Customer Reviews

Fisher-Price Dora the Explorer My Talking Backpack

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I bought this toy for my 3 year-old niece who can't seem to get enough of Dora. She was extremely excited for the first five minutes in the store, then pretty much forgot about it once we got home.

The items that come with the backpack are second rate. The binoculars were what she played with the most, but the eye pieces are only plastic windows (no magnifying), and a little hard to see out of. The magnifying glass is also only plastic with no magnifying, and didn't hold her interest at all. The camera has no visual window, and she couldn't look through it like a regular camera. There were also no buttons for her to push to pretend taking a picture (the red button on the top does not depress.) The little bracelet stayed on her wrist for about a second, for it has no closure; it is supposed to just slip on, but apparently her wrist is too small for the large opening. In fact, it fit my wrist better than hers.

The backpack itself is hard plastic, so fitting everything inside takes a little puzzle work, but the pack stays closed, even when dropped. The pack talks when you push the mouth, and my 10 month old had a great time playing with this. My niece, however, lost interest.

The only real plus I saw was that these pieces were dropped quite often, and no breakage or dents occurred. However, it quickly became forgotten on the floor in the back of the car. I wish we had left it in the store and bought something else.

Let me preface this with - My 2 1/2 year old daughter is a HUGE Dora fan. She loves anything Dora. We opened the "Backpack" less than 15 minutes ago, she is no longer playing with it, and she has been completely frustrated and disappointed and I wish I had never let her see this useless toy. May I also say that I have NEVER written an online review before but I just can't help but want to vent over this and warn other people not to buy this toy.

1. This is not a backpack. That's weird, there is no way to attach the "backpack" to my daughter's back.
2. Even with the tiny hands of a two year old, it is nearly impossible for her to retrieve items out of her "backpack", the opening is way too small.
3. She can't even carry the "backpack" by the top handle because the latch doesn't support the weight of "backpack" How is it that they didn't catch that glitch before they went to production??????

As I write this, here are the comments I have heard from my daughter "Mommy, we can give this to some other children", "Mommy, this is broken". "Mommy, can we get me a new backpack?" Ouch, I just asked her if she likes her new backpack and she said "I don't want it, when I walk with it, it gets broken, I want to give it to someone else, because it doesn't fit me, it keeps opening" She is actually packing it back up in the box, she wants to "send it back." Only nice thing about it is that she has enjoyed singing the backpack song.....

I bought this for my 2-1/2 year old son who loves Dora. As with the other reviews, he became completely frustrated after 15 minutes with it. The backpack is not a backpack that fits over the shoulders and if you carry it by the handle, the latch opens. The toys are extremely difficult for a child (or an adult) to fit into the backpack. And all of the toys are cheap and uninteresting. Frankly, I expected something better from Fischer-Price.

I bought the "backpack" for my 2 year old daughter - it instantly turned into a source of frustration for her. 1 - the backpack opening is too small and it is hard to put items in and take out, even I had trouble. 2 - the backpack is NOT a backpack, there is only a carrying handle. My daughter wanted it on her back, like Dora wears it. I ended up tying ribbon to the bag handle and taping it on the bottom so she can wear it on her back. That being said, I really do not want her walking around with a hard plastic item on her back. I plan on purchasing a fabric backpack instead.

The only positive comment I have is that the phrases the backpack plays are cute...

Another reviewer said it...5 minutes of fun and then it clutters the child's room. Also, where's the map!? Go for the Dora adventure doll dress up.

My daughter (3 1/2) does enjoy this toy which she picked out herself. The major problem with it is that the opening is WAY too small. I have difficulty getting the pieces in and out of the backpack.

Both of my daughters (ages 3 and 2) love Dora, and they truly enjoyed carrying around this package. They spent the better part of 48 hours going on adventures to save beached humpback whales and rescue Tico the squirrel from Swiper.

I have only two complaints about the backpack: it's not a backpack (minor) and the opening is far too small (major).

Your child cannot carry this pack on his/her back because there are no straps to do so. Rather, the child must hold the pack like a purse using the handle at the top. My daughters didn't seem to mind this, save for the fact that the pack popped open several times as they were carrying it.

The opening, however, is far too small for the camcorder. Getting the camcorder, map, compass, and telescope into the backpack takes either a very patient adult or a small child who's willing to cram as hard as necessary until everything gets it. Getting it out is another matter. I strongly urge parents with children under the age of four to avoid this toy. Watching a temperamental two-year-old struggle to wretch the camcorder from the clutches of backpack amidst screams of pure irritation is not worth it.

Overall, the product is cute, but would be better with a less rigid backpack design that actually fits on the back.

I had been considering this when I found a $6 real canvas purple Dora's backpack at TJMaxx - it has a short string attaching Dora's map that slides in the side pocket. (It has another side pocket on the other side - both are open and she can just slide things in and out of them - sunglasses, flashlight, etc.) It did not come with the other stuff, but we use it for day trips for my daughter, and I bought her a camera, magnifying glass and binoculars for $1 each at the local Dollar Tree.... and she uses those and she has a coin purse in it too... plus, her granola bars, juice drink fits, a diaper or two, etc....

This toy is very cute, but I am so very glad that I found the real (useable) backpack before I decided to purchase this toy!!

Here is a backpack that looks like it may be similar to the one I found, if anyone else is also looking for one that can be used as a backpack instead of just as a toy... (you may have to copy and paste if this doesn't show up as a link...)


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000067R84/ref=pd_ys_pym_all_1/103-8610805-3783006?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

My 2 1/2 year old received this for christmas and I did not think she would like it. Well I was wrong. She loves putting things in her "backpack" and carrying it around. There is one major defect with this toy. The opening is to small for the toys included. The camcorder will only go in or out one way and there is barely enough room to for fingers. So, many times the camcorder will get stuck and won't come out so my daughter is shaking the backpack and getting frustrated. They should either make the opening large or the camcorder smaller.

My daughters love this toy. It got many hours/days/months of play. The batteries no longer work and they still play with it. I thought it would be easy to replace the 3 watch batteries but much to my surprise, it cost just as much to replace them as it would to purchase a whole new toy; this is a shame..... In honesty though, the batteries did last a pretty long time.