it's barbie's world, we just live in it

so the moment i found out there was going to be a world of barbie experience in l.a. i set up a reminder in my phone to score tickets the second they were available.  this surprises you not at all, amirite?

the old lady was a huge barbie fan back in the day, so i knew she would totally be down to go.  what i didn't expect was that the bean would also be interested - they were most definitely not the doll type when they were little.  in fact, the bean was damn near anti-barbie back then.

but i wasn't gonna argue it...an afternoon in santa monica with both of my kids immersed in the world of everyone's favorite fashion doll?  yes please!

it was pretty cool and cloudy when we arrived at santa monica place, but since we'd be indoors i wasn't too worried about being cold.

once we scanned our tickets in, our first stop was the build-your-own-barbie station.  i'd bought one and figured they could just share it...haha, like small children.  they were given a handful of options for the basic doll (hair and eye color, hairstyle and simple outfit) plus two more clothing items, three accessories and two pairs of shoes.  not surprisingly, they worked well together and seemed to be satisfied with their end result.

plus they got this fun shiny tote to carry their new doll in.

when we finally entered the life-size dream house, there were lines to see everything and predictably, a shitton of little girls and their doting parents who wanted to stop and take photos of them at every opportunity.  

the bean paused to peek inside barbie's refrigerator.

and with no hope of getting a decent photo in barbie's closet, we settled for a quick selfie.

barbie's pool was open, but with a very long line to even take a peek so this is as close as we got.

and this is the only shot i got inside the theater, where there were barbie animated movies playing on loop.

the line was surprisingly short to take pictures in barbie's camper.

and - well, yeah.

the "paul mitchell-sponsored beauty salon" was...not what we were expecting.  instead, it was a virtual try-on mirror thingy that kept us occupied for about 30 seconds before we decided it was super lame and walked away.

i really wanted a picture in front of this wall of tiny shoes, but it was not to be.  i just took this from a distance and cropped the kid standing in front of it right out.  heh.

there was a bunch of retro memorabilia that was pretty fun to look at.  barbie's come a long way and done all kinds of stuff over the years.

the bean, who is rather hesitant to actually get behind the wheel now that they have their learner's permit, said that if we could find this car in real life they'd be willing to drive it.  uhhhh...sure.

there was more stuff upstairs, too.

once we'd had our fill of shenanigans, we made our way back downstairs and past the camper, where the bean paused to "play some music."

of course, there was a gift shop at the end (where we picked up some very pink barbie hoodies) and then we were outta there.  the old lady was beyond over it and breezed right past while the bean and i took this.

so...yeah.  i just saved you the price of a ticket to the world of barbie.  you're welcome.