When you hang around in the theme park space long enough, you pick up the lingo. Disney World doesn’t have “rides,” it has “attractions.” It doesn’t have a “fireworks show,” it has “nighttime spectaculars.” If you get banned from Disney World, you’ve been “trespassed.” If a Cast Member stops you at the gate because your attire is inappropriate, you’ve been “dresscoded.” Unfortunately, this last one has gotten a lot of use in the last couple of years.
We have seen a rash of people get dresscoded at the gates of Walt Disney World parks recently. It’s become something of a TikTok trend where people have posted that they arrived at the gate, only to be told their clothing wasn’t appropriate, and so were given a free Disney shirt at the park as a way to deal with the issue. The first instances of this may have been legitimately unintentional, but it’s become clear many have tried it on purpose as a path to free merch. However, a recent viral TikTok confirms it’s not worth it because it doesn’t work anymore.
@heleniofficial ♬ original sound - Heleni
In this TikTok, we have a clear case of a woman intentionally attempting the Disney World t-shirt “hack” by wearing something she knew was going to get her stopped to see what the result would be. It's unclear if she was really after the free shirt or was more curious about what would happen, but she got an answer. In her case, there was no free shirt to be had. Instead, she was apparently given the option to purchase one, but her only other option was to go change and come back.
This was bound to happen, as this idea became popular. Disney Cast Members have a not-insignificant amount of freedom to do many things to try and help guests have a magical day that doesn’t require approval from managers or supervisors, and giving somebody a shirt usually falls in that area. But nobody wants to feel like they’re being taken advantage of, so if there was an increase in people being dresscoded on property, there was clearly going to be a clamp down on the free shirts.
As somebody who had a baby get a free replacement jacket at Disney Springs after a Cast Member noticed she had spit up all over herself, I appreciate the fact that Cast Members can do this. It really can be quite special and can help people who need it. We've also seen people who get too soaked on Disney World rides get replacement clothes, and the process is usually simple because there isn't a lot of approval that needs to happen.
While I don’t expect dress code issues to become such a problem that Cast Members' ability to help guests will be entirely removed, one certainly hopes that people will learn this doesn’t work, so they can just stop.
