Anyone have the Dora Links Doll?

[veronica]

I am reading reviews and they are very mixed on Amazon, leaning towards bad. I got the doll for $15 and am debating adding other parts to it before we give it to DD this summer.

Should I not bother and return the doll? Anyone's DC have it and enjoy it? TIA

[momtoonegirl]

We bought Dora Links for DD this Christmas. It was one of the toys that she specifically asked for. We also bought one of the friends, the school art room, and one change of clothes to go with it.

I too was leery of the doll because of so many bad reviews on Amazon.com. It seems as if the main problems stem from computer incompatibility issues. We have a PC that uses Windows XP and I did not have a problem downloading the software. I did follow the advice from one of the reviewers to download the software directly from the website rather than from the CD rom that comes with the doll, and I seem to have avoided problems that way. The downloading of the software does take some time, though. I also think that you have to also have a pretty fast broadband connection on your computer, or else some of the games do run a bit slow. I also have to help DD play with the games because some of them are complex for her age (she is almost 4 now). The software is designed to come with a few games, with more activities that can be "unlocked" if you buy the friends and/or optional accessories.

Overall, she really likes her Dora Links doll. It is in the current rotation of dolls and toys that she is playing with currently, but I wouldn't say that it is her favorite. For $15 that you paid, I think it is a good deal. If you have any more specific questions, I will be happy to answer them the best that I can :)

[KrystalS]

DD got this from my mom for Christmas. It took FOREVER to download the software!! Definitely take the advice of reviewers on Amazon and download from the site not from the cd that comes with the doll. DD has only used it twice to play the games, she has no interest at all in playing with the doll by itself. I think part of the disinterest is having to hook up the doll to play the games. I really wish they had made it where you can play the games w/o hooking Dora to the computer. We only have laptops so it would be easier and I think get more play time if we had a desktop b/c it could just stay with the computer. In order to play all the parts of the game you have to buy the additional accessories and this could get $$$. You got a great deal on Dora though. I think my mom paid $50 for it.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I also got DoraLinks for that price, and for that price we love it. I found the school, cafeteria, and art room for really cheap too just before Christmas.

We didn't read the reviews first, and tried to install from the CD. It was a nightmare. Finally tried the website and that worked much better.

The doll and the locker from the school are very hard to keep connected to the computer. We have to jiggle the cable and plug it in and out a few times before it recognizes them.

my daughter is almost 7 and she loves it. It is her most favorite thing right now.

I can see that I am going to have to buy more dolls and clothes to unlock more things. I hope the whole line will tank and they will go on super clearance somewhere so I can just get it all over with.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I just saw the school and the art room on clearance at Target for $4.84 each. Well worth it! Especially if your kid is like mine and is going through several mysteries a day on this game. There are a lot more in the school.

[veronica]

I just saw the school and the art room on clearance at Target for $4.84 each. Well worth it! Especially if your kid is like mine and is going through several mysteries a day on this game. There are a lot more in the school.
thank you. that's partly why I started the post, because of the Target clearance. I saw a room last week but for more that what you paid. Since I have the doll put away, it's either buy more stuff or just return/sell the doll.

does it have to be very close to the pc to play? We have our pc in an armoire and I don't think it would be comfortable for DD to play with it near there. Although, we just got a large TV and I wonder if it would work if I ran DH's laptop through the TV and had her play that way-it would be pretty fun then. Any futher thoughts? I doubt at this point if my target has any clearance left and it's almost an hour away but you never know!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

It connects with a USB cable, so you can get a longer cable to have it farther away. You don't really do anything with the doll while you are playing, so you just need to be able to see it to watch the eyes change color or the hair grow, or the jewelry light up. The cheeks and lips light up when you add blush and lipstick online.

We have a computer attached to the big screen tv so we can watch Netflix online, so that is where we play.

She has almost completed the whole game, there is just one mystery left that she has not done. So this toy lasted about a month for us. I don't know if she will continue to play after all the mysteries are done. You can still walk around town and people will ask you to go buy things for them, so I guess there is still stuff to do after the mysteries are all done.

Has anyone bought the clothes or accessory packs? I am curious what gets unlocked with those codes. I'm not paying $10 for her to play another mystery that she will finish in 30 minutes, but I am hoping they will go on sale too.

Mattel had better come out with more expansion packs to this game soon. If I had paid full price, I would be really ticked right now.

[veronica]

It connects with a USB cable, so you can get a longer cable to have it farther away. You don't really do anything with the doll while you are playing, so you just need to be able to see it to watch the eyes change color or the hair grow, or the jewelry light up. The cheeks and lips light up when you add blush and lipstick online.

We have a computer attached to the big screen tv so we can watch Netflix online, so that is where we play.

She has almost completed the whole game, there is just one mystery left that she has not done. So this toy lasted about a month for us. I don't know if she will continue to play after all the mysteries are done. You can still walk around town and people will ask you to go buy things for them, so I guess there is still stuff to do after the mysteries are all done.

Has anyone bought the clothes or accessory packs? I am curious what gets unlocked with those codes. I'm not paying $10 for her to play another mystery that she will finish in 30 minutes, but I am hoping they will go on sale too.

Mattel had better come out with more expansion packs to this game soon. If I had paid full price, I would be really ticked right now.
Thank you. I just got back from Target and they still had one cafeteria left for $6.xx. I bought it. The rest of clearance stunk except some sports stuff for DS. I hope DD likes the links doll. Thanks so much for all the info! I tried the demo at Target for the dora and it was cute. not $40+ worth cute but definitely $15 cute:wink2:

[Technut]

It connects with a USB cable, so you can get a longer cable to have it farther away. You don't really do anything with the doll while you are playing, so you just need to be able to see it to watch the eyes change color or the hair grow, or the jewelry light up. The cheeks and lips light up when you add blush and lipstick online.

We have a computer attached to the big screen tv so we can watch Netflix online, so that is where we play.

She has almost completed the whole game, there is just one mystery left that she has not done. So this toy lasted about a month for us. I don't know if she will continue to play after all the mysteries are done. You can still walk around town and people will ask you to go buy things for them, so I guess there is still stuff to do after the mysteries are all done.

Has anyone bought the clothes or accessory packs? I am curious what gets unlocked with those codes. I'm not paying $10 for her to play another mystery that she will finish in 30 minutes, but I am hoping they will go on sale too.

Mattel had better come out with more expansion packs to this game soon. If I had paid full price, I would be really ticked right now.

Hi, there will be a new mystery added to the game every month for a year and all of the friends and accessories open up new games. When you buy a friend or accessory they appear in the world. The games allow you to earn Dora Dollars so that you can buy new fashions and room decor for the girls bedrooms. The puppy pack is very cool. Dora's dog follows her around the world. Hope that this helps!!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

yeah but $10 for a tennis accessory pack? just to open up a game in the world? that's expensive. Now if it unlocked a tennis mystery that might be okay, but I'd still wait until it was on clearance for $5.

how do we know when a new mystery is in the game?

[stillplayswithbarbies]

argh! ever since we installed this software, we are getting blue-screen errors. Anyone else having this problem?

I am not impressed with the software. It wouldn't install correctly from the CD, and it is so slow to start up and shut down. And the usb ports are very sensitive. It's hard to get the doll and the locker plugged in.

Definitely glad I got this on clearance. It's worth $15 (unless it keeps crashing my computer) but surely not worth the original $70 retail price.