unrolled toilet paper in my house. Also, I accidentally forgot we had decided on this and packed the Moana outfit instead of the Nani outfit for myself, oops!
{hawaiian print dress // pink sandals // coral top // lace shorts// yoga sandals}
(If you were wondering what the most comfortable shoes to wear to Disney World are, it is hands down the Sanuk Yoga Slings. I kept these in my bag and usually switched to them about halfway through the day. I did three full days in these and they were more comfortable than even my tennis shoes.)
Family Disney Bounding: Wreck-It Ralph
I’m a little bummed we didn’t get any better pictures of these outfits because they were my favorite. Scarlette thought it would be hilarious to dress Ridley up as Wreck-It Ralph. She wanted to be Vanellope and I had this chambray top from Stitch Fix so I went as Fix-It Felix. This was another outfit that doubled as her “fairie” outfit when we went to meet the fairies.
{pom pom tank // pom pom tutu skirt // sweet treat hair clips // pom pom shoes // chambray tie tank // denim shorts // chambray weekender flats}
The only actual costume Scarlette really wanted to wear was her Elsa dress. It was way too hot for a full day of that so we took it with us and slipped it on right before she met Elsa and Anna. We thought it would be really funny to dress up the baby as Olaf but he did not share in our amusement.
While we didn’t go as in-depth as some of the amazing outfits I’ve seen on the #disneybounding Instagram hashtag, this was a really fun thing for Scarlette and I to do together and it added a little bit of extra magic to our days in the parks!
