Dapper Day has quickly become one of Disney’s most popular unofficial holidays celebrated in the parks. Twice a year, guests in Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Disneyland Paris celebrate “Dapper Day.” On these days, guests in the Disney parks dress up in their Sunday best, most of the time inspired off of fashion from the 1950s. Guests in Disneyland created this tradition to pay homage to the opening of the park in 1955, where all of the park’s first visitors dressed in their most dapper outfits to spend their day in the Happiest Place on Earth.
I first attended Dapper Day during my Disney College Program in Spring 2013. My friends and I wore simple dresses to DisneyBound as various characters and meet other dapper guests in Magic Kingdom. On this day, Dapper Day wasn’t quite as popular in Florida as it was in California. Since then, photos on social media have helped the holiday grow to one of the most popular events in the parks each year.
This year, my roommate and I participated in Dapper Day in 
Disneyland before I went to work. I was dressed as The Haunted Mansion and my roommate was Ariel. Something I’ve noticed grow in popularity along with the unofficial holiday is the increase in dapper DisneyBounds. Each Dapper Day, Leslie Kay (the creator of DisneyBounding) hosts a DisneyBound meetup somewhere in either Disneyland or California Adventure. This year, the meetup was located in the World of Color viewing area. I couldn’t make it because it started at the same time as my shift, but my roommate was able to take plenty of photos of some of the beautiful and creative dapper DisneyBounds!
(All photos courtesy of Stellar Imaging)
It’s always exciting to see some of the beautiful and creative outfits guests put together for Dapper Day. Can’t wait to see what people think of next year!
Upcoming Dapper Days:
- April 16, 2016: Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris
- May 1, 2016: Disneyland Resort CA
For more information about Dapper Day, you can visit its official website: dapperday.com!