Disney Princess
Buy and sell Disney Princess dolls in Costa Rica.
Ariel with her sea-green tail, Belle in the yellow ballgown, Moana with her oar, and Elsa, who stands beside the princesses even though Frozen has a line of its own: these dolls change hands new in the box and pre-owned in the gown and tiara they came with. They are made by Mattel, by Disney for its own doll lines and, at toddler height, by Jakks Pacific. A box brought back from a trip to Spain or elsewhere in Europe may say Vaiana rather than Moana. It is the same princess, packaged for another market.
Disney Princess dolls by size, from Storytime Stackers to Playdate:
size sorts them faster than character does. The small dolls fit in a palm and live in playsets: Mattel’s Storytime Stackers towers open into little rooms and stack or link together, and the older MagiClip princesses wore their gowns as a clip-on shell over a doll that cannot stand on her own. The classic fashion doll is the Barbie-height princess most children own, made by Mattel or sold in Disney’s own Classic line. Disney’s Animators’ Collection imagines the princesses as toddlers, big-headed and in soft little dresses, and Jakks Pacific’s Playdate dolls stand as tall as a toddler themselves, with joints that let them sit at the table. Disney’s numbered Limited Edition princesses and Mattel’s Disney Collector line are made to stay on a shelf. A box of mixed dolls often turns up a Barbie or two at the same height as the classic princesses, while the big-headed Bratz come from another maker altogether.
A princess to hold, to dress, to build a castle around or to keep on a shelf:
the Animators’ toddlers make the easy first princess: one vinyl doll to carry, a soft dress and few small pieces to lose. A child who changes outfits and acts out the film wants the classic doll, knowing the shoes and tiara are tiny. Small dolls suit children who would rather build a world than dress one doll. Singing versions play a snippet of the film’s song when pressed, and the recent Moana sings in four languages, Spanish among them. A Playdate doll is a big object in a small bedroom: it is bought because a child wants a princess her own size, and it needs a chair of its own afterwards. For a child who mostly wants something to carry and look after, baby dolls fit better than any princess.
What a Limited Edition princess keeps and a play doll loses:
a play princess that has been dressed and undressed for a year is bought for her gown, and a loose one in a bag with five others goes for very little. Value stays with the dolls nobody played with: a Limited Edition princess with her numbered certificate and the box she arrived in, or a small-doll playset with every piece. Take the certificate away and a collector sees a doll with nothing to prove what she is.
Gowns, tiaras and sidekicks on a second-hand princess:
start with the gown, because it is most of what a child sees. Look for glitter and foil print rubbed off the skirt, pulled threads in the satin and tulle, and a back closure that no longer holds. Then count the small things: shoes, tiara and the animal friend if the set had one, whether Pascal, Flounder or Rajah. Those go missing first, and a Rapunzel without Pascal is a different present. On a MagiClip doll the gown is her whole outfit, so a pile of bare bodies is worth almost nothing. Bend each joint on a Playdate doll and check it holds; on a singing doll, press and listen for the whole snippet rather than a crackle.
A princess listing that names Moana and Vaiana, and the maker:
buyers search by character first, so put her name in the title, and if the box says Vaiana write both. Add the maker and line, Mattel, Disney Classic or Animators’, Jakks Playdate, and the size in plain words, because an Ariel can be a palm-sized figure or a doll as tall as a toddler. Photograph the gown front and back, the closure and every accessory laid out beside her, and for a Limited Edition the certificate with the edition size printed on it. A parent driving in from Turrialba or Puntarenas for a singing Elsa will press her before anything else, so put fresh batteries in the night before.