Disney Gets DAPPER!

John and I caught the last few hours of Dapper Day out at Disney's Hollywood Studios yesterday, and WOW. So many folks dressed up! I'm told this is the biggest year yet, so you've got to give major props to everyone willing to brave the 90 degree heat and humidity in heels and Victory Rolls - or a full suit and tie, for the fellas.

In case you're not familiar, Dapper Day is a fan-run event that's all about dressing up for the parks. Most folks interpret that with a vintage flair, so you'll see bow ties, dainty gloves, and hats, hats, glorious HATS galore!

Everyone who wants to see guys dress like this all the time again, raise your hand. 

[raises both hands]

I decided to play with my photos a bit - try to make them look retro, too. Of course, that means most of them look like I just put an Instagram filter on, so, you know, limited success there. Heh.

Here's my first shot of the day - I love the pastel shop buildings in the background:

Then we stumbled across these lovely ladies hula-hooping it up:

Bright poofy dresses and fabulous sunglasses. LOVE.

There was a Dapper meet-up at the Great Movie Ride at 5pm, which meant a great big crowd of well-dressed lovelies filling the plaza out front for over half an hour. I gleefully dove in with my camera:

I was delighted to see so much Disney Bounding combined with Dapper Day - here's one of several dapper Snow Whites, and I think the girl in pink might be Lottie from Princess and the Frog:

Oh, and given his apple necklace, I think the guy in black and purple is the Snow Queen. Fun!

(As you've probably gathered, Disney Bounding is a form of closet cosplay - ie dressing as a character using non-costume clothing - and it's getting super popular in the parks now!)

Check out this fabulous Tower of Terror bellhop dress - complete with pillbox hat!

Victory rolls and sassy poses:

And again - the sunglasses! I need to score me some fun ones, stat.

(If you're wondering, no, John and I didn't dress dapper. Did I mention it was 90 degrees and about 5000% humidity? And that I'm lazy?)

This gal was standing there so sweetly by herself - I love her hat, and I love her face.

And while I'm spreading the love around, THESE DRESSES:

Especially the green one. And the pink one. And the two pink ties. (Tempted to wear a bow tie and suspenders to the next Dapper Day - with some killer wingtips. Aw yeah. Now I just need to acquire all those things...)

It's hard to see, but this glamorous girl had a vintage tapestry pillbox hat on - and check out that stole!

So many of the ladies had bang-on PERFECT makeup, just like this. Winged eyeliner and classic red lips.

Here's my favorite shot of the day:

The girl in brown looks like she stepped out of a vintage magazine ad! And I think this shot looks the most authentically vintage - but John pointed out that's probably because both girls look the part so well.

Here's a dapper Peter Pan, wearing a Tinker Bell necklace:

And Woody and Bo Peep!

Carl and Ellie from Up:

(Melody here is one of the several readers we met up with, and she's wearing little balloon earrings! She also made their grape soda pop pins.)

Despite the fact that I didn't announce we were going until we were on our way, John and I still had three or four groups of readers find us, which made the day extra fun. Somehow I didn't take a picture of them, but Tricia and Eric were first, and when I complimented Tricia's big floppy hat, she gave it to me! Ha! (Thanks again, guys!)

We stayed out front chatting with Allison and Jason here the longest, and when we realized the crowd had cleared, naturally John and I talked them into posing on the classic car out front:

Allison spray-painted her shoes to match, ladies, and they looked awesome. FASHION TIP. And don't these two look like they could be Dapper Day's cover models? I mean, she's holding the official Dapper Day fan and everything!

Some of the most fashionable gentlemen were sporting red lipstick smackeroos on their cheeks:

:D

I've been mostly scared off of Dapper Day because I don't "do" heels, so I was thrilled to see so many cute flat options in the crowd:

I also saw several pairs of saddle shoes. Fun!

Once everyone had filed into the Great Movie Ride, I hit upon the idea of staking out the exit to grab more pics as they left. Worked pretty well, too!

The gal in the middle is a dapper Incredible - see her little pin?

Oh! And here's one of the best Disney Bound Rapunzel & Flynn I've seen:

He even has her tiara hanging out of his bag! Ack! I LOVE DIZGEEKS SO MUCH, you guys.

I also saw several Dapper Mary Poppins, but this was my favorite:

Check out the little carpet bag.

One thing about taking pictures of people at Disney: it's not like conventions, where folks in costume are used to it, so it's fun to see all the surprised smiles when I ask. For example, these next two ladies were clearly having a ball, and dissolved into giggles when I complimented the one's sparkly Figment hat and asked for a photo:

My first shot of all the guys in suits was also fun, since they seemed so cool striding around in a pack, but broke into easy grins for the camera. I tell ya, sometimes I think carrying a camera is the easiest way to distribute compliments. I wish it was acceptable to ask for people's photos all the time. :)

And here's my final shot, snapped on our way out of the park:

Hope you enjoyed my Dapper Day! If you're local and want to get in on the bow-tied action, the next one is March 9th at the Magic Kingdom - and Disneyland has them twice a year, too, so check the Dapper Day website for those dates. (In fact, it started at Disneyland, so traditionally their events have been bigger and better - not to mention cooler. Not that I'm jealous. Ok, I'm jealous. WHY MUST IT BE SO HOT HERE?)