4. Dappers

What do you call the folks who do Dapper Day? Dapper Dans? Dapper Dames? Whatever we call them, they are the regular participants of Disneyland’s (and to a lesser degree, Walt Disney World’s) Dapper Day events, and they never fail to look FABULOUS.

Dapper Days are events several times a year where fans visit Disney parks while wearing their finest. The goal is to dress to the nines, however that may look. This can include modern clothing, but the overall gist leans strongly towards encouraging vintage fashion expressions. Dappers absolutely shine in nostalgic areas like Main Street and Hollywood Boulevard, and a good number mix their vintage dress up with creative takes on Disneybounding.

Anyone can participate in Dapper Days simply by dressing up, but they do have some annual events at Disneyland that require a specific registration. You can learn more at the official Dapper Day website.

5. Disneyana Collectors

This one is probably as old as Disney parks themselves, but they’re still going strong—Disney collectibles remain a big deal.

Disneyana fans aren’t just guests who enjoy picking up a nice souvenir—these are collectors, and they are a force to be reckoned with. One only needs to see what happens whenever Disney releases a limited edition collectible like the Figment Popcorn Buckets that caused such a stir at Epcot. Disney frequently highlights special opportunities for collectors to pick up limited edition merchandise during special events, attraction openings, and during seasonal holidays and festivals. What those collectibles can be varies widely—Disneyana encompasses its own very broad range of fan niches, including collectors of Passholder exclusives, pins, Funko Pop figures, bracelet charms, patches, film memorabilia, and artwork.

6. Bloggers and influencers

This one is a little meta, but it is worth highlighting: Disney bloggers, TikTokers, Instagram influencers, YouTubers, and social media gurus have become a subculture unto themselves. You don’t have to look far on most Disney visits to find at least one. A Go-Pro rig or someone narrating their own trip is usually a dead giveaway.

Back in the 90s and 2000s, only a select small group of fans really had any venue to share content about the parks. You wrote guidebooks or… well, that was it.

Social media changed everything. Disney park blogs are now so abundant, it can be difficult to pick through them all (we appreciate that you landed here with us at Theme Park Tourist!). Social media influencers have started to play a major role in Disney fandom, fueling trends, sharing advice, and even birthing new niches of fandom. The practice has become so popular, Disney periodically has to institute policy changes when bad actors engage in TikTok-Tomfoolery to promote loopholes that violate park rules (e.g. like the nonsense where people kept trying to get free shirts by violating the park dress codes).

Bad actors aside, there’s something very charming about how expressions of Disney parks fandom have become more accessible through social media, blogs, and the work of influencers. There really is something for everyone at the Most Magical and Happiest Place on Earth, and those fans now have a way to find each other and share what we love about Disney parks in ways that were never possible before. As for what the future holds, we’ll have to wait and see—for each of these subcultures, it continues to look like a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

What other Disney parks subcultures did we miss? Thanks for reading!