Children’s Amusement Park (40529) Review

The LEGO® Store is offering two gifts-with-purchase (GWPs) in May 2022. Children’s Amusement Park (40529) is one of them. It can be yours for free with purchases of $115 CAD or more. Incidentally, the other offer is the LEGO® Ideas Cosmic Cardboard Adventures (40533). That one comes with purchases over $200 CAD. Consequently, spending over $200 earns you both GWPs until May 30 (or while supplies last). If you are wondering about these freebies, today we take a look at the Amusement Park.

NOTE: The LEGO® Group provided this set for review. However, the provision of products does not guarantee a favorable review. True North Bricks’ usual rating system applies (click here for more information).

Amusement Park Summary

• NAME: LEGO® Children’s Amusement Park
• SET #: 40529
• THEME: Gift with purchases over $115 CAD
• COST: free ($18.99 CAD value)
• BRICK COUNT: 170
• MINIFIGURES: 2
• RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2022

Amusement Park Quick Review

• VALUE: 100% (It is free with LEGO® sets you will probably buy anyway…)
• BUILD: 70% (Unremarkable assembly, but there is one rarer brick included.)
• MINIFIGURES: 87% (Excellent character count, but merely satisfactory minifigs.)
• ENTERTAINMENT: 60% (I got some free build time, but I don’t like the set.)
• OVERALL SCORE: 79% (Satisfactory… but only because it was free.)

Amusement Park Review

VALUE: 100%

As with most GWPs, I will simply award this set 100% for value. If you are buying LEGO® sets anyway, getting additional free bricks is always welcome. However, if you are interested in the usual review stats, Children’s Amusement Park has a value of $18.99 CAD. The resulting cost-per-brick is $0.11. Compared to LEGO® sets in general, that is quite good (our average is around $0.14/brick). Additionally, this set provided me with 24 minutes of build time. Based on the reported retail value, each minute of build time costs $0.79. That is better than our average of $0.85/minute. Based on those values, I would rate this set at 86% if it was available for purchase.

BUILD: 70%

The build for Children’s Amusement Park is nothing spectacular. In fact, two of the builds are similar to items seen in the Fun Fair People Pack from 2019. Both sets feature a strong man game as well as a ring toss. However, the strong man game functions better in Children’s Amusement Park. The third build included in this set is the banana swing ride. The concept is fun, but the execution is a little weak. The base needs a solid plate or cross elements to make the structure sturdier. Interestingly, the main section of the swing is one solid piece though. I have never seen this piece before, but a quick online search shows that it also comes in Rapunzel’s Tower (43187). Ultimately, I am neither here not there about this build. I suppose it gets some points for offering me a new piece. I rate the build at 70%.

MINIFIGURES: 87%

Children’s Amusement Park includes two minifigs. Both are stumpy children with unmoving legs. I rather dislike them. I have never been a fan of the child minifigs because I want to pose my characters. The LEGO® Group has produced shorter, moving legs for years now. Consequently, it always disappoints me to get these stumpy legs, especially in sets depicting situations where people need to sit. Additionally, neither character has a double-sided face or leg printing. They do have front and back printed torso though. The kit also includes a popsicle, two bananas, two rubber ducks, and two frogs. I rate the character designs at 77%.

On the plus side, the brick-to-fig ratio is excellent. Two Minifigures in a 170-piece kit means you get 85 bricks/fig. Comparatively, our average is currently about 170 bricks/fig. Even if they are stumpy kids, you still get a great character count with this set, earning 97%. Averaging this with the design score gives an overall Minifigure rating of 87%.

ENTERTAINMENT: 60%

It is always fun to build a LEGO® set, even if I don’t like the set itself. Clicking bricks together is relaxing. However, I would not buy this set. Would I accept it for free with a purchase? For sure. Would I go out an make a $115 purchase to get it specifically? No. I was not impressed with this set. Even the box art does not inspire me to buy anything just to get this. I will save my purchase for a better GWP. Perhaps amusement park builders will enjoy this… but even then, you need a kiddie land in your park to make use of the build. I got 24 minutes of relaxing build time, that earns this set 60%.

OVERALL SCORE: 79%

Children’s Amusement Park was not for me. I enjoyed the act of building with LEGO® bricks, but that goes for any set. The value (free) and brick-to-fig ratio save this kit. The build is not inspiring and reuses older ideas. Additionally, you only get two stumpy minifigs with unmoving legs. As free bricks with a purchase I planned to make anyway, this set is fine. However, it does not inspire me to make a purchase for purpose of getting it. If I rated this set based on the reported retail value of the set, the score drops to 75%. If I ignore the ratio score because the minifigs are stumpy-legged and useless to me, it drops to 73%. Sadly, I am not a fan of this kit. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or reach out on social media.

Until next time,

-Tom

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