Out of the entire princess lineup, only three of them were the biggest part of my childhood. Cinderella was sorta part of my childhood but mainly the Brandi Norwood version because I preferred that one over the animated version. And I’m not counting Rapunzel because her movie came out when I was almost an adult.

3. Mulan

A lot of you might know that Mulan is my favorite princess and she’s been number 1 on my list for years. I was 5 years old when I watched her movie on tape and I remember being so in love with her and the movie immediately. Mulan was one of the biggest feminist icons in my life when I was a kid and she still is today. I watched her movie several times when I was a kid and when I found out there was going to be a sequel of course I was excited but was then so incredibly disappointed after actually watching it. I didn’t have too much Mulan merch when I was a kid, only a couple McDonalds toys and a stuffed Cri-Kee toy (that I still have) which was really surprising considering how my family had to deal with me watching Mulan and hearing me sing Reflection (badly) every day

2. Jasmine

Being born in the 90s to a Christian mother I didn’t know anything about LGBTQ+ until I was in my early teens. I didn’t realize I was bisexual until a year or two ago, having been wondering for so long why I would be attracted to some girls but then also attracted to guys (I didn’t know being bi was a thing until a few years ago, I thought only straight, gay, lesbian, and trans were the only sexualities). You might be wondering, “Why are you telling us this? What does this have to do with Jasmine?” Well I’ll tell you; Jasmine was my first girl crush. I liked her since I was 3 years old and I still had a crush on her when I got older. Considering I liked her for that long it is AMAZING it took me 20 years to figure it out. And like Mulan, Jasmine was one of the biggest feminist icons of my childhood. Even though she didn’t have as much screen time or get to do as much fighting, she still didn’t take any sh*t from anyone. Because I loved Jasmine so much, I made sure to keep the McDonalds toys of her and Aladdin in their wedding clothes from one of the sequels and I had them on the Disney table at my wedding.

1. Ariel

If you read the rewatching The Little Mermaid article I wrote, you know how much I love Ariel. I had Barbie toys of her and Eric and a doll with red yarn for hair of Ariel, cardboard cutouts of the characters in my room at my dads house, The little Mermaid birthday cakes, and I even had my picture taken with Ariel on my very first trip to Disneyland. I’ve been a huge fan of mermaids for years, always wanting to believe they’re real and at some point actually wanting to be one. Ariel was the reason I loved mermaids so much and her movie is one of the reasons I loved the ocean so much when I was younger. I remember when I was a kid I actually got bored when Ariel got legs because I wanted to see more of the ocean and more of her as a mermaid.

I love all the princesses in the lineup, but I’m glad that I had these princesses as my role models growing up.