My wife and I were astounded at the cheap quality of these parts. You can tell from the package that the Time Tunnel and Pteranodon nest are folded paper, so that wasn't a surprise (part of the nest stand was crumpled in the box, and we have since thrown both pieces out). The track seems to be durable, but the pieces never seem to line up just right.In addition to the cheap quality of the materials, the set has some noteworthy design flaws. The first car (locomotive) has four axles, making it too long to negotiate the curves on the track without rubbing on the sides. This causes the train to derail pretty frequently. After removing the rear wheels, it worked fine.
Another design flaw: each train car has little pegs on the floor to secure the dinosaurs, who each have one foot with a hole in the bottom. However, because Laura Giganotosaurus is so long, all three dinosaurs cannot ride the train at the same time (not on the pegs, anyway). And, because the footholes are smaller than the pegs, It can be a little frustrating trying to get the dinosaurs on the pegs.
The best parts about this set is the characters themselves. They appear to be unbreakable, and my daughter likes them much more than the train. In hindsight, we should have bought a couple of the three-packs of the characters and let them ride on our Fisher Price Geotrax set, which is more durable and better designed.
If you find this at a rummage sale for $5, I say go for it -although I'd be surprised if you found a used set that wasn't broken or missing parts. However, I do not at all recommend this for any price over $5, certainly not the $30 or so that we paid for it.
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The train is exactly described, but it will not pull extra cars and barely pulls the ones that come in the package around curves. Plus you are not getting a great deal on a great product; you are getting a cheap product for a cheap price. It is cute and the characters look like themselves, but I just would have bought the extra cars and figures and not wasted money on the train.
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I would like everyone to consider this is a first generation of this toy. If it is around as long as the Thomas and friends motorized sets I am sure it could get better. The main design flaws are the foot pegs to hold the dinosaurs and the train itself. In regards to the pegs, they are hard to use. Each Dino needed a hole on each foot also the pegs needed to be a little farther away from the train car sides. It is hard to get certain characters on to the foot pegs which makes the car fairly unusable.As for the train itself, it does not negotiate the track well. As another reviewersaid the train has a tendency to derail on curves. If the drive wheels had been more the rear of the engine car that most likely would have solved the issue. There is a reason why on real trains the main drive wheels are the back wheels. My son does enjoy this toy despite its flaws.
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I actually was searching for more track for this train so that should tell you my opinion right off the bat.Please note: as others have mentioned, there are TWO versions of this train set. One set is orange in color (orange track, engine, car trim etc) while the other is purple/green (green track, purple engine, car trim etc).My wife bought the orange and as I browsed Target one afternoon, I happened across the purple version. My kid loves this so I purchased the purple as well.
The two Engines are worlds a part. I call one speedy and the other Hercules; the two Engines are almost identical save for a few key points.Speedy, the orange colored Engine is front wheel drive and is very fast around the track on fresh batteries and withonly 0 2 cars. Hercules, purple in color, is a 4 wheel drive work horse.Speedy with fresh batteries can slowly pull about 4 5 cars but the wheels spin and the Engine struggles to making it around. Hercules on the other hand can easily pull 5 cars but at a slow pace. Curious just how much power this little Engine that could had, not only did I attached 5 cars to Hercules but I began lining up hot wheels in front. The purple Engine not only pulled the 5 cars but it was also able to push about 7 or 8 hot wheel cars in front.This Engine must be a newer model and is clearly better engineered but it sacrifices speed for horse power.Hercules also sports some sort of hard rubber on the wheels which allow it to better grip the track. Speedy only wheels are just plastic as far as I can tell.For these reasons, If I was going to buy again, I would purchase the purple engine and I recommend you do the same.
Let's face it, the train is cheap but what are you expecting for $30.00?The track is going to be put together and ripped apart numerous times so wear and tear on the track is going to cause it to come apart easier with use.My kid loves it and I love to be able to pass my love of trains to him even at a small age. Every time I take it out he smiles and we play with it for a couple hours and that's worth $30.00 to me. Sure there are issues but you get that with just about every toy.
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