Patreon Review - Disney Attractionistas Gracey

My first ever Patreon review guys!
OMG

So first let's get thanks outta the way. THANK YOU Muinn for your generous support. I appreciate it so hard.

The request for this review was Attractionistas Gracey, a doll released a few years ago (2015) exclusively to Disney parks (And the US only ones at that I believe)

There were a few in the collection released in two or three waves, each themed after a different iconic Disney ride. They were very much Monster High meets Disneyland.

random combo.

Muinn picked Gracey, my personal favourite of the bunch as well. The Haunted Mansion themed girl.

Gracey was imported from the US so she took a while to get here. I admit, I was actually quite surprised by how BIG the box actually IS.

I knew these dolls were about 12 inches tall, the same sort of height as a Barbie but what I wasn't taking into account was the giant noggin perched on that body. It makes for a surprisingly TALL doll that I wasn't really anticipating. Not to mention the box has a lot of dead space in it.

It's a cool box though. I think all the boxes have the stone work and arch motif but with a unique backing card pattern, heart colour and symbol. Gracey's is a bat and a purple heart. 

The back of the box features Gracey in her cartoon form with her pet bat. I'm not sure I really LIKE this artwork though, I dunno, she looks a bit mean.

The bat is remarkably on model though.

I also didn't realise these dolls had a bloody backstory!

Something about the magic of disney turning some random girls who liked the park into embodiments of their favourite rides.

Honestly it reads like the prompt for a really lame rp on neopets.
<_<

harsh?

So Gracey is the morbid one who likes horror, being different and kind. Also she's into interior design. That's uh... that's a new one.

Her bat is called Grimm apparently.

I was wondering if it had a name.

One side of the box has a series of heart charms, presumably these depict the other characters in the line.

The other side just has the Attractionistas logo and Disney Parks.

The top of the box also has the logo this time in black and purple, and the bat charm.

The box was ridiculously easy to open. Like what? There wasn't even any tape holding the box shut!
the card top just opens, kinda like the old Monster High boxes before Mattel went insane. You can just slide the box open and slip the backing card out.

This is literally all that's in that giant box. Feels wasteful. Why so much dead space Disney?

Her backing card is the creepy faces and patterns from the wallpaper in the Haunted Mansion. Cute.

She's not held in with much. Literally two twist ties. One around her waist, one around her feet.

It looks like she was supposed to have plastic staples in her head to hold her head in but either they forgot to do that or they'd fallen out in transit. Either way, her head was free and it took me like less than a minute to get everything deboxed.

I approve.

Her hat was held in with just one elastic band looped over itself and the bat ad a plastic loop around his neck (uncomfortable)

She's free!

She's a pretty big doll with that giant head of hers. But she's also very very light.

Her skin is a lovely pale purple colour that reminds me of the Little Mermaid Vanessa doll I had at one point.

She has big very stylised eyes with a prominant lash line but no actual lashes. Her sclera are yellow for... some reason. Does she have jaundice?

Her hair is styled into a bob and fairly choppily cut and absolutely CAKED in product. It's crunchy. It's mostly quite vividly purple with a single black streak. So many dolls out there with this combo of hair lol. Descendants Mal springs instantly to mind. Ahem.

Her face mold is kinda odd. She has an interestingly shaped nose and very thin smiling lips.

She has quite large ears too but I couldn't get a decent photo of them.

Her profile is odd with a concave forehead and quite a large chin but you know I think it works.

she's very cartoonish.

Her clothes are really nicely made. The dress is all one piece but made from multiple different fabrics. The main bodice and skirt is a sort of velvety fabric in dark blue, there's a faux leatherette belt corset thing, some sort of stiff shiny fabric for her bustle and then lace for the under skirt.

The bustle is actually sewn over the main skirt but the lace underskirt is just a small panel sewn in for modesty.

She actually has separate fingerless gloves, which is cool. 

Unfortunately her bustle hasn't got any volume to really puff it out and due to the way the back of the dress is constructed, there's a gap/hole there.

But I suppose nobody really looks at the back of a doll that often do they?

Her hat is plastic and quite heavy, with a glued on veil bit and a black elastic strap to make it stay on. It has a fabric band too which is a nice touch. The fabric matches her leggings.

Under the dress Gracey has a pair of leggings with a wallpaper pattern. I can't make out any demon/monster faces though.

Her body is a standard Disney store torso and legs with new arms. Her legs are clicky legs but really quite stiff and difficult to bend.

Unlike Disney store dolls, Gracey has no elbow or wrist articulation but she has beautifully graceful hands with molded nails and everything.

They're really pretty.

And of course because her torso and legs are the same, she can wear Disney Store clothes and shoes.

And Disney Store dolls can wear her outfit.

The leggings are a pain in the arse to get back on the doll though. Those rubbery legs and tight fitting fabric don't go well together.

I know people moan about the modern fashionista barbie's hollow plastic legs but honestly I prefer them. Putting tight fitting clothes on them is a breeze! No fighting and swearing and tearing seams as you try to yank over sticky rubbery limbs.

Gracey's boots are tiny but cute little ankle boots with a painted buckle detail.

This is all her stuff. Dress, tights, gloves, boots, hat, bat, doll.

She's a simple doll engineering wise. She can bend her knee sort of.. as well as any disney doll can, she can sit with her legs out and she can rotate her arms but that's about it.

Her head is slightly wobbly and has a remarkably wide range of motion. She can look mostly down! Which is super unusual (she can't look up though lol)

And she can tilt her head which I always like in a doll. It adds character to poses I think.

Her gloves weren't that easy to get back on nicely but the worst part I encountered was her sleeves. Her lovely sculpted hands are rather firm so they don't squish that easily and the sleeves are VERY narrow.

my solution, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth was the use an elastic band to temporarily bind her sticky out thumb down (which was the main problem) so I could get the hands through the sleeves. Because her thumb was only shoved down for a few seconds to do that they popped straight back into their usual position once I removed the band so it's all good.

but yeah, annoying. I hate when companies don't consider sleeves and stuff. I suppose these weren't really designed to be undressed but still it's annoying.

Gracey also comes with Grimm the bat, who's wearing a tophat and is ridiculously happy.

He's purple for some reason, has enormous ears, the same jandiced eyes as Gracey and quite detailed little feet.

He's cute.

Sadly his feet aren't designed in a way that means he can actually perch, which is a shame. He'll sit on Gracey's shoulder but only if you carefully balance him. He can't actually perch there.

Honestly I mostly used the wall/fence to hold him in place for photos.

So final verdict?

She's an interesting doll.

I do think it's a shame that she doesn't come with a stand if she's supposed to be collectable and displayed, and that she has no real articulation. Jointed elbows would have been nice for display.

Unfortunately the wierd skin colours of these dolls makes rebodying them pretty unlikely. Which is a shame.

Her hair is caked with crap but it seems to be pretty decently rooted. I can't tell what fibre it is though because of the caked in crapness.
I didn't want to rinse it because I find that usually makes bobs like this go wierd and fluffy.

I do like her outfit, I love the use of different textures and fabrics on it but I sort of wish her bustle had a little more volume to it.

I also feel like her tiny feet are strangely jarring against her huge head. A sort of My Scene situation is going on here, but with My Scene they had those slip on fake feet to balance them out you know?

She is an interesting doll but she doesn't really feel that high in quality. She feels like the sort of thing you'd buy in the Disney store for £15 and be happy with. There's not really anything deluxe or collectory about them beyond their exclusivity. The Disney Parks are charging close to double that because of that exclusivity and because you can't get them any other bloody way, the resale on them is a bit painful.

Gracey cost rather more than that after shipping and customs unfortunately. But she is a rarer doll and i'm not actually sure disney are still selling these. I dunno, they were only available at 2 resorts so...

Thing is, you can grab most of the other characters for half that. Gracey seems to be the one specifically everyone wants. I suppose the Haunted Mansion IS one of the most iconic of iconic rides and who doesn't love a bit of horror?

I do appreciate that the way she was packaged meant I could actually very easily reattach her to her backing card and slip her, the bat and her hat back into the box almost as good as new.

I do like when you can do that. It makes the box feel less wasteful and useless knowing you can use it for display AND still enjoy the doll.

Unfortunately my particular box got a bit squished in transit. It should be okay but it's a little squashed. *sigh* Such are the perils of import.

There are 8 dolls in the line. The final 2 being extremely hard to find (tower of terror and splash mountain). Some of them are a bit bewildering. I don't quite undertand the decision to give all of the dolls bizarre skin tones, bit too much Monster High inspiration maybe?
even when it made no sense.

But an interesting line. I admit, i'd been tempted by Gracey back when they were first released. I just couldn't be bothered with the awkwardness of obtaining one. I hate exclusives, especially country specific exclusives. They're needlessly difficult to obtain outside that country and it just makes me grumpy.

Anyway, enjoy Gracey Muinn, and thank you for asking me to review her!