Disney Princess Franchise

 The official Disney Princess line-up: (from left to right) Ariel, Pocahontas, Jasmine, Belle, Rapunzel, Aurora, Cinderella, Tiana, Mulan and Snow White.Added by Kscott120

The Disney Princesses are characters that are currently featured in the Disney Princess franchise. The franchise is now comprised of ten female protagonists from ten different Walt Disney animated films who are either royal by birth, royal by marriage, or considered a "princess" due to their significant portrayal of heroinism in their film and/or of a very high status in their country/region.

The character line-up has varied since the creation of the franchise; Princesses Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Fa Mulan, Tiana, and Rapunzel.

It has been announced that Merida will be joining the lineup in June 2013, and Anna will follow her in November 2013 [1 ].

The Disney Princesses are featured in various sing-a-long video series released through The Walt Disney Company. In addition, the franchise includes dolls, miniature castles, and other toys. The princesses are also featured in the nightly “[http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Fantasmic! Fantasmic! ] Nighttime Show Spectacular” in Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios and beginning in 2011 at Tokyo DisneySea in Japan.

HistoryEdit
In early 2000, when Andy Mooney was hired by the Disney consumer-products division to help combat dropping sales, the idea for the Disney Princess franchise was born. Soon after joining Disney, Mooney attended his first “Disney on Ice” show. While waiting in line, he found himself surrounded by young girls dressed as princesses. “They weren’t even Disney products. They were generic princess products,” he mused. Soon after realizing the demand, the Disney Princess line was formed.

Despite limited advertising and no focus groups, the various Disney Princess items released became a huge success. Sales at Disney Consumer Products rose from $300 million in 2001 to $3 billion in 2006. Today there are over 25,000 products based on the franchise.

The princesses to be featured in the line were chosen from classic Disney films. The characters were not chosen specifically for their royal titles, but rather for how well they fit into what Disney executives deemed “the Princess mythology”. Mulan is an example of this concept; she has no familial ties to royalty, but is still included in the character list. Tinker Bell was once included under the same principle before it was decided she was not suited for the "mythology".[2 ] Recently though, Tinker Bell has starred in her own Disney franchise, Disney Fairies. Other fairies were created specifically for the franchise. The line began with a book series by Gail Carson Levine, and has since spawned toys, direct-to-video movies and other products based on the characters.

Character BackgroundEdit
<img alt="New-disney-princess-lineup-rapunzel-disney-princess-18212648-1280-800" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIABAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAEALAAAAAABAAEAQAICTAEAOw%3D%3D" width="270" height="169" data-src="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120128043812/disney/images/thumb/2/25/New-disney-princess-lineup-rapunzel-disney-princess-18212648-1280-800.jpg/270px-New-disney-princess-lineup-rapunzel-disney-princess-18212648-1280-800.jpg" class="lzy lzyPlcHld" onload="if(typeof ImgLzy=="object"){ImgLzy.load(this)}" /> The characters themselves, despite appearing in separate films, have distinct similarities. The princesses show good will towards all creatures, evidenced by the common ability to commune with animals. The princesses are known for their inner and outer beauty as well as having beautiful singing voices.

Each princess has a romance that is resolved by the end of her debut film; the male counterparts known as "Disney Princes". These charismatic girls carry a similar personality in their eras, in the beginning with the first three (Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora), their characteristics were well known as classy, girly, and romantic daydreamers and were all pushed around by others, but Cinderella had more spunk. After the renaissance era these popular heroines had more of a modern touch for Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Mulan. Their characteristics were known to be strong-willed, adventurous, feisty, cunning and determined. As well their goals were more on adventure and freedom than love, these girls were more fighters for their dreams than the first three. The latest ones: Tiana and Rapunzel are in their modern era; Tiana, an original character, is much more a realist than the others, she doesn't want magic to make a dream come true but with only hard work. And Rapunzel, who is much like the idealistic ones than to Tiana.

Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, Jasmine and Rapunzel are born of royal heritage as daughters of kings and queens. Pocahontas can be considered as being of royal heritage, as she is the daughter of a chief and considered Native American royalty by the English. Cinderella, Belle and Tiana become royalty by marriage. Mulan is the only Disney princess who does not become royalty by blood or marriage, but she does, however, receive a grace of honor from the Emperor of China making her the only woman to ever do so.

Expected Future PrincessesEdit
Princesses who are expected to join the Disney Princess line-up but must wait until they either make the cut or not.

It has been announced that Mérida will officially join the Disney Princess Line in June 2013. Princess Mérida (Brave) (2012) Will officially join the line up in June 2013. Anna (Frozen) (2013)   ==Guest CharactersEdit== Other Disney characters have guest starred alongside the ten above princesses in various Disney Princess products.
 * Princess Collection 2: Songs by Maid Marian, Nala and Megara are included.
 * Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Once Upon a Dream: Sing along segments by Princess Minnie Mouse, Megara, and Ting-Ting, Su and Mei are included.
 * Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Enchanted Tea Party: Sing along segments by Alice, Maid Marian and Melody are included.
 * Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Perfectly Princess: Sing along segments by Alice and Melody are included.
 * Once Upon A Princess: Volume 1: A story book segment by Esmeralda is included.
 * Disney Princess Doll Figurines: Esmeralda is included.
 * Disney Princess: "It's not Just Make Believe" Music Video: Alice and Melody are included.

Unofficial Princess listEdit
Disney heroines and actual Princesses that have been included in some material but are not official Disney Princesses.
 * Minnie Mouse
 * Daisy Duck (Daisy Duck has portrayed a princess)
 * Faline (Bambi)
 * Alice (Alice in Wonderland)
 * Wendy Darling (Peter Pan)
 * Tinker Bell (Peter Pan, was originally part of the lineup, but was eventually dropped)
 * Maid Marian (Robin Hood)
 * Eilonwy (The Black Cauldron)
 * Nala (The Lion King)
 * Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) (Temporary member)
 * Megara (Hercules)
 * Kiara (The Lion King II: Simba's Pride)
 * Jane Porter (Tarzan)
 * Melody (The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea)
 * Kida (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)
 * Kairi (Kingdom Hearts)
 * Ting-Ting, Su and Mei (Mulan II)
 * Giselle (Enchanted)
 * Kilala Reno (Kilala Princess)
 * Vanellope von Schweetz (Wreck-It Ralph)
 * Sofia (Sofia the First)

Mickey’s Pirate and Princess PartyEdit
Begining on January 22, 2007, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World hosted their newest hard ticket (separate admission) event, “Disney’s Pirate and Princess Party”, renamed “Mickey’s Pirate and Princess Party” in 2008. The event combines the “Pirates of the Caribbean” attraction and movie series and the Disney Princess line, and cosplaying as both pirates and royalty is encouraged. Visitors can have meet and greets with characters from both franchises, as well as the other classic characters dressed as buccaneers and royals, and take part in various activities. Other features include a new parade, the “Disney’s Enchanted Adventures Parade” and the “Magic, Music and Mayhem” fireworks spectacular. Because the event has become so popular, Pirate and Princess events has become an annual hard-ticket staple with dates into August and September of 2007 and January through June of 2008.

TriviaEdit

 * The ages of the Princesses are somewhat ambiguous, save for a few canon remarks by their film's makers (although a few get their age addressed in-universe). For now, their ages rank as follows; Snow White is 14 (canon), Cinderella is 17-19, Aurora is 16 (canon), Ariel is 16 (canon) and (during Kingdom Hearts II), Belle is 17, Jasmine is 15 (Canon) but turns 16 at the end of the film, Pocahontas is 15-18, Mulan is 16 (Canon) then 17 in second film, Tiana is 19 (canon) and Rapunzel is 18 (canon).
 * Out of the ten Disney Princesses, only five of them are royal by birth; Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, Jasmine and Rapunzel. Cinderella, Belle and Tiana become princesses by marrying a prince, and Pocahontas is the daughter of a Native-Indian chief. Mulan also isn't actually a princess (she is the daughter of a war hero) but she does however receive a grace of honor from the Emperor of China who is royalty making her the only woman to ever do so. Pocahontas and Mulan are included in the princess line-up because of their high status (Pocahontas is the daughter of the tribe's leader and is graced while Mulan's father is seen as a wealthy man in the village by having a big lawn and a big house) and significant acts of heroism in their films.
 * Kida from the film Atlantis, who is the daughter of the emperor of Atlantis, and Eilonwy from The Black Cauldron are the only actual born Princesses not to be officially part of the Disney Princess line. In fact, according to a Disney Executive, Kida couldn't be included in the lineup unless if Eilonwry was added as well.
 * Conversely, Tinker Bell is the only princess to actually be dropped from the official lineup, and was originally considered as an official member during the franchise's early years. However, in 2005, she recieved her own spin-off franchise.
 * Aurora, Jasmine and Rapunzel are the only princesses to celebrate their birthday in their film.
 * Snow White is the only Disney Princess with short hair, all the rest have either long or shoulder-length hair, some of which are sometimes tied in a bun. Mulan had to cut hers short to be a soldier and Rapunzel had her hair cut off which changed it to brown by Eugene.
 * Kairi is the only Princess of Heart that is not an official Disney Princess.
 * Ariel is the only Princess to be a Mythical Creature. All of the others are humans.
 * Tiana is the only Princess to be an animal (in her case, a frog, but only temporarily).
 * The Princesses made their LEGO Duplo debut in 2012 and also appear in 2013 sets.
 * Only five of the official Princesses are Princesses of Heart (Snow White, Jasmine, Belle, Cinderella and Aurora) in Kingdom Hearts.
 * Alice is the only unofficial Princess to be a Princess of Heart in Kingdom Hearts.
 * Though Ariel and Mulan appear in Kingdom Hearts, they aren't Princesses of Heart, but two of your allies
 * Pocahontas, Tiana and Rapunzel have not been featured in any of the latest Kingdom Hearts series yet.
 * Cinderella and Pocahontas are the only Disney Princesses that didn't have their antagonists killed in their movies. Although Jafar does not die at the end of the first Aladdin, he does at the end of The Return of Jafar.
 * Currently, Snow White and Tiana are the only two Disney Princesses that don't have sequels to their movies.
 * Princess Snow White, Aurora and Ariel, are at the same time, royal by blood and marriage.
 * Out of ten Disney Princesses, only five were seen wearing tiaras/royal crowns in their film. They are Aurora, Cinderella, Tiana, Rapunzel and Ariel. Although in the new promotional photos of the Disney Princess, each princess is seen wearing tiaras.
 * Mulan and Tiana are the only Princesses to kill the main antagonist in their respective films; all other villains either were not killed, killed by accident or killed by allies.
 * Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Pocahontas, Mulan and Rapunzel are the only princesses to get their names from their original stories.
 * Snow White and Cinderella are the only two orphaned Princesses.
 * Half of the Princesses (Snow White, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan and Tiana) have brown eyes (though in different shades, Pocahontas' and Mulan's eyes are darker), but this is due to four of them being of different ethnicities, which all have brown eyes. Snow White is the only Caucasian princess that has brown eyes. Cinderella and Ariel are the only two Princesses to have blue eyes, Aurora the only one with violet eyes, Belle with hazel eyes, and Rapunzel with green eyes. However, most of the female human characters (including unofficial members) are all depicted with blue eyes. This may eventually be balanced or overtaken in 2013 with the inclusion of Merida and Anna.
 * The same five Princesses that have brown eyes also have black hair, while none of the other five have black hair.
 * Aurora is the only true blonde Princess. Cinderella has orange-colored strawberry-blonde hair, and Rapunzel is a natural brunette.
 * Ariel is the only redheaded Princess, until Merida joins the line-up.
 * Not counting Rapunzel, Belle is the only brunette Princess.
 * With the exception of Belle, Ariel and Kida, none of the princesses ever become queens. This is because in order for a princess to become a queen, either the princess'/prince's parents must both be dead by the time they marry, and/or she ends up marrying a non-royal male. However, King Triton is still alive after The Little Mermaid, while both the Queen of Atlantis and Kashekim Nedakh are dead by the end of Atlantis (the former was sacrificed by the Crystal in the prologue, while the latter was murdered by Rourke, combined with Kida marrying Milo).
 * Pocahontas and Mulan are the only Princesses to not originate from the traditional fairy tales.
 * They are also the least popular princesses in the official line-up since they rarely appear in any merchandise let alone several group shots.
 * All of the Princesses have at least one animal sidekick: Snow White has various forest animals; Cinderella has various mice (including Jaq and Gus) and birds, as with Major the horse and Bruno the bloodhound; Aurora has her fairies, birds, and squirrels; Ariel has Flounder the fish, Sebastian the crab, and Scuttle the seagull, Belle has Philippe the horse, Jasmine has Rajah the tiger, Pocahontas has Meeko the raccoon, Flit the hummingbird, and eventually Percy the pug (originally owned by Governor Ratcliffe); Mulan has Mushu the dragon, Cri-Kee the cricket, and Khan the horse; Tiana has Louis the alligator and Ray the firefly (in all appearance after the film's events she now only has the former as the latter is now already dead); and Rapunzel has Pascal the chameleon and Maximus the horse. Merida will likely have her pet horse, Angus.
 * All princesses sing their film's theme songs expect for Belle who doesn't sing the title song from her film. Mrs Potts sings it instead.
 * At least one horse has appeared in each one of their films.
 * None of the Princesses ever make eye contact with each other whenever they are seen together.
 * Five out of the Disney Princesses have danced with their respective love interest, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, and Tiana. Snow White, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan and Rapunzel did not. The Kingdom Dance doesn't count as a dance between Rapunzel and Flynn for they only end up with each other at the dance's end.
 * Some of the Disney Princesses have appeared in the ABC series Once Upon a Time, with the series centering on Emma Swan, the daughter of Snow White who has to break a curse. The ABC Studios is owned by Disney and therefore they have rights to the princesses. Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Aurora and Mulan have appeared so far in Seasons 1 & 2. Ariel, Jasmine and Rapunzel have yet to featured. Pocahontas most likely will not be featured on Once Upon a Time since her story is based on actual events. Tiana also might not appear since her story takes place in New Orleans during the 1920s.
 * An easy way to remember the Princesses' names to by saying the sentence, "Snow White came (Cinderella) skipping back (Sleeping Beauty(Aurora)) again (Ariel) before (Belle) joyfully (Jasmine) picking (Pocahontas) more (Mulan) tulips (Tiana) and roses (Rapunzel) monthly (Merida)."
 * The first eight Princesses were once represented as elements on a periodic table at a candy store at Downtown Disney in Orlando, FL.
 * Although Vanellope von Schweetz is revealed to be the princess of Sugar Rush from Wreck-It Ralph, she is not included in the Disney Princess lineup, due to her age and rejecting her royal title to become a president.
 * Jasmine is the only Princess to not be the main protagonist of her movie. Aurora and Belle's protagonism status is debatable, since Sleeping Beauty was intended to be told from the fairies' point of view, and according to Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, the Beast was supposed to be the protagonist of Beauty and the Beast. However, Belle shares the role of protagonist with the Beast.
 * Unless there was an official coronation in the film, proclaiming the princess as a queen and not an official princess in the FILM, none of the Disney Princesses are queens, except for Kida from Atlantis.
 * Some of the recent Disney Princess home releases may ironically contain previews for Disney films outside the franchise containing princesses: The Princess and the Frog contained a preview for a Black Cauldron DVD
 * rerelase, and the Blu-ray releases of Mulan may potentially contain a preview for an Atlantis Blu-ray release.
 * Brave will be the first Princess film not to be a musical.
 * The Princess line may have began as early as the mid-to-late 1990s, following the releases of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Pocahontas. The first lineup actually featured Tinker Bell as an official Princess, but was eventually dropped, and Mulan was eventually added later by the year 1999.
 * The Disney Princess logo is a sparkly pink oval containing the brand name with a tiara on it. Most non-Princess Disney franchises use a blue oval with the word "Disney" on it. Aladdin's marketing logo is different, it is colored purple instead of blue, since pink mixed with blue makes purple.
 * Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana and Rapunzel are the only princesses not to be featured in the golden Disney Princess franchise. Although, Mulan, Tiana and Rapunzel were featured in the jeweled Disney Princess Franchise.
 * The Princesses' designs changed over the years. Originally they simply wore their plain outfits, then they were redesigned each with new poses and a tiara (excluding Aurora, Tiana and Rapunzel, who's tiaras remain but added with more jewels), which later matched their dresses with capes and jewels, then their dresses were recolored gold (Ariel was sometimes shown with a gold tail), then they were drawn with sparkles, then more metallic, and now with more modernized fashions. Also, during holidays, their dresses change into the holiday's theme.
 * Pocahontas is the only Princess whose official artwork remained unchanged. However, at one point she was shown wearing her London dress from Journey to a New World
 * Tiana is the last princess to be shown in classical 2D animation.
 * Tiana and Rapunzel are the only two Princesses that do not appear in House of Mouse, since the two were both created after the show ended in early 2002.
 * If a princess from a Disney film loses her position of being a princess (e.g. she becomes a queen), then she can't be considered a Disney Princess.
 * Merida will be the first contrasting princess:
 * the first princess to have her movie made outside of the Disney animated feature film canon (being produced by Pixar)
 * the first princess without a love-interest
 * the first princess with a film not being a musical.
 * the first princess with a film being an original story
 * Each of the princesses have experienced magic in their life:
 * Snow White was poisoned by the Queen's dark magic
 * Cinderella was able to go to the ball thanks to her Fairy Godmother
 * Malificent cast a spell on the spindle to put Aurora to sleep, and Flora, Fauna and Merryweather used magic on her outfit (tiara and gown)
 * Ariel was changed into a human, both using Ursula's temporary dark magic and King Triton's good magic
 * Belle broke the spell upon the Beast by saying that she loves him
 * Genie and Jafar have cast spells on Jasmine
 * Pocahontas can talk to grandmother Willow
 * Mushu being assigned by Mulan's ghost ancestors as her guardian
 * Tiana being changed into a frog
 * Rapunzel's hair, and its ability of healing sickness and injuries, and bringing back youth.
 * Merida went to a witch's house to get a potion in order for her to "change her fate", and her mom and three brothers turn into bears.
 * Despite Merida being expected to be greenlighted into the franchise in July of 2013, a potential Blu-ray release of Atlantis: The Lost Empire may be promoted with a redesigned Kida probably shown in her queen clothes to make her appear more family-friendly. It is currently unknown whether or not this could challenge the Princess franchise as a whole, or even cause Disney to question about Kida.
 * According to Disney, the only way for a Princess to "graduate" (a.k.a. exit the lineup), is to have her become a queen. Since none of the Princesses ever become queens (and only one that did), this is unlikely.
 * There was actually a ripoff of Disney Princess by infamous Brazilian animation studio Video Briquendo called "Little Princess School", featuring Cindy (Cinderella), Bianca (Snow White, "bianca" is Italian for "white"), Hime (hybrid of Ariel and Mulan, and possibly Megara; "hime" is Japanese for "princess"), Iria (Tiana), and Zade (Jasmine).
 * The book The Art of the Disney Princess features the princesses being drawn using different artstyles.
 * Some fanart also depict the Princesses in a stylized manner: for example, Jefftoons depicts the Princesses in a Darker and Edgier artstyle, and steveinlove depicts them in more revealing clothing.
 * Even though new, Rapunzel and Tiana gained more attention and popularity than Mulan and Pocahontas.
 * Each princess has wore a hair accessory.
 * In the franchise: Cinderella is the only princess to wear a ball gown. Belle and Ariel are the only princesses to wear an evening gown. Snow White, Aurora and Jasmine are the only princesses to wear their royal attire. Tiana is the only princess to wear a wedding gown. Rapunzel is the only princess to wear a peasant gown (yet the color signifies royalty). Pocahontas and Mulan are the only princesses to wear ethnic dresses.
 * Ever since Tiana joined the franchise, the current focus of the franchise is to add more princesses and improve their designs.
 * However, it is still unknown whether or not this would include retroactive princesses (princesses created during an earlier year, but are currently not in the lineup.
 * Ariel, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Tiana are the only four Princesses that do not wear underdresses.
 * Except for Ariel and Pocahontas, each princess are seen doing chores or servant work.
 * Two Disney Princesses are in Live Action films that aren't such a fairy tale. Snow White (Snow White and the Huntsman) and Princess Aurora (Maleficent)