Princess Tiana "already sold out"

Disney Consumer Products representatives confirmed they have received calls from customers looking for the sold-out costumes. Sales, they said, have exceeded expectations, especially since the film has yet to be released. Willis typically doesn't celebrate Halloween, but this year, Princess Tiana was a good enough reason to start.

"I am very passionate about this particular Disney character," Willis said. "It has been 100 years in the making. I've been very disturbed because I love the concept of a princess, but they don't exist for the African-American community."

The excitement extends well beyond Halloween. Willis, like many parents of African-American girls, has taken a hard line on Disney products. She has avoided filling her daughter's toy box with too many princess products that don't reflect her image. The only other Disney-themed product she has purchased are Pull-Ups, but she has plans to scoop up more of the Tiana merchandise.

"I'm looking for Tiana dolls. I want pajamas and slippers. When I go to get her toddler bed from Toys 'R' Us, I want a Tiana bed to be there," Willis said.

If interest in Tiana merchandise is to be expected, so much early interest is less the norm. Usually, it's kids begging their moms to buy them princess this or that, but Tiana has moms all aflutter.

Nicole Nobles' 5-year-old daughter, Jaida, opted to be a cheerleader for Halloween this year (she had been a Disney princess for three years running, including Snow White and Cinderella), but Nobles can't wait to buy a Tiana doll for her daughter this holiday season.

"I refuse to put Sleeping Beauty on her bed," said Nobles, of Jonesboro. "I heard about Tiana, and I said 'Oh we are definitely going to get that one.' "

A Princess Tiana cookbook for kids, Tiana Band-Aids, a calendar, apparel and plush toys are already available for purchase online and at mass retailers. A Princess Tiana-inspired wedding gown, part of the Kirstie Kelly for Disney Fairy Tale Weddings collection, will be available this spring.

It is unusual to see so much merchandise hitting the market two months in advance of the film, said Suzanne Diamond, a marketing lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and president of Diamond Group Ltd. The early in-store arrival of Tiana products is in part an effort to get the merchandise on shelves for holiday shopping season.

"You would normally time it for the merchandise to hit at the same time as the movie, maybe slightly before, so you can capitalize on all the excitement and extend the brand," she said. "This is fascinating because this is really driven by the moms. This is very significant to the moms and it is word of mouth."

While the $4 billion Disney Princess brand is supported by a massive marketing strategy (which should begin in a few weeks for Tiana products), the buzz already generated by blogs and other less traditional forms of advertising helped Carol's Daughter sell out of "A Magical Beauty Collection" gift sets in just seven hours online, said the company's founder, Lisa Price. Price, who collaborated with Disney on the line of shampoo, conditioner, detangler and bubble bath, said she sees similarities between Tiana's story and her own and that may be part of the appeal for women.

"I feel like this story has a story that goes beyond the film. Tiana is someone who has the support of her family and her family encourages her to live out her dreams. ... That is a beautiful lesson," Price said.

But the early buzz is not the kind that reaches kids, Price said. And for some young girls, Tiana's significance hasn't quite hit home. Still, Adrienne Timothy, 10, said she has found inspiration in Princess Tiana.

"I was watching TV and I saw Princess Tiana on the commercial," she said. "It let me know that different people can succeed in anything ... and she helps me recognize that dreams do come true."

Her reaction was more subdued than Myrtice Smith, 51, of south Atlanta, who screamed when she saw the black Disney princess on television. Smith, founder of Treasure Girls, a mentoring group of which Adrienne is a member, couldn't wait to share the news with her members, who are 8 to 20 years old. When she announced they would be taking a field trip to see the film in December, only half of them had heard about the movie, she said.

"We work a lot on their self-esteem," Smith said. "That is why I thought this is such a great outing for the younger girls. The experience of sitting there and watching the whole story play out with a black princess will have to help boost their self-esteem."

Smith said it is particularly important that Princess Tiana is coming from Disney.

"If any other company had done it, I don't know if it would have had as great an impact as with Disney. We've watched their movies all our lives," she said, recalling the days when she and her friends all wanted to be Cinderella. "I guess you get older and you realize that all these characters are not black. [Tiana] is almost a confirmation as a black woman ... that you can be a princess, too."