Review: 42630 Heartlake City Water Park
Posted by MeganL,
Water seems to be a major theme in the second half of Friends this year. There's an adventure camp series, two sets dedicated to the beach, and finally, there's 42630 Heartlake City Water Park.
It took eight years for Heartlake City to get its first water park, but the Friends designers have provided us three parks in the last four years. 2020's 41430 Summer Fun Water Park was quite impressive. That was followed by a much smaller version in 2022 with 41720. This year's effort seems to be placed between the two, so I'm expecting some fun detail without the higher price tag of the original set.
Summary
42630 Heartlake City Water Park, 814 pieces.
£69.99 / $79.99 / €79.99 | 8.6p/9.8c/9.8c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A good addition to Heartlake City's water park collection
- First minidoll with an ostomy bag
- Great use of moving functions
- Pool isn't very deep!
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Inside the box (another perfect box), are six numbered bags, one unnumbered bag with two 8x16 plates and two slides, and a folder containing a large instruction book and a sticker sheet.
Most of these stickers look rather gratuitous, so I imagine stickers are just expected in Friends sets these days, as I expect many kids enjoy that part of the building process.
Minidolls
There are three minidolls included in this set. First up is Sara, who is new to the Friends world. She has a very smart green bikini top with matching shorts. Sara is also the first minidoll to have an ostomy bag, and her surgical scars are also shown on her abdomen. Kudos to the Friends design team that continues to make the Friends world inclusive for everyone.
Next is Leo, who is wearing a swim vest and shorts, and has a whistle hanging around his neck, suggesting that he serves at the water park as a lifeguard. Leo's sister Alba is also enjoying a day at the park, and she has an adorable dress with a flamingo design. Finally, Aliya is joining the fun, with a very smart striped blue and white tank top and swim skirt with a printed star motif - I love this design!
The Friends have wisely kept their pets at home, though that doesn't preclude sloth interlopers in this review....
The completed model
It wouldn't be a visit to a water park without some fun accessories, and this set doesn't disappoint: there's a floating chair, three towels (I'm guessing for Sara, Aliya, and Alba - that dinosaur pattern is too cute!), and of course - water blasters!
I'm not sure where those towels would be placed, as the water park looks very.....appropriately....wet! I love the use of the enclosed slide pieces in addition to the regular side.
The waterfall holds a bit of a secret; a push lever in the back causes the the water chute to lift up while parting the waterfall, allowing a Friend in the floating chair to slide into the pool. The parting is not that wide, so one has to be pretty strategic when placing the chair.
The left side of the water park is dominated by a large twisting slide. There's a camera strategically placed halfway down to take a picture while each Friend descends. A monitor shows that Aliya has just gone down the slide.
The base of the pool is not very large, so a Friend does run the risk of plopping right out of the pool at the end of the slide. Any injuries sustained from that activity can be soothed in the jacuzzi pool, where there's room for two. A splat gear at the side allows the jacuzzi occupants to rotate.
The rotating part of the jacuzzi appeals to more than just the Friends!
(Note: jacuzzi loving sloths not included in this set.)
The other side of the park shows the enclosed slide, decorated with decals celebrating sea life and a large brick-built jellyfish at the top.
The rear view shows the Friends can access some of the slides - there's a ladder to get to the first slide, intended for the floating chair. There's another platform for the other two slides, but no way to get there. Another ladder added between platforms would have been welcome.
Pushing the lever in causes the lowest slide to raise - this action also separates the waterfall, allowing a Friend to get to the pool. There's endless fun to be had by placing the chair (or minidolls, or sloths, perhaps) on the waterway, pushing through the waterfall. Thoughtfully, there are some shelves on the side of the slide for the Friends' belongings that they don't want to get wet. Guble Bubble is one of the accessories provided for the minidolls, so this is a logical place to store it.
The other side features some rinse-off showers with some nice tilework, courtesy of a sticker.
Of course, it wouldn't be a Friends set without a bathroom, and facilities are provided. I'm very much impressed with how the Friends team can come up with different ways to construct the bathroom facilities. For this bathroom, the sink with soap is found just to the outside.
Overall thoughts
This is a fun set, and a good addition to Heartlake City's water park collection. I particularly like how the designer has added moving functions in this version, with the splat gear providing rotation in the jacuzzi, and the push lever allowing the chair to slide through the waterfall. Adding the motion adds an extra level of interest, and I like how it shows younger builders how to incorporate movement in their own creations. The slides to the side are also fun, and are built for minidolls (or sloths, say) to slide down.
This set is also notable for the inclusion of a minidoll with an ostomy bag. I've mentioned this before, but the Friends line has really stepped up its game on diversity and inclusion with the most recent revamp, and I love seeing characters like Sara make appearances in sets.
While the first waterpark in the Heartlake City might have been bigger, this one is a little more dynamic and - dare I say - right sized. I don't find the price unreasonable, especially for the play value.
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18 comments on this article
To me it seems hollow for 80$, but those gorgeous transparent pieces are probably jacking up the price (trans-green slide & opalescent waterfall, mmm, delicious).
I love the inclusivity of the Friends sets ! And this looks like a very fun to play set, I really like it. Thanks for the review
The use of Trans Bright Green just *has* to be an Atlantis callback.
If I were to add a water park to my amusement park, I’d likely do a MOC, but this gives me a lot of inspiration and some great elements with which to work.
I never realized that those slide elements wrapped perfectly around 4x4 round elements. Cool!
This set is probably better than the most previous Friends aquaparks. By the way, MisterBrickster, of course there had to be Atalntis callbacks (the slide and the central park) in a place dedicated to water.
This is cute, but doesn't quite reach the highs of the larger water park set to me. That set's very well-thought-out theming (with sand castle-inspired structures up top and layers resembling increasing depths of the ocean) was so great, and unfortunately while this set sort of evokes that theme it doesn't have the space to pull it off as well. I also felt like the opalescent blue was much more fitting for the slide than the trans bright green here, as cool a recolor as the latter is.
I've learned something new today, since I had to look up what ostomy bag means.
Sadly I found out that it's the exact device that my father had during the final two months before his death last year.
While it's great in general that LEGO acknowledges such things exist, I don't ever want to have a figure that reminds me of this experience. It's just too painful for me.
As someone who spent more than year with an ileostomy, this set was an instant buy. You can go swimming with one, but I never tried.
Nice architecture, but an easy pass for me
First fence in coral colour?
@Mica86 said:
"I need a parts pack of those tubes but in clear and i want straights and junctions too!
Id pay up for that like crazy..but its a dream...."
One could say a pipe dream...
Actually picked this up on sale yesterday for AU$75. An absolute joy to build. Looks great. Love the colours. The green tubes are cool and love the little packet of Yellow Sea creatures you get with it.
What’s happening at the bottom of image 5?
@Mica86 said:
"I need a parts pack of those tubes but in clear and i want straights and junctions too!
Id pay up for that like crazy..but its a dream...."
I'd love if Classic expanded into these types of elements, it's usually hard to find them in usable quantities and shapes to build with.
Like a Classic set that has both types of slides and all their variants, or one that contains the pieces needed to build a roller coaster (just a bunch of tracks with some car bases and supports).
The lifting slide adds some more interest and play value, although all the slides really need a longer run-off.
This green pipes are so good for bioshock mocs!:)
It feels small for price. Still I want to get it as partpack on sale.
@Nuclearxpotato said:
I'd love if Classic expanded into these types of elements, it's usually hard to find them in usable quantities and shapes to build with.
Like a Classic set that has both types of slides and all their variants, or one that contains the pieces needed to build a roller coaster (just a bunch of tracks with some car bases and supports).]]
Just checking you know, but you can buy the coaster rails and car bases from Pick a Brick
https://www.lego.com/en-gb/pick-and-build/pick-a-brick?icmp=PAB_All_Pieces&query=rail