My Little Pony Ponyville Sweetie Belle's Gumball House Playset Review

My Pretty Pony (now named My Little Pony) has been very popular with small children since the early 80's when the first my pretty pony toy was introduced. It has been decades since and this toy has not lost its charming and magical looks. The My Little Pony toys get more creative as the years progress. One creative and recent play set manufactured by Hasbro is the My Little Pony Ponyville Sweetie Belle's Gumball House Play set.

Description:

Sweetie Belle's house is quite petite but big enough for little ones to enjoy imaginative play. Sweetie Belle's house includes a kitchen, a bedroom a partial bathroom, a mini balcony, and a roof. The design of the house is whimsical and very creative. The house is shaped like a gumball machine and is painted in bright shades of light and dark pink, and brown and orange. The main design of Sweetie Belle's house consists of painted and imprinted images of flowers, hearts, candies, and sweets.

The house opens up for easy play. The rounded portion of the toy (which is shaped like the rounded portion of a gumball machine) opens up to reveal Sweetie Belle's sleeping quarters and tiny bathroom. Children can place Sweetie Belle's furniture and toiletries in her room and bathroom and shut the door afterwards to let her "rest". There is a whirly elevator and a balcony adjacent to Sweetie Belle's bedroom that will take Sweetie Belle down to the lower portion of the house which is the kitchen.

The elevator swiftly twirls around when children press the small button located on the balcony floor. Once the elevator reaches the bottom the My Little Pony theme music plays. The elevator can be pushed back up and released again by pressing the tiny button. The area of the toy that is located underneath the rounded portion of the toy opens up to reveal a petite kitchen where Sweetie Belle can bake. The kitchen includes a little stove that opens and closes and lights up, and a refrigerator that opens and closes. Sweetie Belle's cookies and muffins can fit inside both the oven and the refrigerator.

What's inside of the package?

Sweetie Belle's gumdrop house comes with many accessories to heighten your child's imagination;

1 Sweetie Belle figurine
1 Baking hat
2 removable wigs
1 Rolling pin
6 Cookies painted on a cookie sheet
4 Chocolate muffins and a tray (the muffins can be removed and put back into the tray)
1 Toothbrush with attached toothpaste
1 Mixing bowl
1 bed
1 table
2 chairs
1 alarm clock
1 seesaw shaped like wrapped candy

Review

This play set is tiny but will provide your little one with hours of imaginative fun. There is no assembly required and children can easily rearrange the pieces wherever they please. What is pleasing about this toy is that the doors on the refrigerator, oven, and bedroom door open and close. The cookies and muffins also fit perfectly inside of the oven and refrigerator, kids will love making Sweetie Belle bake these sweets. The lights and sounds work wonderfully as well. The theme music and oven sounds play at decent levels.

Pros: The toy is compact and easy to store way, but it's small size does not restrict play. There is enough room for your child to move the figurine around in. There is no assembly required. The toy comes with many accessories which enhances the child's play.

Cons: The toy has no volume control nor is there a button that can be pressed to stop the music. Positioning the bed, accessories, and Sweetie Belle into her room takes skill and patience and smaller children might at first become frustrated with not being able to successfully close the door without all the accessories falling. Within time children will get the hang of it.

Parents might want to consider buying an additional similar sized pony (with the hole on its hoof) to keep Sweetie Belle company because the house is big enough for an additional pony. The pieces are very tiny and so this product is not recommended for children under the age of 3. Hasbro recommends this product for children ages 8 and up.

My Little Pony Ponyville Sweetie Belle's Gumball House Play set retails at $34.99 at stores such as Wal-Mart and Toys "R" US. The play set can also be purchased from the Hasbro Toy Shop website. The toy runs on 3 AA batteries which are included.

Overall, this a great product for little girls aged 8 and up. I gladly rate this product a 5 out of 5.