Playmobil 5142 Princess Fantasy Castle

 Brand Playmobil | Model: 5142

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Playmobil 5142 Princess Fantasy Castle

Feature

• Product sold with the guarantee of the manufacturer.

Product Overview

With huge outside staircase and lot of rooms. With a secret chamber for keeping the jewel case in the great tower. With diadem, bracelet and ring for the Casle-Owner. Dimension: 75 x 72 x 67 cm (L x W x H) Suitable from 3 Years + Safety Information: Warning. Not suitable for Children under 3 years.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic castle, 21 Jan 2013

By 

FeeBeeGee - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playmobil 5142 Princess Fantasy Castle (Toy)

Another wonderful toy from Playmobil, with loads of details, working elements and enough pieces of furniture and accessories to start you off. The only thing I would say is this took me nearly 5 hours to assemble, the instructions are fantastic, there's just so much to do!

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, 25 Dec 2012

By 

Max Power "Max" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playmobil 5142 Princess Fantasy Castle (Toy)

A brilliant but very intricate castle. Be mindful to set aside a morning for its construction! Little princesses will love it!

5.0 out of 5 stars A big hit, 28 Nov 2012

By 

Cheryl - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playmobil 5142 Princess Fantasy Castle (Toy)

Brought this for my 5 year olds birthday, after she had seen it in a shop in town, My girls love it! It is quite a big set though

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Delighted daughter, exhausted parent!, 31 Oct 2012

By 

Julistic - See all my reviews

(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)
  

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Playmobil 5142 Princess Fantasy Castle (Toy)

When our Princess Fantasy castle arrived I was actually quite shocked at the size and weight of the box. I think for these reasons, it's a good idea to buy it online as I really would not have fancied lugging it back from the high street. I bought the castle when it was on offer in October, intending to keep it for Christmas in the bottom of my wardrobe. Unfortunately the huge box didn't fit, so it was decided my daughter would have the castle as an early Christmas present. Cue shrieks of joy and happy-dancing for about 8 hours solid. It is by far the most expensive present she has ever had, and I cannot emphasize enough how delighted she is with it.

I confess I probably enjoy playmobil as much as my daughter does, and love assembling the sets when we first get them, and setting up scenes for her to play with, so I was looking forward to assembling the castle. The box advised 120 minutes assembly time, but I thought being something of an enthusiast and a veteran of playmobil assembly, I'd probably be done in about 90 minutes. However it actually took me over 4 hours, and I was fed up by the end. I would recommend if you buy this castle, set aside plenty of time and have as many people as possible on hand to find you the specific bits you need. Also be aware that there is lots of putting stickers in tight gaps and also a horribly fiddly curtain tied with beads and hung by individual little bow clips that had me annoyed. You might be able to construct the castle more quickly if you pay less attention to getting it exactly like the picture on the box.

After the time spent assembling it, the next problem was where to play with and store it. I stupidly didn't check the dimensions before I bought it. The castle's footprint is huge. Assembled it barely fits on my 75cm square dining table. You really need floor/table space of 1 square metre to have it all set up, and ideally more space around that for children to get all round it to play as there's interesting bits on all sides, and you can't easily turn it without upsetting all the little pieces. If you're short on space, it might grow to be a bit of a pain. The child will most likely want to keep it permanently assembled, and in any case, taking it down and setting it up will be quite a time investment too. Talking of time, be prepared to regularly have to reattach the staircase. It takes less than a minute to do, but it does get tiresome doing it over and over again.

I think you should make sure you know exactly what you are getting for your money before you buy. There are a few things with it such as 2 people, 2 small kittens, 3 chairs, a chaise longue, a side table and some plates and glasses and plants etc, but they don't look like much in situ and the child will probably want to add to the collection ASAP. The rest of the range is sold by the room, ranging from about £10-£20, and so to actually fill the castle and have everything on the box you would probably end up spending another £100. I don't think this compares favourably to the similarly sized Playmobil 4324 Furnished School Building which is about £100 fully furnished, or the Playmobil 4404 Hospital which is about £120 fully furnished. The castle is on a par with the Playmobil - 5301 The Grande Mansion though, which is also unfurnished.

However, these things I have moaned about are really just niggles, and may not even bother you. Once the castle is paid for, assembled and homed, it will likely be treasured and played with, and last for years. It has some really charming features which will delight little girls such as a moving dance floor, lockable tower room (dungeon type thing), secret treasure compartment, opening windows, lockable gate, private changing room with curtains to draw, lockable glass cabinet, hiding place under the stairs and so on. One more thing about the castle which my daughter loves is that you get a child sized tiara, bracelet and ring with interchangeable gems to decorate them with.

If you already know your daughter loves playmobil, then I am sure she will adore the castle. However some kids don't really 'get' playmobil so I would recommend getting a smaller, cheaper set first to see if she takes to it. Something like an advent calendar Playmobil 4165 Advent Calendar Princess Wedding or a starter set like this: Playmobil 4008 Super Set Fairy Fountain. Alternatively an ideal less-pink starter playmobil set is this pool: Playmobil 4858 Pool with Water Slide (We own and love these sets - with the exception of the advent calendar, as we have an older, similar version.) If you would love to get the castle but it's too big or expensive, the Playmobil 4249 My Take Along Princess Fantasy Chest might be a good alternative, or for something even cheaper and smaller there's the Playmobil 4777 Unicorn Take Along Castle. I haven't seen either in person, but they're what I would have chosen if we didn't get the princess fantasy castle.

In conclusion, I do think the castle is worth the money if you have the space. It would be ideal if you have more than one daughter, as it's size would make it easy to share, and you will probably find that when it holds its value quite well so that when your children are finished with it, you'll be able to sell it on for a decent amount. In my experience children really do have to be brutes to break playmobil, so you probably won't need to be wary of breakages.

I am torn whether to give the castle 4 or 5 stars, as I really think it's worth 4 and a half. I know my daughter would say 5, and she's really the consumer, so I'll go with it. But I think the castle could have been designed to include as many features but take up less floor space and therefore fit better into smaller modern homes.

One final thought, you can buy a room extension for the castle direct from Playmobil separately.It costs about £17 and pleasingly expands the castle upwards rather than outwards.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Takes time to put together but worth it!, 29 Oct 2012

By 

Ethna - See all my reviews

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Playmobil 5142 Princess Fantasy Castle (Toy)

The Playmobil Princess Fantasy Castle comes in a big box and has lots of bags full of pieces of various sizes. Be warned that this does take quite a long time to put together in order to assemble the Castle. However, once it's done, it is a lovely toy. My two daughters (ages 6 and 5) play for hours with it and create a wealth of stories about it and its inhabitants. Substantial in size once built, so not too easy to hide away at the end of the day, but it looks so lovely that it is nice to keep out.

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