Disney Bounding FAQ

***Updated 11/12/24

Do you know about Disney Bounding? It's dressing up in the idea or essence of the characters. In theory you would use clothes you already own, putting them together in ways the remind you of a particular character. A yellow dress with a green belt could be Pluto or a gold colored skirt or pants with a red shirt might be Winnie the Pooh. For years we’ve sort of adjacent bounded, as lovers of character-themed Minnie Mouse ears. Rapunzel, Pluto, Moana, BB8, Chewbacca, we delight in them. We often pair a new pair of themed ears with a t-shirt or spirit jersey that matches. But while we have had great fun with that over many trips, that’s not really bounding. Our last few trips we have lept into the world of actual bounding - with coordinated Minnie years, because we gotta be true to ourselves. Let’s look at what we’ve learned and some of our bounds for the last few trips.

How we use to "bound" - Minnie ears and a cute Disney shirt focusing on a particular character.

What is Disney Bounding?

Unless it is at MNSSHP adults can not dress up in costumes at Walt Disney World. What they can do is dress in the essence of a character, and thus bounding was born. One might dress in a light blue dress with a black ribbon necklace when channeling Cinderella, or in a polka-dot skirt and dark shirt when channeling Minnie Mouse. In theory this would not have to cost you any extra money, you can find pieces in your own wardrobe to create the feel of your favorite Disney characters.

What’s the difference between Cosplay and bounding?

Cosplay is straight up dressing in an elaborate costume of the character. That is 1000% not allowed for adults on Walt Disney Property - except at the Halloween party. Bounding is clothing inspired by the essence of who a character is.

Okay, so I want to bound on my vacation. Where do I start?

Think about a Disney character and then look at your own wardrobe. Like we said - have a yellow sun dress? Pair it with a green belt and you’ve got a look inspired by Pluto. Have a coral colored shirt and a short khaki skirt - Moana. Red shirt and mustard yellow shorts - boom Winnie the Pooh.

Here are some of idea boards for our trip last year. (We are still hooked on rocking those Minnie ears - but that is not necessary)

And here are a few pictures of how it turned out. I forgot the belt for my red dress, and I'm still grumpy about it. But we were pleased all and all! Let us know what you think!

These are our idea boards for our trip in October of 2024

We went with a mixture of character bounding and those fun t-shirts we love so much. And we have what some might call an excessive amount of Minnie ears, so we try to reuse those whenever possible. A couple of these shirts were recycled from previous trips. Here's how they turned out.

How do you think we did? We had fun, which is what really matters most. We're working on putting together some boards with bound ideas on our Pinterest, so head over there if you need more inspiration.