My wife and I took a trip to the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim in February of this year.
Originally, we were supposed to be there from February 20th thru to the
24th, but Mother Nature had other plans for us.
We
were walking back to our resort, the Grand Californian, after breakfast
at Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland Hotel, when I got a text from our airline saying our flight had been cancelled due
to a snow storm in Denver, Colorado, where we had connecting flights. Immediately upon
return to our room, I was on the phone trying to get a different flight. The only thing
available was the next day. While I started the search for another room,
my wife went to guest services, and added another day to our park
tickets.
We got another room at the Paradise Pier Hotel, across
the street from the Grand Californian. After check in, we headed right
back to Disney California Adventure. When we got there, we noticed many guests were dressed in vintage clothing from the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
It turned out that this was an unofficial event known as Dapper Day. From the
Dapper Day website:
Started
spring of 2011, DAPPER DAY organizes fashionable gatherings at The
Disney Resorts in LA, Orlando, and Paris: a spring, all-day event, and a
fall "evening affair." For the 21+ crowd there's our periodic cocktail
party "FOLLY" held at exceptional venues around LA throughout the year.
It was pretty awesome! If we'd known, we absolutely would have dressed for the occasion.
This
event is particularly suited (no pun intended) for Disney California
Adventure, as the park has a nostalgic feel throughout.
In fact,
the characters here even dress Dapper, in costumes only available at
Disney California Adventure. Note our "flight home" clothing. Not
awesome.
My wife Googled Dapper Day. In addition to the
official website, there was a link to a pin on eBay. It even said Dapper
Day pin in the description! We went to Elias and Co, on Buena Vista
Street, and found the pin. Upon closer inspection, we realized it says
nothing about Dapper Day, but as it's Mickey and Goofy dressed as Dapper
Dans, we bought it anyway to commemorate the day. It was $12.95.
Upon returning home, we checked the website again, and this is indeed
Disney's official pin commemorating the day. So
if you are into dressing in vintage clothes for fun, and your next
Disney park trip coincides with one of the events, get Dapper!