But What will I WEAR!?

But What will I WEAR!?

...A costume of course!

Whenever you work for any part of the Disney Company, all of the Cast Members or Crew Members on board refer their work attire and garments not as uniforms, but as your Costume. It goes along with the big idea that you're always performing "on stage" at your job for the "Disney Show".

For Youth Activities we get one supplied to us from the Wardrobe people or "Costuming" who will keep track of our sizes after measuring us on the first day, and will launder our costumes and have them ready for pickup whenever we go.  Here's a look at the Counselor outfit:

When you first start in the Oceaneer Club or Lab, this is what you will wear. For the Nursery Counselors and Vibe, they have different clothing in alternate colors.

Where it says the polo is used, bear in mind that ALL of this will be used clothing with the exception of your undergarments and shoes that you provide on your own (thankfully). In fact, whenever you have your costumes washed and laundered, there is no guarantee that you'll be getting the same ones back; you will have been wearing the same clothes as someone you work with who is the same size as you the entire time- male or female!

Because of this sharing system in place....nothing will really fit perfectly (as you can tell by my thinly veiled sarcastic descriptions). The costumes do tend to look better in general on the taller and bigger males in the department though! It really does nothing for the female figure, to be honest.

For the most part we can mix and match whether we wear the cardigan or not, but must ALWAYS wear the pants after 6pm every day, no exceptions. They're very strict on the fact that the blue belt (provided) must fit exactly and not extend past the second loop after the buckle, cardigan sleeves cannot be rolled up, collars must be out, and cannot be too unbuttoned! And unlike the drawing above, the 3-4 buttons on the cardigan must be completely buttoned up and not left hanging open! (Oof!)

Now for a look at the Updated Costume as of 2014, as well as the Castaway Cay or Island Costume:

With the Reimagining of the Disney Magic in 2013, they updated the Youth Activities polo, which does not need to be tucked in as per Disney Look like all of our other shirts. It retains the primary yellow and blue colors while adding a bit of a sporty flair that matches the updated Cruise Staff polos as well. As of 2014, all of the Counselors on the ships will be wearing the new style of polo!

Whenever the ship is in Port at Castaway Cay, you will definitely most likely be working on the island (unless you're stuck on board indoors all day). There's a very specific costume for the island, including those hideous lovely TEVA sandals that they make you purchase!

*What I learned was that if you choose to wear sock and your white shoes, then you certainly can. So don't panic if you don't have the sandals!* 

The grossest part were the communal navy blue swimsuits you must wear beneath all that....and let's just say my personal swimsuit was also navy blue and I managed to get away without anyone trying to inspect under my clothing.

When you get hired you'll be sent a document detailing "Disney Look" so I won't get into detail on those requirements now, but I definitely recommend that you look at official Disney photos and videos of the Counselors online to get a good glimpse of how we all look in the costumes on a regular basis.