Customer Reviews

Playmobil Magic Castle

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Not only is the lure of princesses and pink castles important, but also the ease of which it can be played. The design is simple, yet detailed enough for the imagination. The rooms are open enough to allow hands easy entry so the figures can "act". The snap design of Playmobil allows us to add-on other sets to this one to create custom designs. Be aware that it is quite large, so dedicate some space or a play table so it won't invade your living room. So far, we've found it a great adventure and I recommend it for girls from 4 to 8 years old.

We have purchased a few smaller Playmobil toys for my daughter (almost 5) over the last couple of years. Looking at the boxes, I always thought they were cheap plastic junk. Then we got her the Playmobil Advent Calendar. I was impressed! In reality I've found Playmobil products to be extremely well made and conducive to long, imaginative play sessions.

This castle is no exception. It is the largest Playmobil toy we've bought, and I had no idea what I was in for. Luckily, as a fan of Lego, I actually kind of enjoyed putting the castle together - even if Santa and his elves got to take all the credit! The directions and sheer number of items for assembly ("Daddy, it must have taken the elves FOREVER to put on all these flowers!") are daunting at first, but the instructions are easy to follow, and everything fits exactly where it is supposed to with near-stereotypical German engineered precision. Set aside a good amount of time to put this together - it took me between 2-3 hours. While the process was long, it was easy, with the exception of the screens that fit in some windows. It took a bit to figure out exactly how to finagle them into place. My only complaint is that the all visual instructions weren't very clear on where some of the sticker "trim" started, and as a result some was partially covered in later steps.

Once it was put together, the real test was how much the kid will play with it, and how well it stands up to the punishment. On the first count, rest assured: If you have a little girl who loves fairy tales and princesses, she will love this toy. With the included accessories (dining related stuff, prince, horse and princess) as well as a set of Celtic Knights (they look "fanciest") I got on clearance, she hardly stopped playing with this toy the day she got it. She'd play with it an hour, bring out her other small Playmobil toys to add to it, then take a break - but no longer than a half hour. Even a month later hardly a day goes by without it getting some use. It has hosted parties, Little Pet Shop talent shows, and even been attacked by Darth Vader and a Wampa. Needless to say, she will be getting some of the accessory/ furniture sets to expand this for her coming birthday!

There are a wide variety of expansions at all price ranges, which is nice, each opening up new avenues for imaginative play. It even works, style wise, with some of the more boy-oriented medieval stuff (my daughter has already asked for some bad guy knights so that the "self rescuing princess" can escape from them) and of course the fairy/unicorn sets.

As to durability, each individual piece is nigh indestructible. Yes, some parts have a tendency to pop off, notably a couple of fence sections if it is carried to a new spot improperly. The minarets are the real problem though - they fall off if they're just brushed. Luckily, the pieces are easy to reattach, even for my daughter - easier than Lego pieces, really. Only if somehow the whole thing fell apart (unlikely unless a younger, Godzilla-like relative attacked) would she need help rebuilding it.

There ARE a lot of small pieces, so if there is a younger sibling in the house, or the recipient of this castle isn't particularly good about keeping track of little things, you may need to be careful lest you lose some things. Otherwise, they add a lot of nice detail.

All in all, well worth the price. I can see my grand-kids playing with this in years to come!

good quality; nice that you can add on rooms; good idea to give a room each holiday, special occasion. very sturdy, and my 4 yr old daughter enjoys it as she does all her playmobil.

This was a Christmas gift for my daughter, who was nearly three at the time. I looked at a lot of dollhouses and castles, and ultimately chose this one because of the elaborateness, detail, and colors. It was expensive - $135 - but I think in her eyes, it is everything a princess castle should be.

Playmobil is great for detail and it makes for great play. It took about 1.5 hours to assemble, but the instructions were clear, and I really appreciated the thought that went into designing it. The parts are sturdy and fit together well. The package says ages 4+, and that concerned me. After giving it to her, I realized that a smaller child will still love it, but her pretend play doesn't yet delve into the small details of the castle. It is also the case that small children are more likely to pop off certain details, like fencing or flowerpots. This is not a big problem, though.

Overall, it's a great toy, especially for imaginary play, and it keeps her busy. It is the backdrop for all other dolls and toys. Barbie sits in front of the castle while Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and a wooden Santa party on the veranda. She even wants to put her baby doll inside.
I think she'll play with this for a long time.

I bought this toy for my daughter's 5th birthday along with a few random rooms to go with it. After reading on the box that it takes around 1 1/2 hours to build, I decided to put it together before my daughter's birthday and I have to say am very glad I did. Putting it together was a bit of a pain and it took me around 3 hours. Having to push the smaller joining pieces into the larger structures was somewhat frustrating and I do feel there must be a better solution than what Playmobil has come up with. That said, when my daughter came down and saw the castle the morning of her birthday she was THRILLED! She thinks it's wonderful and I have to agree. The castle is really lovely and it has so much detail. That coupled with all the extra additions (which are much simpler to put together) make it a very nice product. So far she has played with it a great deal as has my (almost) 3 year old. I am sure we'll be buying the extension to go with it along with a few more rooms.

Sandra spent hours enjoying the setup and playing with this item after Christmas. The materials were well crafted. Although this is a pricey item, it was an excellent gift for this 8 year old.

Having purchased other playmobil toys I had high expectations for the quality of the Magic Castle. I was not dissapointed. It took an hour or so to put together with 2 adults. It's a bit fiddley but well worth the effort. The finished castle is very solid - we've had it on the playroom floor for over a month now and although the spires, fences and flower arrangements get taken off regularly, they're easy enough to reattach. Apart from that it really looks the business! I particularly like the layout as it allows 2 or more children to play at the same time. I would definately recommend this toy.

My Daughter got this Castle as a gift for her 4th Birthday.

She was mesmerized by gazzylion parts it came in.
In typical Playmobil fashion this toy comes unessembled and one should be fully aware of that.
Tons and tons of little parts. That is a good thing and a bad thing.

How so?.. when you are putting together item like that that is clearly marked for kids over 4,
you have to make sure none of the pieces will dissapear in the little mouth and aside from the
obvious fear, there is added one.. you won't have the castle put togehter if pieces are missing :)
of course most kids do not put small toys in the mouth at this age but then again many
can surpise parent because those pieces are really tempting!

smallest pars are half the size of a pea - and that would be a tinny flowers that go on the top of
plants. bigger are anywhere inbetween this and the base that is rather huge.. I would say 4 times
of an average keyboard and then some.. give or take.. rather give then take.

So.. it is very exciting idea to have your little one helping to assamble this toy but you have
to have one person supervising the little one constantly. Best idea is to have an adulut to assambly
when no little ones are present.

It is tedious work to put it all togehter and if you are anything like me and believe that instructions and
manuals are for people of little faith.. think again :-)..
you can easily go wrong. very wrong.. and you have to redo it.. and putting it together in the first
place takes .. oh well.. in our case one person with duble MS degree some 3 hours or so :-) (add to
it very technically inclined and super handy).

So what is good thing about all those tinny parts? It is a kick for your hubby! if he is into it that is.
And you know if he is. I don't see many Ladies having that much fun of assembling it rather then viewing
it as a painful task that one must get done with but for them guys... different story..
it is for them fun in pure form. I can't relate to it so I am not judging but it was fun to watch
my husband having fun with it and my little one helping him and trying to crack all those schematic
pictures and the German craftsmanship and those precise drawings can take you exactly where you need to be.

They are are no written words, sort of kind of Ikea style = just pictures. Quite logical.

I don't know if Playmobil is listing the pieces number on the boxes.. probably not as it is SCARY big number.
When you are putting it together.. go slow. follow the instructions.. don't rush no matter how tempting..
and do really really religiously avoid shorcuts or conclusions..

Be advised that the manual somehow does not mention the fact that the latice part of the dome (pink front part
above the balcony) actually opens up!!! yeah.. so you can eaisly put it backwards and it won't open.

We noticed this only on the picture on the box and actually it was our little one who did noticed it and
demanded it right away to work.

You know all you needed to know about accessories from other reviews so what else..

okay.. the base.. It is huge, it is awkward.. not that it looks bad. not at all but
German manufacturers must think of very generously as this toy does not really fould in ANY way
so beware of HUGe foot print (as in bottom measurement) of the toy.

Once you assamble this puppy you get the dillema right away.. where to put it away for even temporary storage.
You need rather hefty surface to put it on and if not.. then you are looking into disasambing it and reassambilng
it at your kiddo whimse.. so another 3 hours :-)... don't loose those instructions! Guard them with your life
if this is what it takes..! I warned you :-)

soo.. last thing that is not so great abut it is the fact that some elements do come off rather easily.
if you have easily irritable kid or a girl that is not that much into putting together small pieces
over and over again..then take some superglue and use it! of course you are not going to be able to
dissasamble it or resell it but trust me .. it is very tempting after those fine balister elements
fell out 56th time or the flower pots or candelabras just let go off the posts.. first 40 times you
really patiently put them on..

The little towers.. hm.. technically they snap on easily.. but only to show you how easily they unsnap
at the slightest touch..

So what do I think?

Buy it. It is cute. My girl regardless of my frustrations has tons of fun with it and she somehow
is able to stick to her guns with all role playing and she is not irritated by this whole falling apart
thing. In whole honesty the structure is very solid once you put it together. It is only the sticking
out parts like balisters, accessories or towerettes that will give you a problems.
I would not it buy for myself but I see my little one having so much fun with this and other Playmobil
toys and I don't know why as I am really not into small parts but so be it.. It is all about her not
myself so I put up with it. I only really wish that it would fold for storage.

We have a Snow White Cottage Dollhouse Play Set that I personally find much more intersting and adorable
as that system is so much more user friendly and of course it folds for storage so yeeeepeee.. you got me here..
but then again.. just like Playmobil it did not come with acessories so you need to worry aobut them
and they are not easily found. I saw it on ebay with all accessories and it makes lots of sense
as Disney already sold it out but I am sure you can find it in some unusual places like ebay.

Snow White Cottage is amazingly cute and somehow more adorable in person then the Playmobil Castle that
looks like wedding cake on the picture but once you take it out of the box it looses it's charm to some
degree.. just go to ebay and look at used castles for sale pictures.. they do not shine.. there is no luster
and the colors are much dimmer. So it is somehow not fair to overfudge the picture as playmobil did but
hey.. god for them right?

Lastly make sure you buy from a place you can return the toy if you are dissapointed because you just might be
it is good to have an option.

I bought this for my grand daughter as she had been carrying a picture of it around for weeks and then taped it to her bed.She is 3 years old and loves princess things.She absolutely loves this.She has other playmobil toys and gets great fun out of playing with them but this is her favourite by far.

We have A LOT of Playmobil items in our house! We got our daughter this castle as a Valentine's Day gift since she's all about princesses. Beware, big things like this castle do take a long time to put together/decorate but once you're done,that's it. Playmobil is very durable. The pieces will not break off easily & withstand endless playtime. Most of our playmobil pieces end up in the bathtub(so long as they don't have decorative stickers or a battery). You won't see the detailing(like the patterns on a shirt,gown,outfit) of these figurines rubbing off. They do have a lot of pieces, but depending on your child, you may want to put the really small ones away for safe keeping so they don't get lost. My daughter is quite meticulous about all the pieces & has a special box for all the teenie-tiny acessories. This particular set only has the castle itself, 1 princess, 1 prince,a white horse & a few small furniture accessories(1 chair, a couple candleabra,a cart & cabinet) as well as a crown for your little princess. All the other rooms, figurines & furniture are seperate.

I do really like that the castle is so open. My daughter can get the people up/down the stairs & has ample room to play/manipulate her figures without having to be a contortionist. The top part of the castle with the pink semi-circle is a "Secret Room" where she can have her princess pretend to be locked away. The doors open & close easily.

The only drawback is that the spires on the top just sit in their positions, so you may have your little one come up to you with a frowny face saying, "this broke" or "came off". It's not broken, just needs to be put back into place. You could probably superglue it into place if it does come off too often.

In all, I can't say enough great things about Playmobil. They have so many different kinds of scenes. They do a great job of providing a good variety of ethnicities, hair color,& clothing styles. The animals usually have posable legs,heads,tails & mouths. If they're sea animals or animals that live in the water,they usually float. Each figure is able to hold the wide variety of accessories that they come with. Playmobil is a big part of every special occasion at our house(Holidays, birthdays, etc.)!