What I Did on My Summer Vacation: England Day 7, London Day 3 Part 3: Hamley's Toy Store Part 2: My Lookalike doll, Sylvanian Families, and Our Generation

  Ok, here's the last of our last day in London. Before I continue, I thought I'd show our hotel room, since it had the cool upstairs portion.

The whole room. Ignore the stupid circle effect. That was Ken's lens.

The girls wanted the upstairs room.

It was smaller up there, but big enough.

Our room from their balcony. Our room was bigger, plus we had the bathroom down there!

Me, looking through my notebook to decide what we were going to do first.

The view from our floor to ceiling windows.

And down the other way too. We had a little balcony too, but I wasn't going out on it. Just a point: no air conditioning in most European hotels. They don't think they need it. We were a couple of floors up, but I wasn't sleeping with that balcony window open.

Ken kept putting the camera on timer and a continuous 10 shots. Since they come out looking like a cartoon when you view them all, since they are taken so close together, I could never resist the temptation to make stupid faces. You should see the rest of these...

The front desk as we checked out.

The restaurant area. They served breakfast, but it cost extra, and was too expensive. We bought something out,usually at a train station or small shop, as they sell sandwiches and things.

The dining area, which we didn't use.

This is when Ivy had to go back to the hotel and have them unlock the place they had stored our luggage, when she forgot her London Pass and travel card.

Now,remember, I left you hanging last time, wondering what dolls were under the Rooti dolls on that clearance shelf.
Well here they are. Still curious?

Does this help?

They may not be my lookalike, but they sure are somebody's!

                     See what I mean?!

That's a very familiar face!

Having a little trouble seeing this one. Hey, store guy. Could I open one of these up and have a better look? The friendly sales assistant says sure, and tears through the tape himself.

  About this time Cheryl announces that she's going to have to leave so she can catch her train home. (Even though she's going to have to be back for work the next day! She has to go home and reload the suitcase for the coming work week in London, and drop off all those root bear flavoured gifts! As it turns out, when she returns home she gets even sicker, with a middle ear infection, and misses three days' work!)

Can't remember what was funny. Obviously Cheryl's making a joke though.

Hopefully it won't be another 26 years before we see each other again.

Cheryl leaves and I open the My Lookalike doll.

I was in a hurry and it was really hot in there. Not a good combination.

And heeeeere she is!

Not quite the same quality as those 'other' 18" dolls, but not bad. The 'skin' doesn't look as realistic as the American Girl vinyl. More solid looking, and less translucent,with a less realistic skin tone. She just looks more plastic-y.

They're clearanced for 40 pounds, a little over $60.

In case you're curious, you can go to the  My Lookalike website HERE.

Ok, now we all know these dolls look just like American Girl, so what's the deal? Is there a different licensing that allows this in Europe? Anybody know anything about this? Even full price they are cheaper than American Girl. Admittedly the vinyl didn't seem quite as nice.
**UPDATE** I found this article about the My Lookalike dolls:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2780771/Dolly-good-deal-Mother-lookalike-children-s-toys-rejected-Dragons-Den-lands-100-000-deal-Hamleys.html
  Apparently the originator of the My Lookalike dolls went on Dragon's Den (Like the American show Shark Tank.),who turned her down,but before the show was even broadcast in 2014,they got a deal with Hamleys. The dolls I found were clearanced a year later though,so were they unsuccessful, or just clearanced to make way for the new dolls?
  I might have considered them more seriously had there been a red head. We asked the employee if there were any more dolls like these, meaning any more My Lookalike dolls with different hair or clothes. He thinks we mean dolls 'like these', in general.  He takes me to the Our Generation department.

Remember, I told you you'd be seeing more of these.

Well, not what I meant, but...thanks.

They had a big selection of dolls.

They even had the 18" versions of the dolls I've only ever seen as minis. However, they didn't have any minis.
Lots of accessories too. 

I liked this doll, but not the bottom of her dress.

I also liked this one.

They had more outfits than I've ever seen for these dolls. Here's the whole bunch...

And here are some close ups.

Ok, moving along. The Moxie Girlz are clearanced too.

I think the bears in the red jackets are Mr. Bean's teddy bear. I saw him lots if places. Oh wait! Who did I just spot?! On the left...

Peppa Pig! She's still following me!

More Peppa. And there is that In the Night Garden guy. I see him a lot of places too. Is this stuff on in America and my kids are just too old for me to know now?

This tiny Lalaoopsey section was crammed in the corner near the dollhouses.

And behind another big air conditioner.

We have these in America.

The Hello Kitty department...

That's a big kitty.

The full department. Just how big is that Kitty?

THIS big.

The puppet department!

I'm pleased puppets get their own department. I've always loved puppets. I even considered being a puppeteer...ok, a Muppeteer. And look! They have Miss Piggy!

This stuff by Santoro was around England. I like the art work.

She has no nose. How does she smell? Terrible...

Lots of this kind of stuff, and ceramic figurines,(Not at Hamley's, but elsewhere.) but no dolls. I would have bought one of those!

Turns out they do make dolls, I just didn't see any. There don't seem to be any cheaper priced play dolls, just 90-100 pound collector's dolls. You can see them on Santoro's web site HERE.

  Kyraja? Are you looking? Here's the Sylvanian Families department...

Don't forget, if you love Sylvanian Families,Kyraja does cute photo stories using her Sylvanian Families toys. You can see her page HERE.

Notice the giant bunny on the left. Not the guy! The one on the stump!

Here she is up close.

The houses and accessories are so realistic.

And the animals are so cute! I could take them all home!

There was so much stuff!

These dolls are all so cute! I love this set.

Ah! I love it!! They're so fuzzy!

I very nearly broke down and bought this set. In fact, I carried it all around the store before abandoning it, (to an employee), at the last minute. I was still trying to be good, and it was over $15 for these two tiny cats.

Now here's what I wanted to see: A Girl For All Time.

Amelia and Clementine. I love them both! But at 115 pounds they are still more than they would cost me if I just ordered them from home. Even with the shipping!

Lydia's dress is 25 pounds, and Clementine's Land Girl outfit is 35 pounds. And that's without shoes!

So, sadly, I leave them behind.

Downstairs I return to the Steiff department.

I was stalled by this case before I went upstairs, but the prices for the tiny Steiff miniatures are still scaring me.

Isn't the guy in the case beautiful? And yes, that bear on the left, in the background, is 600 pounds!

The miniatures. I'm still carrying the Sylvanian Families kittens, but look at these! The kittens are cheaper, but LOOK AT THESE!

Now I'm tempted again, and actually ask to have the case opened.

Love the guy on the left. He costs 25 pounds though. He's about 2" tall.

And this guy, the red version.

This is one of my three favourites though.

This is probably my top favourite.

But he's 30 pounds! Love the little guy next to him too!

Ah! Another of my top three!

Her little hedgehog prickles stick right through her cap!

Ken tells me to get one if I want, or even just the Sylvanian Family cats. But in the end I just can't bring myself to spend the money! I leave them all behind and turn over my Sylvanian baby cats to an employee, and head outside with Ken to find the girls. It's getting late and we will need to be picking up our cases from the hotel and heading to the station.
  We text the girls and they have already left Carnaby Street and are heading our way on Regent Street. We should have plenty of time to get our things and head to the station to catch the train back to Hull. But we hurry down Regent Street, and back through Piccadilly Circus and to the tube station anyway.

Regent Street. Brooks Brothers,the shop Emma said Fuzzy would love the clothes from.

Why are we walking so fast? Are we late?

They leave me in their dust. Hey! I'm trying to take your picture! Once again Ken is stuck carrying the huge purse I took on vacation.(I usually carry a tiny one or a change purse in my pocket.)

  We pick our bags up from the lock up at the hotel and carry on to the tube station,and on to King's Cross, where we'll catch the train. We have plenty of time. For once in our lives, we are early, about a half an hour early. When we get into King's Cross station we are just in time to hear an announcement saying our train to Hull has been cancelled! Now what do we do?! We are told we are to take a different train, changing at Doncaster. The catch? The train is boarding...NOW! So much for being early! Good thing we didn't try to cram another stop in on the way, like we thought about.

On the train to Doncaster. As it turns out, the train didn't leave the station for ages, so we wouldn't have had to panic so much.

    We changed at Doncaster. We were all tired and it was getting late. It was after 11PM when we finally arrived in Hull.

See that thing on the table in front of Ivy? It has little oil blobs that run down a spiral. She collects those things.She bought this one in London.  I told you about the problems this thing caused when she forgot it contained more than the allowed amount of liquid and left it in her carry on bag on the way back to America.

By the way, Hull is the UK's "City of Culture" for 2017.

They're getting a little ahead of things, aren't they?

Next post, York, a doll shop, and The Miniature Scene of York.