Mattel Dora Links Doll | 
| Brand: Mattel
List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $47.95
as of 11/20/2009 17:13 CST details
You Save: $12.04 (20%)
New (28) from $47.95
Seller: DiscountToys&BabyGear
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 234
Batteries Included: Yes
Age: 5 - 10 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 4 x 3 x 13
MPN: N9259
Model: N9259
UPC: 027084712896
EAN: 0027084712896
ASIN: B001WKC2E4
Release Date: September 29, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | By plugging the Dora Links doll into the computer (via USB), girls will have access to her online world. There, girls can help Dora and her friends solve mysteries through engaging game play that affects change in Doraâs world. | | • | Disguise Dora online by changing her hair length, eye color, jewelry, and moreâ¦and watch those changes magically appear on your Dora doll! | | • | Meet the Explorer Girls at their online café to help them solve mysteries! | | • | Explore new locations, get involved in community & charity functions, meet new friends, play games, and even receive D-mail! | | • | Your Dora Links doll will even alert you when thereâs a new online mystery available! |
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Plug the Dora Links doll into the computer via USB, and girls will have access to her online world. Girls can help Dora and her friends solve the mysteries through engaging game play that affects change in Dora's world. The Dora Links doll offers interactivity that allows girls to customize the doll and watch as she transforms before their eyes. As girls explore and solve the online mysteries,the doll's speech, eye color and jewelry color can change to correspond with their play.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 Great Toy, frustrating software setup.. here's some possible answers. November 17, 2009
K.M. (Washington)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I had read the reviews for Dora Links before my daughter got it as a gift. We went into it knowing there was a lot of frustration regarding the software. Well, that was definitely an understatement. Having never written a review, and knowing the holidays are coming up, I thought I'd add my opinions to the mix and maybe some helpful solutions to parents. My daughter who just turned 5 is enjoying the doll. Easy to dress, seems durable (tad heavy for a doll, but understandable), etc. Now that she can plug it into the computer, also seems to navigate the Dora world just fine. It is in spanish with sub titles that we've figured out so far, so if you have a non-reader, be prepared to help possibly.
The problem is the software. We spent hours trying to get the software to load etc. We then spent hours trying to download the software from the site. Then hours the next day talking to the company. Here is what we have found out and thought we would share for other parents. This is definitely a toy that I would strongly suggest getting the software downloaded and installed before your child receives the doll as it can be time consuming depending on their server and the traffic on it. The Dora Links server can busy. The disk that comes with the doll is in essence not really the software. It is a program that tells your computer to download the software from the website which is the constant 'content downloading' message you read about. If their server is busy, you may then spend two hours downloading (this is with a cable connection) just to have it drop on you all a sudden. It then does not pick back up from where it left off. The suggestion they finally gave us was to google for a free download manager software. This will allow it to continue to push at their server to download the software and then if it does drop, pick back up where it started. I would not use the disk at all as I've seen others have had issues with it. The 'download' on the website is the software you need and the most updated. Once we did this, it installed perfectly and worked great immediately.
Great toy, very frustrating to setup. If you're reading this, I'd strongly suggest you follow the above way for installing the software.
 Website mystery November 7, 2009
Stefan Kuchar (harvard,il.)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This toy is alright I guess. I would say its pretty expensive for what U get out of it. The website doesn't give U enough options to keep ur kid interested very long. First of all its hard to figure out how to advance in the little city where Dora lives in. They have locks on doors that advance U along,but it never explains how to get the key only that U need to get the key. I spent a half hour trying to figure it out & never did. Now the toy my daughter absolutely had to get is in the closet & hasn't been played w/but three times.
Be Prepared November 6, 2009
S. Bachner
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The issues I have with this toy involve getting it set-up to play with. My husband was the one who wrestled with the packaging to get all of the pieces unattached from the cardboard backing, but having opened many Barbies myself I know how difficult this display oriented packaging is to work with.
Given the problems that many people seem to have had with the software, it makes sense to me to make sure you can download and install the software before you commit to purchasing the doll. If you go to the Dora Links website, on the bottom right you can click on download to start the excruciatingly long process. Once you have it downloaded, go ahead and install the program. This process is even longer than the download so don't expect to be able to see the bar actually moving on the status screen. Next you can go through the username and password set-up. When you get to the screen with a silouette of the unplugged doll at the bottom (between other button options), you are ready to plug her in.
Once we got to this point everything has gone swimmingly well. My daughter loves the toy and, I have to admit it is pretty cool!
 Don't waste your money or disappoint your child October 31, 2009
Wendy Delgado (Bay Area, California)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I just finished consoling a very disappointed little girl. I gave this doll as a birthday present to my daughter.
I should have gone with my first impression. The doll appeared cheap and after taking 20 minutes to take her out of the packaging, I fully realized how cheap it actualy is. I tried installing it on 2 computers. Now I've installed many programs before but this took too long, resulted in a few errors and ultimately would not run properly. I will try to return this doll without the packaging. Truly disappointed with this toy and based on the reviews of others, with Mattel for releasing such a poor product.
6 year old Daughter loves it! Mom and dad need to set things up ahead of time or its tears! October 24, 2009
Karlton Zeitz (Denver, CO USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I'm also a professional software engineer, and wearing that hat, I'm disappointed with the installation experience. I successfully installed everything on my daughter's modest vista machine. The only word I can use to describe the experience is SLOW! The installation, and mysterious updates and `unpacking' steps took forever. I'd say you're looking at minimum and hour to get things going. More installation guidance, perhaps a README file on the CD-ROM would have been very welcome. I certainly think children's software should be held to a higher standard of quality.
As a parent, if we had tried to get things up and going with my daughter waiting excitedly it would have been a catastrophe! Luckily that was averted by getting everything setup the night before.
One issue we had was at the end of the initial tutorial there were no other mysteries to solve. This took a little while to figure out, and basically was getting out of the game entirely, restarting it, enduring another `update' and `unpack', and then 5 new mysteries were available.
The doll and the game work as advertised. There is definitely is a strong hook to encourage mom and dad to purchase other dolls and accessories as they unlock other parts of the Dora Links play world. It is a little disappointing when my daughter can't enter an error or play a game because it's locked. I'm not sure I'm a fan of this sales tactic using my daughter as the lever.
All that said, my daughter really loves this doll! And my wife and I are really glad we got it for her. She is very attached to it and can't wait to plug Dora in to her computer and change her appearance etc. The mysteries are right at the edge of her game play abilities, and we have to help her a little occasionally. If mom and dad set up everything first, and try it out first before they let the kids loose on it I think it can be a great gift for all involved.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
|
|
|
|
