No More Costumes: Disney Cast Members Allowed To Choose Their Own Work Outfits Under New Rule
A small group of Walt Disney World Resort cast members has quietly traded their assigned costumes for more personalized workwear.
The Store Where It Started
Uptown Jewelers, the Pandora retail location tucked along Main Street, U.S.A. at Magic Kingdom Park, is ground zero for the change. WDWNT reported on May 11 that cast members stationed at the store are no longer suiting up in the turn-of-the-century themed costumes that had long been part of the location’s carefully curated aesthetic. In their place, employees are now putting together their own workwear, provided it falls within Walt Disney World Resort’s appearance guidelines for the location.
In practice, that means business-casual clothing in neutral tones: olive green, white, khaki, cream, and similar shades. The result still reads as cohesive and fitting for the Victorian atmosphere Uptown Jewelers has always maintained, but it hands cast members a degree of personal expression that assigned costuming never allowed. Employees have already started personalizing their workwear with accessories, including jewelry and belts.
Walt Disney World Resort did not make any public announcement about the policy shift.
A Perk That Management Has Had for Years
For cast members at Uptown Jewelers, the change brings their wardrobe situation closer to what area leaders and management-level employees at Walt Disney World Resort have long enjoyed. Those roles have historically operated under Disney Look guidelines rather than assigned costumes, giving managers the latitude to dress themselves within a defined set of professional standards. The new arrangement at Uptown Jewelers extends a version of that same flexibility to hourly retail cast members — a relatively rare move for a Disney theme park location.
The scope of the change remains narrow for now. Cast members across Magic Kingdom Park and the broader Walt Disney World Resort property are still required to wear their assigned costumes, and there’s been no indication that the Uptown Jewelers approach is being rolled out more widely.
The Bigger Picture on Disney Look
Small as it may seem, the Uptown Jewelers shift is part of a longer arc of change in how Walt Disney World Resort approaches cast member appearance. The most consequential moment in that evolution came in 2021, when both Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort rolled out the most comprehensive Disney Look update since the policy was first established when Disneyland Park opened in 1955.
That overhaul permitted visible tattoos, colorful nail polish, and gender-inclusive hairstyles and facial hair for the first time. It also allowed cast members to wear costumes that correspond to their gender identity rather than their gender assigned at birth.
What do you think about the new dress code at Uptown Jewelers? Share your opinion with Disney Dining in the comments!
