With luscious blond hair, cute outfits and an everlasting sway on most children’s playtime, Barbie is a household name. And now, doll lovers are welcome to take a trip to Barbie’s iconic dreamhouse at the immersive World of Barbie experience in Stonebriar, Frisco, created by a partnership between the minds of Mattel and Kilburn Media.
Songs from One Direction, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift pump through the speakers as visitors walk into World of Barbie. These tunes whisk onlookers into a world that will soothe one’s inner child. A grand ball pit and a Barbie dreamhouse, among many other attractions, are what make the World of Barbie so special, allowing fans to interpret Barbie in a variety of ways.
“I don’t think I would be sitting here talking to you right now if it wasn’t for Barbie, because I was the token child that played with my Barbies for hours and made up stories and characters,” Lucy Tredway, the spokesperson for Kilburn Media, said. “I could really see different options of what I could be, that has only grown through the years.”
Upon entering, pink, blue and yellow hues infuse the look of the Barbie Dreamhouse. A pink couch decorated with throw pillows strengthens the feminine aesthetic of the whole room and a fireplace gives the dreamhouse a dreamy and homey feel.
“We didn’t want you to think that you were in a plastic environment,” COO of Kilburn Media Jonathan Samford said. “We wanted it to feel very, very real. As if Barbie literally came to life; what would a real-life Barbie place look like?”
Visitors become acquainted with Barbie’s different careers through interactive activities such as “Journey Into the Galaxy,” where a lifelike spaceship takes you to any part of the vast solar system through the click of a button.
Across from the astronaut attraction stands an interactive Barbie display case booth. Here, visitors can step inside the Barbie cases, each with a different theme, including world traveler Barbie, tennis Barbie, surfer/roller skater Barbie and director Barbie. In her more than 60 years, Barbie has represented over 250 careers, so it’s no surprise there are so many options to choose from. These nods to her history reflect the brand’s motto, “You can be anything.”
There is also the Barbie Sound Studio, an exhibit comprising three recording spaces. Inside these studios there are drum kits, a guitar, mics and karaoke sets waiting to be played. Instead of having the dolls center-stage, the visitors get to be the main characters in the Barbie universe.
By creating settings like the Barbie Laboratory, Weather Barbie and The Barbie Show, in which feminine aesthetics meet intelligence and self-assurance, World of Barbie affirms that women can do whatever they put their minds to in and out of Barbieland without compromising their passions.
“She [Barbie] was the first doll to be the president, to be an astronaut, to be an executive,” Samford said. “And so she really has broken ground and we hope that for little girls that come, that they feel like they can do that as well.”
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