Disney's Princess Magical Dress-Up

Having constructed their model, girls can do a number of things--dress her up, search for more clothing and accessories in a trio of magical worlds, or paste finished ensembles into a sticker book. The last application allows you to literally insert yourself into animated scenery of Disney movies, creating pictures of yourself hobnobbing with characters from The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.. Bright and relentlessly cheerful, the game urges girls to build pretty gown after pretty gown, complimenting their choices at every turn.

Burdened with an oversensitive installer and a balky interface, Disney Princess Magical Dress-Up never quite manages to overcome its flaws. Variations on this style of game abound, after all, hovering in an electronic netherworld between old-fashioned paper doll kits and more sophisticated makeover programs available to older girls. This particular version, though, has few things going for it. While it does allow players to design somewhat realistic princess models, its only real appeal lies in its three familiar characters and the recognizable aesthetic of its artwork. And even in this its scope is sadly limited, with no clothes on offer from the formidable collection of female villains in the Disney canon. Everything is very serious and very pretty, and girls wanting to build zany costumes--or even a reasonably varied wardrobe--may want to look elsewhere. --Alyx Dellamonica

My five year old enjoys playing with it but I suspect she will tire of it before it's due back at the library as there is really nothing to do. You can decorate your horse, decorate the show ring, and run around a track. That's about it.

There does not seem to be any educational value whatsoever unless you're trying to teach a child how to click a mouse.


Very Disappointed Royal Horse Show   June 7, 2004
Cheryl S (Houston, TX USA)
9 out of 12 found this review helpful

Don't give your money to Disney for the Royal Horse Show. I'd hardly call this a game, more precise it is a vehicle to promote Disney princess characters. And even the promotion gained from this was probably a waste for them as my daughter's interest in the limited activities wained quickly.

There are only 4 options to choose from.
1-decorate your horse (this is probably the most engaging feature for my daughter but she lost interest quickly as there seem to be dead end options - you are told that you can show your horse in the ring but no path to do so is ever provided)
2-decorate the royal horse ring (my daughter had no interest in this)
3-ride your horse around the ring (the view is awkward - the top of the horse's head blocks most of the picture)
4-in the craft cottage there are the most awkward features of all (an empty scrapbook which you fill with your escapades - this never caught on with my daughter, a growth chart [what this has to do with the game I have no idea and because her computer is not hooked up to a printer the option just caused the game to hang], a box for horse cards to collect [we are still not sure what this is] and the value of any of this is lost on me).