Originally Posted By monorailblue I'm fascinated by Disneyland costuming. Some, like the basic CM costume for Pirates and Mansion, endure with only minimal changes for decades. Others are introduced and thrown out with much greater ease. Two questions for today: When was the current light blue and white "it's a small world" CM costume introduced? I have located one picture from 1997 that shows the old red, white and blue costumes (at least, it looks like it does), so I believe it was some time after that. Can anyone recall? Some Main Street merch CMs wear a horrific costume featuring blue knickers and blue knee socks. The quality of the costume looks like a t-shirt and shorts. It is ghastly. When did that make its debut?
Originally Posted By trekkeruss I don't know the answers, but aren't DL CM's allowed to take costumes home, whereas before they were not? Perhaps some of the changes are due to that.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros What I think is interesting about the CM costumes is how big of a variety there are. There are some that are clearly high-quality and attraction-specific, (like Mansion and Tower) some others that are nice enough but fairly generic with an occasional nice accessory (like Fantasyland with the awesome overcoats), and others that appear pretty generic and cheap (like Main Street merchandise or any of DCA's old John Lasseter-style costumes). It's surprising to me that some areas get really great costumes while others don't seem to get the same level of attention I don't remember the old iasw costumes, but my gut is telling me that they probably redid them when they repainted the façade and returned to the classic music circa 2003-ish. They made a big deal about how they were restoring the classic attraction, so it would make sense to redo the costumes as part of that push. I distinctly remember seeing those costumes during the 50th in 2005, so it would have been before then I think I first saw the terrible Main Street costumes around 4 years ago. It surprised me how bad they looked (a clear step down from the also-cheap-looking red vest crowd control outfits that they tend to mingle with), but based on the styling I figured that they must have been some classic design that got resurrected. I agree that it really doesn't measure up to modern standards
Originally Posted By monorailblue I know the audience would necessarily be limited, but I'm still surprised someone doesn't run a DLR CM Costume blog (at least, I've never found one). Digging into historical costuming changes at various locations could be interesting and challenging. I did a 4 or 5 shifts in costuming in my time--smack dab in the middle of sweeping costuming changes that vastly simplified many costumes. The Fantasyland Merchandise Hostess costume went from 11 pieces to 3, for example, during that time. New Tomorrowland costuming (Taco Bell costumes) was sweeping the land but had not yet defaced Autopia. Etc. Ah, well.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I'm also kind of surprised that there's no website of historical CM costumes out there. Given the variety of other super specific websites out there (trash cans, trees, bathrooms), it seems like something that should have been covered by now. It would also be fun to investigate old photos for when the changes happened >>The Fantasyland Merchandise Hostess costume went from 11 pieces to 3...<< 11 pieces?!? That seems like a huge number of items for one person to keep track of! Were these all items that were intended to be worn at the same time, or were some options for the same sort of item (long pants, shorts, skirt, etc)? I'm not even sure I can come up with 11 things I would wear at once without counting things like socks and underwear (which I sure hope weren't supplied by Disney!)
Originally Posted By Dabob2 POTC costumes included socks, didn't they? I wonder if there were others.
Originally Posted By monorailblue 11 standard pieces is my recollection, although I can't remember them all. There was a blouse and a vest and a waist / belt thing with a lace to lace it up, a skirt and slip, two socks, and . . . ? Maybe I included the jacket and coat--but I wouldn't include rain gear or alternatives like maternity clothing. I'll have to think about it some more to get them all down. Probably some kind of headwear. At that time, there was no pants options for most female CM costumes.
Originally Posted By monorailblue Pirates I think still includes the socks. Almost all Fantasyland costumes in the 80s through mid- to late-90's included white knee socks. Thunder costumes for both men and women used to include boots, but those haven't been around for some time. Do Canoes costumes still include moccasins?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Do Canoes costumes still include moccasins?<< They had them when I was there in December. I always notice, because their feet look so comfy-cozy (though they're working a lot harder than most CMs and their feet are usually wet) They also had coonskin hats, which had been cut at one point. Most CMs just had them stuck in their belts, but it was a nice addition. In general, I think the canoes might be my favorite costume...it just sort of looks like grownup pajamas
Originally Posted By trekkeruss OT: I love the canoes! One if my favorite attractions, and one of the few "real" hands-on adventures in DL.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Me too! In addition to being a lot of fun, I appreciate that the line is always the same length, regardless of how busy the park is. I convinced my brother and his wife to do it when we visited December 26 of last year and everything else was packed. By the end of the day, they both agreed that it was one of the highlights of their day, regardless of how hokey the whole experience is Back when I had an AP and FourSquare was a thing, one of my friends was the 'mayor' of the canoes because she checked in there more than anybody else (it helps that it's one of the few places that CMs don't keep their phones nearby). We visited about once a week, and nearly always did the canones; we often did it twice in a row, so that we could get an equal workout/soreness on both sides of the body! : )
