Saturday, September 15, 2012

Recap of our Trip to the new Houston American Girl Store

I've received lots of questions about our trip to the American Girl store that opened today. Trent & I stood in line last night for 45 minutes to get entrance tickets today. We were in group 10 with 100 people in each group. We signed up for notices by text so we knew when to show up & then we waited.

Little K woke me Saturday at 6:45 am since our original plan was to head out by 7 am. With our golden ticket, we waited for notice this morning by making pancakes. I showered & dressed. At 10 am, we learned that groups 1-10 were in queue. My mother-in-law, Cici, arrived & we headed out with Trent as the race car driver. We parked in literally the last row at Memorial City Mall & I knew it would be pouring when we returned.

As we journeyed through the parking lot hand in hand, Little K announced: "I'm so excited I need to scream!" Please don't, we thought.

We spent about 15 minutes in line to enter the store, surrounded by friendly officers. There was plenty to do with face painting, balloon artists & craft tables by local stores. Since the American Girl store is located across from the ice skating rink, there was plenty of activity there. Mall security said the American Girl store expected 15,000 visitors this weekend & there was definitely a plan in place.

As we entered the pink, girl extravaganza, Little K was a bit overwhelmed. We first headed to the hair salon to determine if the doll Kaylee could have her hair styled or if she needed a trip to the doll hospital. (30 minutes later after plenty of shopping, we learned that Kaylee would leave next week to the doll hospital in NY, which devastated Little K but she'll survive.)

There were literally parents packing numerous bags of carefully promoted American Girl boxes as if the world had come to an end. Luckily, it was NOT chaotic but it floored me how much people were spending. You can buy the same stuff online after all. Still, I'm thrilled we had the opportunity to participate in the first day of the store's opening.

Trent asked if we could dine in the American Girl bistro since it was now noon. I had checked online to make reservations but everything was booked. The greeter told Trent that the bistro is booked for weeks on the weekends but that during the week, there are some openings. Instead, we took our haul (after paying of course) & hungry bodies to Becks Prime in the mall. delicious!

When we got home, the parents realized just how tired we were so Mimmy & Daddy slept while Little K played with her new items. It was a good morning & I even look forward to going back... After the crowds die down.

Until the next nap time...