Review: 41375 Heartlake City Amusement Pier
Posted by MeganL,
It's been a while since the Friends line had a set above the $100 level - the last one was 2015's 41101 Heartlake Grand Hotel. I'm excited to see another Friends set at this price point with 41375 Heartlake City Amusement Pier. This is an interesting choice, considering the Friends line had an amusement park subtheme in 2016, with a seemingly similar set in 41130 Amusement Park Roller Coaster. Let's take a look to see what you get for the latest $100+ Friends set.
The box art shows the set on a pier (obviously) with Heartlake City in the background. The setting reminds me of something like how the rides are set up in Blackpool in the U.K. The theme for these rides is suitably nautical with the main ride featured being a pirate ghost ship. The back of the box shows the ghost ship ride from the back view along with several insets showing off different features of the set.
Inside the box there are 10 numbered bags and 2 unnumbered bags containing larger parts such as roller coaster rails, base plates, technic beams and chains. On instruction book and a smaller instruction booklet are included as well as a plastic page for the sails of the pirate ship and finally, a moderate sized (and glittery) sticker sheet. Thanks to the size of the instruction book none of the more fragile items were crushed.
Minidolls
There are five minidolls included in the set. Three of the Friends are included: Olivia, Emma and Stephanie. They're mostly wearing outfits we've seen before. Olivia is wearing a sleeveless shirt with Pacman-like characters printed on the front, along with a metallic blue vest. She matches that with a short fuschsia skirt over some fantastic leggings with a planet and star pattern - the skirt and leggings are new this year.
Stephanie is dressed for a day at the pier with a sleeveless blue polo with a yellow star design on the front, which goes well with her short yellow skirt and terrific silver shoes. Emma is the one who's breaking out something new in her wardrobe with a one-shouldered blouse with a fish scale design in aqua and lavender. The blouse works perfectly with the aqua skirt and her dark lavender shoes.
Making guest appearances in the set are Chloe and Zack. Both have appeared in Friends sets before. We first saw Zack in 41350 Spinning Brushes Car Wash. He has a torso new to his set; the casual style fits well in his role as an amusement park employee. It's probably worth noting that Zack has always worn a hat in the sets he appears in; he's not yet had hair.
Chloe quite distinctively has a new "leg" piece with her mermaid tail. I think it's safe to say that there hasn't been a mermaid in a Friends set yet. I like the green colour chosen along with the paler green used for the end of the tail.
The completed model
There are five builds in this set: a ticket booth, arcade game, a snack stall, a swing carousel, and the main feature of the amusement pier: the ghost ship ride.
The ticket kiosk is a simple build, with a tilting window for the Friends to buy a ticket and a turnstile to enter the pier. Sparkly stickers add the eye catching detail. There's some printed pieces denoting money as well as a ticket.
The arcade game is a spinning wheel, where the Friends can take the chances and win one of a number of prizes - cupcake, cookie, pizza, or an adorable teddy bear. Printed pieces are included for the pizza box and the cookies, but the details for the wheel itself as well as the sign on top are both provided by stickers.
The snack stall is creatively shaped like an iced cupcake. I like the string of lights that have been included over the awning of the stall, and just underneath the "icing".
Treats offered at the stall include ice cream, popsicles (or ice lollies, for those across the pond), and the piece I was excited to see - a Belgian waffle with strawberries.
All of these builds are relatively small compared to the two rides included in the set. The first, the swing carousel, is a very tall and rather imposing build compared to the smaller builds so far.
There's an entrance to access the ride, but not very discernible way for a minidoll to board the ride from the walkway. The swings are quite high above ground level. Adjacent to the entrance there's a bench to relax where someone has left their popcorn behind while they enjoy the ride.
Off to the side of the ride there's a storage area for the Friends to stow their bags, plus you can see some of the outcome of the ride - it spins so fast that contents of the Friends' pockets - including a cell phone and some change - end up falling on the ground.
A red knob at the top of the ride allows it to be spun and the chairs to swing out. I found this ride to be an interesting build and quite different from a typical Friends set. In hindsight, it shouldn't be surprising, but the top of this ride is put together using mainly Technic pieces.
One of the numbered bags of the set is almost entirely Technic pieces to build the structure of the top of the ride. When pulling that bag out of the box, makes you wonder if it's the right bag. The resulting structure is quite robust and makes good use of colour.
However, there are only three seats on the swing ride. It feels like there should be more swings, or perhaps the ride shouldn't be as tall. I imagine the height was dictated by the chains on the chairs, so that might have been a design limitation. Regardless, it does feel like this part of the set was over-engineered. It's probably because I'm remembering 41128 Amusement Park Space Ride, which provided a somewhat similar ride experience for three minidolls on a much smaller footprint.
The main attraction of the pier is the ghost ship ride. This ride also has a dedicated entrance, complete with a height measuring bar to ensure all riders can enjoy the ride safely. It turns out that all the Friends meet the height requirement. The palm tree with coconuts is a nice addition, though I found the tree to be very floppy. You'll see that it takes different angles in almost every picture in this review, as it moves about freely when touched.
This attraction takes riders in a boat themed car along roller coaster tracks in exploring a pirate shipwreck, staffed by a (literally) skeleton crew. Unfortunately, there is only one car provided in this set. I'm surprised that more weren't included, as another car or two would not have affected the parts count that much.
There are some sea creatures who greet the riders as they go through the ride, include a friendly blue dolphin, a clam with some expressive eyes and a jelly fish. I particularly like the use of the lightning pieces in building the jelly fish.
As the rider approaches the ghost ship, more details come into view. There's all kinds of sealife, an old fishing pole and an anchor. The latest pack of Friends accessories is the coral sealife, and I think it looks terrific throughout the set. On the ship itself you can see the gangplank and one of the crew manning the ship's wheel. The requisite cute Friends bird can be found keeping the skeleton captain company.
The rider then crosses through some jagged curtains to tour the back half of the ghost ship.
A friendly octopus is there to greet the riders.
Scenes in the back of the ship include a treasure chest (with gems inside), an area where a scorpion awaits and a final room where another skeleton is brewing something sinister is a black cauldron. A light brick is included in this area, making the scenes look that much more ominous.
There's also a surprise for the rider - half way through the ride, they run into a bat (literally)!
Exiting through another set of jagged curtains, the ride goes down a gentle slope and returns to the start.
Overall thoughts
41375 Heartlake City Amusement Pier is an impressive set, and I'm very happy to see a set this size in the Friends range again - it was long overdue. This set is so large that for the full set picture, it was too big for my usual blue background, so I had to resort to white.
The set is packed with tons of great details, and makes good use of the coral sealife. I love the imagination involved in the pirate shipwreck - what a great idea. There's so much opportunity for play here and I think this set does a great job of providing both elements of action with the details that girls love in their sets. The builds for the set are fun and varied for multiple skill levels. I love the details provided in the pirate shipwreck.
For those sensitive to the pink and purple colour use in Friends sets, while there is some use of these colours, it's not overwhelming and looks pretty typical for carnival rides. There are some new colours for parts in this set, you can find an inventory here.
As much as I like this set, the one reservation I have is the price (1251 pieces, $129.99, 129.99€, £119.99). Also, I think only having one car for the ghost ship ride is a miss; and the swing carousel ride feels like it should accommodate more riders.
Three years ago, 41130 Amusement Park Roller Coaster had one more ride, had about 130 fewer parts, but was also $30 less. So, while I like 41375 Heartlake City Amusement Pier, do I like it $30 more than 41130? I'm not sure. Therefore, while I would recommend this set, I would also recommend that you look for it on sale.
Many thanks to the LEGO Group for providing a copy of this set for review. All opinions expressed are mine.
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17 comments on this article
No plans to get any of the sets in this wave (ha) but they've all been excellent. Any set with an octopus of any size or build gets an instant full mark from me. And, as always, I'm extremely partial to lavender and purple (despite having a green logo — they're really tied for my favorite colors).
Nearly bought this set, but have been put off by the same issues - would have liked more seats in the 'chairoplanes' (does anyone else call it that?!) ride, a second coaster car, and overall a little cheaper.
And although you're right in saying this is the first Friends mermaid, the tail piece was originally introduced for Ariel (the Little Mermaid) in 2014 - which fortunately means its not that hard to come by for those not keen on buying this whole set.
Friends theme and sets look like they are more and more good complements to City aren't they? I mean the swing ride or even the boat coaster can easily find a place in a city display. But for their respective color schemes maybe, which for me do clearly match the colorful and full of light environment of what they are IRL. Thank you for detailed and complete review MeganL.
Great looking set and terrific review!
But here's a question . . . is it still an octopus if it only has 4 legs?
;)
That's a great-looking set! What a fun build. And lots of playability!
Nice Review and perfect timing in the UK, I was just going to say its 28% off in Argos, plus you get a £5 Voucher off your next purchase, but its 33% off at amazon which is easier.
Great review! I'm honestly really impressed with this set and the other two Amusement Pier sets that accompany it.
While Zack hasn't worn this shirt before, it's not totally a new pattern — the same pattern appeared in three other sets with a different design ID and element ID, worn by other characters like Julian, Nate, and Noah: https://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-6101316 I suspect this shirt was chosen not only for looking casual, but also because striped fabrics are a pretty iconic look for pirate costumes, even in LEGO!
And as @Crankybricks mentioned, Chloe's mermaid tail is new to the Friends theme, but previously appeared in the same colors with a different design ID and element ID in numerous Disney sets (to say nothing of alternately colored or printed variants): https://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-6061814
I'm assuming the new design ID probably was assigned due to minor refinements of the mold which may not be apparent in the molded piece, so they can probably safely be considered alternate part numbers for the same part.
Out of curiosity: did they still come packaged in the same stretchy plastic bags with perforated tear strip that mini-doll torso and leg assemblies used to come in? If not, then that may be part of the reason for a new design ID, since previously they were bagged immediately after printing. Alternatively, there could be some other non-visible refinements to the molding or printing process, such as producing more copies of each part per molding cycle or updating the molds to use a different plastic formulation than before.
Overall, I'm much more impressed with the design quality of the rides than I was with those in the previous Amusement Park subtheme. And I also greatly enjoy how they evoke a very particular Coney Island style boardwalk setting, with a expertly executed nautical theme. The pirate ship ride additionally alludes to the possible role of piracy in the history of Heartlake City and it's surrounding area — also reinforced by the shipwrecks in the Sea Life Rescue subtheme. I've been told that similar references appeared in certain pre-reboot books and animated specials.
The use of colors in this set is also delightful and suggests an evening sunset lit up by the blinking lights of the stalls and attractions, even without the box art backdrop to make that explicit. I'm also reminded of the color palette used for some evening backdrops in the show "Steven Universe", such as in these examples:
https://stevencrewniverse.tumblr.com/post/69000440887/
https://stevencrewniverse.tumblr.com/post/129033662265/
I do find it a bit peculiar that a classic LEGO System bat appears in this set, since I had hoped to see the Shadow Bat mold from LEGO Elves reused with a less fantasy-inspired colors in future LEGO Friends sets. That said, here it is used as a prop, so I don't mind so much that it lacks the cute and expressive quality of other LEGO Friends animals.
Regardless, I definitely think this set looks like a great design and a great value. Not certain yet if I'd want to pick it up (too many other sets on my wish list to focus on currently), but I definitely am excited to see what the future of this theme has in store!
Isn't is about time Zack stopped this piecemeal zero-hours type work and got a proper job?
Pretty cool set but the skeletons being minifig skeletons is a bit odd
@SinKiller_Nick - good point.....maybe it’s a tetrapus instead?
@Aanchir - best I can remember, Chloe’s mermaid tail was included in with the rest of the parts, and not in its own bag.
Love the sunken ship ghost train ride - this seems like a set I would've really enjoyed as a kid.
As is typical for most Friends sets, I'm not fond of the color scheme. But this set, from a design standpoint, is fantastic and would be a great addition to your Fairground sets.
I do love how they've built a creepy haunted ghost ship-wreck ... and it's pink.
I'm envious of the Friends sets, they're often better than the (belated) City versions. (e.g. Friends Snow Resort vs City Ski Resort). I wish I could get the Friends sets with minifigures instead of the dolls!
@Aanchir: The mermaid tail does not come in a perforated bag, based on AustrianLegoFan's video of this set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ydeujjcjY8?t=12m44s
I really wanted this set because I loved the last amusement park wave and the pirate ship coaster looked awesome. However, compared to the last flagship amusement park set, I think this one is worse. There’s less play value due to the ghost ship ride only having ONE car and the swing ride only having three seats. I’m very disappointed in the roller coaster only having one car- it just seems so stupid to me and I never expected a misstep like that in a large Friends set, which pay so much attention to detail and play value. I’ll still pick it up on sale but I’ll be buying extra cars from BaP or BrickLink.
Looks nice for sure, but the overall amount of "stuff" you get doesn't seem to validate the price. As is customary for most Friends sets unfortunately. Still might be interesting - at a substantial discount.