Disney's "Little Princess Cinderella" by Zapf Creation

While I was waiting for my 18" Annie doll to arrive, Connor gave me a tip to go check out some wonderful flickr pictures of a highly-articulated 14" Disney Ariel doll made by Zapf Creation.  As Connor noted, I am a big fan of articulated dolls, Disney Princesses and redheads, so the tip was perfect for me (thank you, Connor!).  I also like the Zapf company quite a lot and tend to be impressed with the quality of their dolls.  Given all of this, it should come as no surprise that I went directly from the flickr pictures to the online shops, trying to find one of these Zapf dolls to review.

The dolls are not easy to find.  I don't think they've ever been for sale in the United States and it seems like they are now discontinued.  Limited quantities remain for sale online--often at dramatically marked-up prices.  I believe these dolls were first made in 2010 and retailed for around £25.  If you live in Europe, you can probably still find a doll at a reasonable price: Amazon UK currently has Ariel for £15 and Puppen Toys in Spain has several of the dolls at retail.  Here in the United States, it seems to cost $50-100 to bring home one of these princesses.  Fishpond.com has the best deals that I could find, and they are willing to ship internationally, but they don't have many dolls left.

Zapf made five princesses: Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Snow White and Cinderella.  The current prices and availability are linked to popularity.  Belle is the hardest to find and costs the most--often well over $100.  Fortunately, my favorite fairy tale princess, Cinderella, was the easiest to find and the least expensive:

"Little Princess Cinderella," by Zapf.

Disney "Princess & Me" Rapunzel Jewel Edition Doll by Jakks Pacific

Over the last year, I have had several requests to review one of the Disney "Princess & Me" dolls.  I can understand why people are curious about these dolls.  First of all, at just under 20 inches tall, they make impressive gifts.  In addition, they portray the beloved Disney Princesses, and so collectors and enthusiasts of these characters will be tempted to own a large version of their favorite heroine.  Also, these dolls are comparably sized to many slim 18" play dolls like Carpatina, Kidz 'n' Cats and Magic Attic, which makes clothes-sharing an added temptation.

To be honest, I always walk a little faster past this section of the Disney doll aisle, purposefully avoiding eye contact with these huge princesses.  Their oversized faces and round, staring eyes freak me out a little.  Also, the price tag is a bit of a stunner.  All of the dolls cost $50 except for the Diamond Edition Cinderella, who (because of a bigger dress?) is $60.  That's really expensive for a Toys R Us play doll.  So, I have been reluctantly watching for a sale, but secretly hoping that I would never need to bring one of these large, glassy-eyed girls home with me.

As luck would have it, over April break, a really good sale started at Toys R Us.  All of the princesses (including Cinderella) were $39.99 (sale ends May 11th).  I headed over to my local Toys R Us and, with my teenaged son running in the opposite direction as fast as he could, I bit the bullet and settled in to inspect all of the dolls.  While Cinderella was the obvious choice for me, especially with the $20 off sale, I actually found Rapunzel to be the most appealing doll in the group:

Disney "Princess & Me" Rapunzel doll.