Disney Store Boutique Set

Given that Tanged is a fairly new Disney film, I did not expect to find much at the antique show I went to. It was not just an antique show, though, there were collectibles there as well. I remember seeing a Princess Designer Doll of Cinderella there soon after those dolls had been released, so there was some hope I might find something I did not have yet for my collection. I wandered the place trying to see if they did not have anything that related to the film, namely I kept my eyes open for the Tonner doll Rapunzel.

I didn't see what I was looking for. I did see a Rapunzel doll from the Disney Store (in her sparkly dress) as well as a pin from Disneyland (which I already had,) and a toddler doll. Sadly, it was not the first edition toddler doll from the Disney Store. It was some other doll made by another company and sold at retail places like Target.

As I was sitting and waiting for the rest of my family to finish up their shopping, I checked on an auction I had been watching on eBay. When I checked on it, the auction had ended and someone had used the buy-out feature. I had planned to do that myself, once I had known I was not going to spend the money at the antique show.

I was a little disappointed. I searched around eBay for a little while, casually browsing what else was present and, admittingly, checking more than once for a Tonner Rapunzel. I did not find it, but I did find someone selling something else I was after: the boutique set.

The Rapunzel boutique set was sold by the Disney Store and has a bit of interest to me in terms of what just it was they were selling. There are several Disney sources that suggest that in Tangled that Rapunzel was supposed to be seen in a dress shop, trying on an assortment of dresses. Clearly, this was cut from the final film; I am not even sure the scene was animated beyond the storyboard drawings.

The two dresses chosen to put into the box were also somewhat of a mystery at first. Why those colors? Why those styles? I know that two colors for Rapunzel's original dress design were pink and aqua (not in the same dress, two separate designs), but they did not look like that. From what I can gather, the pink dress is supposed to be similar to the one she wore at the end of the film during the kingdom celebration, but the teal and green dress reminds me a lot of Drizella's dress from Cinderella. Again, that was one of the dress colors that Rapunzel was originally going to be put into.

The image on the front of the box, as you can see in the picture to the above left, has Rapunzel holding Flynn captive and tied to a chair with her hair. The dress she is wearing in this image is the older purple model that does not look like the dress she was in in the final film. The dress that the doll is in in the set is rather close to the previous style of dress. The bodice is still too light for that, but it is interesting. It was as though this dress was almost a hybrid of her final dress and the sparkle dress she would be sold in a year later.

Like other dolls of Rapunzel that the Disney Store put out at this time, she was a twelve inch doll with seventeen inches of hair. Her hair has tinsel in it as well to give it that shimmer effect that was made to mimic when Rapunzel sings in the film and her hair glows.

So, needless to say, I got a hold of the boutique set. My only complaint on this set was not with the doll at all, but that the person who sent it did not pack it very well or did not advertise the condition the box was in. The plastic on the front corners is all bent up and there are gaps where the flaps to keep the box closed are as a result. It was, however, never opened so that is still a bonus. Now, if I can find the Celebration Set without taking out a loan, I will be pleased.