Your 8 to 13 old daughter will love this place!!
Written: Apr 22 '06
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: It's every little doll loving girls dream.
Cons: It can be your wallets worst nightmare!!
The Bottom Line: It's a great place to visit, maybe leave your wallet at home if you can.
|
|
|
| larnkat's Full Review: American Girl Place |
I had never heard of American Girl until around the time my little girl turned seven, the 'American Girl' catalog started showing up in our mailbox. I'm not for sure how this happened. It just seemed to appear. Once my wife and daughter saw the catalog they were hooked. Items in their catalog are pricey as each doll comes with it's own story, clothes and accessories. You can easily spend hundred's of dollars, yes, I said, 'hundred's of dollars' on the full size dolls. Luckily, they also have miniatures of the dolls too, with a bit smaller price tag.
After getting their monthly catalogs for a while and purchasing a doll and some accessories my wife and I decided to take my little girl to see the American Girl Place in Chicago along the Magnificent Mile for her spring break. If Chicago is not near you there are two other locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles.
I found the Chicago store very easy to get to and we found parking within a block of the store, however parking can be expensive we paid $29.00 for three hours. I found the store to be impressively laid out, well maintained and overly staffed. This American Girl Place has three floors:
The main floor has windowed displays showing the era in time for each doll. There is also a picture studio, for your daughter and her doll to be photographed. Expect at least a fifteen-minute wait, as this is a popular event. Photo packages starting at $21.00 and are ready in fifteen minutes. You can also find, the many number of books and videos and accessories on this floor as well.
On the top floor, which is accessible by either escalator or elevator, you will find their Café - reservations required and prices starting at $16.00 to $18.00 per person based on the service. I did find that around the corner from the store is the Chicago Place Mall and on the eighth floor is their food court. The American Girl Place also sell girls outfits to match their dolls on the top floor. But to me the most unique thing that I saw on this floor was the salon where your doll can have her hair done by trained professionals for a $10.00 to $20.00 fee.
On the bottom floor, again is accessible by either escalator or elevator, you'll find their Theater - reservations required and prices ranging from $15.00 to $28.00 based on the show. Also important to know that no children under 6 years old including infants will be admitted to the theater. Also on this floor and only on this floor will you find their miniature dolls and accessories but you have to look for them. If you like to window shop, on this floor they have a window for each of the dolls along with all of their accessories that go with it.
I'm one of those guys who does not like shopping but, overall it was a great time and worth checking out. Plan on spending two hours there just to see everything, longer if you eat or go to the theater. Their building is uniquely designed, just when you think you've seen everything a new room or hallway is discovered. My advice is to set a budget; having to have reservations to do some of the things will help you stick to your budget. I would also check out their website www.americangirl.com and plan your day. Another good idea would be to try to go during the week. We went on a Tuesday and the store was busy, I can only imagine how busy it gets on the weekend.
So if you ever thought about visiting their store, I would say it is worth the trip. Even though they are very clever at marketing and finding ways to get you to spend your money an educated consumer who plans out their day ahead of time can at least control how much they spend. And in the end enjoy with your loved ones the sights and sounds that is the 'American Girl Place'.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
larnkat
|
|
Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 16 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.