#ToyFair

Phew…is all I can say. I pulled in to the driveway last night? this morning? at 12:53 a.m. I was so exhausted I could have…but did not fall asleep in the driver’s seat.

Let’s recap the day shall we?

– Woke or more precisely woken up by husband at 2:50 a.m. Yep, that’s right I was almost but not quite gone from my house for 24 hours.

– Dressed and ready to go, but checked one last e-mail. You know how it goes. Husband come down and says “Aren’t you supposed to leave by now?” Yikes! yes!

– In the van, heading towards BWI Amtrak by 3:20 a.m. GPS said scheduled arrival time 4:10. Relieved as my train was due at 4:29 a.m.

– Arrived BWI….deserted except for 3 people on the platform…eerily quiet.

– Train journey to Penn Station uneventful. Ate breakfast I had packed. Discovered that there is no wifi on Amtrak. Ahem…I paid $64 each way and there is no free wifi??

– Arrived Penn Station at 7:17 a.m. just after the usual time my kids head to school.

– What to do? Walk or cab it to Goldberger Company? Walk it is. Snowing, but not sticking.

– Arrived at the Goldberger HQ. Rode elevator up with ComplicatedMama. Met her before at the Bloggers Brunch. She is all sorts of awesome!

– Looked at and held some adorable dolls of all shapes and sizes for the 0-3 crowd…lightweight, washable, and very cute.

– Car service to Javits Center. I could get used to this. Cabs the rest of the day made me pine for the comfy car service. Met Elizabeth and Allison from MomCentral. Drove to Javits with them and C2CMom. I crossed paths with Heidi all day, which was wonderful.

– At Javits signed in as media for toy fair. Saw a few exhibits before bolting in a cab in the snow for W. 42nd St. — the Hasbro showroom. The cab driver must have driven via NJ because the ride was lengthy and overpriced. I paid $11.40 for a ride which later in the day cost $4.40. NYC taxicab Fail.

– Hasbro was simply amazing. All brands were there…Nerf…Star Wars…Transformer….Alphie….Baby Alive….PlayDoh….I need to do a whole post on all that I saw. Oh and there was a special guest there. I saw him several times as I was ushered to different areas of the showroom, so that he and his entourage could have a private tour. Very exciting. I’m sworn to secrecy…won’t tell!

– From Hasbro it was back to #toyfair. I quickly became overwhelmed but plodded on and on and on. Most vendors were friendly. Some of the vendors did not seem to want to chat with media or bloggers. The smaller companies were more receptive to me… Go Go Sports Girls … Buzzle Words … My Ami. The huge companies were very welcoming to a lowly blogger…Mattel…Lego…Hasbro. It was the medium sized companies who only seemed concerned with sales.

– Back to the Toy Fair. I started in earnest to connect with vendors. I did not have a plan…just cruised the aisles and stopped when I was interested. Found a hat that you can use to watch your ipod player. Found tiny puzzles that you need plyers to place the pieces. I have a whole bagful of brochures. So much to see….6,000 vendors….two floors…many stand-alone media rooms.

– I walked around for hours before finally stopping to sit at the Disney room. Had a Diet Coke and learned about PixieHollow.com and the new Cars online game due out in the Spring. Also, caught a glimpse of Club Penguin…did not realize Disney now owned CP.

– Nibbled a cookie…recharged in the press room…asked questions of a guard who was singularly unhelpful…back to the floor. My bags were very full by this point. Could have checked bags but cloakroom was chock-a-block full.

– Caught up with a Mattel PR rep…saw the entire Barbie line as well as a tiny RC car. Had a turn petting Chomper. Marveled at the WWE range….60 plus figures with 80 more to come. Amazing.

– As 6 p.m. approached I was done. Did not have strength to drag my self plus 4 bags across the exhibit floor again.

– By happenstance and timing connected with @JenRab. Lovely to chat with her. She was hanging out for the Lego party. I joined her. Lego provided hors d’oeuvres and Cosmos and a family style game night. Super fun. Hope to get a chance to share the games with you by doing a giveaway.

– Reluctantly left the Lego party early to catch train back to BWI.

– Observations….a nonlicensed SUV cab tried to get me to ride with him to Javits…uh no thanks!

…a panhandler at Penn panhandled another guy….

…never so happy to see a restroom close to the train platform especially with super heavy bags…

…after spending zero money all day except for cabs I guzzled the Diet Coke I bought…

…staggered on to train with plenty of time. I simply could not run with all my bags…

…rode to BWI….read book…tweeted…stared out of window…fought off sleep towards the end as I did not want to miss my stop…

– At BWI fought with parking ticket payment machine.

– Gratefully arrived home.

– Kissed kids goodnight…it was 12:55 a.m. so know one was awake.

– Fell in to bed happy at the day and looking forward to sharing my goodies with my kids.