Disney Princess

**Disney Princess** is an American media franchise created by Andy Mooney. It features a line-up of female protagonists who have appeared in various Disney franchises.

## History

Former Nike, Inc. executive Andy Mooney was appointed president of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Consumer Products division in December 1999. While attending his first Disney on Ice show, Mooney noticed that several young girls attending the show were dressed in princess attire, though not authentic Disney merchandise. "They were generic princess products they’d appended to a Halloween costume," Mooney told The New York Times. Concerned by this, Mooney addressed the company the following morning and encouraged them to commence work on a legitimate Disney Princess franchise in January 2000. Walt's nephew, Roy E. Disney, objected to the creation of the line, as the company has long "avoided mingling characters from its classic fairy tales in other narratives, worrying that it would weaken the individual mythologies."

The original line-up consisted of princesses Snow White, Cinderella, Tinker Bell, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Esmeralda, and Mulan. Tinker Bell was removed soon after; she would go on to headline the sister franchise Disney Fairies. Esmeralda was also removed. This was the first time the characters would be marketed in a separate franchise to their original films. Mooney decided that, when featured on marketing advertisements such as posters, the princesses should never make eye contact with each other in an attempt to keep their individual "mythologies" intact. "[Each] stares off in a slightly different direction as if unaware of the others' presence."

In an unconventional manner, Mooney and his team launched the Disney Princess line without utilizing any focus groups and with minimal marketing. By 2001, Disney Consumer Products (DCP) had generated about $300 million, but by 2012, the division had increased revenue to $3 billion, making it the top seller of consumer entertainment products globally. DCP issued princess product licenses to Hasbro for games, Mattel for dolls, and Fisher-Price for plastic figurines in 2000, allowing the franchise to meet the $1 billion mark in revenue in three years.

### Expansions

#### Inductions and Coronations

Tiana became the first additional character to the Disney Princess franchise officially on March 14, 2010, taking Tinker Bell's short-lived place as the ninth member. Her "coronation" took place at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Tinker Bell was already heading up another franchise, Disney Fairies, starting in 2005.

Rapunzel was crowned and inducted into the franchise as the tenth member on October 2, 2011 during "Rapunzel's Royal Celebration," a special event in London. Also attended by the other Princesses plus the Fairy Godmother and Flynn Rider, it included a procession through Hyde Park concluding with a ceremony at Kensington Palace in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, a residence used by the Royal Family since the 17th century and whose residents included Diana, Princess of Wales. Disney hosted the event in cooperation with Historic Royal Palaces, a British non-profit organization that maintains the State Rooms.

On May 11, 2013, Merida became the first Pixar character as well as the eleventh member to the franchise in a coronation ceremony in front of Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World.

In March 2019, Moana was added to the line-up as the twelfth member in the franchise without having a coronation ceremony, but rather being included in future merchandise.

In August 2022, it was announced that Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon would have been inducted as the thirteenth member in the franchise during World Princess Week at Disneyland Paris.

#### Re-designs and Other Events

A line of Disney Fairy Tale Wedding gowns were designed by Kirstie Kelly, based on the Princesses and available in January 2008.

In 2012, the princesses were given modern redesigns. While some like Tiana and Rapunzel just had added glitter on their outfits, others like Belle, Ariel, and Jasmine received new hairstyles or modified outfits. The most drastic of these was Cinderella, who was given side-swept bangs and an outfit with sheer sleeves.

With Target Corporation as its marketing partner, Disney held the first National Princess Week the week of April 23, 2012. During the week, there was the release of The Princess Diaries on Blu-ray and The Very Fairy Princess book. Harrods, already having a Disney Store within, followed with their Christmas theme being Disney Princess by having Oscar de la Renta designed dress for the Princess on display. In August, the dress were on display at D23 Expo before being auctioned on November 13 to benefit Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity.

Mattel added a Barbie princess-themed line in late 2010 and the fairy tale based Ever After High in 2013. With these competing lines and an expiration of the brand license at the end of 2015, Disney offered Hasbro a chance to gain the license given their work on Star Wars, which led to a Descendants license. DCP was also attempting to evolve the brand by marketing them less as damsels and more as heroines. In September 2014, Disney announced that Hasbro would be the licensed doll maker for the Disney Princess line starting on January 1, 2016.

The June 2013 release of the Disney Princess Palace Pets app from Disney Publishing, led DCP to turn Palace Pets into a Disney Princess franchise extension, with the release of the Palace Pets toy-line in August from licensee Blip Toys. The line was also selected by TimetoPlayMag.com for its Most Wanted List Holiday 2013. In 2015, Disney Publishing released animated shorts series Whisker Haven Tales with the Palace Pets. The shorts journey to a magical world of Whisker Haven, a secret realm deep in a fairy tale land between the Disney Princess kingdoms.

Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media launched the Princess Comics line, which was started with Princess Comics graphic novels by Joe Book, in August 2018 at Target with Hasbro figures and Hybrid Promotions apparel. This expansion featured Belle, Jasmine, Ariel, Rapunzel, and Pocahontas.

On April 27, 2021, Disney launched the Ultimate Princess Celebration. This year-long event brought back the princesses' classic designs and included many special events, products, and performances. Despite not being official, Anna and Elsa from the Frozen franchise were included in parts of the celebration; they were removed from their temporary inclusion in the collection at the end of August 2022. When the celebration launched in South Africa on April 29, 2021, Sofia from Sofia the First and Elena from Elena of Avalor were also included for its territory, though in a lesser capacity than the other princesses.

In January 2022, Mattel regained the license to produce lines of toys and dolls for the brand.

## Members

### Official Members

1. Snow White (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; 1937)
2. Cinderella (from Cinderella; 1950)
3. Aurora (from Sleeping Beauty; 1959)
4. Ariel (from The Little Mermaid; 1989)
5. Belle (from Beauty and the Beast; 1991)
6. Jasmine (from Aladdin; 1992)
7. Pocahontas (from Pocahontas; 1995)
8. Fa Mulan (from Mulan; 1998)
9. Tiana (from The Princess and the Frog; 2009)
10. Rapunzel (from Tangled; 2010)
11. Merida (from Brave; 2012)
12. Moana (from Moana; 2016)
13. Raya (from Raya and the Last Dragon; 2021)

### Former Princesses

* Tinker Bell (from Peter Pan; 1953)
* Esmeralda (from The Hunchback of Notre Dame; 1996)

### Unofficial Princesses

Disney heroines and actual princesses that are not part of the official line-up. Several of them have appeared in some official Disney Princess products or promotions or guest starred alongside the princesses above.

* Minnie Mouse
* Alice
* Wendy Darling
* Maid Marian
* Leia Organa
* Eilonwy
* Nala
* Megara
* Dot
* Jane Porter
* Jessie
* Melody
* Kida
* Ting-Ting, Su and Mei
* Vanellope von Schweetz
* Sofia
* Elsa
* Anna

## Sub-franchises

### Royal Toddlers

This line features the Disney Princesses reimagined as young children.

### Palace Pets

In July 2013, the Princesses received a spin-off franchise called Palace Pets. Currently, 10 of the 12 Princesses have more than two Palace Pets.

## Disney Parks

* Castle of Magical Dreams
* Enchanted Storybook Castle
* Fairy Tale Forest
* Fantasy Faire
* Golden Fairytale Fanfare
* Princess Pavilion
* Royal Banquet Hall

## Merchandise

* Kilala Princess
* Disney Princess (Comic Book)
* Disney Princess Beginnings
* Disney Princess Comics Treasury
* Royal Weddings