Toy Fair 2003 has just wrapped up.  The following is my Toy Fair "Blog."  For those of you who are new to Blogs, a Blog is simply an online diary.  Through this Blog, you'll get a good feeling for what it was like to be at Toy Fair this year, as well as a look at some of the doll news from the Fair.

Saturday, February 15th  1:30am

My day today resembled a bad remake of the movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles."  I was supposed to leave my small town in a plane at 6:30am, connect in San Francisco and arrive in New York early evening, with enough time to go to the Robert Tonner Fashion Show and then rest up for the first day of Toy Fair.  Instead, our plane broke down.  There wasn't another flight out to San Francisco until late afternoon.  United had to fly another plane to my airport just to get us to San Francisco.  I arrived in San Francisco very late (6 hours after my scheduled arrival) in time to get the LAST plane to Kennedy.  We landed after midnight, and stepped out into 9 degree weather.  Absolutely frigid out.  I just got to my hotel room.  I have a feeling I won't be well-rested for my first appointment, at 9am tomorrow.

Sunday, February 16th, 1pm

Toy Fair begins!  I'm sleepy but happy.  Security is tight but they ARE allowing rolling bags this year after all. In any event, there's nothing like the joie de vivre of the first day at Toy Fair.  First sight I'm greeted with are three bigger-than-life size dolls coming towards me--they are giant dolls representing the latest additions to the Groovy Girls doll line! They wave to the crowd and dance as three clowns play music.  VERY Toy Fair.

My first official stop is Madame Alexander.  I've decided to finally carry the line in my store in response to customer requests.  Plus, a first stop here is a stop full of doll news, and this year they don't disappoint.  Madame Alexander has some incredible dolls this year, including dolls commemorating Madame Alexander's 80th anniversary, plus special Wendys for the 50th anniversary of the Wendy Doll.  One of the neatest thing about the Wendy's this year are the Wendy's in the line with the "commemorative face"--basically, the molds have been redone to bring back fantastic detail to Wendy's face--as close as possible to the 1950s Wendys.  In fashion dolls, their Alex fashion doll gets 18 joints this year  and Cissy gets a tour of the decades.  More big news...another McDonalds Madame Alexander promotion is planned for 2003, starting October 24th!

After Madame Alexander, I'm off to Marian.  I get an overview of this year's line, including the remake of the Magic Attic Dolls.  I'll be back after lunch (where I am right now) to interview Marie Osmond regarding the Magic Attic Dolls and Marie's thoughts on this year's line.

Sunday, February 16th, 9pm

The rest of the day at Toy Fair is busy, as is usual for the first day of any Toy Fair.  First, I stop by many small doll artist booths to see what's new.  I order Ty Beanie Babies for my store (still a best seller after all these years) and I get to order the special Ty Decade Bear at the show.  I see the new Schylling Classic Toys line, which includes some great licensed product with Vintage Barbie designs, plus Barbie and Ann of Green Gables and Madame Alexander paper dolls, as well as Olivia and Madeline items.  The big "buzz" at Toy Fair this year is "Back To Basics"--classic toys rule and electronic toys are NOT the hot thing this year.  I guess we're all cocooning with simpler things with war on the horizon and the economy a bit on the depressing side.

Then I interview Marie Osmond. I know everyone says she's a nice lady, but I HAVE to say it too--what a nice lady! She genuinely loves her line of dolls and everything about dolls, and her enthusiasm is catching.  She has many favorites this year from the Marian dolls line (more about this later in a separate article) but she is especially enthused about the re-introduction of the Magic Attic Dolls.  Marie will be writing all the Magic Attic books herself, and the dolls have been resculpted with the input of Robert Tonner, their original designer.  Plus, Rose will now  be Rosa, a Hispanic doll, and the clothing and accessories for all dolls have been updated and restyled. 

When I left Toy Fair, it was snowing.  When I got to my hotel, I watched news and I found out that we were in for between one to two feet of snow overnight (!!) or what the press was calling "The Blizzard of 2003."  My dad was right--I should have been more  worried about the weather than terrorism.  I have a truly pressing problem--I'm from California and I don't have gloves, a hat, or a scarf with me, much less snow boots.  So, I go shopping, even though its 9pm on a Sunday...

Monday, February 17th, 8am

Oh-my-gosh, its a winter wonderland! From my hotel room, I have a view of Times Square (towards the TKTS Booth).  Times Square is COVERED in snow and  there are hardly any cars. But...I came all this way to go to Toy Fair, and if the shuttle buses are running, or I can find a cab, I'm going.  I put on my new gloves, hat and scarf from the hotel gift shop, and here I go....wish me luck!

Monday, February 17th, 5pm

That was the best day at Toy Fair that I've ever spent.  OK, so it took an hour in the freezing cold and snow to catch a shuttle bus TO Toy Fair, and then the shuttle bus on the way back to the hotel got completely stuck  in the snow (the bus driver finally got it going) but the in-between time was the most productive I think I've ever spent.  MANY people couldn't make it in or chose to not come, so whenever you went into a booth, there were company reps happy to talk to you.  And, there was a great sense of camaraderie created by the snow, plus lots of speculation on whether we'd all be able to get home, since it continued to snow all day.

Among today's highlights:  My first look at the new Matthew male doll prototype for the Tyler Wentworth line (very handsome!), plus a look at the new Emme play line also from Tonner.  On the down side, I missed my Mattel meeting (at the Toy Building...I decided against another trip in the snow) AND my camera battery died because of my hour in the cold.  I also take advantage of the empty Fair to walk around and discover new vendors for my shop, PLUS I write orders with companies that I know I need to see this week--Steiff, Manhattan Toys (Groovy Girls), Applause (Raggedy Ann and Andy) and Adora Babies (baby dolls) among others.   At Ashton Drake, there are more Buffy and Mrs. Beasly dolls, and Kewpie dolls dressed in the Wizard of Oz costumes.  The new Gene in her wedding dress (light pink!) is shown, and she's stunning.

Another BIG topic of conversation today is the upcoming "splitting" of Toy Fair next year into two shows. The first will be held in October and will be called:  "Fall Mass Market Toy Expo:  The Show For Early Buyers."  The second will be held as usual in February, and still called "Toy Fair," although it will be aimed more at specialty stores.  No one knows how this will effect media coverage, or the general buzz and excitement of Toy Fair, or the overall size of Toy Fair, or even the New York economy.  This split happened due to pressure from the big mass marketers of Toys--mostly, Wal-Mart, Target and their ilk.  This could be good OR bad for everyone elses--we'll see in February 2004.

After my excitement with the afternoon shuttle getting stuck in a snow drift, I run up to the hotel room, drop off the Toy Fair press releases and catalogs, and grab a camera.  I wander around Times Square with hundreds of others--many of us here for Toy Fair.  We play in the snow and take over the streets and trade cameras for pictures of one another in front of giant piles of snow.  Playing like a bunch of kids!

Next page > Toy Fair Blog, Part Two:  Create a Doll Cottage, Yue Sai Wawa; Lee Middleton; More > Page 1, 2,

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