Disney Princess
Buy and sell Disney princess dolls in Guatemala.
Disney princess dolls follow the films: Cinderella and Aurora in ballgowns, Ariel with her tail, Moana with her pig Pua, and Elsa and Anna from Frozen, who share the shelf without officially being princesses. New ones come boxed, often with a companion animal or a reveal surprise, and pre-owned ones mostly go loose once a child has moved on to other toys. A doll bought in Guatemala usually carries her Spanish name on the box and in the listing, while one brought back from the United States goes by her English name, so it pays to search under both.
Ballgown princesses, adventure princesses and the Frozen sisters:
the classic three, Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora, are made for brushing hair and changing dresses. The princesses who came later dress for doing things, Mulan for battle and Moana for the open sea, so their dolls wear practical outfits with fewer frills. Ariel is the odd one out, sold both as a mermaid with a moulded tail and with legs in a gown, and the live-action films added dolls with the actress’s face in place of the cartoon one. Elsa and Anna belong to Frozen, a line of their own that sits beside the princesses in toy shops. Next to a Barbie, a princess arrives with her story already written, while a Bratz girl is built around make-up and fashion.
Ariel with a tail or with legs, Elsa from the first film or the second:
children ask for the version they saw on screen, and a doll in the wrong outfit can be a letdown on the day. A mermaid Ariel cannot wear anything else, and the colour-change ones, whose tail shifts shade in cold and warm water, are bath toys as much as dolls. Elsa comes in the pale blue ice dress of the first Frozen and in the white and travelling outfits of Frozen 2, and Moana’s second film brought her a new outfit and her little sister Simea as a small doll. If the doll is a present, find out which film is the favourite before you choose the dress.
Elsa is everywhere, Mulan is not:
and that, more than the box, sets what a used princess fetches. New, a doll with something extra, a reveal surprise, a companion animal or a story set, costs around Q300, and the stacking castles made for the small dolls sit at about the same price. Elsa, Anna and Ariel were made in such numbers that nearly every outgrown toy box holds one, so loose ones change hands cheaply and often in bundles. Mulan, Merida or Pocahontas in her own outfit is harder to come by and keeps more of her price.
Capes, tails and faded gowns on a second-hand princess:
show how hard the doll was played with. Elsa’s sheer cape is stitched on at the shoulders and tears there first, so look at the seams before the skirt. A gown that sat in a sunny window fades, and pinks go pale first. Test a colour-change Ariel with cold and warm water before you pay: the effect weakens with sun and age, and a tail that no longer changes is just a tail. Ask too whether the doll ever stood on top of a birthday doll cake, since frosting works into the hair and the hip joints and never quite washes out.
A princess listed under both her names:
reaches the buyer searching in Spanish and the one who saw the English box. Put the character in the title with both her names where they differ, add the film version, Elsa from Frozen 2 or Ariel as a mermaid, and say whether she is a play doll, a small doll or a collector doll still in her box. Lay out what came with her, the shoes, the companion and any second outfit, and photograph it all beside the doll. A parent coming in from Huehuetenango for both Frozen sisters will want to see two capes and the dresses from the right film before setting out, so put them in the first photo.