Customer Reviews

Barbie Doggie Park

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm only writing this review for Mom's like me who saw this toy and just knew their 4 yr old would love it. It looks great in the box, but once you take it out and start assembling the pieces, you realize what a poorly made toy this is. First of all, the little tree top does not fit properly into the base of the tree so when you are trying to put the swings on, the top falls off. The puppies do not fit properly in the swings. Also, to make Barbie "skate", you must have something in the dogs mouth. I ended up having to fold a piece of paper in half and stick it in his mouth. This works for about 5 seconds and Barbie moves in jerky motion about 1 inch per minute. It is sad. My girls tried to play with it once and now all the pieces are everywhere. RIP Doggie Park Barbie! I paid about $25 for this item at Target "on sale" but I have seen some places sell it for over $30! Please don't waste your money!!!
(the only reason I gave it two stars for fun is that the girls can still play with the Barbie and dog separately)

Barbie must be used on a VERY SMOOTH floor or she falls over! Her skate wheels do not turn - she is just pulled along by the dog and if you do not have very new smooth floors, this Barbie will not work. Very disappointing!

To make the dog pull Barbie, you must sit a puppie on the mother dog's back. (This is not shown in the picture.) There is a tiny magnet on the puppy which activates the dogs's legs. The dog is VERY noisy as it moves. It also tends to move and pull Barbie in circles so you have to keep straightening it out.

To keep Barbie from falling on a smooth floor, she has to be balanced just right or she falls even though the floor is smooth.

Barbie will not work on cement or anything rough, and she can't move on tiled floors because the tiny skate wheels get stuck and she falls over.

All and all, this is a POOR toy. Mattel should make an Emergency Room Barie Playset to go with this one, because most of the time Barbie is falling on her head!!!

We bought the toy new on Thursday. I discovered Barbie on Saturday evening with her legs off. The fabric band that holds Barbie's limbs on had snapped. It seems improbable to me that my 7 yr old really abused the toy in that short amount of time. Mattell was helpful by phone when I called in about the clumsy wings on Barbie Fairy-Tastic Princess. Hopefully, they'll have a convenient solution for this.

My daughter REALLY wanted this so with her birthday money picked it out. Within the first hour of having it at home the legs broke off and we realized barbie cannot skate she just kept falling down even on hardwood floors. We took it back the next day. I guess they are making barbies legs with a rubber type band to hold them together on the inside. Sadly Barbie is NOT as durable as it used to be.

Our 3 and 4.5 year olds got this present for Christmas 2009. We have had no problems with this toy whatsoever (this is March 2010). They play with this toy, along with all their other Barbie toys, almost daily and nothing has fallen apart or broken. We did show them how everything works and how to take the best care of it - the dog pulls Barbie on her roller skates via a plastic bone in her mouth (the tongue is the 'on' button) or one of the puppies riding on her back (magnetic). The big dog goes in a circle, which I was pleased to discover so Barbie doesn't roll for the stairs every time. My girls play with this toy on our linoleum kitchen floor AND our low-nap carpeting in other rooms with no problems. Of course, it works faster on the hard floor, but it doesn't seem to bother the mechanism.

The tree and swings can be hard to put together but my kids have not become frustrated with it and usually just ask for help to set it up the first time and then they're off and playing. As with all Barbie toys, there are loads of teeny tiny pieces but the main exciting pieces are the doll, dog, and leash. A few pieces have popped off but were easily snapped back into place, good as new.

Overall, we have been very satisfied with this purchase and highly recommend it. Even though a toy will be recommended for a certain age, that doesn't mean every child that age is old enough to play with it. Barbie toys require a gentle touch and once a child can understand that, they'll have a great time!

My 8 year old was not impressed with this. There are a lot of little pieces to get lost. The dog does NOT walk the barbie. The Barbie is cheap, flops all over all the time, and never stays upward on the skates. It was a waste of money for us because it just didn't work as promised and it just felt cheap.

This toy was very disappointing for my kids. The wheels on Barbie's skates don't actualy turn; they are stationary and the dog just kind of drags her around. As others have mentioned, if your "skating" surface isn't perfectly smooth, the doll falls over or just stands still and vibrates instead of skating -- and by "isn't perfectly smooth," I don't mean a shag carpet; I mean a tiled floor, a laminate floor, or anything with any texture or crevices whatsoever. The toy is poorly constructed -- the tree doesn't stay together and the legs on both the Barbie and the dog easily pop off. The problem is not, as previous reviewers have implied, that those of us who have had a negative experience with this toy are just not teaching our children how to play gently with toys and not break them -- the problem is that this is a very poorly designed, cheaply constructed toy that doesn't work as advertised.

Super cute toy but it is not easy for kids to play with. You have to place the puppies "just right" on the mom's back for Barbie to skate... It is a little wobbly too but very cute..

I bought this toy for my 4 year old's birthday, then read the reviews of it. I was tempted to return it but decided to give it a try. It definitely does not work as described on the web site and the box the toy comes in. Barbie falls over almost immediately when pulled by the dog, and there is no way that I can see that the dog would make the tree rotate. That said, the dog is still cute and my daughter has been enjoying watching it walk along with the little dogs on its back. But it's only been two days since she got it, so the real question is whether she will still playing with it a couple weeks from now. All in all, the toy is just OK in my opinion.

Don't know what the problem was with the other reviewers, my daughter is 4 and LOVES this toy. Yes, you have to put the bone or the leash in the dog's mouth to turn it on. Yes, Barbie has to be positioned correctly on a smooth floor to be pulled. But my daughter has had NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER setting any of that up. And any toy that involves motion is not going to work well on a shag carpet, you always need a smooth surface. As far as the tree falling apart, the top does come off easy but is no big deal to put back on and gravity keeps it in place more than adequately if you have the toy sitting on a table or floor. It is really cute how the dog pulls the tree top around to give the little dogs a ride. Compared to some of the other absolute junk I've seen in my kids' other toys, this one seems well put together and fun.