Reviews of Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $189.99
Sale Price: $142.49
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program First of all, my 6 year old daughter loves it and her Disney princesses intermingle with other fashion dolls throughout the well appointed castle. I thought the build quality was reasonable, sure it could have been better, but nothing was or seemed to be prone to breaking. The construction took about one leisurely hour to complete. Most of the instructions were easy to follow, but some of the black and white sketches didn't quite match the actual castle, although the only thing they didn't cover was how to apply Aurora's mirror (it snaps into place between the two windows). Once it was constructed there have been numerous tea parties and races down Rapunzel's hair elevator.

My daughter also loves the companion app, although this is the main reason I dinged it a star. First of all, the app only works on iOS devices and even though it will load on the 3Gs, it doesn't function correctly. Secondly, while it runs well on the iPhone5, it takes up over 700MB, which is a lot of space for a mobile app and I had to clear off apps just to install it. Finally, it's basically a collection of about a half dozen princess themed mini-games, which are great but they're all locked at first. Which is where the tie in to the physical castle comes in. It uses augmented reality, so when you point it at the wall paper in a particular room (or the clock) you see a superimposed animation and it unlocks that game (which can be played later without the castle). It's cute, but again it's a lot of space and works on very few modern devices, it would be nice if they offered an Android version or at the very least still worked enough to run the mini games on older iPod touches/iPhones. I suppose they could release fixes and more platforms later, if they do I think this would widen the appeal.

PROS:

+ Fun and huge

+ Sturdy and well built

+ Mostly furnished (which makes the price seem better compared to unfurnished doll houses)

+ Compatible with other 11" fashion dolls

+ Companion App brings the wall paper to life

+ No annoying decals to apply (probably because it relies on the graphics for the app)

CONS:

A fair bit of easy but time consuming construction needed

Companion app is huge and only works on newer Apple devices, not at all on Android

The augmented reality can be tricky at night or in a poorly lit room

It feels fantastically pink and plastic-y, but won't become an heirloom dollhouse

Overall, the cons are more things you should know then deal breakers. My daughter loves to play with the castle and her Cinderella Transforming Carriage frequently escorts the princesses to and from the castle for one royal function or another. If you aren't planning on using the app or your daughter has the latest 64GB iPad, a well lit room flooded with sunlight, and you like putting things together then the cons are complete non-issues.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Overall this Disney castle is beautiful! My preschooler absolutely loves it, and both my kids and all their friends love to play with it.

ASSEMBLY OF THE CASTLE: This took me about 40 minutes to put together. The two main floors fold down (like a very old Barbie dream house we had) and are then supported by pillars. There are less pieces to put together than I had feared, and they mainly fit together without having that "snap" where two pieces fit together permanently. I think this cuts down on breakage during assembly. The directions made it very easy. For example, although you have seven turrets to put together they are mostly different sizes and shapes so it's pretty self explanatory. The two in the front were the only ones I found confusing, and the matching pieces and the spot where they go on the castle were all labeled with the same letter.

ASSEMBLY OF ACCESSORIES: First of all, the stickers are already on the castle. If you haven't had the joy (ha ha) of stickering a new toy let me say it is torture. Thank you Mattel for sending the castle with stickers all applied. You have to put together a chair, a table, a bed and a tea tray. These blessedly come each in their own bag so at least you know which parts belong together.

STURDINESS: I did not break a single piece during assembly, and I am not some sort of castle engineering genius. None of the pieces have fallen off or broken, and this has been played with by my preschooler, her crazy brother, and several of the kids' friends.

PROBLEMS: There were two main issues with this castle, which is why it gets 4 stars instead of 5. First, after packing the main body of the castle so nicely, all the bags of chairs, furniture pieces, the mirror, and misc. accessories are just shoved in the top of the box. This resulted in one of the chairs being bent so that my husband had to re-align it with pliers, the mirror being totally bent (although it snapped into place and looks fine now), and the thin bars in the lower right window being bowed out of shape. Second, the front door goes all the way down to the ground so that if you have the castle on carpet the door will not be able to open and close, it gets stuck in the carpet. I was able to fix this by getting a pack of the stick-on-bumpers you use to keep your cabinet doors from slamming Magic Sliders 78977 Magic Clear Sliders Bumper Pad Value Pack, 48-Pieces Assorted and sticking two of the largest bumpers underneath the front of the castle on either side of the door. (I got the bumpers at Target) You can't see the bumpers but now the door opens and closes freely. Easy fix but a stupid problem Mattel should have anticipated.

In summary I would recommend this castle. The Barbie dream house we replaced with the castle was played with until literally all the pieces had broken off and they still played with it. The princess castle will be the same way and I am so glad to have it. If you are wondering what other dolls work well with this castle we use the Melissa & Doug Royal Family Wooden Doll Set. They are not to scale but they do sit nicely in all the chairs and seem to like living in princess land. :)

Best Deals for Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program So first of all I have to agree with other reviewers who complain that this Disney princess castle is overpriced. As I write this review, it's currently going for $189 on Amazon. Yeah, that's too much. And it definitely requires A LOT of assembly. As a word of warning: make sure you're in a very patient mood when you set about assembling it.

That said, I can't really rate it less than 4 stars for the simple fact that kids love this thing. After I had it together, I thought: is that really it? Then I showed it to a couple of my cousins (around 4 and 6 years old), and they went wild. There were actually high-pitched screams upon first sight.

They've been playing with the castle for a couple of weeks now, and so far it's holding sturdy. I was worried at first because it's basically just a giant plastic construction, but to my surprise, it's fairly strong. I checked out the first version of this castle and noticed tons of negative reviews. The manufacturing seems to have taken the criticism to heart and really improved the design this go around.

So yes it's too expensive, but it's also proved really popular with my cousin and her friends, and it's definitely being used for all it's worth.

Honest reviews on Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This castle looks very nice when assembled. It has plenty of play value for little kids. However, it seems kind of flimsy. The furniture seems kind of flimsy also. But so far nothing has broke, so maybe whilst it is flimsy, it is durable. Hard to tell only having this thing a month.

The biggest downfall I see is the price. For what it costs, it should be a heck of a lot sturdier. Either that or it should cost 1/3 as much. Really, the price is just ridiculous for this thing for what you get. $60 would be a more realistic price. For the $190 it costs now, it should be heavier, have better constructed accessories, and probably come with a doll or two.

So overall it is a decent toy that just costs way too much.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program When my received this it she was so excited and jumped up and down. This was something she saw at the store and really wanted it. This castle fits all of the Disney Princess dolls. The features are nice. I was amazed at the level of detail that the castle has. It has a winding "elevator" that is supposed to be Repunzle's hair. Now let's move beyond the "Wow" factor.

WHAT I LIKED...

1) It was very easy to assemble. Just be careful when assembling the second story. DO NOT press down without your hand supporting it. You can crack it. But, that is just an observation, thankfully not my experience when I had assembled it.

2) NO DECALS!!! Yes. That's right. You will not have to peel and paste any decals only to have them curl and come off later on.

3) Finely detailed characters and accessories. The furniture itself is very well crafted and all the dishes, plates, bowls, fork, knives are well crafted. Very nice.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER...

1) I thought for the price, it should have had lights and/or music

2) Why they chose to have a toilet, is beyond me. But, okay. At least provide that flushing sound.

3) I received the wrong top for one of the castle towers. I contacted Mattel and they said that unit is so new that they don't have extra parts for it. I found that one hard to believe, but they decided to ship one that was from another castle. It worked, but the color was mismatched. They said for me to try again later in hopes that they get stock of extra parts.

Overall, this is a nice toy. No educational value whatsoever, but a toy like this is for playing and not so much learning. If your daughter is into Disney Princess, this would be an excellent addition to the collection. I would wait until the price drops a bit, though. It is rather pricey. But, hey, its Disney.