Review: 42702 Spinning Flower and Fairy Teacup Ride
Posted by MeganL,
The amusement park subtheme got off to a fine start with 42703 Mermaid Roller Coaster Ride. The Friends team is working their way around the park by adding a teacup ride! I'm happy to see this as those rides were my favourite when I was a child.
42702 Spinning Flower and Fairy Teacup Ride provides the classic attraction with a bit of a twist. As the name implies, the "teacups" are actually flower blooms, under a towering flower. On first look, the "fairy" part isn't obvious to me, but I'm sure that will be self-evident soon enough.
Summary
42702 Spinning Flower and Fairy Teacup Ride, 321 pieces.
£34.99 / $39.99 / €39.99 | 10.9p, 12.5c, 12.5c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A fun floral twist on a classic amusement park ride
- Great use of splat gears to introduce motion to a younger builder
- Adorable bee plushie
- Center flower worthy of a Botanical set
- Why is a photo booth included?
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Inside the box there are three numbered bags, one 8x16 plate, two instruction books, and a reasonably sized sticker sheet.
Minidolls
There are three minidolls in this set: Liann, Aliya, and Autumn, all part of the regular cast. One of the commenters from a previous review mentioned that there have been fewer "outside" characters in Friends sets this year. I haven't run the numbers, but that does seem to be true (not to mention Olly, Paisley, and Zac are no longer featured on box front cover art).
While it's nice to see the regular crew a lot, one of the things I always liked about Friends is that they had such a diverse cast of characters. Hopefully they'll get back to that soon.
Anyway, all three girls are dressed for a day at the park. Liann's top is a bit of a mismatch of patterns, but I rather like Aliya's shirt with a floral design and bow closures. Autumn has the most summery outfit with an attractive tank top with offset buttons.
Everyone has some accessories! Liann has a photo of the three girls and a plushie, Aliya has a Stanley and a ticket, and Autumn is consuming all three girls' weekly allotment of sugar with some cotton candy.
Aliya has a second expression for this set. It certainly looks like she's having a good time! Neither of the others have an alternate expression, but it's a good opportunity to show a closer look at the plushie featured in this set (very cutely, a bee), and the picture Liann is holding (surprisingly, a printed piece).
The completed model
There's a side model which consists primarily of a photo booth, but also has an amusement park map stuck on the side of it. This isn't just a regular photo booth, though - there are accessories provided so the Friends can dress up before taking pictures.
Two sets of fairy wings are provided as well as two fun wigs. Sadly, since there are three minidolls, someone misses out. I tried to reproduce the printed tile picture, but I notice now that Autumn had fairy wings instead of Liann. Sorry, Autumn!
The presence of the wings does explain the "fairy" in the title, though! There's a perfect enchanted forest background in the photo booth so Aliya can get the perfect shot.
Moving on to the actual ride, there are two flower "teacups" that spin around a rather enormous flower.
The centre bloom is quite dominant and certainly fits into any one of a number of Botanical sets. I love purple, so I think the colour scheme is great.
A bud can be found on another stalk, and an oversized fly has just landed on one of the leaves.
There is a set of stairs where the Friends can pay to ride, but the platform at the top of the stairs doesn't quite meet the flower teacups. I guess the Friends have to take a leap of faith!
In this picture you can also see the crank that provides motion to the ride. I had wondered whether a spinning ride would be too advanced for the age recommendation (7+), but thanks to the use of splat gears it works quite well. I also love the name of the ride, and all the floral accents.
In case you were wondering, why yes, a Friend can fit on the ride if they're wearing their fairy wings....
.....but no, another minidoll wouldn't fit in the same flower teacup. Other thrill-seekers might, though.
(Note: thrill-seeking sloth not included in this set.)
Without fairy wings, two minidolls fit comfortably, even though there are four footplates provided in each flower.
Since I provided a short video of the roller coaster, I figured I'd do one for this set too.
Overall thoughts
The bloom on this set wouldn't look out of place in many Botanical sets. It makes me wonder whether this set is the result of a seed part challenge!
Regardless, I do like the floral twist on a classic amusement park ride. I'm still not sure about the addition of the fairy element and the photo booth, but it feels like that might have been added in order to fill out the parts count to make this a $40 set.
Speaking of the price, while the price per part might be a bit high, I still think this set is a decent value. The photo booth, while somewhat incongruous with the ride, adds an extra element of play. The spinning ride is a lot of fun and I think kids will enjoy watching the splat gears move (I know I did).
This set also has quite a few interesting floral parts that aren't found in many sets, so that may also be an incentive to pick this up. Friends sets are often offered on sale, so this set is definitely worth a look when that happens.
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10 comments on this article
What a lovely set. They really went above and beyond with the theming here too. Although it's a theme park ride it has some nice elements for high fantasy builds, which are far too scarce if you ask me.
It actually reminds me a lot of the Fairy Land subtheme of Belville (which for some reason isn't listed as such here).
The oversized flowers, the yellow middle parts of the flower (sorry, I'm tired and forgot the word in english) and the general fairy theme are dead ringers, as is the colorscheme.
Here you can see the Fairy Land and Golden Land subthemes from 2003:
https://brickset.com/sets/theme-Belville/year-2003
The sets I'm referring to are 5859 Little Garden Fairy, 5861 Fairy Island 5862 Flower Fairy Party. Oh, and 5873 Belville Fairy Land.
Nice review. I love this amusement park subtheme. To me the inclusion of the photo booth helps to diversify this as a full themed "area" of the park instead of just a standalone ride. I love the large flower build in the center of the ride, which really shows how well some of these various recent botanical elements can work in unison. The use of opalescent 1x1 domes as dewdrop-like decorations is also great!
The printed 1x2 tile might be printed because a sticker would get damaged by having a minidoll (or minifigure) holding it.
I was definitely a bit of a curmudgeon about the Friends line when it came out ages ago, but each year they surprise me in new ways. I certainly get 'parts envy' compared to some of the City lines which can feel a little too vehicle orientated at times. Very entertaining and inventive.
could go with botanicles... just seperate photo booth... meant camera
Like Heartlake City doesn't have enough issues, now the city is under attack by giant purple flies.
@Binnekamp said:
"It actually reminds me a lot of the Fairy Land subtheme of Belville (which for some reason isn't listed as such here).
The oversized flowers, the yellow middle parts of the flower (sorry, I'm tired and forgot the word in english) and the general fairy theme are dead ringers, as is the colorscheme."
This was my first thought as well, even if tree-sized flowers are a trope of fairy settings. When I first saw this set it immediately reminded me of sets like 5859 or 5861 with their large flower elements. I wish this set had one of those weirdo snails referenced as a ride or something.
"I guess the Friends have to take a leap of faith!" After, or course, they kneel, like proper penitent men, er, girls.
I thought this is Scala road from the small picture!I think my daughter would like the play features a lot. Tempting...
These Friends theme park sets are so charming.