A Canadian Traveler's Guide to Buying LEGO - Part III

Today, I will have a look at the cost of the Jungle Exploration Site (60161) around the world. If you are just joining me today, you can read earlier installments in this series by using the following links:

Part I – The average cost of a Jungle Exploration set around the world
Part II – The average cost of the Air Drop Helicopter around the world

Unlike the Air Drop Helicopter that I discussed yesterday, the Jungle Exploration Site is commercially available all over the world, including Canada. This set contains 813 pieces, and costs $149.99 in Canada. The average cost of this set around the world is $156.71 CDN. So, buying this set at home is not the worst possible option. Here in Canada, this set will cost you $0.18 per brick, which is really high (the average is currently around $0.14 across all LEGO themes), but not unusual for a City theme set. Looking at the world average, this set costs $0.19 per brick.

Along with this set, you get seven Minifigures, a crocodile, and a leopard. The brick-to-Minifigure ratio is 116:1. If you include the crocodile and the leopard in that, you have a much better ratio of 90:1. No matter which way you look at it, the number of characters that you get for the brick count is really good. I like to include the animals in that figure, especially since the leopard is going to be the main draw for many to buy this set.

If you are a Canadian travelling abroad this summer, England is once again your best bet for getting this set on the cheap. The set costs $141.93 CDN in the UK, which breaks down to $0.17 per brick, and an overall savings of 5% ($8) compared to at home. Waiting for Toys R Us to have a 20% off sale would get you a better deal at home though, and save you from having to lug this set around for your whole vacation. The worst place to buy this set is Denmark. Sorry to those of you visiting LEGOLAND and Billund this year!

Here is a list of the countries around the world where you can buy the Jungle Exploration Site, in order of best value to worst:

UK ($142 CDN)
Belgium, Germany, France, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Italy ($147 CDN)
Canada ($150 CDN)
South Korea ($154 CDN)
USA ($155 CDN)
Australia ($157 CDN)
New Zealand, Switzerland ($160 CDN)
Czech Republic ($162 CDN)
Sweden ($165 CDN)
Hungary ($172 CDN)
Finland, Norway ($176 CDN)
Denmark ($178 CDN)

BestExploration — Buying the Jungle Exploration Site in the UK will get you the best value as a Canadian traveling abroad.

It is interesting to note this time around that this set is much more consistently priced than the harder to find Air Drop Helicopter. As with the average price of one set in this theme, the Nordic European nations are the most expensive place to acquire this set. New Zealand, which was the worst place to by the Air Drop Helicopter, gained some steam this time around. It is still above average, but no where near the worst place to buy this set. Buying this set in Denmark would cost you a whopping $0.22 per brick!