Disneyland Paris Premieres Casual Princess Looks
We all know that theme parks are the best place to find real-life interpretations of classic animated princesses in glamorous gowns. In the modern age, however, it's become more common for princesses to hang up their ballgowns in favor of more comfortable looks. Disneyland Paris has taken note of this for their Regal View Restaurant, premiering princesses in their more casual looks from their respective films, many of which have never been seen before at the Disney Parks. With Disneybounding and cosplay becoming more popular and accurate than ever, is it a good idea to feature costumes that are so easy to replicate? Let's explore.
The four princesses that have been previewed for the parks are Aurora in her Briar Rose forest dress, Ariel in her Tour of the Kingdom dress, Belle in her village dress, which she frequently wears for meet'n'greets at Epcot, and Mulan in the dress she wore at the end of the film. Aside from Belle, all of these costumes are new to Disney Parks, but extremely familiar to Disney cosplayers. Both Ariel and Briar Rose have easily obtainable versions of these dresses available on sites like Retrostage and Hot Topic. This means they run the risk of being viewed as Disneybounding guests rather than official characters. However, since these costumes are only premiering in Paris for character dining right now, that risk is significantly lower, considering that Disneybounding is not as popular there.
Of the new costume additions, Mulan is by far my favorite. It perfectly portrays the dress she wore when she saved China in the film. A few years ago, Disney changed their diverse princess character costumes to be more culturally accurate and less screen accurate. Mulan was the biggest victim of the change, sporting a dress that didn't even resemble any of her numerous looks in the movie. I would be pleased if all the Disney Parks changed Mulan to match this new look because it is far more reminiscent of the film. The other three princesses closely resemble their relative movie looks but are rather simplistic in relation to the premium experience expected from official Disney character dining.
Though these dresses work well for casual park meet'n'greets and have been used for exactly that in Belle's case, they may subvert expectations for the grandeur of an official princess meet'n'greet experience expected from character dining or princess pavilions with long wait times. Premiering the new costumes at a single restaurant in Paris is probably a good way of testing the waters to see how fans might react to them before introducing the new costumes to other theme parks. These exclusive new looks make for a refreshing, if temporary, change to their traditional fashions, but don't expect the Disney Princesses to shed their massive ballgowns any time soon.
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