xyzwyatt's Full Review: Disney Smoothie Maker SD4RED
This appliance is very attractive in appearance. I noticed that it was cute and wanted it for awhile but frankly not $40 cute. I did not consider buying it until I realized that it was on sale for only $33. My 5-year-old daughter got a look at it and wanted it more than anything. We compared it to the other smoothie makers and we decided on this one with less features because it looked cool.
The bright red Mickey mouse smoothie maker actually looks pretty silly in my kitchen at home. Obviously it doesn’t match our decor at home at all. When you have an appliance like a smoothie maker the out of sight, out of mind theory holds true. The smoothie maker is fairly tall, just as tall as a traditional blender is.
The appearance of the smoothie maker is very cute and attractive for a child or a Disney fan. The motor base of the blender is round in Mickey Mouse red and has two white feet that come off of it. The base has two buttons. One button is the pulse button, the other is the Low/Off/High button. The mixing container is thin plastic and has Mickey ears engraved as measuring markers. The release valve is on the mixing container and can be removed to clean. The lid is also plastic and has red handles on it. The mixing wand stands in the middle and remains inside while the smoothie is being made. The cord is also red and a standard kitchen appliance length.
The gadget is filled with safety features obviously with the intention for children to be able to assist with making the drinks. The warning very clearly indicates that this is not a toy and that children should be supervised. This truly is not an appliance a child should use on their own. The biggest safety feature s that the blender will not start if the lid is not sitting correctly on top. Another feature would be that the blade is not removable and the objects to make the blade spin are made of soft rubber.
Making a drink is very easy. First you put in the liquids, then add the frozen items and blend on low for 30 seconds then kick into high until smooth. I was very pleased with the texture of our drink, it was very smooth and flowed quickly out of the spout.
There are 12 recipe cards that come with the smoothie maker. Some of the titles are: Lemon Louie, Hawaiian Holiday, Raspberry Sunrise, Strawberry Banana Supreme, and Peach Refresher. It only takes a few ingredients to make a smoothie like a liquid such as OJ or milk and a fruit such as strawberry or banana, and freeze it up with ice, ice cream, or sherbet.
“After running motor continuously for three minutes, wait at least 5 minutes before running the motor again.” Our first batch only made only 2 drinks and there are 5 of us here and no one wanted to wait 5 more minutes. We finished making our smoothies in the blender and poured them out the old fashion way of tipping the jar. It’s not like we had a choice really since the appliance stopped working.
One of the safety precautions listed is, “Do not use machine for other than intended use.” This is not nor will it ever be capable of being used as a real blender. The blender blade is not removable at all from the mixing container and it has rounded off rather than pointed edges. I put my finger on the blade and it does not feel sharp like my blender does.
It is recommended that the smoothie maker be washed by hand. I do not like to wash by hand…ever. But I made this one exception for my daughter. I thought it would be pretty simple but wasn’t as simple as I had hoped. It crossed my mind that I’m going to be using sticky and messy products like lemonade and strawberries. I was surprised how much stuff was hiding in the pour spout. The blade is not removable for cleaning so hopefully it doesn’t get very dirty.
The pour spout is frustrating to clean. There is a valve body, stopper, stopper pin, spring, cap, and lever that all get unassembled for washing. I could not get the stopper off at all and finally gave up especially when I realized that I probably would not be able to get it back together.
My biggest complaint obviously is that the appliance stopped working on our first drink which leads me to believe that the quality may be questionable. The motor is still fine, but the blade won't turn and is not removeable. The company had a card with the appliance that said they would replace broken parts. It also has a one year warranty. I wanted to exchange it for another Mickey Smoothie Maker but hubby said no, he did not want this to begin with.
Another issue that I had was that there was not a handle on the pitcher which made it awkward to carry to the sink for washing and putting it away. This blender is 400 watts. My husband recommended that we get a higher quality smoothie maker but but the kids voted for Mickey.
Overall I think this is a really cute appliance and would make a novel gift or something fun for a parents or even grandparents to have on hand to reward kids with. Obviously smoothies are a healthier treat than sodas or milk shakes so if a fancy gadget will get a kid to drink some fruit than why not. The machine is designed to get kids involved as well so they are bound to enjoy the drink.
On the other hand, the drink out of the smoothie maker was just as good as the drink that we immediately made with our traditional blender so I’m not sure that a smoothie will be necessary for our family after all. I did not enjoy washing the smoothie maker since I’m use to putting my blender in the dishwasher. I was also not convinced that the thin plastic pieces for the spout and mixing container would be very durable over time. It seemed like all the pieces could crack very easily. I also question if everyone will want to wait 5 minutes between smoothies.
Back to Basics
675 West 14600 South
Bluffdale, UT 84065
1-800-688-1989
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.