How To Disney-Bound On A Budget

From a distance, you spot cow-print pants and a yellow t-shirt that shines in the Florida sun. Nestled on her head, a young woman wears Mickey ears with unique colors and sequins in crimson red, bold yellow and denim blue. I’m guessing she’s a Toy Story fan!

Most Disney fans love to visit Disney parks and dress up like iconic characters. They do this by “Disney Bounding.” According to USA Today, Disney-bounding “allows adult guests to dress in ways that resemble their favorite Disney characters […]” without the use of a costume. Exciting! However, with inflation increases, it can be difficult for one to find affordable clothes, let alone, to resemble a character.

Nevertheless, if you want to try Disney-Bounding on a budget, I have THREE helpful tips that will help you have fun with your wardrobe and allow you to be immersed in the magic without hurting your pockets!

1. Choose a Disney character and create a color palette.

Once you choose a character, you need to evaluate the colors the character incorporates in his/her fur, clothing, or accessories. To test this, I chose two Disney characters: Lilo & Stitch.

STITCH: His color scheme includes maya & cyan blue, dark blue, and baroness.

LILO: Her colors are real red, cotton white, avid apricot, and Derbyshire.

2. Find an affordable store (physical or online).

Some retail and discount variety stores you can visit are Walmart, Five Below, T.J. Maxx/Marshalls and Kohls, to name a few. This is what I found during my online search. The clothes with different shades of blue are for both men and women of all ages who want to Disney-bound as Stitch. The red apparel is for a Lilo Disney-bound.

3. Accessorize, Accessorize, Accessorize!

Accessorizing is KEY to complete your Disney-bound, but some accessories can be expensive. Therefore, (online only) I suggest typing the character and accessory on your search engine, e.g., “stitch backpack.” Upon retrieving an affordable website, use the sort by tool and change it to “Low-High” on the webpage. In this way, all the low-price items will show up first. If you go to a physical store, head to the “Clearance” section, to see its offers.

Here is the collection of accessories I found to mix and match for my Lilo/Stitch outfits.

I remember feeling excitement when I showcased my Jessie Disney-bound at Hollywood Studios. It took weeks of preparation, especially my relentless search for “inexpensive cow-print pants” on Google! But the result was a success. When people Disney-bound as their favorite character, they recall their nostalgia and express their style.

After sharing my three tips, I hope you, dear reader, will benefit from this article and find affordable clothes/accessories to wear to the parks. I believe it is possible to have fun with fashion without having to spend a fortune. All things considered, good luck with your search!

Written by

Maria Mora

For as long as Maria can remember, there was always a Disney movie playing in her house. Whether it was The Little Mermaid, Dumbo, or Tarzan, she became enthralled with all things Disney. She has visited the Disney Parks over 100 times and on different continents! Her love of Disney goes hand in hand with her love of reading, which has motivated her through the years to become a zealous writer. She hopes that whatever she does helps her community. After all, with a little faith, trust, and pixie dust, anything is possible!