My wonderful wife and adoring son knew exactly what I wanted for my birthday and surprised me with the Playmobil Ferris Wheel (with optional motor). I love the fair. I’ve photographed our County Fair for local blogs and TV station for the last few years. I love everything that the fair means for a community, and the people it brings together. There is some old school Americana at the fair, and I usually go four or five times through its run. And you know I love playmobil, so when playmobil hit the fair, I was fixated. Check out my pics below, and see the video of the lights and motor in action.





One of the things that endears me to playmobil so much, is the attention to detail. My son loved that the kid that comes with the set is indeed tall enough, to ride. (We had some issues the last time we were at Disney World). We went ahead and put his hat backwards in honor of the Fisher Price Little People Ferris Wheel from days of yore.

In this set you get an Asian father and daughter, the attendant, and the boy with the hat. The characters sit in the bucket cars easily, and there is a “arm rest” on either end of the bench that adult or kid can hold onto, to keep them upright in the seat. I found the kids “sit” better when they’re clipped in.

The most impressive part of this set (other than the sheer size), is the electronic lighting system. As I was putting all the stickers on, many of which simulate lights, I got a little worried, as I thought the packaging depicted working lights, and here we are, there’s just a lot of stickers. Ha-ha on me, the lighting on this puppy is amazing. You put four AAA batteries in the center cylinder, and it powers the multi-color LEDs. The position of the LEDs light up each entire arm of the ferris wheel. Then they blink and change color in a multitude of patterns. My top hit-getting image on Flickr is my Ferris Wheel long-exposure shot from the County Fair. Check it out.

I set up a tripod and do five second exposures. The spinning lights create different patterns you had no idea that were there. So I had to try out that technique with my playmobil ferris wheel. See this!

Success!

So that brings me to the optional motor. The ferris wheel has a crank on the back for hand turning the wheel, but we got the optional motor. It’s about $15 and takes four AAA batteries. You can turn the dial clockwise or counter clockwise, and vary the speed. The only complaint about the motor is the noise. It’s pretty noisy (demonstrated in my video below), but being able to display with consistent movement is worth it. I do recommend it.

I love this set. It’s classic yet contemporary, and allllll playmobil. The lighting system is innovative and beautiful. I love playing with and displaying this set, and I like the way I can bring in other playmobil to add to the display. This was a great birthday present, but if I did pay for it myself, it’d be well worth it. It’s a large set. We also got it for 20% off at Toys R Us.

Check out the video below to see the amazing lights and motor in action. And check out the rest of our playmobil coverage.