Pretend Play Reviews

I bought this set with some trepidation after reading the other reviews, but I needed something to keep our swingset from tipping when all the neighbor kids played on it. We have a small swingset for our 2 year old, but 3 or 4 neighbor kids play on it daily. We live in an apartment.

I got the set and went out with a hammer, small screwdriver and a huge one. It took a while to install, and a lot of pounding, but once they were in, they were in. The 8 year old was my Official swing tester, and was going almost as level as the top of the swing and the legs barely moved. Before, anytime she would swing, the swingset would threaten to tip. Now it is very stable.

You have to realize that once this is installed, it is there to stay........when the crew comes to cut our grass, they mow around and under it, then use a weedeater to get at the rest. There have been no complaints about that.

This gets an A+ from this Indiana mom.

I live in Utah with rocky hard clay soil, so it was difficult to put the anchors into the ground. "screwdriver method"? -I don't think so! I ended up using a "water key" (the tool sold at most hardware stores for turning water meter valves) and it worked quite well. It would be better to have two people, one to turn and the other to guide the anchor, but I did it by guiding the anchor with my foot while turning the key. The anchors plowed around rocks a bit. I didn't get the straps tight enough at first and so I had to go back and re-tighten.

OK. I have read all the sqwaks and complaints about these little life savers.. You have to use common sense though. If soil is hard, water the area before running them in. If you want mobility,, too bad. your supposed to dig and put a block under each leg.. to keep it from sinking. 3" depth minimum. that is why they give you two straps per leg. you pull the leg against the brick and soil. And the tension of the strap should keep it in place under weight. Drill holes to make it tighter if needed.
And mobility.. ha ha... yeah right. you put safety first.. put mulch or bark or wood chips or what have ya to cushion the fall.. that means NO MOBITLTY. then the cushioning material covers the top of the anchors... and if that seems to hard.. buy a dog tie down stake and use it.

the game is very stable although the disarm feature is more than a little cheap my dad said that it was well balanced

My 8 yr old son got this for a birthday gift it only worked for about 2 days before the blue gun stopped shooting all together. Also you can shoot the opposite direction and it will still read as a shot. I was very disappointed and so was my son. Spend the extra and get a better version of laser tag.

I would have to agree with both of my younger brothers with their opinion of the product "Laser Challenge: Disarmed."
I own two sets of the original Laser Challenge equipment, where the lasers were actually acurate, and the challenge was actually, well, challenging. With this version of LC, you really can hit your opponent while aiming in the opposite direction, up to and beyond 100 feet. This game also DOES NOT feature a radar that tells you when you are being aimed at.

Pros:
You won't lose the blaster
Good range on blasters
25 shots per reload

Cons:
The blaster is connected to the vest
The disarm feature gives an unfair advantage
The vests reset during the middle of gameplay
Aiming in the general direction is not necessary
Can't shoot will being fired upon

Conclusion: this Laser Challenge derivative, while a good concept, is not worth it if your child is over 8 years of age.

My almost 3 y.o. dd loves Dora. I thought this toy would be great for her so I got it for her. I am very disappointed. The biggest problem is that she wants to wear it as a backpack and it is NOT a backpack. I had to tie straps to it so that she can wear it. The toys inside are cheaply made. She does play with the plastic map once in a while, but that is it. Everything else is ignored. I wish I had saved my money on this one.

I had high hopes when I ordered this toy. Know that it is NOT a backpack. The one handle on the top is the only way to carry it.
The stuff inside is nothing special... stickers, crayons and cardboard pieces. We were very disappointed. Dora fans deserve better.

The set is addorable and my 2 year old loves it. when it came to us there was 2 strings on the stqar closure that were coming out. Well of course my child is two she pulled the string on one end and the whole zipper fell out. I was slightly disapointed but she loves her little backpack I just have to remind her don't put anything in the star.

This is a fine product if you are a collector. It wonderfully rounds out any collection with a very cute little monkey. Well dimensioned and happy looking it makes a fine addition. The puppet is, however, a disappointment to most puppeteers. There are no slots for the arms or the face. As such there is little that can be done besides make the arms bounce a little and move the head in large sweeping motions. The fur is rather course but (at least as long as I have had mine) seems to stay on the stuffed creation well. I would not recommend that you take a nap with it, but it will look fine on a shelf or a jungle setting.

This item is adorable. He/she is very cute and makes a wonderful stuffed animal that you put on your bed and never touch. Unfortunately the fiber used to make the 'fur' is not up to par. The fur is scratchy and stringy and doesn't feel terribly soft to the skin. The monkey Pogo as I have taken to calling it, is also a puppet. Young puppeteers will be limited though as there are no slots for you fingers to move the arms or manipulate the face. If you are looking for a fully functioning fun toy keep looking, if however you would like something that looks nice to round out your jungle collection have 'Pogo' sent to you right away.

So, I don't own it, but it sure does look like my Grandma's lue Dress. I don't recall the ruffles.... The Fabric should be coarser, and NO ruffles....

I must admit that this costume very quickly caught my eye. I was always more a fan of Dr. Evil than of the international man of mystery. This costume was however a big disappointment. It has the quality of the pair of pants I sewed back in home economics in high school. It does look like Dr. Evil's suit, but so would and costume with that specific shade of gray. The quality isn't very great either, but you can't expect much from this price. All in all, if you're a really big fan of Dr. Evil and have to look like him, then by all means buy this. It's not a HUGE investment. However, if you like him, but don't love him, then this costume is more bad than evil.

I originally purchased this item for my son who takes karate. He already had a set, but I thought it would be good to have a second set for practice. This item is not full size, it is miniature. I was very surprised to see how small it was. He can not practice with them because they do not match the size of the ones he uses for class. They seem very durable and I think would be great for a child under five who just wants to have fun. This product will not work well for someone who needs them for class.

I bought this cart for my daughter (then 18 months) last Easter. It has been nothing but trouble...it pinched me while I put it together, the flag falls off, the food boxes collapse and worst of all, the cart doesn't push because of the movable wheels up front. My daughter literally carries it across the living room because she got so frusterated trying to make it go forward with no luck. We are now looking to replace it with a better model - probably Little Tykes - so she can enjoy shopping!

Every year I make my daughter's costume, but this year she saw the Hobbit costume and wanted to wear it for Halloween. She is a very big LOTR fan. When I finally agreed she was very excited. However, she was horribly disappointed when it arrived. It was very cheaply made. The 'vest' was basically an apron and the cloak was a very thin polyester. I had to, in the end, make her Hobbit costume. She said after this, she'll never buy a store bought costume

Every year I make my daughter's costume, but this year she saw the Hobbit costume and wanted to wear it for Halloween. She is a very big LOTR fan. When I finally agreed she was very excited. However, she was horribly disappointed when it arrived. It was very cheaply made. The 'vest' was basically an apron and the cloak was a very thin polyester. I had to, in the end, make her Hobbit costume. She said after this, she'll never buy a store bought costume