Friday, July 29, 2011

Playmobil - Where Kids Can Be Kids And Adults Have Fun, Too


Kaefer has played with Playmobil since she was four years old (the day we found Playmobil in an US store was a good day) and she still loves it (she is 13 now!). We have given Playmobil as presents at many birthday parties and thus infected many families with the Playmobil bug. In my eyes, it belongs to the best toys for kids.

Playmobil is a German company with its headquarters in Zirndorf, very close to Nürnberg. Way more important though is the Playmobil FunPark the company has built in Zirndorf (I first wrote about that here). Since she had heard about it, Kaefer desperately wanted to go there. When we traveled to Germany in the summer of 2009, we made sure that we spent a day at the Playmobil FunPark.

It was delightful! First of all, it was affordable - we paid less than $15.00 per person for the entire day. For that we got Playmobil paradise - all the famous toys in real life size and waiting for exploring kids and their parents - the pirate ship, castle, tree house, farm to name just a few. The kids could climb, conquer the castle, rush up walls, cross dangerous rivers and lakes on rope bridges, milk cows, go down long and fast slides, sail on rafts, invade the pirate ship - endless possibilities for an active child. The kids have to use their imagination and just PLAY - nothing could be further away from Disneyland and similar expensive amusement parks. It wasn't only the kids who played; the adults did, too, and everyone had fun.







All of us really enjoyed the rafts - it was so much fun!




It often rains in Germany, so it came as no surprise that there was also a huge indoor play area. We had some rain in the afternoon and Kaefer played happily on the gigantic play structure while we "old ones" relaxed a little bit.


I shouldn't forget to mention the food. The restaurant is excellent - good, mostly healthy food for affordable prices (as I said, it's a true family place). The Geek had potato soup in a bread roll, Kaefer went for a delicious salad and I had Leberknödelsuppe (liver dumpling soup) - after all, we were in Bavaria!




Leaving the pirate ship for now, but we will be back!!!


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8 comments:

Maria Ontiveros said...

Love seeing a picture of you there! I always loved the toys where my kids could really use their imagination and create stories. We had a fisher-price pirate ship, farm and house which got hours and hours of use.
Thanks for bringing back those memories.
Rinda

Lynn Cohen said...

What a fun experience. Do kids ever fall in the water? Adults?
I sure do like the idea of playing rather than standing in long lines to sit on a machine that scares the heck out of you! LOL
think I'd pass on the liver dumplings but the other food looked delicious!
Great photos per usual!!!

Kay L. Davies said...

I just sent my brother a link to this blog post. His children will be 10 and 8 this year, and have vivid imaginations. Do-it-yourself fun is definitely their idea of seventh heaven. He often travels to Europe on business, and I know he and his wife would love to join J&J in exploring and enjoying a place like this!

—Kay, Alberta, Canada

La Vie Quotidienne said...

what a fantastic theme park...fun for everyone. The lunch look delicious! Thanks for taking us along.(-:

Unknown said...

Wow, this looks like a lot of fun. It is good to enjoy these days as they are special. Wonderful photos that will bring fond memories in the future.

Chantal said...

Looks like a fun day, for young and old... and good food too

Holger said...

Hi Carola, der Playmobil Funpark lohnt sich wirklich. Wir hatten auch schon viel Spass dort :-)

@Lynn: I have seen both, adults and children falling in the water. Of course the water is not deep and as far as I remember they even have tumble dryers.

Christine E-E said...

Playmobile... love the people & theme sets. My daughters played with Legos (not quite the same, but they were creative, used their imagination, and used their hands to build their own villages).
Oh... how I wish we could go back to "simpler" times! It's hard to see how Disneyland & DisneyWorld have become "money pits" ~ wouldn't it be wonderful if camping & being in nature was given the attention amusement parks have.
those rafts look like FUN! kid-powered!