Review: 41128 Amusement Park Space Ride
Posted by MeganL,
The new wave of Friends sets includes a fun subtheme - the amusement park. It is a whimsical and delightful theme with lots of possibilities.
Today I am looking at 41128 Amusement Park Space Ride. Is it worth a whirl, or should it stay grounded?
The front of the box shows a string of festive lights strung across the top of the box befitting an amusement park atmosphere. Olivia is enjoying the space ride going at a rather high rate of speed. The back of the box shows the different heights the ride can reach as well as some of the other features of the set, including a photo booth and an ice cream cart.
Inside the box are two numbered bags, an instruction booklet and a very sparkly sticker sheet.
Olivia is the only mini-doll in this set. She is dressed for a day at the park with a striped top and cute blue skirt. Olivia's torso is new to this wave of sets - this is only seen in Amusement Park Roller Coaster in addition to this one. The skirt is newish, being released in several sets this year. I like the dark blue shoes accented in light blue.
The build starts with the ice cream cart that is composed mostly of mailbox pieces turned on its side, with the door opening upward to allow access to the treats beneath. Inside we find a yellow popsicle and a scoop of chocolate ice cream. Two ice cream cones are found in holders on the sides of the stand, with one ready to be enjoyed with strawberry ice cream.
Next is the photo booth, where we find another new part, a 2x6 plate in light blue. The first sticker is applied as the (rather large!) photo for Olivia to pick up after her ride. Arches are used for the top of the kiosk. Another sticker is applied for the sign showing off sample photos. The last touch for the booth is the reason for it - the camera that takes pictures of park goers enjoying the ride.
The first bag finishes with the central support for the space ride. This includes two clear blue half cylinders that have large stickers applied with the space ship motifs on them. The clear blue cylinders show off the large yellow crystal in the centre of the support.
The second bag finishes the ride, starting with the canopy and then the three spaceships. A few Technic pieces make up the connection from the central support to each of the ships. Each ship is distinguished by its colour for nose and tail - pink, yellow and green, as well as accompanying stickers for the nose and tail fin that are highlighted with those same colours. Well, all except the green, which inexplicably has blue highlights for the stickers on that ship. I found the stickers for the tail to be a little tricky to apply. Unfortunately there are only stickers provided for one side of the tail fin for each ship.
The mini-dolls are secured in the ships by a 1x4x2/3 plate with bow in the medium azure. The mini-dolls slide into the ships, and their toes keep them secure under the bow piece.
The ride itself spins quite freely and can be easily twirled. It can reach the highest altitude and then continue spinning for quite a period of time - as evidenced by some of these action shots.
The ride spins easily whether or not there are mini-dolls in the ships, and it makes no difference whether just one ship is occupied or if Olivia has a couple of friends join her on the ride so that each ship has an occupant.
Overall thoughts
This is a fun little set. I had a great time twirling the ride, and I really like that the mini-dolls are pretty well secure in the ships and can withstand the ride well (read: no mini-dolls flew across the room in testing this set). I think the photo booth is a nice touch, as it does capture what we see in many rides in amusement parks these days - a camera taking a picture during part of the ride and offering it for sale afterwards.
However, for the price point (195-pieces, $19.99, £17.99, 19.99€) the set seems a little light. Some of that can be explained by some of the larger pieces used. I think it would have been nice to have the ride accommodate one more ship; that would have given the set a bit more substance.
What do you think of the amusement park subtheme? Let us know in the comments.
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20 comments on this article
I like the set with several booths (target water shooters and the whack-a-frog) and the Hot Dog wagon is brilliant. But the dark purple and neon green of this set looks pretty awful.
It's a neat touch having a sparkly version of the Classic Space logo, but seeing it all done with stickers (including the ride photo) and still quite pricey put me off. If they've been so tight as to only provide a sticker for one side of each tail fin then I'm really not interested. After all, you can't even use a second sticker sheet to do the other side as the shape is reversed.
As for the Roller Coaster, it's a massive disappointment that there isn't at least some hand-cranked mechanism (with maybe a motor option in the instructions) to lift the cars up. Instead the set is padded out with a sub-standard and equally garish Ferris Wheel.
Overall, I think it's a great idea for a theme, but let down by some awful designs and colour choices.
I'm really interrested with this subtheme as I already have the Fairground Mixer, Ferris Wheel and some additional attractions (mainly coming from Jokerland). Unfortunately, I think this subtheme is a little bit expensive compared with quantity of pieces and it's also too "girly".
I bought Hot Dog Van which is really a beautiful set! I will introduce this set to my "City" Fun Park (I don't us minidolls, only "classic" minifigs.
The main set in this subtheme is interesting because there are lots of different fun things in the box but not enough "beautiful".
I will continue to read articles about this subtheme and may buy some of these sets in the future.
(Please excuse my bad English, I'm French...).
I don't have this set, but I want to get the whole amusement park subtheme! That's right, I want them. But I should probably get them for my daughter instead. Granted, she is getting all of those Elves sets, so this will get pricey.
I think they did a good job with the play feature and details. It is very "friends" colored, so I may alter some of them for a more "natural" looking amusement park area.
With that said, I may wait for a sale if possible.
Thanks for the review!
I enjoyed the review. Thanks. This might have been covered before here, but I'm kinda new, so what the heck I'll talk about it now. Friends has some really cool design work in it.
And some gag-inducing color. :P
I know it's because this is LEGO fir ze wimmens, but I suppose those with skills far greater than myself have already started altering and changing to suit the, um...ah, ah...(realLEGOuniverse)CHOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm kidding of course.
So like I said, new to this site and new jumping back into LEGO after a, uh-oh...here we go again...um...ah, ah...(32yearabsence)CHOOOOOOOOOO.....sorry, allergies. Yeah I'm in my forties and yeah I was only a wee bit red in the face buying this set at TRU.
So I'm trying to change some of the Azure bricks and the purple bricks to orange and a deep red and get a kind of Galaxy Quest vibe going on, then I'll have to figure out how to actually print stickers once I remake some. Huh...I guess that will be my first adult MOC.
That roller coaster looks cool but the TRACK. There is ONE part that seems to be only available in blue. Course I could be wrong. Ugh.
Anyway, great review. Sorry, bit too much coffee this morning. And allergy medication.
Ah...ah....
Fun set. I don't buy Friends, but I might have to make a couple exceptions for the theme park sets. I just wish TLG had done something like this for City already. Although the massive Creator carousel, mixer and ferris wheel are excellent, just think of how much fun it would have been to create your own little City theme park made out of $20-50 sets.
Looks like a fun set; it's just a shame they've been so stingy with the stickers, given that it seems dear for what you get...
The amusement park subtheme looks cool overall, and is a nice touch since Lego havn't made many amusement parks in the past years. I hope Lego makes a City amusement park subtheme soon.
Although I don't think I'll buy any of these, I'll save my money until the release of the Rogue One sets.
Nice review.
Kinda odd how many people are taking issue with the colors. Frankly, amusement park rides are a place where I feel like somewhat outrageous color schemes make perfect sense. Of course, I felt the same way about the Ferris Wheel set.
This set is nice but doesn't appeal to me quite as much as the arcade, bumper cars, or hot dog van. This set's design and function are quite simple, and while I love a good Classic Space throwback, it's not enough to elevate this to the same level as those other sets. Overall I'm not as thrilled with the Amusement Park subtheme as I was with the Pop Star and Jungle Rescue subthemes from the past two summers, or with the Adventure Camp subtheme earlier this year. That might just be because I'm not a huge fan of fairs or amusement parks though.
Too bad the space logos are stickers. I'd have been all over this had they been printed.
I love this set! I love the whole park line, actually, except the hot dog van (less action!) and the bumper cars (though the swing ride in that set is excellent). This ride in particular has seen a ton of play. It's morphed into an Elves ride in our house - the eggs or baby dragons can clip onto the front of the ships, and then the Elves are flying to wherever my kid thinks up, or a dragon can sit on top of the ride. They're very secure and, unlike the tall spinny ride from the roller coaster, it doesn't fall apart with child handling. This whole line is great - and, while the colors for the Friends line often bug me a bit, they fit in perfectly in a giddy theme park!
I ike the set, but I agree, the price is a little light. I have a feeling it be like most Friend sets and be reduced to $15 almost everywhere in a couple of months. Still not as bad as the $30 party store with 180 pieces.
I like this set and glad it only has three cars, a forth would make it look funny.
i love the look of this set along with the arcade and hotdog van,
I like this set, but hoping to see it on sale, as we always pitch the minidolls immediately, we don't apply stickers, and we'll try to swap out any pink/purple pieces, if possible. Our town's amusement park (which started with the Creator Ferris Wheel and will soon include the Disney Castle) has become one of our favorite parts of town. If we find the space, we are hoping to add some of these Friends Amusement Park sets.
Funny, I remember being a little sheepish about buying Friends sets (or even looking at them in their other aisle). It's just too hard to pass up on some of the cool parts included in Friends sets. I loved the hot dog van, but still trying to swap out some of the pink parts in that set.
Nowadays LEGO Friends is the better LEGO City! Luckily, if You want to, You can adapt the sets easily to Your normal city (change colours and minidolls). In my home minifigs and minidolls even live peacefully together in one city...
I dont understand the complaints about the price of this set. 20€ seems just fair for what You get. There only could or should have been a second minidoll in the set. And dont forget, there will surely be the chance to get this set on discount.
Perfect sets for F-TRON fans!
This could work for normal minifigures, only needs less pink.
If only all sticker sheets were so sparkly...
Again, as others mentioned, what´s the problem with bright colours on an AMUSEMENT PARK? Too, there is almost no pink in this set, just light azure or what to call it. To me, the problem with friends sets (if there is any) are the design of it, not the colours.
It's incredible when we across the pond find our thoughts being married to our friends across the pond or simply put: "GOOD MINDS THINK ALIKE!'' I too had hoped the tails were 'printed' on both sides and thought the ride needed 4 jet planes! it is so nice when you realize you aren't complaining others are thinking the same thing!