 |
Hot Wheels Shark Park
by broxi3781
Recommended Ages: 3+
Although this has a recommended age of 3+ it has long been a favourite of my youngest son, who is only just 2. I think , as with most toys the manufacturers prefer to put an older age limit on it just in case a child should pull off and choke on a small part. This does come with a small pizza as well ... which you might want to remove if a very young child is playing without close supervision.
This is our second Shark Park after the first one stopped talking due to coke being spilled into the electronics. We've had this one about 2 years now and it is still in very good nick.
The set requires assembly, but this is quick and easy. I would estimate about 5 minutes for assembly without the child's help and 10 with help, including putting the stickers on. It requires 3 AA batteries. They do last for quite some time, we have not changed batteries in the last two years.
The main part of the toy is a roller coaster track which the children love racing the cars down. The cars hit a small stick in the sharks mouth which causes the mouth to snap shut, and say something like "Scared ya huh".
The car usually escapes but occasionally gets caught in the sharks teeth.
The shark will frequently say "Scared Ha ha ha ha" even if a car is not going down - a good reason to switch this off at night. It is meant to have a total of 15 phrases, I have never counted.
There is a plastic ramp to drive up to the base, a pizza shop which will flip a pizza into the air if you drive over a button, and elevator to lift the car to the top of the roller coaster and a spinning circle to display a car on.
There are some problems with the toy. As one would expect the pizza is forever getting lost. The ramp falls off easily and gets lost as well. The elevator sticks a bit and the small launcher at the top isn't really the best. Also while this will fit most Hot Wheels or other small cars, of course you get the odd one that is a bit long and will not go down the ramp properly. I also find the "Scared hahahaha" bit extremely repetitive and at times quite annoying, especially when laying a sleeping child down to sleep.
That said, I am still giving this five stars. At under a tenner it has given my sons hours and hours of fun and is really well loved. It is sturdy enough, the first one breaking was our fault, and it was fairly old when we bought it for 50p at a boot sale.
Amazon is no longer listing this toy, and I think it is no longer produced but it is still very readily available on ebay at reasonable prices.
Read the complete review |
|
|
Hot Wheels Toy Story 3 Rex Rider
by Siibillam-Law
This is quite the interesting car from Hot Wheels. Known for making all forms of cars - from racing to familial, Hot Wheels' small die-cast vehicles have been favourites of kids for years and years now.
They sometimes release cars in conjunction with cinematic releases, namely films for kids, and have joined up with Pixar to ... come up with the Toy Story 3 lot of cars. The Rex Rider is just one of them and as you can assume from the name, the car has been made to look like what Rex would if he happened to turn into a car. I actually prefer the special edition cars to the ordinary, every day cars they release, probably because a lot of the time the themes and designs for the cars are so slick and cool, but we'll never see anything like it on the road. Just look at the Wheelin' Woody car.
Painted a shiny greenish yellow colour and modeled very nicely with scales embedded into the body work, the car has sharp dinosaur teeth at the front and surprisingly angry headlights, making the vehicle look considerably more threatening than the toy ever did. This looks like a car that would happily tear you apart.
The whole set is pretty cool, though, and I like the Rex once particularly as he has this rather fierce expression despite being the big softy of the group of toys. It's a great toy, though, both for the Hot Wheels fans and the Toy Story fans, and even cooler if you like them both.
Read the complete review |
 |
Hot Wheels Raceway Fire Station Playset
by KatieWaller101
My 4 year old son is both car mad and a fireman fanatic, so when I saw this little playset I thought it was made for him!!
The set is a garage and fire station in one.
The garage has a parking space for one car, a moveable petrol pump and a workstation that has a hidden suprise behind it... a slide up flame! When the ... child decides its time for some action, they lift the flame up and it's rescue time! The fireman slides down the pole when a little lever is pulled and this launches the car off to save the day! If its a real emergency then there is also a launcher on top of the set- when the button is pressed the car shoots down and zooms off at top speed!!!
The set comes complete with a flash looking, bright yellow, diecast Hot wheels fire department car, although this set is made by the reputable Hot Wheels brand it is compatible with all the little diecast cars eg matchstick etc not just Hot Wheels.
One of the best features about this toy is that it folds away to a compact H:10cm W:15cm D:4cm making it ideal for travelling, in your hand bag to keep them ammused in waiting rooms or friends houses etc or of course just to store at home- a welcome change from the usual huge playsets that take over the house!
Another great thing, making it a perfect toy for on the move, is that it does not require any batteries! Small and battery free-Hooray!!
The fold away nature of the toy, unfortunately means that it is not made of the most sturdiest plastic, but it definitely is still very durable and copes well with my heavy handed son!! It is not too fiddly either, he manages to fold and unfold the playset independantly.
The set is very reasonably priced at £4.99, especially as the cars to buy on their own are 99p. This affordable price makes the playset a great gift for class mates or as an incentive prize on reward charts etc.
I purchased mine from Wilkinsons but they are available from many other stockists.
It is a great toy that provides lots of fun and inspiration for imaginative play - Definitely recommend!
Read the complete review |
