Barbie Dream House

This new house rocks!
This house is unlike anything Mattel has done before. Lots of new features, it is really cool. My 5 year old loves , loves, loves it.
Assembly was not difficult for me as I have put together MANY Mattel houses. However, I will agree that the instructions could be alot better. Just remember ,the columns all have shaped ends on the bottom that correspond with the whole you need to put it in. Like heart shaped, diamond, etc. Once you have that figured out - it is pretty easy. All my sounds work right.
Now for the con... the elevator. I am not completely sure I have it in right because the instructions for it were not that great. It does catch going up - not sure if this is a flaw or I just didn't install it right. But overall- this house is AMAZING!! And I love that the little accessories "stick" in the house. You can move them anywhere the way the house is made and they STAY in place... Major plus. Way to go Mattel. Do I think it was worth $159 (which I paid at Walmart)...
Difficult to assemble & not the best quality
This dreamhouse is far more exciting than anything I owned when I was a child! My daughter is only 3 1/2 and this is her first real introduction to the Barbie world. She already loves playing with it and I know that she will continue to use it and grow in her imagination as she gets older.

That being said, this dreamhouse is very difficult to put together and not the best quality. The company recently released a youtube video that helps you with assembly, which is nice because the instructions included in the box are not sufficient. I have problems with the two elevators getting stuck in-between floors (I fixed one thanks to another video on youtube that shows you how to remedy it, but the other is still not right). They are too difficult for my child to move, a bit of a disappointment when it is one of their main selling points ("two working elevators!"). It is nice that it comes with lots of furniture and play food/accessories, but the furniture comes unassembled and...
Barbie's new digs are gorgeous
Barbie's new dream house is AMAZING. I can't even imagine a kid not wanting to play with it. So many rooms, so many features, so many fun things to do, to move, to hear, to see.

Of course, before any kid plays with it you have to assemble it. Now, I'm not going to sugar coat this. If you think you can set this up Christmas Eve after the kids go to bed, think again. Plan on 2 hours for just in case for assembly. Plus setting it all up nice, and "test play" runs.

The dream house comes with the funniest instruction sheets I have ever seen. One is deliberately funny, and pokes fun at the 1000 stickers included (it's really not that many stickers, and none are tiny). The other funny instructions are the actual instructions. They are lacking. Thankfully, Mattel is aware of this and you can access a pretty decent YouTube video that gives a much more in depth explanation- although that skips over a lot. Between the paper and the video, you should be good to...
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