Happy Monday Friends! It has been SO long since I've done a post about Disney merchandise. Although I've saved photos of products here and there over the past year and a half, there's absolutely no way that I'll ever get "caught up" with them. But I would like to get back into posting about merchandise more regularly. So today I've made a special selection to get back into my Magical Merchandise Monday blog segment.
I believe I've briefly told you about my obsession with American Girl Dolls when I was younger. Felicity was my absolute favorite, but I also had Samantha and a doll that looked like me. I would spend hours pouring over the catalog when it arrived in the mail. I always loved the little miniature foods and accessories. Even as I grew older, my American Girl Dolls were very special to me, and I've taken extra care of them.
So you can imagine my surprise when one day, I opened my email inbox to discover that American Girl was making Disney Princess dolls! It's like a dream come true!
In July of 2023, AG released three limited edition American Girl Doll Collector Series dolls to coincide with Disney's 100th anniversary celebration. (I had every intention of posting about the dolls on here... and then a few weeks later my world came crashing down.) The first three dolls released were Rapunzel, Belle and Jasmine. Swarovski partnered with AG for the collector dolls and they had tons of sparkle and details on their outfits. The dolls were limited to 4,000 of each design and they retailed for $300.
At the time, I remember thinking that $300 was a little more expensive than what I would want to spend on one of them. But looking back, I wish I had splurged and gotten Rapunzel. The intricate details on her dress are absolutely stunning!
But thankfully, I didn't totally miss out as this was only the beginning of the Disney and American Girl collaboration. Since the original collector series, AG has also made more standard play dolls for little girls. So when I saw these... I knew I had to get them.
In February of 2024, they released the first general dolls: Tiana, Ariel and Cinderella... along with other outfits and accessory packs (with sidekicks!) for each of them.
In July of 2024, they released limited edition versions of Anna and Elsa as part of their Frozen American Girl Doll Collector Series dolls.
In August 2024, I was pleased to see that Rapunzel was back, but it was a simpler version of the doll instead of the Swarovski collector design. However, I didn't care because I knew she would be mine someday. She also had accessories with her release. The only disappointing part of her release is that Rapunzel didn't come with another dress option like the original three general dolls did.
Back in November they released Moana to coincide with the release of Moana 2 in theaters. The doll is beautiful, but Pua and Hei Hei really steal the show!
And this was where I thought today's posts about new Disney American Girl Dolls was going to end... but I happened to check my email less than 5 minutes before I had this post scheduled to go live at 2:30 PM and they have literally just released a general Belle doll. (Talk about some good timing!) So after a few quick adjustments and additions to my post, here's what the Belle doll released today looks like!
Aren't these adorable?!?!? I'm obsessed... and I'm confident that American Girl will be releasing more of the Disney Princesses as time passes. I can't wait to see who is next and what other outfits, accessories and side kicks she'll have available!
The reason I picked this for my first Magical Merchandise Monday post back, is that I am now the very proud owner of two of these Disney dolls. For Christmas this year, I asked Santa for a lot of smaller paints and crafting supplies... but my "big items" were Rapunzel and Cinderella. So Christmas morning, I was transported back in time 30 years as I delicately opened Rapunzel (from my Mom) and Cinderella (from Jeremy).
The dolls are so beautiful. I won't lie, even though I knew what they were when I was opening them, it still made me a little bit teary eyed. It brought me back to being a kid and feeling all of the wonder when I first opened Felicity and Samantha. And the two accessory packs I got took my breath away. Rapunzel's little paint set is perfection, and Cinderella's pink dress tugged at my heartstrings. That scene of the mice and birds making her pink dress will always remind me of my Nana.
It's safe the say that American Girl has knocked it out of the park on these Disney dolls. I am so happy they have partnered with Disney to bring these dolls to the current generation of little girls... and to those of us "big girls" who are still young at heart. °o°
All photos are from the American Girl website, their facebook page or from marketing emails they sent me. For more information, please visit their website. (I also used American Girl Fandom Wiki to research information in this post.)
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