Wow! I'd forgotten about this! I can't wait until some reviews start popping up *wink wink*

I'm utterly, utterly gobsmacked. New Zealand doesn't have a 30-50% mark-up!!!!! Nope, it's only about 15%. Wow. We're truly blessed....

Having got the mockery out of the way, I have to say that this looks to be an excellent set. I'm keen to see it "in the plastic", so to speak, but it has all the signs of being a fine match for the Fairground Mixer and Ferris Wheel.

I dare say that with the right discount I'll be in the line to pick one up. Or even two! :-D

just another reason that I am glad to be an American in Germany! going to go pick it up at my local store in a couple of hrs!

^ Or are you Germany in an American??

Nice to see it's pre access for "VIP" members. Hope they will do so for Saturn V... Somebody knows? I've already phoned to Lego Store Disney here in France. They told me 10257 would be available also before lego shop release, so it shall be available today, but not Saturn V set. I guess we all have to wait until first June for the second...

I was so excited when my wife said I could go ahead and get this set and Saturn V, but then she threw in the kicker; as soon as I find a way to fund it... darn she's tricky. So if anyone needs a kidney please send me a PM (a human body does't actually need two does it, I mean, one is like an extra?)

Awesome! Ordered :)

@Jackthenipper lmao!

Hahaha you guys are so 'under the thumb'!!

Oh wait. I am too.

@MrLEGOninja I'm an American that was born in Germany that happens to be in Germany for work for the next two years.

I'll wait for double points and order this one, the Snowspeeder and Saturn in one go :D

$299.99 AU O dear. I might wait for the Brickset review before thinking about buying this. Why so expensive??

By the way:
Brickset, could you try and make a 'Oceania' link for us Australian, New Zealand and other Asia-Pacific Lego fans to buy sets so we can support Brickset too?

^ Oceania pricing is nuts. Let's look at our prices pegged against the pound :-

Carousel cost in UK = GBP 160 = AUD 280 = NZD 300
Actual Antipodean cost = AUD 300 (+7%) / NZD 350 (+17%)

Trying to get any sort of sensible answer from LEGO about their regional market-biased price-fixing policy is impossible. All I've ever had is a copy-and-paste reply that cites a bunch of reasons that would have little or no bearing on prices.

It's self-defeating. Higher prices means lower sales volume, so less income for retailers and, consequently, for LEGO themselves. Consumers are less likely to buy at full price so will wait for sales/discounts/offers, which hits retailers rather than LEGO. As a result of all this, retailers don't have the turnover needed to negotiate better terms with LEGO, which keeps the prices high.

Sorry ... I'm ranting again ....... :-/ *zipped*

@ Block-n-Roll: In Australia, Lego bases its pricing on what the big retailers will sell sets for, and they base that on what it costs to stock their stores, pay their staff and advertise. There are lots of factors: exchange rates, employment conditions, competition (and competition rules). That doesn't help explain why the prices are *higher* than other countries, but it isn't just a simple thing that only the Lego company decides. It's the same with a lot of other toy and hobby ranges: scale models, wargames etc. It will be very interesting to see what difference Amazon makes when they start selling stuff here.

I'll wait until this gets discounted before I buy. Yes, might have to wait some years, but that's how I got the Ferris Wheel much cheaper.

I'm really torn apart over whether or not I should get this. I think I'm going to wait until JANGBRiCKS reviews the set, then I'll make my decision. It also depends a little on if the 300 Direct to Consumer Ninjago Movie Set is good, because I'd love a 300 dollar city style build come from Ninjago.

coenstegeman Finland says "hold my beer" it's €219,95 here. It makes no sense that it would be €40 more. Sick of it to be honest, the extra I spend every year could pay for 1 or 2 big sets.

Link to Lego Spain??

I picked this up today - there was a wierd bonus of a few packets of the Batman movie minifigures with a spend of over £50 in store. All duds, but a nice bonus none the less.

I thought there wasn't a VIP early release for this month, curious what the release will be for next month...

Also, the Saturn V was available on the Walmart earlier today but sold out now.

I have it almost all the way put together and it is really nice. I agree with Matt89190 that the animals are a little flawed, but I will just wait for people to make their own versions (or I might go ahead and make my own.

Wonder how hard it would be to modify micro fighters to work with this set.

€205.99 in Portugal and Spain. The sets are shipped from the same centers in central Europe. The sales tax is only marginally higher than in Germany or Italy. There are no custom taxes to be paid. Lego really doesn't care about the "smaller" countries...

It's an endless annoyance with these pricing differences. I could be happy, being from Germany, in this instance, but on the contrary I get so angry every time I see these pricing differences. Why should someone in France or Benelux (or any other "Euro"-country) pay more than someone from another "Euro"-country - other than different sales tax rates. Like those 40 Euro more in Finland. What the heck? Same the other way round with many Star Wars sets, which often are far cheaper in the US (far more than even the highest US VAT would ever amount to).
This is one of the reasons why I hardly ever buy a Lego set at RRP anymore like I used to.

I live in Sweden now. Prices at LEGO.com are certainly quite a bit higher here than they are in Germany (or in Switzerland, where I lived before). The carousel for example is SEK 1999 which is about EUR 205.
Bizarrely though all my LEGO.com orders are sent from Germany to Sweden...

Nice build - I like the animals - the tiger, swan and elephant are inspired builds - the other two are nice builds. You will learn a lot of new techniques in this - many of which are really cool. I like producing the whole base {I think this may be the first time I've had a normal numbered bag that only contained a single piece type!}

Two things - I would like a slightly higher gearing I think it is slightly too slow, and the last bag is a bit repetitive - with 12 identical builds for the top edge {each of which is nice in itself} but this is similar to the ferris wheel where making the wheel it self was challenging.

It feels really robust - but there are some issues with the base until you have got it all together {and is still a bit delicate {it wouldn't have taken much to fill in the rest of the underside to make it feel more solid and easier to pick up and move}