News Disneyland’s new Star Wars land is enforcing the theme park’s official costume policy

[DBF John]

You can’t wear Star Wars costumes in Galaxy’s Edge — not even the ones on sale

Disneyland’s new Star Wars land is enforcing the theme park’s official costume policy

www.polygon.com

 

[Sharon&Susan]

 

[truecoat]

Nobody’s going to buy those expensive costumes then. Harry Potter land sells tons of robes and other clothing. And people can wear them in the parks too.

 

[TROR]

Nobody’s going to buy those expensive costumes then. Harry Potter land sells tons of robes and other clothing. And people can wear them in the parks too.

Yep. This is moronic if they want sales.

 

[Anjin]

Nobody’s going to buy those expensive costumes then. Harry Potter land sells tons of robes and other clothing. And people can wear them in the parks too.

Yep. This is moronic if they want sales.

I get that Disney is going to Disney, but this is the most baffling decision.

 

[truecoat]

I get that Disney is going to Disney, but this is the most baffling decision.

We have the most immersive land you can visit in a theme park, just don’t dress the part.

 

[MrMcDuck]

If Galaxy's Edge is supposed to be a truly immersive "appendage" (couldn't resist) where you can roleplay as part of this or that team, then they need to at least let people wear the costumes (err, uniforms) that they are selling as part of the experience.

 

[TheIndoorKid]

Obviously, this is a terrible decision. I've been so tempted to buy robes at Universal's Harry Potter areas and it's only because I see so many people wearing them around. It really helps promote the atmosphere and makes it way more immersive. I'm not gonna spend all that money just to wear it once or twice at home, but I would possibly pay that money if it adds to the experience. Pay for the experience, not the item.

 

[Phroobar]

I remember going to Star Wars day at Disneyland and there was this guy dressed up as Ben Kenobi. After we took a group picture in front of the castle, he went over to Adventureland and had his own mini meet and greet with park guests. It took cast members hours to realize that he wasn't an employee and throw him out.

 

[TROR]

I remember going to Star Wars day at Disneyland and there was this guy dressed up as Ben Kenobi. After we took a group picture in front of the castle, he went over to Adventureland and had his own mini meet and greet with park guests. It took cast members hours to realize that he wasn't an employee and throw him out.

Remember Maui?

 

[Rich T]

I'm actually very happy about this. The last thing I want at Disneyland is to be around guests "play-acting". Get thee to a Ren Fair, Adventurer's Club ruiners.

 

[Texas84]

I wanted to wear a blaster but no toy guns allowed.

 

[chadwpalm]

I remember going to Star Wars day at Disneyland and there was this guy dressed up as Ben Kenobi. After we took a group picture in front of the castle, he went over to Adventureland and had his own mini meet and greet with park guests. It took cast members hours to realize that he wasn't an employee and throw him out.

This. People have to realize it's for the safety of the guests, not because they want to ruin your fun or immersion. Actually, Universal does have this rule which isn't explained as well as Disney's, but is the same idea:
(This is under prohibited items)

• Clothing or accessories that may create a false impression that visitors work for Universal

It's one thing to wear a wizarding cape, especially if you can still see your street clothes underneath. If you are dressed up in full wizarding outfits and can be mistaken as an employee, then they may or may not do something. Probably depends on the employee who spots you and their interpretation. I've never been to The Wizarding World, so I don't know what the employee uniforms or street characters look like or if any of them look like full wizard outfits.

Disney takes things much more seriously, probably because they want to distinguish themselves as a safer park, but also could be because of incidents that we haven't necessarily heard about that were serious enough to implement the stricter rules (the whole "he/she is the reason we can't have nice things" concept). Sure, most people just want to dress up and have fun, but what about malicious folks?

Perhaps if you were just wearing a Jedi robe and your street clothes were visible they wouldn't do anything because you obviously don't look like a character or cast member, but full on garb could definitely give guests the false impression you are a character or cast member and sadly there are weird people in this world that would (and have) run with it. Disney wants to maintain the integrity of their characters and not have that ruined by someone play-acting as one and cause an incident that reflects badly on them......or worse.....give a child a false sense of security and....well.....I don't like to think of those kinds of things.

 

[Rich T]

Obviously, this is a terrible decision.

No, it's a great decision. It's Disneyland, not Comic Con. Being surrounded by costumed geeks non-CMS makes a theme park visit worse, not better. No matter how much Disney's been hyping it otherwise, this is still a land in Disneyland. It's not its own separate little boutique LARP park.

 

[flynnibus]

This is Disney just trying to upsell the hotel experience where they'll let you dress up

 

[VJ]

I remember going to Star Wars day at Disneyland and there was this guy dressed up as Ben Kenobi. After we took a group picture in front of the castle, he went over to Adventureland and had his own mini meet and greet with park guests. It took cast members hours to realize that he wasn't an employee and throw him out.

But WHYYYYYY can't I dress up in the park?????

This. This is why. Clickbait sites are going wild with "DISNEY IS EEEEEVIL" articles when like... the no-costume policy has nothing to do with Galaxy's Edge. It was in place long before the land opened.

I do agree that Disney shouldn't be selling movie-accurate costumes in Galaxy's Edge if Guests aren't allowed to wear them in-park, but I can understand where Disney's coming from.

 

[flynnibus]

Clickbait sites are going wild with "DISNEY IS EEEEEVIL" articles when like... the no-costume policy has nothing to do with Galaxy's Edge. It was in place long before the land opened.

Yes, but GE significantly alters the discussion. Disneyland wasn't selling full Mickey Mouse suits before... nor were they promoting and suggesting guests pretend they be like Mickey.

 

[VJ]

Yes, but GE significantly alters the discussion. Disneyland wasn't selling full Mickey Mouse suits before... nor were they promoting and suggesting guests pretend they be like Mickey.

That's true. That's why I noted that Disney shouldn't be banning costumes that they're selling in the park.

 

[flynnibus]

I think the bigger issue is Disney has rolled back a basic tenant of it's operations in that CMs should be easily recognizable so guests know who to seek, speak to, etc. With Disney's 'customize your costume' rollout for GE... the distinction of picking out a CM gets way harder if guests are dressing up themselves. Thus making it so Disney needs to be more strict on guests.

 

[Rich T]

Yes, but GE significantly alters the discussion. Disneyland wasn't selling full Mickey Mouse suits before... nor were they promoting and suggesting guests pretend they be like Mickey.

GE does not change the fact that Disneyland is Disneyland (and thank *goodness* they weren't selling full body Mickey Mouse suits).

Disney just wants to have their cake and eat it, too. No surprise there.