princess dresses - Disney Store vs Disneyland

[NLZLS]

Does anyone know firsthand if there a big difference between the princess dresses that can be bought at one of the local Disney Stores compared to what you can find inside the park? Selection-, quality-, or cost-wise?

Thanks

 

[rms123]

Disney store is around $40-$50, parks are $65. The park ones are more elaborate and I don't know if they've changed the styles for spring, but they usually have shorter skirts - a lot shorter. I've never understood that... I love all our Disney store ones. Quality is good.

 

[mmmears]

My DD is too old for these now, but over many "princess" years I noticed the same thing as the pp -- dresses in the parks are more expensive and more elaborate. We found that we preferred some of the dresses in the Disney Store, and some in the parks, depending on the princess and the year (since they seem to change them). Sometimes you can find photos of the current park dresses here on on the WDW part of the boards -- it might help you if you aren't sure what you want.

Hope this helps.

 

[pharmama]

I think the other 2 replies summed it up pretty well. I just wanted to add that I have occasionally seen the PARK dresses on disneystore online in the sale/ clearance. They are labeled as being Disney Parks dresses.

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[NLZLS]

Thanks you guys! I think we'll go ahead and do a little shopping at the Disney store ahead of time and save the park for any last minute must-haves!

 

[Pinup Mommy]

Here are some side by side comparisons we purchased for DD3 for our Cruise this past October.

The Minnie Dresses are park offcial, so is Cinderella. Belle and Tangled came from the Disney Store, Alice is also from the Disney Store since it is was so much nicer IMO than the one offered at the park.

 

[monkeyman200]

Would anyone who has bought either a Park dress or a Disneystore one be able to say if the fabrics used would feel soft or "scritchy" when in direct contact with skin? My daughter loves to dress up, but we have to be very careful of what we buy as she has a supersensitivity issue. I am not close to anywhere Disney to feel for myself, or have her try one on to see. I don't want to go through the ordering process to discover she can't wear them for more than 2 minutes at a time! I appreciate any help you can offer.

 

[Girimama33]

We have several park and Disney Store dresses, and they both can be itchy. DD is pretty sensitive too, but she does okay with a tank underneath.


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[californiamomof4grls]

I really liked the dresses from the park. We were gifted 6 of them. We have Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, 2 Sleeping beauty, Cinderella, and Tianna they are all from last year. The only two not in the pics are Snow White and the small sleeping beauty. I thought the Tianna one was GORGEOUS! I think they have more fabric to the skirt and less of the scratchy stuff. WE loved the Rapunzel dress in the store when we went in last year to get the girls some accessories to go with their dresses. We have had Snow White, Cinderella and bell from the Disney Store the snow white was gorgeous. I didn't really care for the other two but the girls wanted them. I think the other thing is depending on what is popular that year that dress in the park tends to be a little more spectacular! If you want to see one of these up close I can take a pic and put it up for you. I don't know if these are the ones in the park right now or not. But they were when we visited last April and we got them in November of that year.

 

[SA mom]

The park also offers larger sizes. You can only buy up to size 10 online.

 

[twilightsparkle]

These dresses are so cute! They make me wish I had a girl.

 

[trill]

We have mostly the super cheap ones but recently invested in a decent Cinderella one after her World of Disney store one was way too itchy. We did get a very nice Alice costume with an embroidered apron there though.

Bought the Cinderella online for $42 and free shipping. It's called Cinderella Prestige. She loves it, loves it, loves it! It is too bad she won't touch the $65 one from her grandmother. We just started this "dress up at the park" thing the last few weeks and for the FF opening and it is super fun for her!!!! Why didnt we do it before?!!

If someone with more posts adds an http below, I can show it to you!

://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c11/wowbaggert/IMG_8304.jpg

 

[DharmaLou]

I'm a bigger fan of the park dresses instead of Disney Store dresses. We have Sleeping Beauty and Ariel from the parks and they are much better quality.

 

[rms123]

My daughter has several from the Disney Store she complains about itching - Cinderella and an old Rapunzel one. Some people on here swear by ones you can get on etsy if there are sensitivity issues.

 

[VandVsmama]

I am a fan of whatever princess dress:

• the child likes
• fits into your budget - whether it's the expensive one at DL park, one on sale from the DIsney Store, a cheap one from Walmart, or one you get for free as a hand-me-down from a friend.

 

[larina]

Seems to be a matter of choice. We like the park dresses due to the higher quality (although I agree they do seem to run shorter than the Disney store dresses). They just seem to be made better, and have lasted longer than others. But, that itchy thing is no joke. I'm going to have to check out etsy.

 

[tracylmartins]

My daughter is also sensitive to fabrics. We have had dresses from both places and she always wears a tshirt or tank under both to help with the itchiness.

 

[trill]

My daughter likes the longer dresses. I havent seen them sell them at the park. I'm thinking they dont want little girls tripping on all the steps and curbs that are around.

The sizes for ordering are so odd. Straight from Disney seems true to size, online one was big, and from the store was way too small!

She wears a size 6, almost 7 so getting a size to fit her nicely is a challenge since she is on the cusp of what they offer (4-6x or 7/8). I hate having to try stuff on. ugh.

 

[trill]

I also put a little tagless hanes pink or white singlet underneath almost all of them. It's a guard against the tag remnants as well.
I feel better too since I can't wash most of them and who knows what kind of stuff is on them straight from the factory in China!

 

[zoeandjacks]

Does anyone know if there is a way to get one of the park dresses now that I am home? My DD really wanted the Ariel dress sold in the parks and I didn't get it for her, now I am kicking myself and want to have it for her.