Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Disney Store Frozen Mini Anna and Elsa Wardrobe Sets Review

So much for my plans to get this post up first thing this week. ;)  Oh well, by now you guys are pretty used to my sporadic attempts at organization.  Let's get on to the review!

Before I forget, I do have one picture of mini Anna undressed in this post, so if this bothers you, you might want to skip this post.

Friday afternoon, this box of Disney-related happiness arrived on my doorstep. :)

Inside were my two wardrobe sets and my mom's DAC Elsa and Olaf bag (getting us to the free shipping after $75 that Disneystore.com offers). ;)

Here are the sets together!  We'll take a look at Anna's set first since she's my favorite sister of the two. ;)

Here she is in her package.  Feel free to click on any of the pictures if you'd like to see them closer.

Here is the box from some other angles:

Here's a closer look at some of the details from the front of the box:

And here are a few details from the back:

The box opens easily.  All of the items in the set are attached to a cardboard insert.

Here it is from the back.  Twist ties, thread, plastic, and tape hold everything in place.  It was not too difficult to remove everything.

Anna and her accessories.  I love the bright colors of her wardrobe and how it complements her clothing. :)

Anna is absolutely adorable, and stands at approximately 6 inches tall.  She looks great in her primary dress from the movie.  It is made of satiny material with glitter on the skirt.  Her bodice does not include its floral pattern.

The top, black bodice, and skirt are all one piece and open and close with Velcro in the back.

I love the detail on Anna's little boots. :)

Here's a view from the side.

Undressed pics up next, for those of you who have concerns in that department.



Here is Anna without her clothing.  Her body appears to be the same one used for the earlier mini dolls from the Disney Store.  Her arms and legs move back and forth and also move out to her sides.

A look at the back.

Sorry for the fuzzy pic, but I wanted to show that she had a TON of glitter on her legs from her skirt.  Her legs are the same rubber plastic used in "click-knee" Barbies, so the glitter really likes to stick.

Here Anna is in her coronation dress.  Again, as to be expected, the dress is a simplified version without the details on her skirt or bodice.  It is all one piece with Velcro closure in the back.

More fun glitter! ;)

I love the fact that the set includes her black flats.  Unfortunately, they have a hard time staying on and will probably be the first thing lost by the kiddos who play with her. ;)

After taking the pictures of Anna in her coronation dress, I decided to put her back in her regular outfit.  This is where I ran into major problems...to the point that I had to have Hubby get her dress back on (he's the more patient and methodical of the two of us).  No matter what I tried, I could NOT get her sleeves back on.

There are a couple of factors that contribute to this.  First, Anna's hands and arms are made of a flexible plastic, and her thumbs and fingers are all very flexible too.  This makes it easy for them to catch on the material in the sleeve.  The other problem, as you can see from the above picture, is that the material they used for Anna's sleeves has a lot of excess fuzz inside that catches on the fingers and thumb with every bit of movement.

Hubby worked for about twenty minutes before he was finally able to get her dressed.  The only way he could do it was to fold her sleeves all the way back (as pictured above) and use a toothpick to help move her hands through the sleeve.  After it was all the way through, we had to trim excess bits of threads and fiber that were sticking out of the hem of the sleeve.

Needless to say, this is going to cause a lot of frustration for both kiddos and parents, especially since the whole point of this set is the changing outfits aspect.  More on that in the conclusion, though. ;)

Here is Anna's hat.  

It fits over her head exactly like the Barbie-sized Disney Store version.  The clear plastic band shown above slides under her braids to hold the hat in place.  It was a little tricky to get it on without feeling like I was messing up her braids, but I figured it out. :)

Her cape goes around her neck and attaches in the front with Velcro.

Here she is, all ready to go to the North Mountain, minus her gloves.  In Disney's defense, gloves for a doll this size would have been next to impossible to make in a way that was satisfactory and practical.

Anna from the back.  The hat and cape appear to be made from the same felt-type of material that the 12" Anna's cape is made of. 

I'm very pleased with her sweet little face.  They did a great job with her paint and coloring. :)

Now that we've taken a look at Anna and her clothing, let's check out some of her other accessories.

Okay, he's not really an "accessory", but first off, Anna comes with her buddy Olaf.  He is made of plastic and appears to be the same Olaf from the plastic figurine set previously released by the Disney Store.  It's not on the Disney Store site right now, but you can see it on my Frozen Pinterest board HERE.

Olaf from the back.

She also comes with this dress form.  Here's the front...

...and the back.

We've already seen her extra pair of shoes.  In addition to that, she comes with a tiara, two hangers for her wardrobe, and a little stool.

The stool is burgundy with gold accents.

Another thing she comes with is this little trunk.

It has some fun details, like the silver accents around the edges.

I was a little disappointed to discover that the "painted" details were just stickers.  If other houses are anything like ours, these stickers won't last long.  My kiddos have this insatiable desire to peel stickers off of things (which, admittedly, they kind of got from me...but I just do price tags). ;)  Even without that issue, stickers just don't last.  The edges start to peel back, and then they get lint and other gunk on them, and then the whole thing ends up looking kind of tacky...plus it's REALLY hard to resist pulling them off when they get gunky like that.  And yes, I speak from experience. ;)

The trunk opens and has space for storage inside.  It can be a little tricky to open, so you'll probably want to show your kiddos how to do it if you're getting this set for them.

It's the perfect spot to store Anna's shoes and tiara. :)

Here is Anna's pretty wardrobe.

Back view

It has this odd little hole in the front between the doors.  I'm not really sure why it was designed this way...perhaps to make it easier for little fingers to open it?

Just like the trunk, the decals on the wardrobe are stickers as well.  Again, I find this a bit disappointing.

The doors open all to reveal the inside of the wardrobe.  Bummer, no Narnia. ;)

The bottom of the wardrobe has a nice little pattern.

The wardrobe has two short poles on the inside with flower shapes on the end.

The hangers fit nicely on these poles...

...and Anna's extra dress hangs nicely...although it's a little long for the wardrobe.

Thankfully, the dress can be carefully tucked in...

...and then the door can close without shutting on the hem of Anna's dress.

Anna's spare dress also fits nicely on the dress dummy.

Back view.

I think we'll move on to Elsa's set and some comparisons between the two before I share my overall thoughts. :)

Here is Elsa's set in the box.

As I did with Anna, I'll share the different views of the box:
Um...somehow I missed the other side of the box.  I think you have the idea, though. ;)

Box details from the front:

And the back:

Elsa in her cardboard insert.

And a view from the back of this box, too. ;)

A closer look at her (she's so pretty!)...

...and her accessories.

I took a picture of the empty cardboard this time to show the possibility of reusing it for play.  If you're careful getting everything out, you can salvage this pretty castle scene. :)

Here is Elsa with all of her extras. :)

I think the Disney Store did a great job on mini Elsa, too.

Back view.  My Elsa's dress was a bit gappy in the back just below the Velcro.

Great face paint...although up close, her eyes seem to be looking in slightly different directions.  My 12" Classic Elsa from the Disney Store is the same, though.  She still has a sweet, pleasing face.

Her dress is made of a satiny blue material.  The bodice is coated with glitter, while the skirt is just plain satin, but has a glittery, sheer overlay.

The overlay comes connected to the lower blue layer.

I decide to remove it so her overlay could hang freely.  Unfortunately, there was a little hole left in the blue skirt from the plastic thread holding the overlay in place.  It's not that noticeable when the overlay hangs down, though.

The slit in Elsa's dress is not hemmed, so it may fray with a lot of playtime.  Overall though, I like the look of the dress.

Here is Elsa's coronation dress.  It is all one piece...

...and has Velcro closure in the back.  I had learned my lesson after redressing Anna, so I didn't try this dress on Elsa, especially after looking at the extremely thin wrist openings on her ice dress. :}

She also came with her purple cape, once again made from a satiny material and not hemmed on the edges.

Here's a view from the back.  I'll have pictures of this cape on my other mini Elsa doll in the next post. ;)

The Olaf that comes with Elsa is exactly the same as the Olaf that comes with Anna.

Back view.

Here is Elsa's dress form.  Unfortunately, mine is really tilted.

Back view.

Like Anna, Elsa comes with extra shoes, two hangers, a tiara, and a stool.  I was thrilled to get the tiara and cape with this set so I could put it on my other mini Elsa. ;)

Instead of a trunk, Elsa has a privacy/dressing screen (I'm not really sure what these things are officially called). ;)  Like the wardrobes and the trunk, the decals are all stickers.  The screen is hinged so it can be bent in different ways.  It does not fold all the way closed.

The back of the screen is blank.  

Here is Elsa's wardrobe.  I love how the wardrobes reflect the two sisters' color palettes. :)

A look at the sticker decals on the doors.  At least these ones are one big sticker on each door.  Hopefully that will keep them on there longer.

Back view of the wardrobe.

Elsa's has the nice design on the bottom too.

The wardrobe opens nicely.

Elsa's little poles have snowflake shapes on the end.

Her hangers fit there nicely, too.

I thought it might be nice to do some side-by-side comparisons of the different accessories.   Elsa's are always on the left, Anna's on the right.

Wardrobes

Hangers

Tiaras and shoes

Screen and trunk

Stools

Elsa's

Anna's

Dress forms

Olafs (I just noticed that Elsa's Olaf is looking up a little more than Anna's, but I doubt that will be consistent with each set). ;)

Elsa and Anna themselves.  Sorry, I'm not sure why they decided to stand all tilty like that.  No matter what I tried, I couldn't get them to cooperate. ;)

Pleasing Qualities: 4 out of 5
   I'd like to start off by saying that even though I have some issues with these sets, I do not regret getting them and am thrilled to have them in my collection.  These sets both have lots of pieces and little details that will make them fun to collect and display.  The dolls outfits, while simplified, capture the look of the movie outfits.  Elsa and Anna's faces are painted nicely, and their hair looks just as nice as the 12" dolls'.  The main problem I see is the fact that they are next to impossible to redress, which is one of the main features of a "Wardrobe Set" with more than one outfit.  For a collector like me, who isn't planning on dressing and redressing them, this isn't an issue.  For a kiddo wanting to play with this set (and the parent of said kiddo), it will be.  The fact that this falls more into the "Playability" category is why I didn't deduct more than one point.  I still find the dolls quite pleasing even with their costuming problems.
   I also wish the flower motifs and other designs would have been painted or printed on the furniture.  The stickers are not nearly as permanent and, in my opinion, don't look quite as nice when observed closely.  
   Overall, though, I'm pleased to have these dolls and their extras in my Frozen collection.  

Posability: 5 out of 5
   The dolls have a pretty good range of motion considering their size.  I think it would be difficult to add much more articulation with this style and size of a doll without taking away stability.  I appreciate that their arms and legs move out as well as just back and forth, which should add to their playability.  They also are not made for the purpose of being super articulated, so as I've done in the past, I'm judging them according to their design and purpose.   

Playability: 3 out of 5
   I had to really dock on this category just because, unfortunately, I really think Disney missed a good opportunity to make a great playset.  To have a mini doll set that includes extra clothing, and then have those dolls almost impossible to dress is a huge negative.  I will say that Anna's coronation dress is easy to put on and take off because it is sleeveless, so Anna's set would be the better option of the two for a child.  The other dresses are a nightmare, though (I didn't personally deal with Elsa's ice dress, but I can imagine it would be the same).
   My girls all love these sets, but when we discovered how hard they were to dress, I told the girls, "If you get these sets, you won't be able to undress them."  My husband, who is the most mild-mannered and non-ruffled person I've ever met, added a gentle but emphatic, "Ever!"  In his defense, this was after I'd foolishly decided to swap coronation dresses on my other mini Elsa (the original dress had a crooked bodice), so he'd spent a second twenty minute chunk redressing a tiny doll.  Not his idea of a good time. ;)  He also told me that if I wanted his two cents for the blog, he was "not impressed" by these sets.
   The dolls themselves would be great for playtime.  They're nice and small, so they're the perfect size to take along on an adventure to the grocery store or something.  They're sturdy enough for small, non-destructive hands.  Their accessories are fun and colorful (though some of the smallest ones will be easily lost...I wouldn't recommend taking the tiara or black flats on your errands).  Just take my advice and don't let your kids undress these dolls!  You will regret it when you're hunched over a little doll with a toothpick, tweezers, or whatever else you can find to get those silly sleeves over those tiny, flexible fingers. :}

Price: 5 out of 5
   The Wardrobe sets are $24.95.  As I've shared before, I think opinions on what is a fair price can be relative from person to person.  In my opinion, though, it's a fairly good price for all of the items you get.  I also find it pretty consistent with Disney Store pricing.  I'd love to see a few slight changes in quality to make the price even more worth it (such as replacing the sticker decals with painted or printed ones and hemming some of the unhemmed edges of the clothing).  That being said, I know that most of the time an increase in quality leads to an increase in price.  I wouldn't want to pay more than $25 for one of these sets.

Overall, these are great for collectors and okay for kiddos as long as they realize they either can't undress the dolls or will have to be content with naked dolls once they're undressed.  Or to realize the doll they did undress must now and forevermore wear Anna's coronation dress because it's the only one Mommy and Daddy can get back on their doll. ;)

I didn't get a chance to gather thoughts from the gals this time around.  Little Gal wants the Elsa set and assures us that she can be okay with keeping her dressed (I'm a bit skeptical on that point myself).  Middle Gal is thinking about the Anna set and keeping her dressed (this one I see as a bit more of a possibility).  Oldest Gal likes both sets but hope they will come out with a Mulan Wardrobe set soon. ;)

I hope you all found this review helpful.  At this point in time, both of these sets are still available at Disneystore.com.  You can see Anna's set HERE and Elsa's set HERE.

Stay tuned for my next post, where we'll take a look at the set of four mini Frozen dolls.  I was originally going to review it in this post too, but there were waaayyy too many pictures for one post. ;)  Talk to you guys soon!


15 comments:

Karina B said...

Very cute! Anna is my favorite, I think. :) That's a bummer, though, that they aren't easy to dress. :(

KrissyLou said...

Ummmm... *I really don't have room. I really don't have room. I REALLY don't have room!!!!* ;) Perhaps you could wrap the arms in a little bit of cling wrap (do you call it that? Thin plastic wrap you use for food covering?) and then feed the arms through the sleeves? Sounds really irritating - but boy, if I were a kid again, I'd LOVE these sets!

Meritre said...

Great review! I don't mind the box picture, it makes me feel excited. What is in the box? - I feel like I'm a little girl again and it's Christmas. :)
The Frozen mini dolls are so cute but you are soooo right with the dress problem. They made some time ago UK exclusive dress-up mini dollsets (Ariel, Belle and Rapunzel) and parents were complaining about the same thing. Ariel couldn't put on her weddig dress. I hoped they corrected somehow this problem, for I had no problem dressing Merida. (She dressed up as Belle to cheer Rosemary up) But I had trouble with a handsewn gown (Rapunzel aka Rosemary is playing Miss Benett) but I pulled a pen through the sleeves and after that it was fine. But I made them wider than the original sleeves. The trunk is really useful for all the small parts. I would keep all shoes in there. I'm not that fond of all that glitter, and I think they could have at least prined something on Annas skirt. (like they did with the old wardrobe set with the Barbie-sized dolls.)
I'm hoping for a Mulan wardrobe set, too(she can have nice wide sleeves and no dressing problems) I've hoped for a Magical Moments set for all princesses and even made plans, what accessories they would come with. Mulan for example would have had the emperors necklace, her fathers sword, the helm, Mushu, Cri-kee, Little Brother, a teapot and cup, her fan and a blue parasol. The dresses would have been the blue one she wore at the and and her solider outfit. Maybe her machmaker dress would be more fitting with the parasol and the teapot but I like the blue one better. But I would definitely want to recreate the matchmaker scene from the film, it's so funny!
Now I hope they make Wardrobe sets for all the princesses. But I'm afraid they are done for now.:(

Now that's pretty long... but you said, you like long komments. Thank you for being always so sweet and kind and especially for this review, it made a not-so-great day much better.

Mora L said...

Hi beastbelle! I was wondering if you could check out my blog and (maybe) advertise it? if you don't want to I totally understand. ps why doesn't Ella have a bio on your blog or JA&U?

Mora L said...

ummm... I was also wondering if you would be willing to tell me if I should sell my original mint condition 1990's molly evergreen christmas dress the kind without buttons on my ok condition molly with a white body and original glasses on ebay? can you believe the xmas dress i described is worth $125?

Gracie said...

Kind of random but...
Yesterday I was at a shop that sold new things for really cheap. When I went in to the toy aisle, I found a bfc ink Calista for only $16.99! I bought her and she is better that my expectations ( besides the hair)

Smaller Places said...

Those have REALLY nice faces, especially compared to standard "dollhouse dolls" of the same size. (They look to be ~6" tall, right?)

A dollhouse-sized doll that can change clothes is a terrific idea -- again, most standard ones don't (clothes are sewn on).

Elsa and Anna can start their household with the vintage folk-art table-and-chair sets that are all over eBay...

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Thanks for the comments, everyone! I'll respond tomorrow evening when I have more time. :}

Smaller Places, I did want to take a moment and thank you for asking about the height. I meant to include that info in the post and forgot, so I added it under Anna's first picture. Thanks for the reminder!

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Hi Karina! I have gotten both of your emails...sorry I haven't responded yet. :{ I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Anna is my favorite, too. :) But yes, it is a shame about the dressing issue.

Lol, sorry to tempt you, KrissyLou. ;) The cling wrap is a good idea. I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to try it...maybe someone else will try it and let me know so I don't have to undress my dolls ever again! ;)

Thanks, Meritre. I really hope Facebook goes back to giving us the option of seeing the pics we upload to our pages soon! Glad you didn't mind the box pic, though. ;)

I hope Disney looks into the design of the clothing, as this seems like a common problem. These sets are great, otherwise!

You have some great ideas for Mulan's set. I'm sure Oldest Gal would love it if it included all that! ;)

I do hope they make some other wardrobe sets, too...especially for Belle and Rapunzel. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, though.

I'm glad my review helped you have a better day. :) Hope things are looking up for you this weekend!

Hi Maureen! I can't promise to advertise your blog, but I'd definitely love to check it out. When I clicked on your name, it didn't take me there, though. Can you leave me the address in the comments?

Um, Ella doesn't have a bio because that's one of those things I keep meaning to get to and don't. :} Hopefully I'll get it up before the blog wraps up at the end of the year. ;)

I hesitate to offer official reselling advice. The eBay market can be so fickle, and a lot of it is listing at the right place and the right time. :} However, white bodied dolls are considered much more valuable since they were the first ones to be released, so it's possible your doll would sell very well with her Christmas dress. I would definitely mention that she has a white body (and include at least one picture of her undressed so your buyers can see her white body).

Hope this helps a bit! :)

Congratulations, Gracie! Calista is one of my very favorites of the BFC Ink dolls, and they're getting harder and harder to find (especially at that price!). Have fun with her!

Smaller Places, I agree, their faces are one of the things I like best about them. :) I've seen plenty of dollhouse-sized dolls with awful face paint. ;)

Just in case you missed my earlier comment, yes, Anna and Elsa are roughly 6 inches tall.

Hmm...now I want to search eBay for table and chair sets. ;)

Thank you so much for coming by, everyone!

Manta said...

Although I LOVE LOVE LOVE these sets, after reading about all the clothes problems, I don't think I will buy them.:P (The main thing I'd want to do with them is change their clothes, so that kinda defeats the purpose of buying them;))
I think Elsa's set is my favorite out of the two, but I'm quite sure that's just because she's my favorite character in the movie;) Lol Although Anna's set is awfully cute too...

Anyways, thanks for the review, because I was hoping to get these eventually, and now I think I won't ('cause of the clothes thing).:)

P.S. My plush Elsa came the other day....she's super cute!!:) <3 I love her sparkly, non-glitter shedding cape. *coughcough*my sister's classic Elsa*coughcough* (My sis got classic Elsa and Anna, and it's a lucky thing we don't mind glitter, because boy does Elsa's cape shed blue glitter everywhereXD)

Anonymous said...

That's too bad about the dress/redressing issue. :( I'd seen these on Disney's website and was considering them, but not now. There's no fun if you can't dress them up! :(

On the plus side, though: I FINALLY HAVE ELSA TRAVELING TO ME IN THE MAIL! Well, several, actually :*). I'm ridiculously picky with their faces, so I *cough cough* ordered five, will pick my favorite, and then will return four to our local store so I don't have the pay shipping. :) But back to the point: I'M FINALLY GETTING ELSA! :D :D :D
And, it was thanks to your post about them being back in stock that I knew to look, because I'd gotten slack about checking Disney's website. Thank you!

--Kate :)

Meritre said...

It's me once more... I made a mistake in my earlyer post, the table comes from the second generation ponies (and not the fourth). The tea party table came with the pony Sweet Berry and the dresser came with the pony Moon Shadow. They were only available in Europe. I'm so sorry for the mistake :(

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Hi Manta! I'm sorry about the clothing issue and that you won't be getting the sets, but I'm glad I was able to help you make an informed decision. At least there will be lots of other fun Frozen dolls released soon! :)

I'm glad you're enjoying your plush Elsa! I haven't seen one in person, but she looks really cute in the stock photos. :) Lol, yeah, if you're not a fan of glitter, Classic Elsa is probably not a doll you should have in your collection. She leaves a sparkly path everywhere she's been. ;) I'm into glitter, though, so it works out just fine for me! ;)

Hi Kate! I agree, it's really a shame. I love everything else about the sets!

I'm so glad you have an Elsa on the way, and I'm thrilled I was able to help. This is the first restock that I actually feel I've been helpful with. Before this month, the restocks were normally all sold out within an hour or two of my post letting everyone know about them. :}

Enjoy your Elsa and finding just the right one out of the five! ;)

Hi Meritre! Thanks for trying the redressing thing. I'm sorry it didn't work out (as you let me know later).

I have the same hesitation about a Belle wardrobe set. I would love to see them change her face mold again, but we may be stuck with "angry" Belle for a while. ;)

That would be a tough choice to figure out which friend she should have. My vote would be Lumiere; he was always my favorite. :)

What a great idea to use MLP furniture for the dolls! It would be just the right size. :) It looks really cute in the picture, too.

Don't worry about your mistake...no problem! :) None of us are perfect, and it's easy to make a mistake on a toy or accessory. :)

Have a great day, everyone!

Manta said...

(I guess this is kinda OT with the original topic, but anyways...I'm replying again I hope it's ok:):P) I can't wait till the ice skating set is released!:)
I think plush Elsa is awfully cute and I love her<3:) (Although I think DAC Elsa is still my absolute favorite Disney doll anything I own, lol:))
Well, I do like glitter, but classic Elsa shed blue glitter ALL OVER. Our dad wasn't happy when he found out my sister had set her classic Elsa and Anna up on top of his bag (full of coupons/papers/etc)...and then there was blue glitter all inside the bag. :P OopsXD {Then my sister and I joked that Elsa was leaving glitter behind her instead of ice and snow.;)} Oh, well, I still want that ice skating set even if Elsa is going to get glitter everywhere.:)

Unknown said...

Thank you for this post even if it's a few years old! I just found these playsets and I'm tempted to buy them off of ebay for my daughter. I just bought her the Kidkraft Arendelle dollhouse and these two sets will match it sooooo nicely. I don't know if the beds included fit a standard doll, so at least these two mini ones will work too. The wardrobes would be nice as extra matching furniture for it. Thanks for all the pictures!