One of the best things about blogging is testing out new toys for children. Especially leading up to the Christmas period. Another aspect is getting completely surprised. Jaw dropping surprised and this was how my family were when a Playdate Sven Ride on Toy, from Disney’s Frozen 2 was delivered to our house one Friday afternoon. I’ll of course go into this in the review but it was the sheer size of it! Imagine opening a large box to find a very large reindeer staring up at you!! There were lot of laughs and giggles and the girls were so excited when they came home from nursery and school.
You would have to be in a complete bubble to not be aware of the imminent release of Frozen 2. It is more than likely one of the most anticipated films of the year and we have already been getting Frozen 2 ready! We have recently reviewed the new Elsa Singing Doll who sings the from the film soundtrack, “Into The Unknown”, which I’m sure we will all be singing very soon! My eldest is a huge Frozen fan and we have had many singing sessions, me filming her throw her plastic crown across the room in Elsa style and lots of movie afternoons watching the first Frozen film. I’m really hoping my middle little girl will get excited too, as will be her first trip to the cinema when we go and see Frozen 2.
More About the Playdate Sven Ride On Toy
As I said, when our Playdate Sven Ride on Toy appeared, our jaws dropped to the floor to have acquired a very large reindeer toy, that the girls can sit on! Playdate Sven and 1 Carrot is included, alongside batteries! Always a plus in my book, as you can just get playing.
Playdate Sven is currently available in Smyth’s Toys and retails at £99.99 and is aimed at children aged 3-7 years.
He stands at over 3 feet tall and will support a child up to 32kg, 70lb. Playdate Sven features over 20 sounds, including Kristoff’s funny “Sven” voice. He comes with a carrot and you can place this in his mouth and hear him chomping.
He has a lovely, cuddly mane which you can cuddle up to or stroke. You can also pull Playdate Sven’s reins or pat his head for galloping sounds and other reindeer noises! He is pretty cool I have to say.
Introducing The Family to Our New Reindeer
You switch Sven on to “on mode” on the switch on his belly, which is easy and we had no problems. I realised when the kid’s had a play we hadn’t clicked up the ears in place but you can see below, we did and had no issues.
All the kids loved Playdate Sven and there was a little fighting over who was going to feed him his carrot!! The girls enjoyed pretending to ride him and pulling on his reins. His phrases are very cute and remind you of the film. My little girl below cannot say Sven at all, so we have some funny ways like “Fen” when she has asked to play on him.
It was lovely watching my middle child in particular sit on Sven and get so excited.
Our Thoughts
I’m always as honest as I can be in these reviews and I will be today. Playdate Sven is very cool. As I said we have all had such a giggle with him and the girls (and my 9 month old) have had fun sitting on him and feeding him his carrot. People have visited the house and of course noticed the Sven ride on toy and thought he was really fun, especially with the release of Frozen 2 so soon!
Sven makes some really funny noises and is very life-like and cute.
The instructions say only one child should sit on him and this is quite difficult if you have more than one child and you catch them playing when they shouldn’t!! Bear this in mind (although very cute) you don’t want a broken Playdate Sven!
But I feel something is missing with Playdate Sven and that is the ability to move. I wish he rocked or had wheels, as ultimately he is great for imaginary games and re-creating scenes from the Frozen movies. But you can only sit on him and he is only stationary. As a child, my friend had a rocking horse and I used to spend so much time on it. I feel something that moves, gets more use. I wonder will he be played with much after a while?
The antlers are a little precarious too. You have click them up to have them higher on Playdate Sven’s head and although mine seem fine, I was very worried about the kids yanking too hard on them. In some of our pictures we hadn’t clicked them up but we had no issues doing so and they stayed in place. The instructions advise once doing this, DON’T rotate back, as can cause damage.
Price-wise he is a biggy! Almost £100 and it is a lot of plastic you paying for. This is definitely one of those toys I’d be asking my children a good hundred times if they are sure this is present they want. I can imagine it will be main present for a lot of children.
Overall I feel Playdate Sven is very fun product. He definitely has the “Wow” factor and if you know your child will really play on him and get a lot of use from him, he would make a fabulous gift. I’d just weigh this up and have a think, as he is a lot of money and I still feel he should move to get more out of him.
If you like this review, check out some of the other Christmas toys we have reviewed:
Disclosure – we were provided with this product in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
How do you feel about him now? I have a chance at getting him 70% off but space is a factor and I can’t decide.
Author
We were going to donate to charity! But the girls do still play on him. Not everyday but he comes out!
Hello, I’m curious if yours actually speaks with the Kristoff voice? A lot of reviews I see say he doesn’t. And video reviews I have watched I haven’t heard him say “can I have a snack?” Or the other phrase shown on the box.
Author
Hi yes it does! The daft one? Definitely!
Hi, we recently came across a Playdate Sven at our local Goodwill. For $15 dollars I could not pass him up! I was wondering if there was a instruction book that came with him and if you can get replacement parts? He did not have the plastic carrot, but he did have the reign. I was also reading about his antlers in your article and wondering if this one had some issues. We put in batteries and his voice is difficult to hear. Not very loud. Since we do not have any instructions, could you tell me how to get the different things he would say? Is it just by patting his head, pulling on his reigns, and feeding him the carrot. I appreciate your help, thanks Chris
Author
Hi, I don’t have a book that I can remember. The carrot isn’t that amazing….just goes in his mouth and he chomps. He’s not massively clear with his voice either but I just tested ours and can hear him. You mainly get him to speak by pulling the reigns. I kept doing this and he said lots of different things and made noises – does his silly voice that Christof does etc. The carrot he chomps if you had it. The antlers should be up and not pulled down…they click into place. You have to be quite gentle with them, as a friend of mine pulled hard and they broke!!! Good luck x
Author
Hi, I don’t have a book that I can remember. The carrot isn’t that amazing….just goes in his mouth and he chomps. He’s not massively clear with his voice either but I just tested ours and can hear him. You mainly get him to speak by pulling the reigns. I kept doing this and he said lots of different things and made noises – does his silly voice that Christof does etc. The carrot he chomps if you had it. The antlers should be up and not pulled down…they click into place. You have to be quite gentle with them, as a friend of mine pulled hard and they broke!!! Good luck x