Fisher-Price Dora's Let's Get Ready Vanity Review

The Let's Get Ready Vanity comes with a full-sized styling head, vanity, and plenty of accessories that girls can use on themselves or Dora. Ideal for ages three to seven, Dora is ready for little girls to style, and then they can join her on exciting dress-up adventures.
The Styling StationWith more than 100 interactive words and phrases, the Let's Get Ready Vanity amuses little ones for hours. Girls can sit at it just like they would at a real vanity. The stool is incredibly sturdy and can hold up to 200 pounds. Featuring bright pink, purple, and yellow colors and storage space for all the accessories, the vanity saves parents from worrying about lost pieces, and the vanity fits nicely into a child's room. The Dora styling head turns all the way around, making it easy to blow dry, straighten, or brush the hair. Thick, dark brown, and the ideal length for braiding or twisting into pony tails, Dora's hair feels smoother and less synthetic than a typical doll's hair. On some popular toys, the hair can be shortened or lengthened so that girls feel like they gave the doll a real cut, but unfortunately that is not so with this styling head.

The Let's Get Ready Vanity comes complete with a full-sized styling head. View larger.
Styling tools help brush, crimp, curl, and blow dry Dora's hair. View larger.

Que Bonita, DoraDora needs help getting ready for her next big adventure. To start, place one of the three pictures into the frame to hear phrases in English and Spanish. Now it is time to give Dora a makeover! Girls can pretend to crimp, curl, blow dry, or brush Dora's hair using the accessories. When the styling tool is removed from the area at the top, Dora magically recognizes it and says its name in both languages. After her hair is properly styled, add a little lipstick, a dab of perfume, and some jewelry. She is ready to attend her friend's party. And with 10 included accessories, little ones can pretend style their own hair just like Dora's. One of the most appealing features of this interactive vanity is that it is bilingual in English and Spanish. Youngsters might soon be saying, "que bonita, Dora" when the makeover is complete.
Dress-Up with DoraDora the Explorer is extremely popular and during the testing process, it became easy to see that the Let's Get Ready Vanity will be too. Little girls love to play dress-up and the vanity encourages imagination while keeping them out of their mother's makeup. Besides the aforementioned styling tools, other cool accessories add to the fun. There are thick rubber bands for pigtails, jewelry pieces, cute barrettes, and a flower-shaped perfume bottle. Even though girls could spend all day beautifying themselves and Dora, there are a few drawbacks. Although the doll's hair is exceptional in quality, brushing out the tangles took some muscle and the brush didn't perform as expected. Some parents might find Dora's sing-song voice irritating, but luckily they can just press the on-off switch for quiet play. Perhaps the biggest issue is that Dora is just a styling head, not a real doll that can be picked up and played with. However, with all the phrases and neat trinkets, this small setback doesn't take away from the vanity's entertainment value. Made out of sturdy plastic, the Let's Get Ready Vanity measures 23-1/4 by 14-1/2 by 35 inches (LxWxH)