Is Mattel Refreshing Their Disney Princess Doll Line Soon? UPDATED With Answers – Disney 100 Packaging Disappears!

I haven’t written a strictly toy post in a while, but I noticed something interesting at my local Target. All of the “playable” Disney Princess dolls had been pulled from their shelves. When I went to second Target later in the afternoon, they were missing from those shelves as well. Then, when I got home, I went online and no Targets in my vicinity had any of the Disney Princess line in stock. Was this all a weird coincidence, a stocking error – or could it point to something more?

Could Mattel be readying a refresh of the line?

Fans had been hoping that Mattel might revamp the Disney Princess “playable” line after getting the rights back from Hasbro in 2022. But when Mattel subsequently launched their “playable” line in 2023, the result were dolls fairly similar to the previous Hasbro line – with some slight but noticeable variations (the playable Disney Princess dolls are the basic doll versions of the original thirteen individual Disney Princess dolls packaged individually at a retail price between $10 – $12).

Some speculated that the run’s similarity to Hasbro’s versions could have been a result of Mattel wanting to get some product ON shelves as soon as their rights fully vested in 2023 – but that a refresh might be on the way. Well, that refresh never came in 2023. Could 2024 be the year? Perhaps Target pulling the current line was the first harbinger of a change (one note, the dolls are currently still available at my local Walmart and I plan on visiting tomorrow to confirm. But still, a complete lack of stock anywhere in the city was odd for Target)?

Even if the line was getting a refresh, stores usually keep the current dolls inventoried and on the shelf (especially if they are made by the same company) or transfer them to a clearance shelf. This is the case for most Disney-branded Mattel and Hasbro toys, including the Marvel and STAR WARS lines. In fact, most of THE LITTLE MERMAID line is currently on sale. I actually bought the Eric and Ariel two-doll set this morning at the Target in question. The set is being sold for 50% off – a pretty great deal.

So why not just sell the remaining Disney Princess doll line off at sale price like THE LITTLE MERMAID dolls? I have a theory. This year’s Disney Princess dolls each had a backing and packaging that was branded with the Disney 100 medal. This came when Mattel debuted the line in January of 2023. Incidentally that was when the Disney 100 The Disney 100 celebration officially ended with the new year and Disney has already taken that branding down from their parks and is already selling all remaining 100 merchandise at 50% off in their parks. Perhaps they wanted to remove the dolls with the 100 badges from store shelves but not have them go through clearance. See below for the badges in question:

Opting to ask retailers to resell them online instead. I guess this because the dolls are still technically available on Target’s website. And while Disney is very particular about not wanting to have dated merch on shelves, selling princess dolls at a reduced price is a very bad look for a very popular line as the dolls are consistently one of the best sellers for Mattel.

Still diehard Princess fans are probably hoping that the restock will be something more than just a new backing sans Disney 100 medals. New molds and refreshed wardrobes as well as a new backing would be a great surprise – though it is complete speculation at this point. And yet, this is all some weird issue with the Target stocking system in my city. Time will tell. If anyone knows or has seen these dolls disappear from your local Target, comment down below or give a like to the blog. I’m looking forward to finding out the answer soon.

UPDATE: 2.3.24

The dolls returned to shelves at my local Target four days later. And as it turns out, the Disney 100 badges are gone from the packaging. Target, presumably at the request of Disney, had pulled the dolls to replace them with non-Disney 100 branded packaging. There are still some Disney 100 branded Princesses at Walmarts though even there they are beginning to disappear and have been diluted by new inventory. My guess is that Target has a relationship with Disney (as they have certain “Disney Store” type mini-stores within certain Targets and also have shelf space reserved for Disney) whereas Disney had less pull with Walmart. But that’s just a guess.

As you can see, the dolls are not updated in terms of presentation otherwise. Interesting to see however, that these Disney 100 branded Princess dolls are going for higher prices on eBay already – with many hitting the $15-$20 range and some higher, like Pocahontas, depending on their already rare status.