Disney Bounding

Except for designated Halloween events, guests over the age of 14 are not allowed to wear costumes in Disney parks. It goes without saying that you don’t want any confusion about whether the Goofy your kid is interacting with is a Cast Member with proper vetting and training or just… some goof.

Enter Disney Bounding: Basing your outfit on a character*.

The term was coined by Leslie Kay back in 2011 on her “Disneybound” blog where she shared Disney-inspired outfits she planned to wear to the parks. Her site is a treasure trove! Go check it out.

As tends to happen with really cool, fun ideas, people started to emulate Leslie. Pretty soon “Disney Bounding” - and Bounding generally - became A Thing. And people started to get very, very into it. Now it’s all over instagram.

On my last (which was also my first!) solo trip to Disney I did a little Bounding, but not as much as I had planned. In its most basic form, Bounding is emulating the color palette of a character*. From there you can add as much detail as you want to elevate your look - or you could keep it really casual, in which case you’d be Subtly Nodding more than Bounding, which is how I would describe 2 of my 4 outfits! My Han Solo had a lot of detail, but my Cinderella, Oswald, and It’s a Small World Ride fits were color palettes with a tote bag thrown in!

* or a ride, or a classic food item, or an architectural feature…