10 Tips for Picking Shoes for Disney

The easiest way to sink your day at the parks? Painful, achey, blistered tootsies. Those parks are big, and there is no short, quick walk ANYPLACE. You don't want to be limping back to your room within a couple of hours; you wanna go all day! Picking the right shoes is important.

This topic is very near and dear to my heart. As someone who suffers from daily foot pain, the prospect of walking for hours and hours, miles and miles, every single day on hard pavement is a terrifying one. But over the years I have figured out some ways to make my days walking in the parks a lot more comfortable. Here are a few tips I can offer:

Dressing 4 Disney - Keep it Casual

My summer wardrobe is coming together beautifully. These comfy orange braided leather sandals came and are in "walking around the house testing" as we speak. I love the simple crochet detail on the Old Navy tank--just enough to punch it up without being overdone. I found the brown leather wrap bracelet I have been seeking (not this one posted, though I love the fishhook closure!), which has a lightweight feel and effortlessness to it I really wanted.

Dressing 4 Disney - Keep it Casual by tribaldancer featuring a canvas crossbody

What's in your bag? Disney Theme Park Edition!

Seriously??

I was never big on purses. I resisted carrying a purse until half way through my 20's, and always kept it very very minimal. As I grew older (and older), I found my tolerance for purses has increased, and so has my expectations of what to carry on my person daily. My wallet and phone of course always need to go with me, but now things like glasses (for dark theaters or driving at night), sunglasses, lip gloss and/or lip stick (did I also mention I eschewed most makeup until my 30's?), the requisite pack of tissues (did we learn nothing from our grandparents? so versatile!), collapsible market bag, business cards, spare pen, headphones/bluetooth headset, my iPod touch, sometimes my tablet. Oh and my battery backup for my phone (hey, you never know when Ingress opportunities will arise). And though I still REFUSE to carry some of those giant bags that look like you're going for an overnight trip when you're at the grocery store, my daily purse is definitely larger as the years go on.

But when I hit the parks. It's time to simplify, pare down, scale back. Coming from Seattle, Orlando's summer heat (heck, spring and fall heat!) is challenging to my physical comfort. My skin gets very hot and sensitive and I would prefer to carry nothing on me at all save for what fits in pockets. On my first trip to the parks, I tried this. I packed only clothes with pockets (save for evenings out-outfits) and tried to tuck things here and there. I brought a shoulder bag just in case...and ended up using it most of the trip after all. Because I learned early on that going into a sweltering theme park for 8-10 hours, even if you split that into 4-5 hour increments with a hotel visit in between, requires some preparation and a few essentials.

Dressing 4 Disney - Gettin the Blues

A quick trip to Lane Bryant to return some online purchases turned into...more shopping. I came home with the most unexpected top--a lightweight envelope-back sweater tee. I thought it would chop m torso up, but it ended up looking really adorable. Paired with a navy blue tank, some gold jewelry, and the now-famous (in my house) white pedal pushers, this outfit would be a great snappy-casual evening look. Drinks around the world, anyone?

Dressing 4 Disney - Gettin the Blues by tribaldancer featuring Lane Bryant

Disney World in Summer - What I Want to Fix

Alright, so the last time we were in Disney World was in winter--the first week of December to be exact. And I will see what I can find clothing wise for photos from that one. But here are some photos from our last summer trip. What was going on in my world of theme park fashion back in 2007? Unabashed Croc wearing on my part, for starters. Hey, they're comfy, and I still don't judge anyone who wears them. But the classic Crocs are not fashionable, full stop. It's a choice to wear them despite that fact...and choice I have made not to do.

Alright, here is one of my more egregious fashion faux pas. Comfortable without question. Great for a dance class (which is what this all is--dancewear!), but for fashion, theme park or otherwise? Oh 2007 Shay *shaking my head*...you so funny. Note ubiquitous Overland Equipment bag. It's a theme.

Me and my baby in "China" (with Pal Mickey! Oh how I miss him.). A-line tank, jean shorts, and probably Crocs or tennis shoes. Note the bag, no accessorizing of any sort.

My "nice night out" for my birthday at Narcoossee. Delicious dinner, views of Wishes fireworks across Bay Lake...and a plain black jersey dress with a very casual necklace. Again, comfortable, but not much of a boosted style profile for evening. I mean, this doesn't look that different from the dance clothes I wore in the first pic, right? I could be wearing cropped palazzo pants and Crocs out of frame for all you know (I wasn't, but now you can't unsee it...). I swear I had a different handbag, no crossbody or ripstop nylon to be seen.

I think my shoes were probably my black braided leather thongs with kitten heels. Similar to the image below, but with a heel. I am pretty sure my brain just went "Heel! That means fancy!" *facepalm*

So there's a little perspective on what I wore in the past. A "where I came from", if you will. Where I hope to end up is what this blog is all about!

Dressing 4 Disney - One Skirt A Dozen Ways

In our family, we TRY to share a single checked bag and bring our carry-ons and call it good. Methinks this upcoming trip will be harder to accomplish this, thanks to...well...Dressing 4 Disney. Ha! BUT this just creates another challenge, right?

Mixing and matching is the only way to get a week's worth of fashion into one checked bag. Here is a simple mid-calf jersey skirt I own from Old Navy, and a bunch of options for snazzy combinations, day and evening. (It's all about OPTIONS!)With my stretched ears I can't usually wear dangly earrings like these, but they were both so lovely I had to include them. The belts? They come as a three-pack! Aren't they adorable? I have found belts do a LOT to pull otherwise drab outfits together for me. One could easily include a shrug, sweater, or lightweight linen shirt in this collection for cooler evenings and yet more options.

Dressing 4 Disney - One Skirt A Dozen Ways by tribaldancer featuring a a line skirt

Dressing for Disney - Beachy Flair

I now own white pedal pushers. White. Pedal pushers. Like...non-ironically. That fact will not seem strange to many, but here in Seattle, the old "Don't wear white after Labor Day" would usually be better summed up by "Don't wear white...ever." We don't wear a lot of white. We are plenty white already without any help, thanks to nine months of grey skies and drizzle. But when putting together looks for balmy Florida, this fantasy of mine came to the surface. You see, white pants are something I have never felt I could pull off. No, not just geographically speaking, but just...me. I am a plus-sized 5'3", so white and light colors are something I shy away from and instead favor either saturated colors (like orange, fuscia, turquoise) or earth tones (deep plum, navy blue, burgundy). And of course black, the universal weight-loss miracle color. There is this world of pastels, neons, and whites that live outside of my vision--I can see it out of the corner of my eye, but I will not look directly at it.

Yeah, like that.

To me, white always looks so carefree and beachy. Like I should be on the deck of my boat with the wind in my hair, sipping champagne. Or strolling down some avenue perusing the shop windows for my next Hermes scarf or Birkin bag. Why I associate white pants with such extravagance, I will never be able to pinpoint, but there it is. So when I was skimming through various fashion blog posts and online catalogs, and invariably all the summery white dresses and shorts and sarongs are on display for the season, I felt the call...and I answered the challenge. I knew I had this green and white swingy A-line tank and thought it would go great with some white shorts or capris. The pedal pushers at Lane Bryant looked cute and were on 50% sale, so I snagged them.

I am happy to say I have since received them, tried them on, and decided yes...I CAN wear white pants. They fit well and look cute (in my opinion of course), and bonus, as a true neutral they go with tons of other items in my summer wardrobe for mixing and matching. Now, to get my skin to contrast just a teensy bit more...

Dressing for Disney - Beachy Flair by tribaldancer featuring yellow glasses