Pirates and castles anyone?

[yaycarter]

I was set on getting my son (will be 5 in Feb) some Imaginext pirate and castle stuff for Christmas, but after reading some advice on this forum and some reviews on Amazon, I don't know what to do! It seems like people either absolutely love or hate the stuff. I have seen Playmobil pirate and castle things, but I don't know if they stay together better or not. And they are quite a bit more expensive than the Imaginext. What to do? DS is about to burst for some of these things, but I don't want to frustrate him as much as these reviews act like the toys will do.

Are the playmobil things any better? Any other suggestions?

The negatives in the reviews are mostly that the things fall apart too easily to be any fun to play with.

Thanks,
Karen

[redhookmom]

My ds received the Playmobil pirate ship for Christmas last year. He has not played with it that much. There are many, many small pieces. My ds has a fine motor delay and he just did not find it appealing.

This Christmas he is getting this castle:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/17790.jpg

And one of these to fill is his pitate needs:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/17791.jpg


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/17792.jpg

[lukkykatt]

I have no experience with Playmobil, but we have the Imaginext Pirate Ship and that stays together fine. We also have the Pirate island (I forget the exact name) and that is a major PITA - it does not stay together well at all and I always have to refer back to the instructions to get it back again. One thing you could do if you don't want to make a major investment while you are unsure is to get some of the smaller items, which could be nice all together - like the castaway figures, the battle skiff and there is a phantom ship or something that is small and DS has been really wanting. All those things together would be good and you would not have assembly issues. Just a thought...

[luvbeinmama]

I have the Imaginext pirate ship, which stays together just fine. I also have a Playmobil castle set, which I really like and goes together fairly well. I have the Goblin tower (Imaginext) and it seemed to stay together just fine when DS left it that way, lol! So far, I like both sets, but I like the way the Playmobile goes together better than Imaginext. And if you look at Target, they have a bunch of Playmobil stuff that's not too expensive... about on par with Imaginext. That's where I got DS's Playmobil sets. Also, the guys from each set trade implements fairly well, so if you get some of each, it's not a problem at all. DS likes the guys from each set equally well.

HTH a bit!

[yaycarter]

Thanks for the advice! We went to Target today - I didn't even know they sold Playmobil! And it was 15% off this week, so that was a bonus for sure. It was nice to see some less expensive options. The only playmobil pirate ship I knew of ws $80! But I found one today for $26.

I appreciate you taking the time,
Karen

[yaycarter]

You do have a point...I think what he REALLY might be wanting are those glow-in-the-dark sharks and the octopus from Imaginext! I'm bad about having an all-or-nothing mentality. Thanks for pointing out another option for us!

Karen

[yaycarter]

WOW! Where in the world did you find those things?! I've never seen anything as nice as these!

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Karen