Visiting Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park is a big deal! Some elements of your visit, like weather and ride closures are out of your control, but something you can control is what you wear and how to prepare. We suggest reading our Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep for a guide to planning your trip. Today, we have an article on what to wear for your visit to Disneyland Resort. This is part one, and it covers base layers and basic clothing. Be sure to subscribe so you will not miss upcoming posts on what to wear to Disneyland.
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We Always Wear Breathable Base Layers to Disneyland
Whether we visit Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park during the heat of July or the chill of January, we like to wear comfortable “base layers.” This means we pick tops and bottoms that are lightweight, breathable and sweat-wicking or quick-drying.
Basically, we dress for the parks as if we are going for a long hike, because we kind of are doing just that. Our base layers are gym or outdoor-type clothing that will move with us without chafing or trapping sweat.
On summer days, the base layers are sometimes all we need. On cooler days, we add seasonal layers to these base layers (more on this in part two).
Base Layer Recommendations
Here are some links to clothing we have worn at Disneyland Resort:
- Moisture Wicking Tees: Here are some nicely priced basic athletic t-shirts. We have put these to the test at Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park, and these tops have come out on top.
- Men’s Athletic Shorts: These are “dry fit” shorts with an attached liner. You probably know whether you like to wear your athletic shorts with a liner or not. We think it’s nice for climbing in and out of ride vehicles and pulling sweat away from the skin. Plus, these are an economical choice.
- Board Shorts: These are not moisture-wicking. Instead they are very quick-drying and light shorts designed for water sports. We like that there double as a pool (or beach) cover-up AND day wear for the parks. We love the Carve Designs brand for cute and functional clothing.
- Moisture Wicking Muscle Shirt: Title Nine is our other go-to brand for athletic wear. You may need to look around to find a style that works for you, but we think the quality is great. This one drys quickly and washes well.
- In colder weather, we like hiking pants like these or like these . Or, we might wear leggings similar to these under an athletic dress like this.
Our Experience with Breathable Clothing for Kids at Disneyland
Sometimes our kids like to wear athletic dry-fit type clothing to the parks like these, but other times they are more comfortable is a natural fiber like cotton. When it comes to cotton, keep in mind that it is slow to dry and heavy when wet, so we usually pack a change of clothes or two (see our strategy for this in our upcoming post on laundry and packing for Disneyland). Amazon has their own line of cotton tees for kids here, and we think you can never go wrong with Carter’s tees (also here).
Whatever material we choose, we like to dress our kids in distinctive colors. The dynamic choices reflect the joy of visiting, but they also help us spot our kids easily.
Making Functional Clothing More Fun for Disneyland with Iron-ons!
Because these very functional base layers can also be a little too practical and not enough fun, we like to dress them up a little. We have an article about comfy princess outfits here that we recommend reading for suggestions about practical yet fun accessories.
We also like to use our Cricut Maker 3 and iron-on vinyl to dress-up the shirts! When we first ventured into using cutting machines, we started with the much lower-priced Cricut Joy, but we eventually switched to the Cricut Maker 3, because we were doing so many projects. We have used both to make fun Disneyland visit shirts.
Here are some iron-on vinyl choices to get you started:
- Cricut Value Iron-on Vinyl, Rainbow Sampler (so many colors!)
- Holographic Sparkle Iron-on Vinyl Sampler
- Reflective Iron-on Vinyl, Rainbow (a kid favorite!)
- Glitter “Smart” Iron-on Vinyl (so easy to use)
You can check the Cricut Design Space app for licensed image files for Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel characters to get started on your own Disneyland tees.
Dressing Up For Disneyland with Tie-Dye
If iron-on vinyl is not practical for you, we also love tie-dye! We find that a family tie-dye session is a fun way to prepare for a Disney trip. It makes cotton clothing more exciting and totally unique. We have even combined tie-dye and iron-on vinyl on some shirts.
We recommend using 100% cotton clothing for your tie-dye session, and we really like Tulip One-Step Tie Dye kits.
Another reason we love to tie-dye is that it is a great way to revive old clothing. A stain on a well-loved t-shirt can be easily disguised with some rainbow dye! Save that clothing money for a dole whip instead!
Thanks for reading part one of our advice on what to wear to Disneyland Resort.
This post focused on base layers that are practical and fun. We have a post on what to wear in cold weather here, and another on shoes here. Be sure to subscribe so you will not miss that and future posts on what to wear to Disneyland.
Thanks again for reading!