PlaymoFriends
General => News => Topic started by: EmGee on June 03, 2011, 12:41:02
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I'll be making a trip to the Palm Beach Gardens, FL FunPark this weekend, they have the Treasure Hunters and Dinosaurs Series 25% off. Although they are not my favorite series, I might come home with the Suspension Bridge (7272) and the Tree House (7937)... but that's it! Not purchasing anything else! I promise! You have my word! But then again, that's what I always say and end up driving back with bags full of PM! :)
Oh, and yes, Luis, I'll check those items for you while I'm there...
Hmmm... I wonder if I can place an order in advanced for the mystery baggies... one box each... and the Christmas sets I want that are releasing in August.
Must.... control..... PM addiction.... :wall:
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Must.... control..... PM addiction.... :wall:
Please. I beg you. If you find a way to do that.. SHARE! ;)
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Oh, and yes, Luis, I'll check those items for you while I'm there...
ohh THANK YOU so much! :D
and I'm jealous you have the funpark so close! have fun :D
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Just visited the FL Fun Park for the first time....made it there just 20 minutes before closing, so it was a quick run through for our first visit.
Their pricing was reasonable with the second (less expensive) item being 50% off unless it was already on sale or was an exclusive (sold only in the Store or by DS such as 5302 and its furnishings.) Thus, you could pick up the church, zoo, school, police station, suburban house, etc. for 50% off the second item. Not sure if this sale is just for the weekend or is their regular policy.
The selection was excellent with most of the items in the catalog available on the shelves. They had all of the 5302 and its room sets in stock at list price.
A quick run through the playroom showed the clerks cleaning up the toys and placing them with the correct sets. It looks like a wonderful place to play. There are two 5302 mansions set up, and a little bit of everything else for the kids to finger. There is a large room for holding birthday parties; hubby and I both want to hold our next birthday parties here it looks like so much fun!
The Lechuza planter store is adjacent to the toystore. There is no outside play area at this FunPark. It is basically a store with a large inside play area.
We had a good time looking at all of the PM in the store and ended up buying about a dozen smaller kits for $132. There were no Clickies we had not seen except for some of the key chains. We were told one can't remove the pins through their heads, so we did not buy any. Does anyone know a way to dissemble the keychain Clickies?
Anyway it was a fun place to visit, and we will return the next time we visit the area on business.
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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u can take the head off.. very simple. just put it in sitting position, rais the hands put it 45 degree on the table and smack the head from behind.. should work.. i always do that with newer ones.. with 30 year old ones i hurt myself :)
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Mike,
Thanks! I guess hubby can cut off the metal piece piercing their skulls turning keychains into people.
I would love to buy heads and hair so there would be more variety in my favorite Clickies.
May run by the Fun Park again today if we have time.
Wish I collected some of the other themes, but too little space for the zoo, hospital, farm and princess sets. And our car is already full with work equipment. Ugh.
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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but when its a cool head u can make some custom keychains! i did some aswell with soldiers
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Yep, disassembling is like with normal klickies.
Though they've altered the way the chain is fixed to the head; taking the keychain itself out of the head isn't easy anymore. In the past you could just unscrew the chain from the head to use the klicky as a normal figure, or to use the hat or wig that comes with it.
But now the heads of the keychain-klickies are 100% mass, whereas a few years ago keychain-heads were empty on the inside like normal klicky-heads ;D.
There is a Funpark's keychain-pirate with a unique darkgreen bandana and I had to saw the head in half ( :omg: :0 ) to be able to remove the chain out off the head to get the bandana ... 8}
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Hadoque:
That is hilarious that you had to saw half of the head off the keychain Clicky to get the bandana! Will see if hubby can engineer another way to save the head. Too bad they are making the heads solid just when we need them to come apart easily.
Did they ever have the bandana part in DS? It seems that they have few Clickies or their parts whenever I try ordering them from DS. SO wish they had more bodies and parts for us to customize.
If they tried selling the keychain Clickies without keychains, I bet they would sell a lot more. Too hard to buy individual Clickies IMHO. Just sell the darn things, and WE WILL BUY THEM! The FunParks would be a great place to do it, too.
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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Keychains are nice too, though. I have a female pirate on my keys, but there must be a shark in my purse, because her arm seems to have been bitten off! :omg: I'm actually wanting more keychains. I see TRU has them as a gift with an online purchase again.
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bb: Back at the FL Fun Park today. Began with the keychain Clickies buying 4 of each kind they have for $1.50 each incl. a PM plastic cup. Not a bad deal considering what they ask for one on eBay. Hubby will pull out one his magic drills and vaporize the hook coming out of the heads.
Then we played in the playroom part for a while. Lots of toys and too little time. A great assortment of sets and wonderful tables and scenery to work with amidst a birthday part for a 4 year old. And yup it did cost only a dollar.
Then we conquered the Lechuza planter section buying about a dozen planters to take home. I was ready to throw out my inside plants because I am tired of watering them. So will try the new pots and non-soil soil substrate. It is funny that the huge lobby planters in our hotel here are by Lechuza.
We finished by filling up another cart with PM sets we had missed yesterday in our rush at closing time. Their buy one/ get 50% off another set deal lasts until July 8th in the FL store. These mostly smaller items will fill out our houses in some way. We left after wearing out our credit cards. Will be interesting to see how we load all this stuff into a loaded trunk tomorrow when we leave the hotel.
We wanted to buy the adorable wall banners for each theme, but alas, they are not for sale. PM should sell them as they make fantastic decorations in a playroom, living room, or wherever.
Still no sign of the surprise Clickies in the FL Fun Park.
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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thank you for these pics playmogal!! Looks like you had a really good time!!!
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finally someone posts pics of what one of the US funparks looks like inside :love:
thanks playmogal :wave:
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Oh, it looks like so much fun! I want to go one of these days. :yup:
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Sounds like you had a great time! I really like the set up of the holiday house on the yellow hill. Now I wish we could buy settings like that!
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Yeah, that would be cool!
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Yup,
It was a fun time at the FunPark in West Palm Beach! We, too, loved the base of the Summer Villa setup, and wished we had one at home. Hubby will try to make one like it. Too bad they don't sell the bases as well as the sets.
We wish there were more Fun Parks like this in the US and other countries. It is a wonderful place to take young children for an entertaining time for just one USD...if you can manage to stay out of the store. That is a BIG IF!!!
Some thoughts about the FL Fun Park:
PROS:
The overall cleanliness of the FP seemed quite high. It is hard to imagine how one could possibly clean toys and the play area every day after play hours end, but we did watch a bit of the work during our first visit. And the place did look clean the next day during our second visit.
The price is incredibly low compared to other attractions for kids in FL or anywhere for that matter. This provides an opportunity for kids without PM to play with them, and that alone is a major accomplishment. Many families with young children are just scraping buy these days during the down economy, and there is no way they can afford to buy new or used PM. And most US families have never heard of PM anyway because it is sold in so few stores and without advertising.
The kids playing at the tables while we were there both times looked as if they were having a ball. Wow, that is a major miracle without computers, video games or TV. And the birthday party kids were having a blast playing games.
The snack area in the lobby was a nice touch with drink machines and tables for sitting and possibly eating a picnic or snack before entering the playroom or store. Florida weather is often too hot to do much outside, so this is a nice place to relax and enjoy a drink or sandwich.
CONS:
At most tables there were just children playing. Most parents and all the employees were doing something else besides playing with the kids. The parents who were at the table with the kids were doing something very worthwhile and are to be commended. There should be employees walking around from table to table answering questions and explaining to kids what some of the parts are. Maybe PM could add internships for child-life college majors who want to interact with children.
We wanted to sit down at tables without adults and play some ourselves and maybe encourage kids to make something with us. This is such a learning time using imaginative play to act out fantasies that could last a lifetime and lead to many satisfying activities later in life.
We were surprised at the number of figures and furnishings on the tables, but feel that more would have enhanced the outing. We have no idea how you keep the kids and their parents from walking out the door with their favorite parts, but they must have some system because the staff did not mention the loss of pieces as a problem.
We have driven down I-95 many times over the past 15 years and never knew about the FP even though it is just a couple of miles from the main north-south highway on the East Coast. It would be wonderful if PM could add some billboards a few miles before the exit off I-95 so that folks would know about this place. And PM should place an ad in the visitors guides and on the websites that cover South Florida attractions. Info in products sold in the US could also be helpful. Families visiting Orlando may want to pop down to West Palm Beach to visit the FP because the Orlando FP is closed.
SUMMARY:
We had a blast at the Fun Park and recommend it to everyone. And the store was wonderful because we could look at real boxes in person and see sets on tables in the playroom. Most toystores cannot carry the entire PM line, so it is great to see at one location almost everything PM sells in this country.
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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One of the coolest displays in the Fun Park playroom is that of the circus setup. It displays very well as shown below. It is not a set we collect, but is so attractive and fun to play with.
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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The Fun Park wall hanging posters are beautiful and illustrate each theme so well. It is a shame they don't sell these hangings as they would look great in any PlaymoRoom as shown below.
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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Great pics, Pgal :wave:
There was someone selling those wall hangings on UK ebay a few years ago.
Is it me or does the giant klickie in the las pic look a bit... odd? :hmm:
Damo :)
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Um... I htink I know what you mean. There is something kind of strange about her. :giggle:
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There were a lot of animals on the Fun Park play tables, and we wanted to stop and spend some time with them but were too busy shopping! So we took pictures instead.
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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Um... I htink I know what you mean. There is something kind of strange about her. :giggle:
I think it's her head - it looks a little small compared to the rest of her body! :D
Damo :)
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I think it's her head - it looks a little small compared to the rest of her body! :D
Damo :)
Yeah... that might be it. Very odd.
I really like the way they have the animal clinic stuff set up. Reminds me I need toorder that extra fencing. I'm using it for my petting zoo.
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Not sure about her proportions...whether the head is too small or the chest is too prominent in white. Anyway the huge Clickies were a treat to see.
Here are more photos of the houses on the play tables in the Fun Park. It was really cool watching the parents play with the kids like it was normal for everyone to play with PM!
One dad said he bought the house for his daughter (about age 4...maybe too young to appreciate it alone) and she only plays with it when they visit the Fun Park. Must be too much fun at the FP!
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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Oh, I love the life-size princess table and chairs!
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The huge princess/house play table was quite impressive. It enables many folks to play and chat with each other. Would be a great place to take a bunch of 6 year old girls for a very fun afternoon.
I took photos of the FP Clickies available on Sunday. There were 11 different ones that day, and I bought 4 of each because we have young houseguests arriving soon. They cost $1.50 each in a plastic drink cup. Evidently they cannot sell the Clickies alone for some reason.
Enjoy, Pgal :wave:
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There were two holiday sets at the Fun Park that ended up in our trunk. It was the first time I had seen 4891 and 4892, and I love the small parts in both sets. Ended up buying multiples for that reason. These parts sell for too much on eBay, so this was a way to acquire them at a reasonable price. They will look great in the PM houses waiting at home.
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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thanks pgal for the review - looks like an interesting place! :love:
i love the fact they get the new German releases earlier
as for the displays - those maquettes (if you actually can call them that) are extremely easy to make - actually PM would make prettier ones back when they did the art work on back of boxes (they would make that kind of displays for stores too, using architecture material)
if you ask me i find these ugly
Is it me or does the giant klickie in the las pic look a bit... odd? :hmm:
her head is smaller and it doesn't match the rest of the body size
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There is no outside play area at this FunPark. It is basically a store with a large inside play area.
That's a great shame, I know it gets hot in Florida but surely with shading trees and water features the heat could be moderated? It seems silly to pen the kids up indoors. Is this Fun Park a permanent arrangement, or a pro tempore thing while they build a proper PLaymobil Park?
If the latter, it might excuse the abysmal lack of simple advertising. I searched websites for South Florida attractions, then Palm Beach attractions, and the Fun Park did not appear until I did a specific search on one of the Palm Beach sites, and then it was only a link to Playmobil's Website. Come on Playmobil, it's not rocket science...
I'm put in mind of a line from Herr Brandstätter himself, that "...once a child has got hold of its first pirate it will demand a ship during the next year and so on." So why is there so little effort to get that first klicky into a child's hand? Indeed with the Specials (and blisters) vanishing from the shelves in most department stores toy areas, it's becoming harder than ever to get hold of single klickies.
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We have driven down I-95 many times over the past 15 years and never knew about the FP even though it is just a couple of miles from the main north-south highway on the East Coast. It would be wonderful if PM could add some billboards a few miles before the exit off I-95 so that folks would know about this place.
My aunt, uncle and cousins live in the suburbs of Paris. The last time we went to visit I begged them to take me to the funpark. My cousins decided they were too old to even step foot in the place so my aunt, my mum and myself went. It turned out to be half an hour from their house and as we got near to it my aunt says "oh that's what that is (referring to the building that looks like a playmobil castle) we drive past that everytime we take the car to the garage." ::) How can she not have noticed the signs saying 'Playmobil funpark' or wondered what on earth the castle looking building was.
After our little trip my mum commented "if only we had known about that place when you and your cousins were younger-it would have been a great place to go when the weather was bad." :'She was also impressed with the cafe. ( Like the Florida funpark it was really cheap (only 2 euros) to get into the play area and it was free to go in the shop.
On a side note, maybe I can persuade her to drop in to get me some suprise bags? :hmm: :lol:
It sounds like you got some great stuff in your recent visits and I'm so jealous that there is a funpark near you and that you got the christmas market! :hissyfit:
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Wow! SO Sorry you missed going to the FunPark all those years! It really is a cool place!
The FL one is a drive of 11-14 hours from our home depending on traffic, wrecks blocking the interstate, the weather, road construction and how moody the gods are that particular day. So we only make this trip for business, which requires a car full of test equipment.
But yes, we are lucky that there is one on the East Coast and we got to visit it twice last weekend! Too bad there are so few FunParks in the world because they are such neat attractions and relatively inexpensive places to PLAY!!!
Hope you get to pick up some of the Surprise Figures soon; we are still waiting for them. I am building the two Christmas sets today, and they do look wonderful so far!
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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Thanks for the detailed tour of the Florida funpark. I do wish Geobra would have built one on the west coast. From the sound of how they advertise the Florida one it sounds unlikely that they will
Edit: wish
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Yup, I agree. It does seem that they don't care whether or not anyone visits the FL one, so it would not be surprising if no others are being planned. Too bad for everyone because this really is a neat place for all ages to visit.
Not sure how successful the Legoland parks are, but at least they provide a place to go for fans of all ages. It looks like they will not have much competition from PM.
That is sad, Pgal
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Yup, I agree. It does seem that they don't care whether or not anyone visits the FL one, so it would not be surprising if no others are being planned. Too bad for everyone because this really is a neat place for all ages to visit.
Not sure how successful the Legoland parks are, but at least they provide a place to go for fans of all ages. It looks like they will not have much competition from PM.
That is sad, Pgal
The L@#$ park in San Diego has been rumored to be closing for quite a while
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Ras:
The days of the huge theme park with high admission prices may be over. Not surprised to hear this.
PM has a better formula with the low cost entrance fee and small building playroom/store.
Maybe it is time PM expanded to several other US locations. Hard to saw without seeing the attendance figures and profit and loss statement for FL FP.
FInger crossed, Pgal :wave:
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Martin,
Very right on points about the FL FunPark...it is a shame that it has been there for 16 years or so, and we have driven right by the exit off I-95 about that many times since then. There is almost no information available locally about this FP; I asked folks in the nearby stores and Marriott hotel where we stayed a few miles away.
It slays me as a former marketing professor to see no marketing in the day of the Internet.
There should be stories galore about this place in the FL media at least with all their dependence on tourists. And there is so little interesting stuff to do there unless you enjoy golf or the beach and want a serious bout with melanoma. (The only other places I care for in the Palm Beach area are the Norton Museum of Art and the monstrous, but eye pleasing modern courthouse where we got married on the spur of the moment when Hubby had the morning off from work, but that is another story.)
The lack of an outdoor play area is also upsetting even though the kids would fry about half of the year. There is no reason they cannot build it under a roof of some sort. Kids need to play outside everyday, and the Zirndorf Park looks wonderful. Outdoor places to play are so limited for kids everywhere these days. (See http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/07/22/1361469/apex-lets-children-play-in-some.html?story_link=email_msg for our local problem with so few parks and playgrounds.)
The area where FL FP is located is a bit of a tough neighborhood from what we could tell. Maybe safety could be a problem there or parents might not want their kids outside. At least real estate prices should have gone down in the long term bust FL has experienced the past 5 years. Maybe this is a good time to rethink this FP and find a better location.
I definitely would consider a putt putt course as part of the outside attractions because it is popular for kids and can be fun for parents, too. Our boys loved putt putt in the 5-10 year old range. And pirate ships and knights' castles are so common in putt putt courses.
A clerk says that she has seen HB a couple of times in the 4 years she has been there, so it does not sound like a high priority for management. What a missed marketing opportunity.
It is interesting that there were so many foreigners in the store stocking up carts with toys to take home to wherever. Most were likely from Central and South America. They know how great the stuff is at home; maybe we could try to increase that feeling among the natives in this country.
And with no PM store in the Orlando area the last few years, there is no other outlet for tourists or locals in the Disney area of FL, the magnet for most US families with children. We don't care for the Orlando area except for Winter Park with its expanded Morse Museum's collection of Tiffany glasswork....the largest exhibit in the world.
Hope you get to visit this FP soon even with its lack of marketing splendor, Pgal :wave:
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We just got back from Florida and while we had been to the old fun park in Orlando a number of times, since they closed we haven't made it further down to the larger one. However, as I experienced once before, I emailed them asking about simply if they had any of the German items like the Orlando one used to have. It's been two weeks now and still no response. This from their own email address. I couldn't find a phone number anywhere. I have read before that their staff was not the most helpful.
I did go to the one by the competetor at Disney World and was blown away by all the items, plus all the add-on pieces. They even have bins where you can make your own figure from all the different parts. Sadly, i don't see a day when we will see anything like that. Even in Germany.
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Yup, I would love to see bins in a FP store that allowed one to build a custom figure. That is a great way to convert people to PM. It is so much fun choosing a torso, legs, head, hair or hat, and making something custom. Sometimes I stand in the L store and watch kids do this because it is so entertaining.
I am not sure why there is no marketing of the FL FP. And closing the Orlando one sounds like a really dumb idea with the huge number of people with children visiting that town. Many adult Americans return to Orlando every year to see the D attractions, too.
During the two weeks since our return from FL, it has been a blast building many of the sets we brought home from the FP. We definitely want to return in a few months when business calls us back to FL. Any ideas about the role of Fun Parks? Pgal :wave:
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:hmm: I am really entertaining the idea of making a trip to FL to go to the fun park... But may wait until winter so its a nice escape from Nebraska's frozen iceland :P
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:hmm: I am really entertaining the idea of making a trip to FL to go to the fun park... But may wait until winter so its a nice escape from Nebraska's frozen iceland :P
Is that the smallest ones?? I have never been to it but it looks small on google earth and street view.... :P
I know.....it looks insane to spy on a fun park using google earth
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It is the only FP I have been to so I am not sure if it is the smallest but it was a good size. When we were there (last year) it had a special section for birthday parties and tables for Pirate, Construction theme. There was also a special section for Romans and Egyptians. The shop also had all the themes and ds sets.
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Since its the only one I can get to without international travel, its huge enough! ;D
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Wasn't there one in New Jersey at one time? I don't get PMB US, given the potential for the market here. This Target thing isn't going to be much and if you check their website they are listing places there selling PMB that closed a few years ago. I remember getting in an argument a few years back about with someone about the existing store in Florida about how I didn't think much of their sales techniques by not answering my emails. I haven't heard from the yet from my email before I went to Fl. The one at Orlando used to be great.
They are being really dumb by not relocating the existing one to a place with more tourists and visitors.
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I know.....it looks insane to spy on a fun park using google earth
:lol: :lol: :lol: This made me laugh out loud! That does seem pretty strange, I guess! But i must admit I look at zoos on google earth sometimes. :-[ Never thought to look for the funparks, though.
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ohh it had never ocurred to me either ??? ;D