Ana & Elsa Coronation....is this legal?

[mefordis]

In Times Square in NYC there is a Minnie Mouse and other characters that have been there for years. Right outside The Disney Store, they take photos for money.

I don't think it's worth Disney's time to bother with some of this stuff.

If someone got dressed up like Anna and Elsa and stood out there - they'd make a killing.

 

[Golden Rose]

I'm in Texas, a long way from both DL and WDW, and there are several groups here who provide princesses for events. Most of them are very careful not to ever say Disney (even those who have worked for Disney, or maybe particularly those who have worked for Disney ,) and there is a huge range of talent and professionalism. The best ones use the names for Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Alice (all of whom have non Disney sources) but then, as others have mentioned, use Snow Queen, Norwegian Princess, Mermaid Princess, Amulet Princess, etc, and are very careful to mention the historical/literary origins of most of the stories. And yes, some misspell Disney versions of character names on their website, but I do think that would be less defensible if Disney did decide to go after them. The princesses dress in Disney replica gowns (some more accurate than others) and certainly don't correct girls who call them by their Disney names.

We actually might have gone to parties with some of them, and might have hired one of them to come for DD3's birthday. Some are simply very attractive young people who do high school or college theater and who have very nice costumes. At the other extreme, you get a few are ex-Disney and have flawless costumes, and you would never know you were not dealing with a princess at WDW. They don't come cheap, but, for example, you get Rapunzel dancing around your living room with your daughter and her friends. We go to WDW and DL and spend money on official character meals annually, but yes, we may have supplemented our DD's princess obsession with the local offerings.

I don't know if Disney would have luck prosecuting most of these companies, since many of them are pretty careful. Disney also sells a lot of merchandise associated with these parties. For our princess party, we bought plates, decorations, dolls, dresses, accessories, and lots of little stuff for gift bags. I suspect Disney benefits so much from the princess popularity that they are willing to overlook the borderline legal (and decidedly illegal) use of their characters for kid parties around the world.

Anyway, using official Disney photos definitely isn't legal, but many of the groups manage to stay on the legal side.

 

[flortlebap]

The ones in Times Square are the absolute worst!!!

I was SO just thinking that!

I did NOT appreciate getting chased down Times Square by what can only be described as Minnie Mouse road kill.

 

[WDWChloe]

I was SO just thinking that!

I did NOT appreciate getting chased down Times Square by what can only be described as Minnie Mouse road kill.

OMG Mickey wouldn't leave me alone!! I absolutely did NOT want to take a photo with him. He wasn't happy, and expressed this through one finger.
Scarring, I tell you.

 

[squirrel4569]

The ones in Times Square are the absolute worst!!!

They have them in Vegas too and it's quite disturbing. Along with Mickey and Minnie they have a bunch of other children's characters and half of the time they are depicting them as drunks passed out on the street, bottle of booze and all.

Now I fully believe that Vegas is no place for kids (especially the Strip) but many people bring them and I can't even imagine what would go through a kid's mind who sees something like that.

Saw a Cinderella at a "princess party" a few years back. She must've been a CM at some point. She had everything down to a T and was amazing with the kids. I don't see anything wrong with that kind of thing as long as the quality is there. Disney is largely known for the quality of their experience so if someone was imitating and taking away from that quality then I would have issue with it.

 

[Princess Serendipity]

The local high school was advertising a princess tea party fundraiser where kids could meet princesses. And there were actual copyrighted Disney ones too - Jasmine, Mulan, Belle, Anna and Elsa. I thought the same thing, ballsy.

Mulan isn't Disney property- the story, with that name, existed for a very long time.

Has Disney really copyrighted 'Belle?' Because that was her name in the original Fairy Tale- seeing as it was French. In Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bete), she was Belle as well.

 

[CT Disney]

A friend of mine just posted a picture of her kids posing with Anna....at the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island.

Looks like they hired a local company that provides princess-look-alikes to do a meet and greet.