Costume Rules?

[Karthur]

Hello all,

I'm in the very early stages of planning a trip to WDW for Spring 2013. My SIL who is 42 and special needs will be joining us. She is 42, but functions on about an 8-year old level and is on the autistic spectrum. In all the times we've gone, we've never gotten a GAC for her since she is fine about crowds/sensory issues/anything it would help with.

Anywho...her latest thing has been dressing up like the Disney Princesses. My MIL is a pretty darn good seamstress and has made her quite a few costumes that she wears to Ren Faires and for Halloween.

My question is: I read somewhere that anyone with an adult ticket cannot wear a costume in the park except for MNSSHP. Is this true? Would an exception be made for an adult with special needs?

I tried finding Disney's official answer on their website, but no luck.

Thanks in advance.

 

[aripantaloon]

No, adults are not permitted to wear costumes in the park. Kids can't differentiate between adults with special needs in a costume and "real" princesses who are cast members.

 

[Gorechick]

I've read that adults are not allowed to wear character costumes as it will confuse young children. I'm not sure if you could wear something in the style of a princess but not resembling a particular Disney princess. I would contact guest relations for guests with special needs.

 

[Karthur]

Thanks for the replies. I figured that would be the case and I totally understand. I'm sure SIL will just be thrilled to be there, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Though, I figured I'd check.

 

[livndisney]

Hello all,

I'm in the very early stages of planning a trip to WDW for Spring 2013. My SIL who is 42 and special needs will be joining us. She is 42, but functions on about an 8-year old level and is on the autistic spectrum. In all the times we've gone, we've never gotten a GAC for her since she is fine about crowds/sensory issues/anything it would help with.

Anywho...her latest thing has been dressing up like the Disney Princesses. My MIL is a pretty darn good seamstress and has made her quite a few costumes that she wears to Ren Faires and for Halloween.

My question is: I read somewhere that anyone with an adult ticket cannot wear a costume in the park except for MNSSHP. Is this true? Would an exception be made for an adult with special needs?

I tried finding Disney's official answer on their website, but no luck.

Thanks in advance.

Disney's offical answer is adults cannot wear costumes except for MNSSHP. A few months ago we saw an older gentleman in the park dressed in costume. He was asked to change. He was special needs, but according to the CM and manager-the policy is the same for all. (equal)

What you CAN do (and many do) is wear a character tee shirt and matching skirt.

 

[buffettgirl]

what about letting her wear a princess hat and carry a wand?? I wonder if that would feel the same to her...maybe a special "princess" shirt? (Maybe tell her that she could go as a 'princess on vacation"? )

 

[Karthur]

Oh, that's a great idea, buffettgirl!
Thanks so much for suggesting it.

 

[tikistitch]

Our last trip, we went with my cousin who is an adult with special needs and she wanted to dress up like Rapunzel. We thankfully found out about the adult costume rule well beforehand, and my aunt made her outfits that were street clothes versions of the costume. For Rapunzel she made a purple top with puff sleeves and paired it with a purple pleated cheerleader style skirt. It was enough that she felt she was a princess, but wasn't costumey enough for a CM to have to ask us to remove it. She received a lot of compliments on it, too!

 

[SueM in MN]

Just agreeing with the others.
If you DO ever get a chance to go in Fall and go to MNSSHP, seeing all the costumes is really neat.

All the ideas were great. Sometimes the Disney store on line has some cute, inexpensive tee shirts that she might like. If she doesn't want a Princess hat, you could maybe find a tiara.
If you bring anything like hat, wand, tiara, plan that she may find it uncomfortable or bothersome after a while, so up may need to store it somewhere.

 

[js]

If your sil is still in her princess stage next spring and she can't wear a costume, perhaps your mil could give her a tiarra to wear.
When I travel with my family and my mother, I wear my tiarra, much to my dd's-18 and ds's-14 dismay
Maybe your sil could do this too

 

[LockShockBarrel]

I totally agree with the others. You could easily go "princess themed", with character wear and tiaras and whatnot. So long as it doesn't look like a costume, you should be fine.