LEGO Creator Roller Coaster Review (LEGO)

If you love roller coasters, you're going to really get a kick out of this.  The LEGO Creator Roller Coaster, model number 1026, is gorgeous and it really works. All in all, it's pretty amazing. The set is designed for expert builders, which means it's pretty complicated, and it took our resident expert builder 8 hours to put together all 4,123 pieces. And he loved the process of building and watching as the model came together. And that, after all, is the point. 

The finished model is nearly three feet long by 20 inches tall. Let's start with the coaster itself. It looks like one of the modern, steel coasters you see at amusement parks everywhere. It has two three-car trains that can ride the rails. It's all manually operated. Once your mini-figs are in place, let the car go. It moves into position at the base of that first big ascent. Use the crank and the mechanism you've assembled to take them up to the top of the coaster. Then watch as they drop and go through the various loops and turns back to the start. It's really nicely done, and we kept wanting to send them around again and again. 

But it's not just the coaster itself that is an invitation to immersive play. Underneath, there's an entire amusement park to inspire fun. Buy your tickets at the booth. Or get a juice or cotton candy. You can even go to the photo booth to buy memento of your ride. Plus, you have to pass the height marker to see if you're tall enough to ride this ride. The set comes with 11 minifigures so you can really bring the world of the coaster to life.

For LEGO builders and roller coaster fans, this is a lot of fun. We were intrigued by the building process, of course, but we really enjoyed the play, too. There's a lot of creativity and ingenuity built into this model, which you can discover for yourself as you build and play, all of which adds to the long-term appeal of the model. 

This is designed for expert LEGO builders ages 8 years and up. 

Once it's assembled, it takes up a bit of space, so it's also for people who have the room to keep this set up. 

This is an expensive model. The suggested price is $379, but for LEGO fans, it's well worth the investment.

As noted, the assembled set is fairly large, so you'll want to set it up where it can stay. The base is fairly stable, and two people can move it a short distance, but you'll want to be careful.

The set is a complement to the LEGO Carousel and the LEGO Ferris Wheel.