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Show Summary
Discover the secret to perfecting your Disneyland style with the fashion-forward insights of style maven Ilana McBride, who has worked previously at Disney Style and currently is the Director of Marketing and Social at Loungefly. Ilana shares about how she creates he own Disney Style, including what Disney bounding is and how anyone can do it!
Grab your most comfortable pair of Mickey ears because we're also tackling the practicalities of a day at the happiest place on Earth. Last, but definitely not least!
Find Ilana on Instagram on Loungefly's page or her personal Instagram @doublepairmartinis.
Be sure to check out the amazing bags at Loungefly.com.
Chapters and Time Stamps
0:00 Intro
27:10 How to Find Ilana
Show Transcript
Welcome to the ParkMagic Podcast, your place for insider tips for your next Disneyland Adventure. Whether you're a first-timer or first-time-in-a-while visitor, we're here to unwrap the secrets to creating and simplifying your dream Disneyland vacation.
Robyn:
Ilana McBride- Director or Marketing and Social at Loungefly
Today, we're talking about dressing in the parks, and I have the best person in the entire world here to talk to us about dressing for Disney. Not only is she the director of marketing and social media for Loungefly, previously, she worked for Disney Style. And she has more style in her pinky nail than I do in my entire family's body. So I'm so glad to have Ilana McBride on to talk about how to dress for Disney. Because I think sometimes people come in with like, there's just one way to do things. And there are so many fun ways, and some of them might even get you more attention from the characters, especially if you have a little one that's obsessed with one.
Ilana:
Totally, there are so many different ways to approach it. And the most important thing is that people are actually wanting to do that now and think about that before. So your experience of going to the theme parks now starts in your own home, right? Like it's not just packing and making sure you have a water bottle and sunscreen, but like, how do I look to make sure that I'm gonna have the maximum experience in the park? So yes, that was part of my going on, what I did at Disney Style really was about creating just a concept of Disney style. Like think about that, that didn't exist a long time ago, it was just you wear a graphic T with the Disney character on it. And you hoped that that was cool and not, you know, sort of frowned upon or, and now it is like an expression of your fandom that is so loved and is so mainstream. So there are so many ways to go about it.
Robyn:
Disney style. Like, what's your go-to when you're going to the park? I mean, I know that you have a pretty big following on social media. So whenever it's just you and you're not planning to take pictures or what, when you're planning on going, like, what are some of the things that you think about when you're deciding what to dress for at the park?
Ilana:
How Do You Decide on Your Disney Style
Yeah, so I very much am, somewhat first of all, I collect vintage Disney and apparel and accessories. So I really always like to wear that new old thing that I just got that I'm really excited to take pictures in and take pictures in that specific part of whatever land and really just paint this whole picture for myself. So I start there with some, whatever vintage, new new vintage thing that I just got, and build an outfit around that. That's really what my Disney Style starts with.
I also do, I dabble in Disneybounding because with who I am and what I do, I do enjoy a good Disney bound, particularly around dapper days. Or if I'm going with a group of friends and they don't, they're kind of lost on what should I wear? And how do I, you know, what should I dress in? And I don't know, I don't usually like take pictures and let alone into Disney park. What do I do then? I kind of steer us in the direction of, oh, well, why don't we all Disneybound in like a group Disneybound? And then, of course, being somebody who works at Loungefly, it always ties back to which bag am I gonna wear? What is the new one? And sometimes I like to wear one that hasn't been announced yet because I do see people taking pictures and things getting posted and putting that little teaser out.
Robyn:
What is Disney Bounding?
So for somebody who doesn't know, how would you describe Disneybounding because I think that there can be a little confusion? Sometimes people think it's dressing up as a costume. It's a little different.
Ilana:
It is definitely not a costume. It's really dressing inspired by the characters in your everyday clothes. So if you have to pull in costume pieces, then that is, you're not Disneybounding, you're putting together a costume, and the parks don't allow costumes for over a certain age. So I think it's for, yeah, I think so. And so Disneybounding is you're taking your own sort of creative style and making it inspired by a character or a ride. Or I've seen Disney bounds of dole whips and all sorts of stuff and really taking that color palette of whatever you're trying to be inspired by. And then having sort of like icons within your look that represent that character. So if you were a Winnie the Pooh Disney bound, for example, you would maybe do a red shirt of some sort, a yellow bottom of some sort, and maybe like honey pot earrings or something or little bees around a bracelet or something of that sort. But again, these are all pieces that you can find in regular stores everywhere. I love to go thrifting for Disney bounds because it really is just kind of piecing together different things. What I love most about Disneybounding is that you can also play with the different kinds of styles, so you might do a 70s Winnie the Pooh Disneybound and that would feel very different. And so you can do Winnie the Pooh 15 different times, all looking very differently. So that is sort of the fun creative aspect of Disneybounding too.
Robyn:
The other nice thing about Disneybounding is you can use what you already have. So especially if you're going to Disney on a budget, you're not spending $20 times 10 people for and you can coordinate your Disney bounds together to be like everybody from Peter Pan, and then it makes your group more identifiable as well.
Ilana:
Getting More Interaction from Characters with Disney Bounding
Characters love to see fans dressed in Disney bounds of those characters. I have definitely met Winnie the Pooh as Winnie the Pooh once before. Yeah, the characters really interact with you a lot more when you are dressed in their character, inspired by their character. And then of course, that makes for a great photo.
Robyn:
If you have a little one that's obsessed with ahsoka or obsessed with Cinderella, they don't have to be in the full costume. But if they see that, you know, your clothing indicates like "I'm a fan of yours," then I find that they do tend to gravitate towards that, the little one or adult.
Ilana:
Yeah, and something I really love, I did this with my daughter, was not necessarily thinking directly about the character you might meet but their world in particular. So my daughter had a denim dress with a little pink bow on it and she was Disneybounding as the Fairy Godmother, so when she met Cinderella, it was, you know, that completed the picture and the story and of course, she's like three years old at the time as a Fairy Godmother with this, you know, much taller Cinderella, and those are the memories that really are there for me and she's gonna laugh when she's older but they’re really there for me.
Robyn:
Matching T-Shirts: The Pros and Cons
I think we should talk a little bit about matching T-shirts because I think a lot of times people, when they're like, Okay, I'm gonna plan on my, like and this is not if you love matching T-shirts. You live your best Disney life. We're not I'm not trying to get people's yums. But I have found for me, every time you tried to do that either somebody spills on their shirt, somebody doesn't want to wear their shirt, or it's rainy and cold. And now you can't see the shirts. The only time that it's really worked for me is when I had a group of like 180 teenagers that I was bringing to the park, then you know, keeping the group together. But what are your thoughts on like matching T-shirts and like the pros and cons of that?
Ilana:
Yeah, I definitely think no hating on the matching shirt game if you are a matching shirt person and that is you've been doing it since you were little if it's tradition, then that's what going to Disney is all about, building and making these traditions so I am all for that. But to your point, they put a sweatshirt on, one person's cold, one's not whatever.
Alternates to Matching T-Shirts
So you do really have to find that thing that is going to be unified. And to me it's a lot easier to unify in something like a group Disney bound or what I like to do with my friends and or my family is like we'll pick a character and we'll just say everybody wear Mickey, you know, like somewhere on you because for me that means making jeans or vintage like vintage jeans that have Mickey on them. For my dad that means a graphic t that he found that Dino shop Disney For that has Mickey on it. So it will have something that unifies us but it's not necessarily like the exact so that's one way you can go about it. Another again is this is a group Disney bound I've done where we were all 101 Dalmatians of some sort and it was very easy to identify us walking through the park and black and with our in white with black spots.
Another is just having like a unified with like my when I go with my Loungefly team if we have a matching Loungefly bag or collection, something that just signifies all of us together but is an actual matching graphic t because those cost money too. That's a lot of those are a lot of money and no hate on it if that is part of your tradition, it is definitely something that we see often. But really, you know, making it your own or not feeling like you have to do that as what Disney style is Disney Style means many things.
Robyn:
Now, you have more style in your pinky than I do. But what I did when my kids were little is I would just make sure that the colors of the shirts all matched. And then for little kids, we had multiple shirts for spills and stuff, this way, you know, we can still have somebody who's dressed as many somebody’s dressed as cars. But you could, we would still in the pictures, we would look like we went together.
Ilana:
Yeah, I think that it's really just about what kind of what it means to you. You know, some people when I go with some of my friends who are not Disney fans, but I make them come with me because I'm like you will have a good time, I promised you. And I'm like we are going to Disney bound because that is the easiest thing. And they might say like I literally only own a black dress. And I'm like well guess what, there's a lot of characters that are just black. And there's a lot we can do with that. I think we were each different. We had somebody was Figaro in black and white and someone else, I was like I will supply the Loungefly bags that will help identify so that I can get the picture I want. But ultimately you're still going and feeling like look I'm Figaro, you know, and especially if you have a friend with you who might be a little bit more identifiable or dressed because then again you're part of the whole story and it really becomes just like an added fun element aside from rides and food and characters. Dressing is just another piece of it.
Robyn:
I think that the pictures can be so much more interesting and can change from day to day. Like, you know, kind of the feel of it, match it up to the park depending on what you're going to.
Selecting Shoes: Comfort vs Style
Have you decide when you're looking at picking out clothes like where to sacrifice comfort for style and when style needs to sacrifice for comfort?
Ilana:
Shoes are always going to be comfort. You will never see me in a park in an uncomfortable shoe. I will always start with the comfortable shoes. My outfit will always just sort of have to match to the shoe. And then the rest of the outfit is kind is always going to be comfort. I am, again, a collector of vintage Disney, so I do a lot of vintage Disney T-shirts. A T-shirt is never going to be uncomfortable for me at the park. I also go to jeans. What I also like to do is, as a fashion fan in general, I like to look at current trends. I have Pinterest boards, I have lots of things like, ‘This is a cool outfit, just a general outfit. How can I dignify that outfit’ And so I might look up like, ‘Oh shoot, it's gonna be really hot or really humid today at the park.’ So I might look up like, literally hot like summer street style on Google images, find some outfit that I like. And even if it's just like shorts, a T-shirt, but she's wearing a little bit higher sock and that kind of is cute, or a frilly sock to add a little bit of femininity or something, I might find something like that and go, ‘Okay, I have that sock, instead of this T-shirt, I'm going to I have this other T-shirt that's a Disney T-shirt, or I have shorts that have Mickey's on them. Or I can add pins to my denim shorts to make them more Disney.’ And so I'll just kind of work in that way to make something that is normal street style and just a cute outfit into a Disney love. But it will always start with what is my day I'm going to sometimes I'll just go to Disneyland and get drinks with a girlfriend. And if that is my day, and I know I'm still going to do a lot of walking, but I'm probably going to be sitting outside Carthay, people watching with a with a double pair martini and if that's my day, then I can be in a dress and maybe just have a jacket. And it doesn't add it's not getting in and out of rides and wondering if I need bike shorts underneath. And I you know, I still feel more comfortable. But ultimately, if I know that I'm always, there's an option for me to go on ride like shorts will always be with me. So yeah, I just kind of look at what is what is my purpose of the day.
Robyn:
Avoid the Disney Rub: Bike Shorts and Chaffing
So for those who aren't familiar with the Disney limp of pain at the end of the day, can we, you know, kind of lightly talk about why those bike shorts are so important? Because we went to Disney World and my daughter was like, ‘I’m gonna wear this skirt,’ and I was like, ‘That's a bad idea.’ And she's like, ‘No, I'm gonna wear the skirt.’ So halfway through the day I was like, ‘I’m gonna buy you the leggings. Because you've learned your lesson and we're not doing this again.’ Just to save somebody because it hurts. Let's talk about the why the bike shorts are so important.
Ilana:
Bike shorts or leggings. If it's colder, I mean, they're those will never go out of style in a theme park and truly just is not even if they are not stylish in one day they will never go out of style in the theme park because you can wear them with a big baggy shirt, you can wear them with a crop top. So there's there's just many ways and it will always be an acceptable trend in that in the park because of the comfort.
Robyn:
Well, I'm a little more pooh shape than you are. So for me, the leggings or like I have these bayleaf bayleaf tennis skirt that has shorts underneath. And it stops the chafing. Which when you're, I mean because you're walking 7 to 15 miles a day. You know on an average Disney Day if you're if you're there like going to like really ride the rides if you're like a not a pass holder but a single take day ticket holder. And so I think sometimes people underestimate how much, especially when it's warm, you need to think about how that will impact the rest of your day.
Ilana:
Bring Extra and Use the Lockers
Even so, even if you come wearing I still my recommendation is still come wearing the things that bring extra it just is what it is. If you're starting at rope drop and your rides all day, my husband did one day, he claims he's not a Disney fan, but you guys decide if this is a Disney fan. He made himself and his friends a bingo card front and back laminated bingo card with all the rides got there at rope drop and did every single ride on both parks at Disneyland in California and Disney's California Adventure and and did it in the full day. Except for the rides that were shut down. Did every single ride tell me that that's not a Disney fan. Okay, first of all laminated bingo card. I didn't do that he did it himself. So anyway, but in him in doing that he's like, we didn't account for the fact that like we're soaking wet on this ride and going on this ride and I'm like ‘You didn't you didn't know the rules of the locker.’
Robyn:
And I think that's one of the things, like, season Disney people haven't. And the whole purpose of this show is to help normal people have amazing times at Disneyland. I usually will save Grizzly River Run, or what will be Tiana's Bayou Adventure, to right before we're gonna go take a nap or go back to the hotel to rest, because you're gonna need it. You might need to change after that.
Bringing Flip Flops for Water Rides
And then I, I always bring flip-flops or Crocs or something. I'd bring some sort of sandal to change into for those rides. Because wet socks, I feel like, are the death of a Disney Day.
Ilana:
Oh, yes. That's That's genius. Also because flip flops don't take up much space crocs might take up room. But definitely don't just to go on those rides. I just I just tuck my feet in the sides of the and hope for the best.
Robyn:
I, well. So, the last time I went, I went right before it closed for refurb. And I packed my sandals, but I have two pairs of the same flip-flops. I packed literally two left feet. Oh, so, but I still wear them. Because, again, I have no style.
Ilana:
I would still wearing them for sure!
Robyn:
I didn’t want to because it was cold. It was January, and, you know, I was like, I'm not going to have wet socks in January. Yeah, because that's not, that's not what I want to do.
Ilana:
Yes, and that, but that's also if your strategy works, if you also are staying at the hotel and or you're staying at one of the hotels, you can go back and take a nap, change, etc. But if you are really just coming in for the day, I mean, that's the beauty of lockers. Sometimes, if I know that I'm going to change outfits, a lot of like creators and stuff get a lot of backlash for changing outfits for different photos. But you know what, to each their own is what I say. And so if I know that I'm going to have a total changeover of my outfit for the day, those lockers really do come in handy.
Robyn:
Be the Onion! Always Pack Layers!
And there really is, I think that people like think about California as like sunny California. And it is, but like it's like schizophrenic weather. I mean, I think the weather just changes so much. You know, you might need three layers in the morning and one layer. And can you talk about how you, how do you like think about the layer, especially for little ones that might get cold faster?
Ilana:
First of all, I have a strong belief that it's 10 degrees warmer in Disney. So whatever you are thinking, add 10 degrees. So I am, I'm big on layering, I'm big on layering, even just in the ways that people might not think about layering, like sticking a turtleneck under a T-shirt. For example, I bring thinner layers that are packable in my lounge fly to put on under my T-shirt. And so I bring like a turtleneck to put under my shirt. And then, like I said, like the leggings to go under my. I bring tights sometimes to go under my shorts. So just like coming up with unique ways to layer without taking up a lot of space is a challenge, but it is totally doable. And then with little ones, which I only recently figured out because I have a four-year-old and now a five-month-old. Truly, they're so small at this age. I will talk about when they get a little bit older. But at that age, they're so small, you bring a big old blanket and that's it. They don't even need like, you know, we're gonna put on a jacket. Somehow that doesn't work, but a blanket does. So I like it over on the stroller. But yes, when you get past that, when the four-year-old to the 13-year-old and in layering, you probably have to pull out those strategies of underlayers and in addition to the over layers. But you know, you can get it. You can get a beanie, you can get things that add warmth with minimal space.
Robyn:
I love beanies, scarves, gloves, those little hand warmers, and they don't take up much space. But a scarf really does warm you up more than you would think it does.
Ilana:
And then on the reverse too. An old friend of mine told me to get one of those, like, fans. It's like a neck fan when we went to Disney World and that was like such a lifesaver when I was so, so hot. I just worried that I mean, style. Again, comfort first, style second, but it's not like a neck fan is really that unfashionable, let's be honest. And so I just had that neck fan on. And like, that's all I needed.
Robyn:
Why Disney Pros Always Think About Comfort
There's me who's like, we're just gonna get there, we're gonna survive, we can try to match the same colors, but that's about as far as I've gotten. But then there's the other side where you might have so focused on the outfit that you don't get the memories because you're wearing shoes that are painful. And now you're grouchy.
Ilana:
When I see people wearing heels in the park, and it's not like Dapper Day where I know they're just going in to take a picture and then leaving. When I see those people I am like, you're missing, you're missing the point. Truly, you're missing the point because above all it is about having a good time and making memories, right? And so the only memory you're gonna have is, ‘Oh, my feet really hurt,’ even though I looked cute. And Disneyland, I used to say this when I worked at Disney, so that it makes for a great backdrop, but it isn't made to be a backdrop, and it is the most Instagrammed place in the world. But it wasn't built for that. That Instagram only came not that long ago, you know, so I always sort of stressed that the like, yes, you should capture the photo. I'm all for getting pictures of your outfit and feeling like that confident and empowered. Like there is, there's something so empowering about like, ‘I dressed cute, I'm feeling myself. And I match this Small World wall and I am living my best Disney life,’ that is, I stand by that and with my whole heart. But ultimately, if you're in pain doing that, that's not having the memories and feeling that empowerment and that confidence. So when I see people walking down Main Street in heels and struggling, I'm like, please let me help you, I can tell you so much.
Embrace Your Disney Style at Any Level
And then the other thing is that if you like, going back to what I said in the very beginning, that if you really are like, ‘I don't even care, I just want to be comfortable,’ me and were like this, I have a goofy shirt, and I'm just gonna wear shorts. You think that that is not dressing up. But ultimately, you're making that choice. There's a Devil Wears Prada quote in here somewhere. But you're making an active choice to wear the goofy shirt, you're probably going to go meet Goofy, Goofy is going to point out your shirt, you're going to have this great memory just because of that shirt. And that is why dressing for Disney is part of this memory making and part of the magic.
Robyn:
I think that that's so perfect, because I think sometimes when people look at Instagrams, we see the shiny, happy, perfect moments of that trip. And I think that sometimes it can get like, well, I've got to try to aspire to that. But I think that the beauty of what you just said is, do what you feel comfortable in, what you're competent doing, what your budget fits, and you can be like that. That's not going to make or break your trip. It's going to be part of the 1000 things you do that will be like little places for magic to happen in the day.
Ilana:
You know, cast members are instructed to look for those things. It is not like, you know, it's it's not like you got lucky that somebody mentioned that you were wearing a goofy shirt, it truly is part of the experience. It's an entirely 360 experience. And that includes like things, compliments that are being told, like everything that is built into the story to make you feel like you had this great time. And that starts again in your own closet by putting on that goofy shirt.
Robyn:
Planning Your Disney Style for Newbies
Let's say somebody has never been to Disney, they don't know a lot about Disney style. But their little one loves frozen. Can you give like some ideas of like, if you didn't have the immense knowledge about Disney that you have, where would you start to build those outfits?
Ilana:
Pulling out elements from the characters or your child but also for you, like mommy and me are going to have matching Elsa braids today because we're going to maybe see Elsa, that's so exciting. And again, you can pull out some of the colors. I also let my daughter bring one thing to Disneyland, which is probably not the best advice, but it does just kind of give her a sense of safety if she's not comfortable with a ride or, you know, just gets shy meeting a character or something that I'm like, remember you have that thing with you. And so she will often bring, or the first time she brought, her Elsa doll. And so for her to bring her one thing that was Elsa, knowing she was going to go meet Elsa, forget even meet Elsa, but just see her on a poster somewhere outside the park, or see her in the window at World of Disney or something, just those small moments to that sort of resonate are huge, right? That she doesn't know what she's about to get into. So I think that is whatever you can do to sort of tie back to we're taking this thing that you love at home, and we're about to go make that real life. And that's, and that's gonna be really overwhelming for you as a child or as a just first-timer I guess, but trying to give that sort of sense of safety and that element of familiarity and, yeah, stuff that the characters and it can interact with and speak to. So that's where I would sort of start if I've never been to Disney, I would go okay, well Elsa has a braid and I could put a braid in my hair.
Robyn:
For me, like back to that frugal fancy. If I can do a matching T-shirt for like a dude versus a Disney bound that I can pull from my closet and then get Genie plus where I don't see anything much in line for me, that's a better trade-off. But I'm a big ride person. So that might not be the right trade-off for every family. But for me, I think it's a good trade.
Ilana:
There is No Right or Wrong Disney Style
Something that I hear often is that I'm not good at Disney bounding or I don't know what I'm doing or like is this like, you know? Sure, you chose four different dark blues instead of a light icy blue for Elsa. Like, there is no right or wrong to it. It's more just a, I like, if I said that I was, I don't know, anything about Disneybounding and I pulled out a navy blue dress and I put it on and I put my hair in a braid and I said I'm Elsa. If you're a Disney fan, you would go, ‘No, you are not, she never wears navy blue.’ But if you are not a Disney fan and you tell your child that you are Elsa because you're wearing blue and have a braid, that is 100% going to go over very well. And you can, you should just feel confident that you are making that memory and you dressed up as what you think is Elsa? And that is all that matters.
Robyn:
Yeah, there's no right and wrong answers, you know, and there shouldn't be any gatekeeping around dressing for Disney. It's just, you know. I feel like very few brands have distilled Disney characters as well as Loungefly has.
When in Doubt Grab a Loungefly (not an ad)
So I think that another tip is you could just go to Loungefly, search for that character or search for that franchise. And then, you know, I like even if you just color block. So like if you had the, you wanted to do Rapunzel, maybe your husband wears kind of the green that's on the Pascal of your bag, and you pick colors that match. I don't know, you have more style. Is that something that you would recommend?
Ilana:
Yes, totally, totally. In fact, I went with my husband who had never been to Walt Disney World and claims he's not a Disney fan, whom I dragged to Walt Disney World. I said, you know, he had nothing to wear, and I let him borrow for one day one of my vintage Disney shirts. And for another day, we were going to Epcot, so we were going to Disneybound as Frozen, and he was on it. And he got chosen as Anna because those were the colors that he had. We tried every character, and ultimately I was like, I have plenty of clothes, so I probably can pull together most of the characters from Frozen. But he had a blue T-shirt and a maroon T-shirt, and then he had blue shorts. I said, layer these two T-shirts; one is going to poke out the bottom of your other shirt and poke out the sleeves. So you're getting a dash of the light blue. The burgundy is on top. And then you have your brighter blue shorts and black shoes that he already had, all and he was on it. And next to me, who was fully decked out, and we went with some other friends too and another friend's boyfriend was Elsa, and I was the Duke of Weselton, all of us together taking pictures in like, you know, we're Frozenist in Epcot.
Robyn:
I think that's great. I think it highlights that you don't have to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe to Disneybound.
How to Find Ilana
If people wanted to get to know you more or follow like what you're doing at Loungefly, what's the best way for them to do that?
Ilana:
That is a great question. Because I recently had another baby, I really am sort of keeping my life fairly private, but you can definitely follow along on Loungefly where I host our live streams with my dear friend Karissa. And I'm also going to use this time as a very selfish plug because Karissa and I are also creating our own Disney Style account called the Double Pair Martinis. It will just be our fashion account. It's soft launched already, but it will have a hard launch with the March Disneybound challenge starting on March 1, so you can look out for the Double Pair Martinis. Because if you've never had those double pair martinis at Carthay, you should.
Robyn:
Do you like the lounge? Or do you like the restaurant better?
Ilana:
There is nothing like sipping a double pair martini, people watching talking about your love of Disney at Carthay.
Robyn:
Feeling fancy in the park yeah, having a nice cocktail. Yeah.
Lightning Questions with Ilana
So with some guess we do kind of like this quick lightning round. And feel free to be like, I'm not answering, but what do you think is the most underrated attraction at Disneyland or California Adventure?
Ilana:
Oh my god, it's supposed to be lightning, I have to think of these facts. And I am not sitting and having a cocktail. What I do like to do is get a pretzel or a snack and just ride the railroad all the way around. I feel like the railroad is used as a form of transportation to save you from walking. But it actually is a great attraction to just take the whole way around, grab a snack, I usually get a Mickey pretzel. And you know, and ride it as an actual ride to chill with friends and have this, you know, and get the air in your face. If it's hot out. I feel like that I'm going to use as my underrated only because I feel like people use it mostly just as a form of transportation.
Robyn:
I feel like the train, not only the other, these are cool, like beigneits between some of the stations that you can't see unless you ride the train all the way around. You're off your feet, you can enjoy like, you get away from the people like you're sitting with people but you're not like in a crowd as much. I feel like it's a great way to decompress, and, like get ready for another wave or like do something as you're killing time between like Lightning Lane or something. I love having a snack on the train.
Ilana:
I think people see like a 15-minute line and they're like, ‘Oh, it'll be faster if we just walk,’ and it's like, no, but it's also just 15 minutes as compared to other really long lines for an actual attraction.
Robyn:
That has this amazing, cool like history. There's a group of people on Facebook that they just get together and they ride the train all day, like they love it. Yeah, like that's their gig is, you know, like some people go and pin trade, like this group of people, like they just, they get to, we kind of stumbled upon them because we were sitting there, we heard them talking about it and I was like,’Oh, this is like a whole thing.’
Ilana:
Oh my gosh, I gotta look into that.
Robyn:
And then what's your favorite quick serve location? Counter service.
Ilana:
My favorite quick serve location is probably Jolly Holiday. Is it?
Robyn:
We can officially go to Disneyland together because that's my favorite.
Ilana:
Is it? Okay great. I mean there's nothing like a tomato soup and grilled cheese combo. But is that my favorite? Yeah, I think so. I think I'll call that.
Robyn:
And I think it's a great place to people-watch too. Because you get to watch people come in and they're seeing the castle for the first time and, you know, like they're trying to decide which direction they're gonna go. So it's like one of my favorite, and the ducks, sometimes there's little ducks.
Ilana:
And the ducks, yes. And I, I'm not sure if you're a newcomer to Disney, but I generally find that if I sit there, I'm bound to run into somebody I know who is also a Passholder who's walking by and sees me. So, I love that about it.
Robyn:
Well, I want to thank you so much for coming on. This has been so much fun. I always enjoy talking to you. So thank you so much for coming on the show.
Ilana:
Thank you. Thank you for having me. I love it, and I'm happy to come back anytime.
Win a Star Wars Loungefly and Wallet!
Robyn, we didn't talk about this before, but do you want to do a Loungefly giveaway on your show? That would be awesome. I would love that. I can give away a Loungefly Star Wars backpack and wallet to one lucky winner, one lucky listener.
Robyn:
To enter, go to parkmagic.com/loungefly, and that will take you directly to the Instagram page that we are running the contest on. Go to parkmagic.com/loungefly to get to the post where you can enter to win a Star Wars Loungefly and wallet. Thank you again, Alana.
Ilana:
Thank you. Thanks for having me and hope to see you in the park soon. We'll have to plan a trip.
Thanks for listening to this episode of the ParkMagic podcast. For more tips and planning tools designed to help simplify your Disneyland adventure, visit parkmagic.com. If you enjoyed today's episode and want to hear more tips, be sure to subscribe to the ParkMagic podcast. And don't forget to leave us a review; your feedback helps us spread the magic even further. Leaving a review could also help you. Each month, we will be selecting one reviewer to win a one-hour planning session with Robyn. Winners will be announced at the end of the first episode of every month. Thanks for tuning in, and remember that we are here to help you have a less stressful and more magical trip to Disneyland.
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