Thomas & Friends Take-n-Play, Thomas' Adventure Castle

Our little guy truly loves this toy and it has stood up wonderfully over the years.

So, here is the deal. This is labeled as a "take n play" set, which would leave one to believe that this is a portable toy. Unfortunately this particular set is HUGE even when folded up. Those loop tracks on the outside don't have a hinge to collapse like some of the other TNP sets and stay out. This makes the footprint and storage of this... not ideal. I gave this to my daughter for Xmas and thought "I'll just fold it up and it will be easy to pack in the trunk with all our luggage... Big mistake. Had to disassemble it before going home.Second gripe with this one is that the loops don't even work that well. We have the safari one (not available anymore I think) and the loop on that one is designed in a way that keeps the trains on the track. On this one, you pretty much are required to have the bridge up to slow the trains down or they go flying every time. Even with the bridge up, I would wager you get the train to go down correctly 1/20 times - this happens with single cars or chains. Most the time you get trains flying everywhere. The colors, decals, and accessories are uninspiring.Third issue: This was our second purchase of a TNP set because our daughter loves the one she has so much. Each set has pieces of track that go to no where that are meant to add expandability options. When I saw these I understood why they were there but I was also frustrated that the sets themselves don't ever really have a loop you can send trains around again and again. No matter which way you go, the track eventually just ends. I was excited to have a second set to attach because now the trains would have a place to keep traveling. Well, in retrospect it would have made a lot more sense for the manufacturer to have a sort of standard "socket" for these sets to connect. As it stands, they don't and connecting them can sometimes be a challenge or impossible and when you do get them to connect sometimes it is in nonsensical ways. The gist is, in order for these to connect in any meaningful ways, you have to buy one of the little modular track packs, WHICH DEFEATS THE ENTIRE PURPOSE OF THE TAKE N PLAY CONCEPT BECAUSE NOW YOU HAVE LITTLE LOOSE TRACK PIECES ALL OVER THE PLACE.Final issue - none of these sets have storage compartments for the actual trains. It would make sense that if you were marketing a product as a take n play or travel product that all the little pieces would have a place to go. I have seen this executed successfully several times before but these have no such capacity and all of your trains and little accessories will require their own bag or box to be stored/travel in.In all this is an okay set for this product line but I think there are probably cooler ones still available. Now that I have messed around with these sets and considering the above issues, I won't be buying more of them. I don't regret these purchases completely - they are fun little toys - but if I had to do it again, I would have bought something else.

Ulfstead Castle being an important landmark in Sodor is a must have for collector kids. A word of caution is that the small parts should be firmly fitted, to avoid chocking hazards, before handing over to the kids. There are two small statues which either may be kept aside or fitted firmly before kids lay their hands on the set. I had ordered it from Flipcart, an online store in India, however it was misrouted and as it was no more available in India I had to purchase it at 3 times the cost I had initially paid to Flipcart a week ago. However I was very satisfied to see my 3 year old son happy and excited with the set.It's a bit bigger than the usual take-n-play sets but that not too clumsy. The mechanisms are kept simple for 3 year olds to operate and play on their own.

Took more time assembling it than my kid actually played with it. Pretty much sitting in the next donation bag going out. All these are overpriced and cheaply made. Certain trains cant even be used on this which just added to my son's frustration with this. And how is this a pack and play. It folds up into an awkward looking mess which drops parts and pieces. I rarely say no to my son but when he asked for more sets because fo the "cool" pictures, he got a NO!

Good price and my kid loves it.

Gave this to my nephew for his 2nd Birthday and he seems to love it, plus I see it popping up all over the place at family functions, parties, etc. for the little kids to play with because it is so nice and portiple. my other 2/3 yr old newphew enjoys playing with his cousin with this too. :) Very happy with this purchase and it was delivered quickly!

Definitely not what I would consider take and play. It's still bulky when folded, and it doesn't easily contain the extra pieces. Bought it for my nephew, and he likes it but it's definitely not his favorite. When the trains come down they often hit and fall off the track, like the pieces weren't quite aligned.

The set is nice as my son loves using it. I only gave 4 stars because this set had a defective troublesome truck. The pull trucks wheels, both, were bent so the pull truck doesn't move straight. It's on a constant curve if pushed on a flat surface. To me, it's not worth returning, but at the same time, I cannot give 5 stars.

I bought this as a Xmas gift for my 3 yr old and although he hasn't seen it yet I no he will love it as he has lots of take n play and plays with them for hours.