5422 Alpine Lodge and 5426 Cable Car

[BowlInJar]

So, I'm relatively new here.  I've been having fun reading about everyone else's purchases, so I thought that I'd add one of my own.  I've been on a Playmobil break for a couple years, not really buying anything new or paying much attention.  But, when I saw the new "Mountain Life" theme (not yet available in the US), I was super excited about it.  I thought that I'd have to wait until later this spring to be able to get them (without paying a premium on eBay).  But I saw a post from Jay on another thread about ordering from Amazon Germany.  It turns out that they had the Mountain Life theme on sale right now, so I ordered a little less than two weeks ago.  I was able to get the Alpine Lodge, Cable Car, Backpacking Family at Mountain Spring, and the Alpine Festival Procession... all for about $157 usd including shipping. (I'm guessing this would be about $200 retail, if I was to purchase these 4 items in the US later this year).  Great deal!  Anyway, the Lodge and Cable Car arrived today.  I had a blast assembling them with my son!  Here are a few photos and thoughts:

First off, the Lodge arrived from DHL.  The shipping box was in good condition when it arrived.  No damage at all to the inner box.


P1087381 by BowlInJar, on Flickr


P1087384 by BowlInJar, on Flickr


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This one was easy to set up.  Nothing really annoying or anything 

Here are the klickies:


P1087418 by BowlInJar, on Flickr

Here's the back side all set up:

P1087419 by BowlInJar, on Flickr

And here's the front:

P1087420 by BowlInJar, on Flickr

Overall, I'm very pleased with the set.  It's pretty much what I expected.  I love the Bavarian outfits and the pretzels on trays.  Makes me want to take a trip to the Alps right now!

Next up, we have the cable car:

This one arrived in an even larger cardboard box, and it was shipped via UPS.  Funny that the DHL and UPS trucks arrived at my house within minutes of each other 

The shipping box was a bit beat up a bit, but luckily the box inside was perfect.


P1087422 by BowlInJar, on Flickr 


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Inside the box before we started assembling everything:


P1087427 by BowlInJar, on Flickr

Close up of the klickies:


P1087453 by BowlInJar, on Flickr

The base station:


P1087454 by BowlInJar, on Flickr

On her way up to the top:


P1087456 by BowlInJar, on Flickr

She made it to the top!


P1087457 by BowlInJar, on Flickr

I'm VERY HAPPY with this set.  It's incredible!  The base station has a water flask (or whatever you want to call it) that adds weight and helps to keep the cables tight.  It worked well enough on carpet, but I think it would work much better on a solid surface.  The top part of the system attached perfectly to our dining room table.  It's solid (even with a table cloth) and was super easy to attach.  If I had any issues with this one, it's that it was a bit harder to assemble.  You need a small flat head screw driver to take apart the gear/pulley mechanism (at the base station) in order to install the string "cables".  The screws sort of look like philips head screws, but they weren't.  (I realized this after I mindlessly grabbed a philips screwdriver and started turning.  And oops, the metal is soft, so be careful!)  Not that big of a deal really, but a little more effort than a normal Playmobil set...  Regardless, now that it's assembled, this is going to be fun!!!

So, as I mentioned in the beginning, I haven't been into Playmobil for a while.  If interested, you can read more details in my introduction post on the "Welcome" board.  But in a nutshell, the last time we had everything out, my kids mixed it all into a pile and then scattered pieces around the house.  I recently decided to sort everything out and set up a Playmoil land with the kids.  We've got a ways to go, but we are finally getting close to having everything set up the way we want it.  One of the next steps is to set up a Mountain land (on the table shown in the photo below), with this new cable car and lodge (and the sets that are still on their way) and then combine them with random stuff we already have (including the Polar Expedition stuff) and some older snow ski stuff.

Having a blast!!

I'll post a bunch of detailed photos from various perspectives when we are all finished 


P1087460 by BowlInJar, on Flickr

[sunflower]

Thank you for your review! This house is too hard to resist I'm afraid...

I love your Playmoland! What a paradise!

You can be a proud dad not getting upset when your kids mess up your collection. I still have inner fights. Yes, it's a toy let them play and have fun versus why do they pull everything apart and spread the little pieces all over the house?

[tahra]

Thanks for the review

I really love the house - like sunflower said, it's hard to resist (nay, IMPOSSIBLE!)

Really like that woman's torso from the cable car.. Will hunt her

[Tiermann]

Those are great looking sets. I definitely want them both. Thanks for the great review. Love the look of your playmo rooms too!

[bonniebeth]

What a fantastic world of playmobil! Thanks for the review of these two sets. I hadn't thought about the bottom part being weighted, but that's good to know. I guess now our klickys will have a way to get down off the tables other than repelling.

[Pippa]

Oh Wow! They are lovely sets.

I was already admiring the Alpine Lodge but had no idea how cool the cable car set would be.  Thanks so much for your review and pics.  It really makes a difference to see it in "action".

[retronio22]

These sets are fabulous,especially the Alpine Lodge!!!!!Is a kitchen included in this set?What's this in the left of the photo,with the interior of house?And also is there space for a bath tube in the bathroom??

[Walts-Trains]

I got the sets before I went to Kirkbean with my display last July and had them on show there. I have now put the house and cable car on to my Christmas Layout.
As I did not want the children to have to keep turning the cable car up and down I have fitted a motor to it. If a button is pushed it will start from the bottom station and go to the top. Stop there for a short while and then return to the bottom station and stop till the button is pushed again.
I have also built into the control unit a switch that will let it start again after a short time in case I require it to operate with out the push button.
Photos are on my web site of it on the web pages Christmas Layout and New Layout.
www.walts-playmobil-collection.me.uk

[sysliana]

I really want the lodge but 4 year old isnt interested at all. I guess between the santa house and the summer house he says he has enough houses lol

[Redmao]

I'm really looking forward to their release this summer.
The lodge looks great and the cable car is just so cool.