My Little Pony Musical Celebration Castle, fab-just a bit loud

The My Little Pony Musical Celebration Castle from Playskool is for children 18 months and older. It comes with two ponies to play with and your toddler probably already screams with delight when they see the distinctive pink pony with magically coiffed hair.

On the Celebration Castle kids can put the ponies on a carousel that rotates when a large button is pressed down. The ponies slip onto a nodule that semi-locks them into place so that they won’t move around during the process. It’s simple enough for a child to place them in and take them out, but enough pressure to have them stay put when the carousel starts moving. Safety first, even in Equestria.

The ponies can sit on the elevator that moves up and down. Once on the second floor of Celebration Castle they’ll walk across the hallway where they can open the decorative door that plays music. If they carry on just a bit further they can go down the slide where they can do any of the activities again or embark on new adventures.

Celebration Castle is one of a child’s first play toys. It’s a chance for them to explore the figurative bells and whistles that come along with creative role play. Given that it’s for children 18 months and older it’s an age that has somewhat figured out what they like. Kids that age are drawn to My Little Pony. It’s a franchise so popular that it’s become one of Hasbro’s biggest sellers, has a movie coming out in 2017 and legions of Equestrians in every elementary school in the country.

Musical Celebration Castle was very simple to put together and requires two-AA batteries for the music to play. The only thing about the toy that will annoy parents is the volume of the music. When you open the window on the upstairs walkway it plays a song. It’s a very cute song that kids will enjoy, but it plays it loudly. Unfortunately there is not a volume switch on the toy. The sound isn’t deafening, but it is enough to have the kids not play with the toy until after 9AM.