Customer Reviews

BRIO Polar Express Holiday Set

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The Polar Express set is really unique. The train is beautiful; the bell is a fun feature, and I love the way the scenery works. It's really clever, I think, to have the snowman and tree hold up the houses. Very unique and distinctive!
The tunnel, like the Brio Mountain Adventure Figure 8 set's tunnel (which has the same shape but different coloration), is beautiful but a bit short. Our Maple Landmark Name Train and Little Engine That Could have clearance issues with it, but that's pretty common since they're so tall.
My big beef with this set is that there are no magnets on the engine. In order to connect the engine to another train, one must hook the engine to its tender and use the tender for the connection. A bit frustrating, particularly if you're a kid who just wants to hook a train up.
Still, as I said, this set is very unique, and its combination of features makes it irresistible desipte the drawbacks.

The house a 2 dimensional cut sheets of plastic with an image only on one side.

The train can only really be pulled and not pushed because the car behind the engine has a different kind of link that makes it awkward to push.

Everything else is standard Brio. If you decide to buy this, you definately want to get the North Pole set with the Christmas tree as it makes a wonderful sound.

We love the Brio train set, and are in the process of collecting a Brio set for each of our sons birthdays and Christmas'. The wood is soft enough so that a child that is rough with it can toss it around and it may get dented, but doesnt break. The only negative with this particular set is that the plastic scenery pieces dont seem to stand well in the wooden stands. Other than that, we are loyal Brio buyers because you can collect to your hearts content and always know that they will mix and match with the other sets.

As of this review, the price listed is $200, I think retail was $50. it's unfortunate that they have become collectors items. I only bring ours out at Christmas so they are in mint condition but I refuse to put them on a shelf. My kids play with them. Thats what toys are for. What I like about this set: compatable with all other wood sets including Thomas. Articulated figures, I prefer these to the wood cut out figures in the Lionel wood PE set. I'm not a big fan of the cut out buildings although they are good quality for cutouts. The best thing about this set is the accessories. The Christmas tree is really cool. The battery train looks better than the one that comes with this set but as someone else pointed out, it doesn't do well on the uphil track piece. Hot chocolate car plays the theme song & has the know it all boy. The ice danger set alows them to act out scenes in the movie (although it's now the hardest to find). There is an elf pushcar. When they came out it was an expensive set if you got everything. I can't imagine at these prices what it would cost to assemble the entire set now. You would think that Brio would reissue something that popular as Lionel did with their wood PE set.

Great fun. Add the north pole unit to it and let the fun begin. Great alternative to the electric version.Easy set up look on box cover.

We're used to buying Thomas the Train stuff which is very sturdy, durable and long-lasting. I was expecting similar quality in this Brio set and was sorely disappointed. The tracks were made with rough wood, i.e., not well sanded and smooth like other wooden tracks. The bridge was made out of cheap plastic. My child who said that all he wanted for Christmas was a Polar Express train barely paid any attention to this toy - he did carry the train around. We're keeping the train/tender/passenger car and donating the rest.

very simply item --- seems expensive for what you get, but pricing is in line with all the Brio and Thomas products. Isn't much without the separate North Pole kit...