Character costumes?

[walee]

Does anyone know where Disney designs and builds their character costumes for the parks? Is it one specific costume shop that ships to all the parks around the world or is it all done at each resort location? I've always been curious.

 

[Tom]

For WDW, they're made on property. Central Shops makes the heads, and the costume shop does the rest. Not sure about DLR or overseas.

 

[WhatJaneSays]

For WDW, they're made on property. Central Shops makes the heads, and the costume shop does the rest. Not sure about DLR or overseas.

Currently I think the majority of the standard characters come out of the WDW Central Shops and Costuming, unless it's something particularly unique. I think their may be some that are made at Disneyland or out in Glendale for everyone, or at least there used to be.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

Central Shops is a place I'd love to get a tour of! I'm surprised it's not already an offering because I'd be willing to be a lot of people would pay to tour the facility.

 

[WhatJaneSays]

Central Shops is a place I'd love to get a tour of! I'm surprised it's not already an offering because I'd be willing to be a lot of people would pay to tour the facility.

The Backstage Magic tour stops at both Central Shops and Costuming ... most of the time. You never really know 100% of the time what you'll see. That tends to be a short stop and it's an expensive tour but it's worth it because it's 7+ hour tour of so much backstage stuff.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

The Backstage Magic tour stops at both Central Shops and Costuming ... most of the time. You never really know 100% of the time what you'll see. That tends to be a short stop and it's an expensive tour but it's worth it because it's 7+ hour tour of so much backstage stuff.

That's good to know. My wife and I have been talking about doing Keys to the Kingdom soon.

 

[walee]

Thanks all!

 

[WhatJaneSays]

That's good to know. My wife and I have been talking about doing Keys to the Kingdom soon.

Keys to the Kingdom is a great tour too! It's just MK but you get to see the Utilidor and it's a more sedate pace. Backstage Magic is very go-go-go even though they bus you around.

 

[Tom]

Central Shops is a place I'd love to get a tour of! I'm surprised it's not already an offering because I'd be willing to be a lot of people would pay to tour the facility.

I've taken Backstage Magic several times over the past 15 years, and every one included a long visit to Central Shops. I've seen some cool stuff in there, from trams to elephants to ToT vehicles to character heads.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Does the Central Shops also work on the Disney on Ice outfits as well? Because I've seen some real oddball looking atrocities for the show compared to their versions shown in the park...

 

[berlioz70]

Does the Central Shops also work on the Disney on Ice outfits as well? Because I've seen some real oddball looking atrocities for the show compared to their versions shown in the park...

Disney on Ice is a different company, Feld Entertainment. Disney partners very closely for those designs and initial construction, but the costumes are owned and maintained by Feld.

Also, while Central Shops does a lot of work locally (for world wide parks, not just FL); there are parts & pieces of the costumes that are outsourced to non-Disney vendors. For the work done by Disney, it does all happen in Florida (off WDW property, but close by). Frequently they take all the outsourced pieces and put them all together to create the final product.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Disney on Ice is a different company, Feld Entertainment. Disney partners very closely for those designs and initial construction, but the costumes are owned and maintained by Feld.

Also, while Central Shops does a lot of work locally (for world wide parks, not just FL); there are parts & pieces of the costumes that are outsourced to non-Disney vendors. For the work done by Disney, it does all happen in Florida (off WDW property, but close by). Frequently they take all the outsourced pieces and put them all together to create the final product.

A good example is The rabbits at the Give kids the world complex..