Customer Reviews

Princess and the Pauper Royal Musical Palace

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I gave it an overall 4 because my 4 year old adores it.

I question it's durability because 3 days after she opened it, the music from the bell doesn't work, anything you put in the drawers has to be wrestled out again, and the wand that the instructions tell you to hide behind the clock is stuck there.

I also think the piano could have played more than 1 phrase.

Apparently the geodes didn't pan out for Annelise's family, as their castle is falling down around their ears!

This castle has to be one of the most poorly put-together toys we have. The beds keeps coming off; the bell tower falls off by itself; the birdbath crashes to the floor if you even touch it. Of course, the kids (almost 5 and 2) love it and play with it almost every day. So we keep it, even though I am constantly having to rethread the bell tower string (a pain!) through a wee little hole to make it ring. And the wand was stuck long ago. And the tub and birdbath are an open invitation to the children to fill up with water, which is then dumped on the floor.

Did I mention the front door keeps coming off? And the lock doesn't really work, so you can't move the castle easily from place to place once it's "locked"?

Fun for a while, but I'd rather buy a wood barbie house that is more durable.

I was very excited to find out my mother had gotten this castle for my 2 daughters, ages 4 and 2, for Christmas. I love Barbie and thought this would be a great toy that they could play with for years to come. The girls do love the castle and have had a lot of fun playing with it. However I was very disappointed in the quality and did not think it was nearly worth the money my mother paid.

First of all, the directions are hard to understand. Most of the castle is already assembled, but there are still some things that needed to be attached. I usually "get" directions pretty quickly, but was truly confused when I opened them. There are no words explaining what you should be doing, just black and white pictures showing several steps you should be following. Sounds simple, but it was far from it since the picture quality was too dark and too small to read easily.

Secondly, I'm am VERY disappointed in the sturdiness of the castle. The upstairs bed is supposed to lift up to create a mini-ballroom where the dolls can dance. The underside of the bed is supposed to be a large picture of Annelise and Erika, and you're supposed to be able to change it between the 2. But this one is stuck on the picture of Erika and won't change at all. The footboard for that same bed is continuously falling off. I finally had to tape it on so my daughters could play with it. The banners that you're to add to the castle are cardboard paper and I had to tape those together to keep them from slipping off as well. The birdbath slips out too easily. The door of the castle must be very gingerly opened or it pops off it's hinges. The upstais floors aren't very strong and come undone way too easily. And before I even started putting the castle together, I noticed one small rail upstairs had already been broken.

I reiterate that my daughters love playing with this castle. It's a beautiful toy and I'm sure they'll get lots of enjoyment from it. However, I am constantly being called to fix something that has come undone. For the money charged for this toy, I would think it would be of better quality. We also have the carriage, which I'm not fond of either, but that's another review.

My girls were so happy when they saw this castle under the christmas tree. They have played with it every day since, and I
have had no problems of anything breaking or falling off. The
castle is very pretty. The reason we chose this was the fact that I have two girls and this is large enough for the both of them to use at the same time. It comes with two beds and three chairs. There is plenty to keep them occupied without fighting over space. My little one gets so excited when she pulls the string to make the wedding bells ring. As far as my girl are concerned, Santa gets an A+.

My girls received this castle as a gift and love playing with it; but I was disappointed in the durability and sloppy sticker job that some one in the factory put on. They were all crooked and some were wrinkled. The whole castle is very flimsy and I only hope that it will last for years of enjoyment. For the price I would have expected better quality, durability and better decal assembly. Way over priced and should be priced for 50 dollars. Girls love it though and have a lot of fun.

This castle was at the top of my 6 year olds wish list. From the moment she opened it on Christmas morning, she has been mesmorized! This castle is colorful and full of little surprises in every room! There is a tiny birdbath, a little satin pillow with cascading curtains for the bed, complete tiny sets of dishes and silverware, a magical mirror where the princess and her pets can be put in place and twirled around for veiwing and the little piano really plays music! There are so many neat features in this toy castle that I was having fun putting it together! It took me almost an hour to assemble some of the features and place all the cute little stickers in the right places, but it certainly was not difficult. The castle ships assembled, but there are smaller peices that need to be attached with a great set of directions. I did however, snap off a small tab when inserting a balcony and was relieved that there was enough reinforcement to compensate my error. All and all, the joy my daughter is getting out of this is very satisfying. Not only has she been playing out the scenes from the movie, she is using her imagination and has come up with some exciting story lines of her own. I believe this castle will be cherished for years to come. I appreciate that Amazon allows their customers to rate the products, as this is what helped me in my final purchase. Even though I was hesitant to order during the busy Holiday season, Amazon shipped my order pronto and it arrived packed carefully and in excellent shape. Overall, this toy is a great investment for a childs imagination to come to life.

*This item (and others) arrived at my home "Bullet Quick", I was nothing short of impressed, especially since it was Christmas Time
....I couldn't believe how BIG it was when it arrived...much larger then I thought.
I KNOW My Granddaughter will Love this. It has so many different rooms, its sure to hold her attention for a Long Time and the soft musical tune the castle plays is very nice ..
All in All I'm Very Pleased

I was reading thru the reviews and found that some people thought there would be an elevator! I thought I was the only one! I believed from product descriptions and television commercials that there would be an elevator. A working elevator or not, I wasn't sure but I believed there would actually be an elevator, but there is no elevator. Just some stairs, and in many descriptions it says "Real working elevator" and yet nothing.

Other than that I think the castle is great, I have had no problems with it at all, it does not fall apart easily as others have said. But I should say this: my daughter never closes the castle, her room is big enough that the castle can remain open all the time. She just loves playing with it. All the music works fine. I haven't had any problems with that either. But the wand also got stuck behind the clock on our castle too but I managed to get it out using some tweezers!! Told my daughter not to put it back there again. The drawers are deep enough but they are not wide enough, you have to take the whole drawer out to get the little pieces out of the drawer.
I also believe as someone else did that the price should have been lower, but overall it is worth it because my daughter, who is four, plays with it all day long and she really does love it!

My 5 year old daughter LOVES Princess and the Pauper Barbie and the Rapunzel Barbie. I bought this castle for her for Christmas and too noticed that every write up on the web mentions an elevator. After doing research I have found that this playset is identical to the Barbie of Swan Lake Musical Castle MINUS the "elevator". It had a spiral staircase that when cranked by hand moved Barbie up. After reading the reviews of how Barbie can't stay on I am grateful they replaced the spiral elevator with a grand staircase.

This was my daughter's large christmas item and I must say that I am very impressed. The structure holds together very well. My favorite feature is that it folds up and stores in a space only about 6 inches wide! But every inch has been used to enhance Barbie's home. The beds fold up for more space, and it all folds out to create the illusion of more room than there really is. There are many small touches and decor that add to its elegance and charm. My daughter has not stopped playing with it yet. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that much on something built by Barbie (Mattel), because their Barbie stuff tends to be cheap and disappointing, but whoever engineered this castle deserves some kind of award! It was worth every penny.