Review: 41689 Magical Ferris Wheel and Slide
Posted by MeganL,
Continuing on the magical journey, we've moved on from 41687 Magical Funfair Stalls and 41686 Magical Acrobatics and now we're ready for some more magic and larger rides. 41689 Magical Ferris Wheel and Slide is one of the larger sets in the magical funfair subtheme. The name gives away the rides featured, so let's see what's magical about this set.
Inside the box there are five numbered bags, three instruction booklets, two small sticker sheets (one which is dedicated as a mirror), one 8x16 plate, and two slide pieces in cool yellow. This is a new colour for the slide piece; there are a few new recolours of pieces in this set. An inventory can be found here.
Minidolls
There are three minidolls in this set, which is a little disappointing. The Friends line had been introducing more minidolls, so I was hoping to see one more included here. Two of the dolls are among the regular crew: Mia and Stephanie. Mia has a sleeveless top with a lavish gold, white and purple detailing. It goes well with her purple skirt with jagged hem and harlequin patterned stockings. Mia must be close friends with Camila from 41687, as they are wearing the same skirt and leggings! Although the other Friends I've seen in this subtheme have had terrific face painting, Mia does not have any facepaint.
Stephanie is the other Friend in the set. Her long blonde hair has been coiled up into a bun, which makes sense if acrobatics are involved. She has white diamond facepainting covering her eyes, which looks nice but is nowhere near as striking as Olivia's facepainting from 41686. Stephanie looks like she's ready for a day of performing with a dual coloured harlequin patterned top with diamond design and fuchsia tights. Both are new to this set.
River is the third minidoll, making a second appearance in a set from this wave - he was previously seen in 41684 Heartlake City Grand Hotel. He's also dressed for a performance in a purple fitted jacket with black lapels with gold piping, a white wing collar shirt with gold tie, and ornate collar chains with aquamarine gems. All three minidolls have some detailed printing on the back, particularly Mia's shirt.
The completed model
There are two small builds in addition to the rides - one is simply a map showing the layout of part of the fair. The other is a stall selling lollipops. I like how the black and white theme throughout the subtheme is included here through the black and white colouring of the candy cane. I love the use of the ball pieces for the roof decoration of the stall.
Despite the name of the set, the Ferris wheel is by no means magical. There are some strategically placed glow in the dark elements placed on the wheel, so in low light there are several points on the build that do glow. I really do like the colour scheme of the Ferris wheel, and the mechanism moves easily to give the Friends a good view of the rest of the fair from the top of the wheel. I particularly like the stars that are placed between the cars to fill in the wheel a bit. Alas, while the colour lights are applied to both sides of the Ferris wheel, the large stars are only placed on one side.
The wheel can accommodate three passengers. One of the fun parts of the build is that the cars in the Ferris wheel are shaped like top hats. I appreciate the playfulness of this design but it also means that each car can only hold one passenger.
Well, one human passenger, that is. There are other creatures who can increase that occupancy limit.
Note: sloths not included in this set
The largest part of the build is the Magical Slide. At first glance, you might wonder what's magical about it. There's a way to get to the top of the slide, and a Friend can slide all the way to the bottom. There are helpful arrows on the floor to show the entrance and the exit.
There's even a mirror at the exit so a Friend can wait for their companion to come out of the slide. I like the detail of the clear 1x2x5 transparent brick with the 1x1 colour tiles on the first level. This technique was used in 41450 Heartlake City Shopping Mall earlier this year and I like seeing it again here.
Except, Mia has been waiting a while, and no Friends have come out. I wonder what the problem might be? Mia starts the long climb up to the top.
There are clearly no safety regulations in Heartlake City, because climbing a ladder that tall and teetering at the top on a narrow walkway before getting on the slide certainly does not seem safe!
At the top of the slide, Mia discovers the answer behind her missing Friends:
There's a separate exit hidden from view when looking from the front of the ride. That would explain why a minidoll would seem to disappear when coming down the slide - they exit from the back of the slide instead!
The alternate exit can be seen more clearly in this picture. Also tucked away on the back of the slide is this charming family portrait. I'm not sure who they are, or perhaps it's a nod to one of the designers.
There are also glow in the dark elements in this ride, so in a low light some of the key features are highlighted.
Overall thoughts
This set fits well in the theme of a fun fair with the rides and the lollipop stand. Since the first set I built in this wave was the funfair stalls that had a marvellous magic trick, I think I was spoiled by expecting a true magic trick with every set in this wave. I like the misdirection of the slide to make Friends "disappear", but it doesn't quite feel the same to me.
Regardless, I enjoyed the rides, and think the Ferris wheel and the slide will provide many hours of play. Of course, the slide lends itself quite easily to customizing, and rearranging the walls in the structure underneath. It's an ideal set to start making modifications to make the lower area more of a funhouse with passages.
However, the set feels a little expensive (545 pieces, $59.99, £54.99, 59.99€) for what you get. I appreciate that slide pieces are more expensive, but I can't help but think of 41449 Andrea's Family House, where for $10 more you get a much more detailed build, more minidolls, and a microdoll. This is a fun set, but may be worth waiting until it's on sale before buying.
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14 comments on this article
"Although the other Friends I've seen in this subtheme have had terrific face painting, Mia does not have any facepaint."
No facepaint can hold a candle to good ol' natural freckles ;)
This set is $80 here versus Andrea's $110 family house. Not that it makes for a terrific value but the price gap seems slightly bigger, for better or for worse.
I actually like the slide gimmick a lot. Almost as much as the wheel's medium lavender top hats (did I mention medium lavender is one of my favorite LEGO colors?).
If I were developing an amusement park for my layout, I'd be keen to pair this with my existing 31084 Pirate Roller Coaster and 41373 Funny Octopus Ride, even though the themes clearly clash. I suppose I can find a way to make the top hats in this set work with the one the octopus in 41373 is wearing, and I can always retheme the rest of this set (something that happens frequently in the real-world industry anyway!).
I think the mirror at the bottom of the slide is used to help create the illusion of the rider disappearing. You think you see the exit ramp, but you're really seeing the reflection of the fake exit ramp.
I would also like to see what it looks like with the glow elements lit up :)
EDIT: Found this in the set description:
"The bottom of the slide has clever mirrored panels to make the mini-dolls ‘disappear’. They actually exit the slide at the rear of the model to surprise their friends waiting at the front!"
is it only me? I find the color scheme for this whole theme jarring and (sorry) kinda ugly.
Out of the sets from the subtheme this one is my favourite. I like the use of the mirror to create a real graphical illusion despite the obvious limitations of this design. Also, the whole 'magical funfair' feels inspired, albeit just being a magic show and a theme park combined.
4+?
@cabbie said:
"is it only me? I find the color scheme for this whole theme jarring and (sorry) kinda ugly. "
No, it's not just you. I love the design but the colors are really off. So much so that after looking at it some more I no longer want the set.
Im looking forward to a set review that includes sloths. Note: sloths are included in this set.
@cabbie said:
"is it only me? I find the color scheme for this whole theme jarring and (sorry) kinda ugly. "
Totally agree.
This theme to me is a huge disappointment, especially as I am a great magic aficionado, but there is hardly anything magical about this line of sets. And the colour scheme is a total mess.
When are holiday gift guides coming? I always find them helpful and interesting!
I personally would have preferred the slide to do one more revolution, but I can see that they wanted to add more of a build although the unusable space behind and to the side of the stairs doesn't really add anything. I'm sure I could have found something else to do with the pieces, like a hit the coconut stall?
Personally I found the feature:price ratio on this one too hard to justify. I'm looking forward to your review of the coaster!
@LegoSonicBoy said:
" If I were developing an amusement park for my layout, I'd be keen to pair this with my existing 31084 Pirate Roller Coaster and 41373 Funny Octopus Ride, even though the themes clearly clash. I suppose I can find a way to make the top hats in this set work with the one the octopus in 41373 is wearing, and I can always retheme the rest of this set (something that happens frequently in the real-world industry anyway!)."
Well big theme parks often have subsections so distinct color schemes for each section makes sense.
I’m generally in favour of giving sets the same name in countries that share a common language. However, where one version of the language such as British English has a specific term for something and American English doesn’t, it’s unfortunate that LEGO defaults to the less precise US name. I can understand why: the US is the larger market. But it’s regrettable nonetheless. In the UK, we would call this set Magical Ferris Wheel and Helter Skelter.
@Zander said:
"I’m generally in favour of giving sets the same name in countries that share a common language. However, where one version of the language such as British English has a specific term for something and American English doesn’t, it’s unfortunate that LEGO defaults to the less precise US name. I can understand why: the US is the larger market. But it’s regrettable nonetheless. In the UK, we would call this set Magical Ferris Wheel and Helter Skelter."
Strangely, it's called a spiral slide in both the US and UK locales of RollerCoaster Tycoon, despite most of the names being UK-informed by virtue of Chris Sawyer himself being Scottish. It was many years before I'd learn that the phrase "helter skelter" was also used to refer to the ride.
So are sloths the new goats? :)