I’ll Pass on the Princesses

[WanderlustNZ]

Apologies in advance for what might be a bit of a pointless rambling aimed at no one in particular (other than I suppose Disney).
But so as not to start too many debates, I figured that the Universal forum might be the more forgiving place to put this.

I was playing around with My Disney Experience, trying for the hundredth time to score a hard to get Fastpass, when it occured to me that I was getting a bit bored of seeing my profile character, Mrs Incredible. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a great character, but she’s the same one I’ve had for a good six or so years and with clearly far too much time on my hands, I decided to change things up a bit.

Scrolling through the many options, I couldn’t work out why the choice wasn’t taking the few seconds I was initially expecting.

It was because there wasn’t a choice.

I would have been very happy with an intelligent and spirited Hermoine Granger-like character. Or perhaps a tough, intimidating superhero like X-Men’s Storm. Someone like Marge Simpson whose only superpower is being maternal and caring would have been perfectly fine. Or perhaps even a princess like Fiona from Shrek who has turned her back on conformity.

And yet, all I could see was a page of princesses with high check bones, tiny noses, overly large eyes and long-flowing locks and dresses, and I couldn’t relate to any of them in the slightest.

I considered ignoring gender in favour of selecting the insightful Yoda or perhaps the curious and quirky Russel from Up. But, because I do like the way having a female profile character separates me from my husband the Storm Trooper and my son, Buzz Lightyear, I left Mrs Incredible where she was and shut down the app.

In all fairness, I haven’t actually seen every Disney Princess movie (I think Disney has done a better job with the Pixar ones) and I actually don’t have anything against the princesses. This non-princessy woman would just like to see females represented a bit more widely in the same way Disney has done with their MDE male choices.

So rant over. I will not be losing any sleep over this matter and I’m still looking forward to my Disney visit.
It might just be another small notch in my ever growing reasons for deciding that I prefer Universal.

 

[Franrose]

I hear you... this is me:

I'm green, so that differentiates me from the rest of my family

And I really truly am fond of the Kerm.

 

[mjhtvchick]

Apologies in advance for what might be a bit of a pointless rambling aimed at no one in particular (other than I suppose Disney).
But so as not to start too many debates, I figured that the Universal forum might be the more forgiving place to put this.

I was playing around with My Disney Experience, trying for the hundredth time to score a hard to get Fastpass, when it occured to me that I was getting a bit bored of seeing my profile character, Mrs Incredible. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a great character, but she’s the same one I’ve had for a good six or so years and with clearly far too much time on my hands, I decided to change things up a bit.

Scrolling through the many options, I couldn’t work out why the choice wasn’t taking the few seconds I was initially expecting.

It was because there wasn’t a choice.

I would have been very happy with an intelligent and spirited Hermoine Granger-like character. Or perhaps a tough, intimidating superhero like X-Men’s Storm. Someone like Marge Simpson whose only superpower is being maternal and caring would have been perfectly fine. Or perhaps even a princess like Fiona from Shrek who has turned her back on conformity.

And yet, all I could see was a page of princesses with high check bones, tiny noses, overly large eyes and long-flowing locks and dresses, and I couldn’t relate to any of them in the slightest.

I considered ignoring gender in favour of selecting the insightful Yoda or perhaps the curious and quirky Russel from Up. But, because I do like the way having a female profile character separates me from my husband the Storm Trooper and my son, Buzz Lightyear, I left Mrs Incredible where she was and shut down the app.

In all fairness, I haven’t actually seen every Disney Princess movie (I think Disney has done a better job with the Pixar ones) and I actually don’t have anything against the princesses. This non-princessy woman would just like to see females represented a bit more widely in the same way Disney has done with their MDE male choices.

So rant over. I will not be losing any sleep over this matter and I’m still looking forward to my Disney visit.
It might just be another notch in my ever growing reasons for preferring Universal.

I agree that the "Princess" thing is way overdone - even my then-8-year old daughter was appalled when all the cast members called her "Princess" everywhere we went! Yuck - it is so condescending!

Without knowing what all the choices are in My Disney Experience - I would choose Merida if it had to be a princess and Vanellope or Black Widow if all options were available.

 

[verleniahall]

I agree that the "Princess" thing is way overdone - even my then-8-year old daughter was appalled when all the cast members called her "Princess" everywhere we went! Yuck - it is so condescending

How in the world is it condescending? They have been some dumb comments on here, but I’m pretty sure this one is in my top 10

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

That’s why I’m R2D2. We’re both short and round

 

[shh]

I hear you... this is me:

I'm green, so that differentiates me from the rest of my family

And I really truly am fond of the Kerm.

That's me too! Gotta love the Kermit

 

[shh]

No villians on the mde? They're always fun.

 

[jeanelle]

I had to go out and check to see who I was. I removed the app since we don't plan on going to Disney in the near future. We are going to wait until they finish with all the construction in Hollywood Studios and Epcot. I'm actually the same as I am here. I'm Tinkerbelle. I know she gets thrown in with the princesses but I tend to think of her more as a mischievous fairy.

 

[mjhtvchick]

How in the world is it condescending? They have been some dumb comments on here, but I’m pretty sure this one is in my top 10

Not even going to engage...Google it...

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I hear you... this is me:

I'm green, so that differentiates me from the rest of my family

And I really truly am fond of the Kerm.

I love this Franrose. I nearly picked Rex the dinosaur for the same reason.

I must admit, I missed Kermit, so went back in case I’d also missed Ms Piggy too. Had she been there, she could perhaps have represented my food-loving side.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

That’s why I’m R2D2. We’re both short and round

Love it.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

No villians on the mde? They're always fun.

Unfortunately no. Well not female ones.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I agree that the "Princess" thing is way overdone - even my then-8-year old daughter was appalled when all the cast members called her "Princess" everywhere we went! Yuck - it is so condescending!

Without knowing what all the choices are in My Disney Experience - I would choose Merida if it had to be a princess and Vanellope or Black Widow if all options were available.

Merida is there, as is Moana, but no Vanellope, Black Widow, not even Jessie from Toy Story.

And I get what you’re saying about the Princess comment even though it doesn’t personally bother me too much given that the intention is well meaning.
Being the girl that would prefer the pirate makeover to the Princess one, I do hope they try to size kids up a bit before using too many labels. I’m trying to remember what they called my son, but I know it defititely wasn’t ‘Prince’. He would’ve hated that.

 

[Sparkly]

Mine is the little green aliens

It literally doesn't matter unless you're looking at the app or webpage. I wanted to choose Hei-Hei last trip, though!

 

[macraven]

I was about to move your thread to the community board as it would fit there better than the darkside boards

But you ended with you prefer universal so no move of your thread