Rapunzel/Headscratchers

Why didn't the prince just bring a ladder down which Rapunzel could climb? Or muster his royal resources to stage a rescue immediately?

 * In some versions, Rapunzel asks for some thread/rope so she can make ladder. Cutting her hair and going down from it could have helped too... only the witch was smart enought to think of that...
 * If she'd cut her own hair and used it as a rope to get in and out as she pleased, the witch would have noticed.
 * Seeing as the original version had Rapunzel getting knocked up halfway through, it's possible that the prince was having a bit too much... fun during the visits to want to hurry the rescue along.
 * This troper read one version where the prince does promise Rapunzel on their first meeting that he'll come back the next day with a ladder. Unfortunately, Rapunzel spills the beans to the witch before then.

How did the Witch climbed to the tower before Rapunzel hair was long enough?
Or did she just make her to grow her hair to save herself the bother of carrying each time a huge ladder? Another thing: If the witch needed Rapunzel to get into the tower, how did she get Rapunzel up there in the first place? Throw her?
 * Yes.
 * The building could originally had a door and stairs, which were destroyed after they took everything they needed inside and covered with more bricks, or maybe they just used a ladder.
 * In the Disney version, Tangled, they show that there is indeed a door at the base of the tower. It has since been covered by bricks and hedges, and leads to a trapdoor on the tower's ground floor, which Rapunzel may or may not know about. Not that she needs the door, as her hair is long enough for her to repel herself down from the top floor window. Her imprisonment in this version is mostly psychological. The tower was there mainly to keep other people out... though the "prince" manages to scale it without Rapunzel's help.
 * Usually assisted flight, sometimes by broomstick (or a similar item) and sometimes by spell.
 * A Wizard Did It.
 * How didn't her neck break from the prince's weight?
 * Most versions have her wrapping her hair around a post before the witch or prince climb her hair, which, by the way, would be totally possible. Healthy hair is strong enough to hold up a car.
 * ... How did they find that out?
 * MythBusters, I think.