If I Only Had a Little Girl
Written: Dec 24 '03 (Updated Dec 26 '08)
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Pros: Comes with people, beautiful detail, excellent assembly instructions, expandable.
Cons: Attic section difficult to put together and keep together, no furniture, lengthy assembly
The Bottom Line: A great dollhouse that's worth every penny. Assembly is time-consuming but relatively easy and rewarding. Any little girl - or adult Victoriana fanatic - would be lucky to have this.
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| dagny21's Full Review: Playmobil Large Victorian Dollhouse |
Note: The picture above is NOT the Playmobil Victorian Dollhouse. I don't even think that's Playmobil!?
A few months ago, I began purchasing Playmobil toys for my son. In doing so I came across this Victorian Dollhouse. Not a personal fan of Barbies or many other such "girl" toys, this is the first toy that's ever actively made me wish I had a little girl. Although my son is still pretty open-minded when it comes to his toys and I thought he might enjoy this dollhouse to a certain extent, I didn't want to spend $200 (plus the cost of furniture) on a toy that he would set aside as soon as some other little boy told him "that's for girls."
Finally, after much hesitation, I decided that I deserved this dollhouse just for myself. So, I saved my money for a bit and had my husband pick it up for me on his way home from work one day.
Playmobil #5300 includes:
~Hundreds of pieces to make a dollhouse (windows, floors, walls, doors, curtains, dormers, roof, railing, chimney, flowers, flower pots, staircases, and more)
~3 Playmobil Figures in Victorian Dress
~Doll Carriage and doll
~Paintings, mirror, clock, and photographs to decorate the walls
~Full-color instruction book
Assembly
The sales clerk who assumed I was buying this as a gift for a child says to my husband "She'll need to allow at least an hour to put it together." I should have known better. With all Playmobil toys, there is a great deal of assembly required. The minutist little details that you thought would have been taken care of at the factory are left for the purchaser to complete.
This house comes in hundreds of pieces and not a single fold out instruction sheet, but a whole book that tells you how to put it all together. The instructions are very detailed diagrams but there are no text explanations. The pieces are packed well and safely in the box, with plenty of foam padding, but there are so many of them that until I completed about half of the house I spent more time looking for the right parts than anything else.
Once I got into the swing of things, the first two floors of the house were pretty easy to assemble. There are no tools at all required to build this house. Everything snaps together quite easily and securely. I did have to have my husband figure out a few little parts for me, like the door hinges. The most tedious portion of the assembly was the flower boxes. Most of the windows have flower boxes with three plants in each. Each plant has 6 blooms on it, and all of the blooms have to be attached. Doing just this took me at least an hour.
Whenever I assemble any sort of toy, I always expect a little frustration, and this Playmobil Victorian Dollhouse was no exception. The frustration came in when I was assembling the third floor. As neatly and durably as the rest of the house goes together, it would seem that the third floor was designed by someone else entirely. It's one of those things where you spend a lot of time getting 4 or 5 pieces together and then when you try to put another piece on the whole thing falls apart. I was in tears of frustration by the time I finished the last part of this house. Once together, the attic portion also doesn't stay together very well. It's fine for display, but the pieces tend to come apart with very little pressure (like that required to open one of the little windows). I allow my son to play with this dollhouse, and he's a very gentle child, but I've still had to repeatedly reassemble this part. I would suggest to anyone not concerned about being able to disassemble this house that they glue the attic roof portions together. This is not an option for us, as I want to be able to fully break it down again some day.
Assembly took me a total of about 5 hours.
Accessories
This dollhouse only comes with mother, father, and little girl figures and a doll carriage with doll for the little girl to play with. There are many accessories available for this house, particularly if you shop on ebay for sets that have been discontinued. The individual sets run from just a few dollars to around $30 for sets currently available, and the skies the limit on the prices of sets long discontinued.
Expandable
If five rooms isn't enough for you, there is an expansion floor available directly through Playmobil for about $56. It will give you 2 more large rooms (a whole extra middle floor) for your house. I plan to buy this when I run out of room in the current house.
Playability
I of course don't really play with this house. I use it as more of a decoration. When I have more accessories I'll spend a little time arranging scenes to suit the season or my mood, whatever. As it is, I do let my son play with this house, and he gets quite a lot of enjoyment out of it.
This is a great collectible for adults, or it would make a nice toy for a little girl 4 years and older. However, in order to make it really playable, you should plan to spend an extra $100 or so on accessories.
Final Thoughts
This purchase was worth the money, and even worth the several hours assembly time. It's a beautiful finished product with a lot of color and eye-pleasing detail. I look forward to purchasing more sets gradually.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $199.00
Type of Toy: Playscene
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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Epinions.com ID:
dagny21
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 in Kids & Family |
 - Top 500 |
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Member: Christine D
Location: Alaska
Reviews written: 388
Trusted by: 66 members
About Me:
Happily married mother of one boy.
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