Disneyland Resort is a place full of wonder and boundless imagination. When we visit, we like to become part of the magic, and this extends to our clothing choices. Our littlest adventurers like to dress like a princess in the parks, but we have observed that plastic crowns and equally plastic-y dresses can lead to royal sized tears. We want everyone to stay comfortable so we can focus on having fun and not being too hot, too cold or too itchy to enjoy Disneyland. Over many visits to Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park, we have developed a kind of formula for how to be both comfortable and royal.
This is the rare post on our site that contains product links to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We receive a small commission from Amazon for referring you with the product links below. All of the products are ones we have purchased and actually like! Here we go: how to comfortably dress like a princess at Disneyland…
We skip the uncomfortable princess dresses and go for tutus instead.
A little one in a glittering poofy dress sure is charming. But, those same dresses are usually not made of very breathable fabric. Instead of buying and wearing princess dresses, we add a tutu to the top of whatever outfit our royal children are wearing. The elastic waists allow us to slip tutus over a puffy jacket or lightweight tee and athletic shorts with equal ease. Those same elastic waists mean one tutu can be worn at multiple ages and stages. As a bonus, lightweight tulle makes a tiny tutu easily packable. Our little cuties leave their tutus on all day without a single complaint, and the resulting photos are precious.
You can purchase or make your own tutu. We have had good luck finding gently used tutus at second hand stores.
We opt for stretchy felt crowns over plastic tiaras.
You may notice a theme with elastic in this post: we like items that can adapt to different situations and that kids can handle on their own. We have made a varied selection of headband type “crowns” out of soft elastic and felt. We embellish the crowns with hot fix crystals and iron-on vinyl so they really sparkle. You can see several examples of these crowns in the photo accompanying this post. As you can see, the crowns can be worn directly on the head OR over a hat. These felt princess crowns are really soft, so we have never had any complaint about comfort. Plus, they are so thin and flexible that they barely take-up any room in a bag. This is a comfortable and convenient way to instantly dress like a princess in Disneyland.
We made these crowns by cutting both the felt (like this pack) and shimmery iron-on vinyl (like this or this) on our Cricut Maker 3. We then sized some elastic to our princesses’ heads and sewed it onto the ends of the felt.
On cold days, we get that Disneyland princess aesthetic by adding fleece to our tiaras.
Our stretchy tiaras and tutus fit around winter hats and jackets, but we’ve also used iron-on vinyl to add sparkly tiaras to our hats and ear warmers.
We add extra princess glitter to our Disneyland outfits in easy ways.
To round out our princess attire, we add sparkle in easy and comfortable ways. We recommend doing this by donning bejeweled sunglasses, glitter nail polish (we like this one for kids) or sparkly shoelaces.
Thank you for reading about our experience for dressing like a princess in Disneyland while staying comfortable.
You may want to read our other suggestions for what to wear or bring to the parks. We also recommend our Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep as you plan your visit.