Imaginext favorites?

[acmom]

Thinking of getting some bigger Imaginext pieces for DS who will be 3.5 at Christmas, but torn as to which set(s). He has a bunch of the super heros figures and really likes them, but none of the playsets or larger pieces. Any favorites?

[SnuggleBuggles]

I love the interaction with the Eagle Talon Castle, troll, battering ram...so fun! We have lots of the bigger sets and they all have fun things to them. You can't go wrong.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We have the older line I suppose with the fire house, police car, ocean boat, submarine, space ship, batcave, airplanes (the rig was too big- took it back)...
all very loved. I think *I* would get some off CL because I'd rather see them playing with real stuff than all make-believe items, if that makes sense.

[MommyAllison]

DS has the castles and they've been great. We were looking at the new city play set and the quality doesn't seem as good to us, but ymmv.

[vonfirmath]

Thinking of getting some bigger Imaginext pieces for DS who will be 3.5 at Christmas, but torn as to which set(s). He has a bunch of the super heros figures and really likes them, but none of the playsets or larger pieces. Any favorites?

Is the fire station still around? My son got that for his 3rd birthday and it has gotten the most, long term play. He only got the castle last Christmas but its been played with a bit too. The boat was useless unfortunately.

[Nyfeara]

My kids love the castle too, both of them play with it. DS1 already said that he'd like the ogre and dragon to go with it this year... They've also played with the air carrier and pirate ship quite a bit.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Oh wow. the new city set does look dinky. Totally go Craiglsist, OP. The key we've found is to get the vehicles and medium sized pieces they can interact with the other bigger ones. Like the boats interact with each other (sub, ocean boat, kayak) and the guys swim, jump, fly back and forth, then there's always an emergency the rescue helicopter swoops down for. Then some days, the rescue helicopter has a corrupt pilot and the batcopter comes to save the day. Visiting a coast guard station and boarding a life flight helicopter always renew their play with these items.

eta: check out the old one (with crazy ebay prices of course) http://www.ebay.com/bhp/imaginext-helicopter
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2007-Fisher-Price-Imaginext-Coast-Guard-Boat-Excellent-Condition-Retired-/151143769998?pt=Pretend_Play_Preschool_US&hash=item2330dee78e

[Indianamom2]

Ds is 4 and got the Eagle Talon Castle for Christmas last year (so right at 3.5). He still plays with it a lot and it very durable. He also really likes the Batcave that they have in his preschool. I love the Imaginext toys!

[KrisM]

Oh wow. the new city set does look dinky. Totally go Craiglsist, OP. The key we've found is to get the vehicles and medium sized pieces they can interact with the other bigger ones. Like the boats interact with each other (sub, ocean boat, kayak) and the guys swim, jump, fly back and forth, then there's always an emergency the rescue helicopter swoops down for. Then some days, the rescue helicopter has a corrupt pilot and the batcopter comes to save the day. Visiting a coast guard station and boarding a life flight helicopter always renew their play with these items.

eta: check out the old one (with crazy ebay prices of course) http://www.ebay.com/bhp/imaginext-helicopter
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2007-Fisher-Price-Imaginext-Coast-Guard-Boat-Excellent-Condition-Retired-/151143769998?pt=Pretend_Play_Preschool_US&hash=item2330dee78e

Kohl's often still has the older sets. Here is the helicopter with motorcycle set. DS2 got this a couple years ago and it's fun. http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-513386/fisher-price-imaginext-ocean-helicopter-cycle-set.jsp

[acmom]

Thanks for all the feedback! I will keep my eye out for Craigslist finds. Trying to decide if I would be better with some city stuff or some actual superhero stuff....he has a lot of the superhero figures and loves them, but wondering if the city would be more open ended to play with all of them rather than a specific set for a specific superhero. Any opinions on that?

(Pirate stuff looks great too but we already have a Jake and a playmobil pirate ship so think we are covered there, and he hasn't really expressed too much interest in dinosaurs/dragons/knights at this point).

[AlbrightRC]

WE have the taller batcave and some vehicles and we have a pirate ship. My 5 year old gets alot of play out of them.