We were fortunate enough to buy the original LEGO Ferris Wheel (10247). It’s a fantastic set and very swooshable. So it was exciting to see LEGO release a smaller version and we bought a set to see if it’s just as fun as it’s bigger sibling.
On a side note, this approach generally is a great idea with the Mini Disney Castle making the joy available to all budgets. I think LEGO missed the opportunity for a great dad joke by not calling it the Minnie Disney Castle though…
The Setup
This set forms part of the 3 in 1 Creator series which lets you build three different models. We’ll build the Ferris Wheel so we can compare with it’s older brother, but you can also build out a bumper car ride and swing boat ride as well. Both alternate builds look like they would be a lot of fun to play with and also provide a lot of re-buildable fun for the set.
There are five large plastic bags to build, roughly broken down into the base support, the vertical supports, the wheel itself and the final two covering the individual carriages on the wheel.
The build starts with a little balloon cart and ticketing booth. The little balloon dog and butterfly are fantastic creations and immediately recognisable. The ticket booth also looks great with the multi-colored awning. We’d recommend finding another couple of flat plates for the roof to smooth out the studs, but it’s a minor quibble.
As always, the Minifigs are great with a new hair piece on one of them that I’ve never seen before. The ticket conductor looks pretty schmick with his bowtie and top hat too.
All minifigs in this set have multiple faces and the about to vomit shown is very close to home when I use the spinning tea-cups..
.. I know, I know. It’s a kids ride and I still get sick.
The Ferris Wheel
Creating the Ferris Wheel is a mix of technic and standard pieces. The gear mechanism to rotate the wheel is quite interesting with rotation occurring through friction with a rubber wheel rather than a direct drive approach with a gear connected. As it’s a fairground build, there are a lot of bright colours used which keeps the build process interesting.
As we move onto the wheel itself we get to our friendly assistant with the same great stripes as the ticket conductor. The use of the window element to build the vertical struts is quite nifty. It gives a light weight structural approach similar to the real thing compared to just using standard 2 x 4 bricks.
Perhaps the biggest criticism of this set is the handle to rotate the wheel. It’s very close to the ground so you hit your fingers as you rotate it. This could be (and should have been) easily fixed with an extra row of bricks in my view.
Building the front Fun sign was.. fun. Sorry, sometimes I can’t help myself.
The happy sun above the sign was a bit of a dichotomy, one one hand I can fully appreciate offsetting the face makes it look better, but on the other it’s hurting my brain. We slightly modified it by spreading out the eyes and rotating them for similar effect.
Another cool feature was the bin. It’s a really simple technique, but looks great and fits well with the set. I’m glad the bin was constructed rather than one of the molded LEGO rubbish bins. I like them, but this approach is better suited to the theme.
Building the Ferris Wheel itself was a little repetitive, but this is to be expected with a set like this. The variation in colours made it not too bad and the smaller size of the model also helped. Even without the gondolas, it’s quite swooshable already so it’s easy to see the full build will be great fun.
The last couple of minifigs are a little boy and a lady with a balloon dog. The young boy torso print is a little plain, however the print on the lady is great including a necklace and her shirt tucked into the belt. Very on-trend (or so I’m told – I’m not the best source for fashion advice).
Putting it all together
We finished the build with eight gondolas. These were all the same but multi coloured, and a quick little build so not too repetitive. I was surprised that the same coloured gondolas were matched together so we moved them around to be interlaced on our set. The use of little hammers to lock them in place is an amusing touch (although maybe not deliberate). I’m sure it’s not the first time a hammer has been used for something other than hammering.
Overall Thoughts
The finished set looks great, has a huge amount of swooshability and should be pretty easy to build for most LEGO fans. We love the 3-in-1 creator sets as it also gives more bang for your buck for those just starting their LEGO journey. Of course, any set has infinite possibilities, but sometimes it’s nice to just follow the instructions.
Compared to it’s bigger sibling this is a great set and entry into fairground themes. The bigger set is one of our all time favourites (especially when paired with the epic Creator Expert Roller Coaster). But LEGO is a little like your children, it’s hard to have a favourite. The Roller Coaster is retiring soon, so get one if you can. Once motorised, it’s mesmorising to just watch it go around and around.
But back to the Ferris Wheel, in even better news, our friends at Zavvi are giving away this great set on the 8th November. So if you’ve not yet entered the draw scroll back to the top and click the link on the right banner to get your entry in! They’ve also got the set on sale right now for just $104.99 – a saving of $47 so a great time to buy if you’re keen on the set.
Swooshability: 10
Build enjoyment: 8
Displayability: 8
Check this out moments: 7
Value for money: 8
Set: Ferris Wheel
Theme: Creator 3 in 1
Set #: 31119
Number of Minifigs: 5
Number of Pieces: 1002
RRP: $149.99
Overall: 82%
Fantastic!
Looks fantastic