My son got this train set for his 3rd Birthday. He is a HUGE Chuggington fan. There are some very nice things about this set, and some not so nice things.On the plus side, the trains and the larger elements (train shed, crane, gate) are all battery operated, and have some sort of proximity sensor. When they get near each other, interesting things happen. Each item has a few different pre-recorded sounds and phrases. When Wilson gets near Action Chugger, for example, they might say hi to each other.
The recognition of the toys for each other is a cool feature, and my son absolutely LOVES it!
On the other hand, the track is a bit of a pain. The snap connection for the tracks is a little hard to figure out, though shockingly my 3 year old son is able to put them together (though not take them apart). There's an elevated corkscrew which is a great idea, but the supports aren't solid enough (in terms of their connections to other pieces) to hold up to play, the pieces kept coming apart for us and having to be put back together.
The plastic train cars have some nice detail to them. However they have a ball-and-socket style joiner which you snap together, which I really don't like. There are other age-appropriate trains which have magnetic couplings which I think are much friendlier.
All in all, if you have sixty dollars you want to spend on train toys, I might encourage you to take a closer look at other options.
Pro:
Neat sensors in major pieces detect other pieces / trains and say appropriate phrases
Nice details on the trains and some of the other pieces
Individual pieces seem sturdy enough
Con:
Track is a bit hard to assemble / disassemble sections
The elevated section doesn't seem to stay assembled well during play
I personaly don't like the ball-and-socket style couplings used on the trains.
Buy Chuggington Interactive All Around Railway Set Now
Do not buy this toy. It's frustrating to put together. It is so poorly made, the tracks don't stay connected very well. They run on Thomas tracks so buy the trains individually. Otherwise it's not worth the money. I found the same starter set at Target for 39.99.Read Best Reviews of Chuggington Interactive All Around Railway Set Here
PROS: Totally interactive. My son *is* a fan of moving the train by himself, so this isn't an issue. He gets excited when he hears the phrases and music. It promotes his imagination in that regard and he develops story lines with the trains. I haven't seen him do that with his other sets.CONS: The trains snap onto the carts and eachother with a plastic ball (not the magnet) this is actually kind of tough to snap and unsnap and frustrates my son.
The plastic track pieces are on the flimsy side and are not easy to snap into place. It took me a while (reading the directions and looking at the box) to figure how to rig up the twisty ramp, which isn't all that stable especially when you have a kid pushing a train along...But when you move away from wood to plastic all of them seem cheaper by comparison.
Recommendation: On clearance, this set is a steal. I would definitely consider giving this one as a gift to a child aged 2-3 in the "pre-motorized" age group as the trains must be moved manually.
This set has three "stops" (most seem to have one or none) and my son stops his train to play at all three. He likes to put the trains to bed and wake them up at the roundhouse. He loads the carts at the loading dock trying to use the pincher and get them to drop into place really allow him to practice dexterity. And he even likes the station at the top of the ramp because he can close the gate on them and not let the train pass. I like that he is engaged and that the phrases encourage him to stop and "do something" at the different zones. It is also nice because he doesn't miss out on having someone else play with him or help direct his play because of the interactive nature of the toy.
We have the famous blue train and my son has fun with that because he can make his own tracks the wooden pieces are easy for him to place, but he loses interest after the set is up on his table for a few days. We have the "cars" track which my son loves because he can race all his favorite characters from the movie along the track by remote control but this requires help from mommy or daddy and isn't something he can do by himself at 2 and a half years old. I think this Chuggington set supplements what we already have and is really in its own class.
I will caution like all other train sets to enhance play (ie. keep it interesting) you will likely have to shell out more money to buy the other trains and to add "stations" (like the rock quarry, etc.) However, that said, all sets seem to grow and the components for interactive Chuggington can be bought at discount stores for a lot less than the "blue" wooden one.
UPDATE: I have found lots of other engines and the quarry and chug wash at Marshalls, so keep an eye out in discount stores for reduced price add-ons. Also, we've had the set up and down at least three times since we purchased it in April and thus far it has held up really well. Usually after a few weeks when the interest has sort of slumped, we switch out the track on the train table but I noticed my son keeps pulling the engines out to make a long train stretch across his room, so I definitely feel the other trains are a good investment.
Want Chuggington Interactive All Around Railway Set Discount?
This set consists of 4 major components: The roundhouse with interactive Vee, interactive Wilson which adds some value to an expensive set, a bi-level loop with elevated pickup point, and a crane station.While overall the set is enjoyable, there are some major flaws: Interactive Vee, while impressive in many ways such as the lighted voice loop, has a somewhat limited vocabulary for the center piece unit of the set.The US voice of Vee pails by comparison to her UK counterpart, and the overall voice acting is poor.The major loop feature, while interesting, is very unstable and requires constant repair by an adult in order for play to continue unabated.It would have been a simple fix to make a stable single base for all the elements of the loop.Home hobbyists can correct this oversight with sheet of hard plastic and some epoxy resin.The pickup station at the top of the loop, while appreciated, is simple and unexciting.The crane lacks a joint to make it mobile enough for enjoyable use and Vee interacts with the crane poorly. The tracks themselves are not pretty, but have some give which makes them forgiving for toddler use.The roundhouse, other than the Vee voice, is inferior to the die-cast set in that it lacks bay doors and only has 3 bays.The Vee figure does not "snap tight" to the roundhouse and is constantly falling over.
Fortunately, it is still possible to have a 5-star experience with this set by also buying the interactive Chug wash set.That adds a washer that interacts beautifully with Vee, and a fill up station that also interacts very well with Vee.It also doesn't hurt to buy lots of box cars to go along with your favorite engines.The sum of the Train depot and Chugwash sets are greater than their individual parts, and this is definitely by design.Be prepared to fork out the big bucks for some grade A fun.My 3-year-old played with the set all day long and I could overlook the short cominings of the set because of that.
Update: The interactive feature is nice but the track mostly sits there after about a week.For longer interest consider whether you would be more happy with a wooden train set and table.I upgraded to wooden and sorta wish I had this money to use to buy all the cool wood sets out there, but on the other hand I would have never known until I owned.We did get thier interest back by making the set into a simple loop on tiny coffee table, and getting rid of all the elevated parts.Simple is better!
The train table braced the old Chuggington set nicely, and it no longer collapses during play.My 3-year old spotted a brio starter forest set at TOyz R Us and I picked it up for 14 dollars.He played with it by flashlight.It was Christmas all over again.
Suprise discovery: The interactive trains ride on the starter Brewster/Wilson wooden railway.Traintastic!
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