Maryellen Release Day at American Girl DC

Thursday was the release of Maryellen and the Truly Me Holiday stuff and we just happened to be there. We arrived at American Girl about twenty minutes after opening time to a nearly empty store. "Welcome Maryellen" clings were on the doors as you walk in from the outside and Maryellen in her skating outfit was display in the first display case as you enter in the store. In the other two display cases was the new red holiday dress and Grace. Maryellen's diner was displayed just as you enter the BeForever section (you might see me say historical, it's a habit) and a few girls were there posing their dolls in the booth. Maryellen was in the display case near the mall entrance that i think was previously occupied by Julie. Several of the characters have been moved to different display areas. 

After admiring the Maryellen displays and choosing which outfit and accessories were leaving with us we went downstairs to the Bitty/ Truly Me area. We admired the holiday dresses and displays and took several pictures. I was partial to the display of dogs that were "singing" carols out of a music book. I prefer the red holiday dress over the gold one for dolls, but for girls I liked the gold one best also Maryellen's black and pink poodle dress for girls is adorable. Many of the associates were dressed in outfits inspired by Maryellen's collection. One of the Personal Shoppers was dressed in a pink button up shirt, long black poodle skirt and pink hair scarf, while one of the ladies at the register was dressed in cat eyed glasses with cherries on them and an outfit identical to Maryellen's play outfit. Speaking of Maryellen's play outfit, it wasn't shown in her display case but there was a Maryellen posed on her sofa bed dressed in the outfit and I don't think I got a picture of it.

Other than Maryellen and her accessories (which are awesome) we all loved her skating outfit and it was easily the favorite outfit of her collection. The City Carriage, Julie's bike and the new holiday background were other favorites. We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed this visit to the American Girl store, hopefully we will get to do it again for the next BeForever release.

American Girl Place Washington DC Sold Out Items

Yesterday we were at the American Girl Washington DC store and the following items were labeled Out of Stock:

Samantha's dog Jip

Holiday background 

Kit's Chicken Keeping Outfit (was not even on display this time as it has been out of stock every time I have visited)

Sailboard (wasn't displayed anywhere)

Black Boots

The Tweed hat was finally available in a new display area.

The 15% off of a two item accessory purchase was still going on.

The Purchase with Purchase is still Saige's Picnic Set for $14.

I will be posting a summary of Maryellen's debut later on.

Updated Upcoming American Girl 2015 Historical (BeForever) Maryellen

Update August 24:

We are only three days away from the official release of Maryellen. The new Scottsdale store had Maryellen available for their opening over the weekend, and she sold out by the end of Saturday. The blog Lissie and Lily had some pictures from the opening if you want to check them out. Still no word on the eye color yet, American Girl described it has brown on Facebook, but store associates are calling it hazel.

Update August 11:

American Girl had posted several of Maryellen's items with prices on their website yesterday, they have realized this mistake and have taken them all down. 

Now we know that Maryellen's accessories are a pair of white gloves, pearl bracelet, pearl necklace and real handbag. $24

Maryellen's dachshund Scooter with teal and pink collar$24

Maryellen's Poodle Skirt Set $36

Maryellen's birthday dress (the dress her special edition mini doll was wearing) $34

Maryellen's play outfit $28

Pajamas $24

Jukebox that connects to a MP3 player $90

Seaside Diner (it is rumored that it folds for easy storage) $275

Hairstyling set (curlers and cap) $20

TV with record player $85

Purple Gingham school dress $32

School set $40

Sofa bed $150

Living room set (table, lamp and accessories) $58

Ice skating outfit $36

Ice skating accessories $24

Crinoline $16

I like the table from the living room set, the poodle skirt (I might get a second one for one of the other dolls as a Halloween costume) and the play outfit. I would really like a better view of her eye color since that has been the hotly debated topic, but I guess that will have to wait until closer to release day.

What do you like best about Maryellen and her collection so far?

Update July 16: 

Pictures of Maryellen in box have shown up on Taobao and she is adorable. She does have the classic mold but you can't really tell her eye color in the photo.

Update May 20:

All three of Maryellen's book covers have appeared on the American Girl Publishing site along with her mini doll.

From the book covers it seems like she will have a pet dachshund (we haven't had one of those yet), a strand of pearls, a monogrammed sweater and an outfit with gingam print.

The book descriptions confirm that she is from Florida and has several siblings.

Update May 18:

I am a little behind in posting this but American Girl officially announced Maryellen as the upcoming 2015 historical. Her last name is Larkin and her year is 1954. 

She has red hair like the prototype pictures that have been floating around. 

Rumor is her stories are set in Florida, but that hasn't been confirmed. 

What do you think of Maryellen.

Update April 26:

American Girl's publishing site has Maryellen listed in the BeForever/Historical category between Kit and Julie. It looks like we really are getting a 1950s doll. 

Update March 7:
Barnes and Noble have the new Be Forever Titles listed as "One and Only" A Maryellen classic and "Taking Off" A Maryellen classic. They are available for preorder in English and Spanish here.
It has been confirmed that we will be getting a new historical/BeForever doll in 2015, and the books are available for pre-order on Amazon.com. They are titled "Taking Off", "Sky's the Limit," and "One and Only" and are written by Valerie Tripp who has written many other American Girl historical books and stories. They will be available on August 27, 2015 and are approximately two hundred pages long like the other BeForever books. It is still unknown which title is for her Journey book or when exactly her time period will be, but at least we are starting to see information surface. You can google search for her and see leaked photos of the prototype.