Maryellen's Seaside Diner Bakery Case ($95.00) was not available at Columbus, and they had no idea when it would be sent to them.
Maryellen's Seaside Diner - $350.00
The phone comes with some false coins that you can drop in. It's battery-operated and a little operator's voice talks to you once the coin has been deposited. Don't put in a real dimes, though. Someone at the store had tried that on one of the two displays, and the phone was broken, since the dime was totally wedged in there and stuck!
The sign on top of the diner is battery-operated and spins when you push a button. There are three buttons and speaker on the back of the diner roof below the sign. One button spins the sign. One button plays music. One button plays recordings of diner customers saying things like "Can I have a doggy bag?" Here's a little video that I took showing what happens with each button. Sorry for the store noise in the background. Just in case the embedded video doesn't work, here's the direct YouTube link:
https://youtu.be/eJXKifRo5A8
This is a really cute piece, but it's $100.00 too expensive, in my opinion. I think this will be for collectors.
Maryellen's Back to School Outfit, Desk & Rocket Set
Desk: $100.00 - Desk, Text Book, Pencil and Box, Crayons and Box, Tape Dispenser, Pencil Sharpener
Ready to Launch Rocket Set: $42.00
Maryellen's School Desk was only displayed in the large case behind glass. It says real wood and does have a wood grain, but I can't say whether this is really wood or more pressed wood. It looked like the aqua parts were metal and the grey parts were plastic, but it's too hard to say without touching it. The accessories were cute, particularly the text book and pencil box.
Maryellen's Sledding Outfit & Sled
Sled: $65.00 - Sled, Thermos
The jacket would have been a wool one, but this is made from a single-knit poly fabric exactly like those in the 1970s. The pattern is cute, but the fabric is totally wrong for the 1950s. The belt is a very narrow, thin vinyl belt that is likely to crack in a year or so. The hat is made of the same fabric as the jacket with white faux fur trim (probably very similar to the fur from Kaya's Winter Accessories). The tie is a thin grosgrain ribbon in red (I would worry about staining here, as ribbon is the worst stainer on dolls, in my experience.).
The mock turtleneck is an ivory t-shirt knit top that is about as thin as you get. It velcros up the back and appears to have had very short velcro (just like the shirt from Logan's Performance Outfit), which left a wide opening in the back. The pants are some kind of wool blend, but you're talking a very small amount of wool. Whatever fabric it is, it's quite nubbly and looks like some hand-me-down pants that have been washed a lot of times. I love wool. It comes in very thin fabric, and at a price like this, I think AG took the easy road to use this cheap and non-authentic fabric. If you're collecting, then I'd pay a little more and get a real handmade winter outfit from someone who will use quality fabric that's more accurate.
And what's with bright yellow rain boots? I've never read Maryellen's stories, so maybe that's in there -- but a company making kids' items should never have put rubber rain boots with a heavy snow set like this. We've grown up in a place that gets a lot of snow in the winter, and the first thing they drill into your brain as a kid is that you NEVER wear rubber boots in the snow! Your feet will freeze in no time flat, and then you'll have some serious issues before you can blink. I think this was a bad idea, but that's my opinion.
Maryellen's Pretty Pink Dress
The dress bodice is made of this thin, drapey poly fabric. It's meant to fold/wrinkle on her torso in a certain way, but not one display model outside of the large glass case look right. The flowers that are tacked onto the front are the cheapest Wal-Mart quality fake flowers you could pick. The shoulder straps are crafting satin ribbon like you pick up at Joann's on the Offray spools. The tulle over dress is unhemmed and raw at the edges. You're not talking a long time before this looks pretty frayed and grungy. The underskirt is a thin acetate lining fabric. (There is a tulle crinoline sewn into this dress, so you'd don't need the separate crinoline with it, by the way.) Closure is velcro up the back, and there's no way that the bodice and tulle skirt will escape snagging too many times. The gloves are lacy fabric with hunky visible seams. The elastic at the wrists is hidden by some more pink ribbon.
The shoes are pearly white vinyl. Again, the usual AG quality isn't there. They are very thin, and the straps close with a tiny piece of velcro. The soles felt very thin and bendable. The hair barrette is 100% cheap plastic -- about half the quality of any of Kit's hair clips.
I'd give this dress a real thumbs down for the price and quality. It's probably going to appeal to a lot of little girls, but this doesn't have nice materials or lasting power.
Be sure to check out the other entries from today for other pictures and reviews of the new items.