[Escapade] Magician’s Red ~ Dapper Day Fall 2016

This is my third time attending Dapper Day festivities at the parks. According to the monorail operator I was chatting with in the cockpit, this is the largest unofficial meet up at the Disneyland Resort. Dapper Day is nothing but mid-century realness. For some, it’s experiencing both parks as if it was opening day on 1955 sans operational problems and misbehaving pack mules. For others, it’s an opportunity to Disneybound a fancy and imaginative version of their favorite Disney characters. For others, it’s also a chance to to shop for clothes and to continue living the dapper life. Dapper Day is not just an unofficial event in the park, it is also an expo that takes place at the Disneyland Hotel. This Fall, I decided to go on Sunday and also have lunch with my friends and family who were without annual passes, but still wanted to dress retro and enjoy the Disney magic.

The Outfit

If you’re as fashion conscious as me, you probably have had a dream dress. For the longest time, ever since I was deep into the pinup life, I was eyeing this dress from Stop Starring Clothing. You can only get it on Daddy-O’s online website; it’s no longer on the official Stop Starring website or any other store that usually carries the brand. It had a bit of a Tower of Terror bellhop flair to it. I decided not to Disneybound; I was just gonna be my usual self. The hat is from Unique Vintage from my first Dapper Day. The wig is from Tasty Peach Studios. The shoes are from Payless.

And here’s our copy editor’s last minute rendition of Hades from Hercules.

Goofy’s Kitchen: Dapper Style

I’ve been to Goofy’s Kitchen back in 2008, but I have very little recollection of it. I do remember much more Disney characters running around, however, considering it’s been eight years since I’ve tried Goofy’s Kitchen, much has changed. If you’ve never had a character themed dinning event – you should totally do it with a group of friends. I had six good friends with me at Goofy’s Kitchen. Dinning style is like a Vegas style buffet. You pay up first before you are seated (tip is included so that there’s no hassle at the end of the meal). The price also includes a choice of fountain drink. I’ve heard mixed things about the brunch menu at Goofy’s Kitchen. Granted we went during the start of the November menu. We were pleasantly surprised! For about $45 per person, it came with an all you can eat buffet that shares the same kitchen as Steakhouse 55. One of my friends pointed out that the seared salmon tasted exactly as the seared salmon at Steakhouse 55. The food was delicious and definitely worth the price. Aside from the food, you’re also paying for the environment. We were pleasantly greeted by Goofy and friends.

While most Yelp reviews say that character dinning is simply for kids, I have to kindly disagree. Most of my friends are Disney people in their 30s that enjoyed the character interaction. Even Stan got into a (fake) spat with one of the characters. We were very much entertained and loved every second of it. A lot of us would come back to try out Storytellers at the Grand Californian We were very much impressed!

Disneybounding highly encouraged!

Dapper Day Expo

And then we spend a few hours shopping at Dapper Day Expo. Bless Pinup Girl Clothing and their comfy chairs – they made excellent butt resting places for the significant others. Dapper Day Expo was a free event in the Disneyland Hotel’s convention center. Last year, there was a classic car show, but this year was mostly focused on vendors. There were definitely more sellers this year including indie artists such as XO Creations and pattern companies such as Simplicity. We were there on Day 2 and it was nice that there was still stock of mid-century style. There were plenty of selfie stations, hence, it was tough to get signal at times because people were posting to Instagram. There were scavenger hunts and hashtag drawings.

I ended up picking up a pair of flat shoes and a purse from Luxe. Deborah, our site contributor, took home a hat and the limited Victory Red lipstick from Besame Cosmetics. Stan finally got his bowling shirt from Steady Clothing. There’s something for everyone here!

Shoutout to Cherry Lane of Starbrite Motel for the photo. Hope you can be a vendor next year! Your products have a ton of potential to do well!

With Amber Arden.

Pinup Girl Clothing’s unofficial significant other butt rest zone.

With Doris May Day! <3

On occasion, Jared might be finding bowties for furbabies.

“Where’s my elephant?” We named these pachyderms “Stampy.”

Saying farewell to a friend…

This might be my last time checking out the Hollywood Tower before January 2. I might as well do it in style…and get as many photos as possible. Thank you to all the kind people in line.

Oh hey…it’s Talking Tina

Jared’s writing room ideas…

After watching through season 1 of The Twilight Zone on Netflix, I finally understand this reference. (Victoria West can be found in the library to the right)

For the past few visits, the central elevator wasn’t operational.

And a whole lot of photos from the park…

Sunday morning right before park opening. Long lines are long.

They were boarding so I just hopped on.

Obligatory castle photo. Can the OC have more snow…please? I’m tired of this long summer!

Running into fellow Disneybounder, Nolan. He was casually asking help to have his photo taken. I gladly obliged! He thought I was bounding as Betty Boop, but I was simply myself. (I’ll take the compliment!)

Jungle Cruise was closed because of the holiday conversion. I’ve never been to the Jingle Cruise..hopefully, I can try it out before my pass is blocked out during the holiday season.