Friends

Heartlake City Amusement Pier

A whole seaside boardwalk in one box, with a genuinely spooky pirate ship at its heart.

Brick Rated Score

3.9/5

Set 41375 · 2019

Pieces1,267

Minifigs5

Year2019

Set number41375

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The verdict

This one surprised me.

I came in expecting the usual pastel Friends fare and got a pirate ghost ship rattling past bats, skeletons and scorpions, which is a lot more atmosphere than I bargained for. It's the biggest Friends set of its era and the price shows it, so I'd wait for a sale, but as a play centrepiece for a kid who loves theme parks it really delivers. Older builders will enjoy the spooky detailing more than they'd admit.

Best for: Friends fans aged 8 and up who want one big boardwalk playset with a spooky twist

The full review

What it is

The first thing that got me about this LEGO® set is that it isn't the sweet, sunny boardwalk the box colours suggest. Tucked inside the Heartlake City Amusement Pier is a pirate ghost ship ride that sends its car whizzing past bats, scorpions, a shipwreck and a couple of grinning skeletons. It's genuinely a bit spooky, and I love that a Friends set had the nerve to go there. Around that centrepiece you get four more builds: a ticket booth, a spin-the-wheel arcade game where you win cupcakes or a teddy bear, an ice cream and snack stall, and a three-seat swing carousel that spins and twists. Line them all up and you've got an actual seaside pier, not a single ride pretending to be a whole park.

The catch

I'll be straight with you about the caveats, because they're real. The launch price was 129.99 dollars, and while roughly 1,267 pieces softens that a little, it's still a big ask at full price. The thing that bugs me most, and it bugged a lot of reviewers too, is that the ghost ship ride ships with just one car. On a set this size and this expensive, a second car should have been a given, and its absence really does dent the play value. There's also a practical snag: the ghost ship's tall structure doesn't love being moved. Even with the track built for stability, carry it across the room and bits have a habit of shaking loose. It's a build that wants to stay put on a shelf or a play table.

Who it's for

So who's it really for? A child of about eight or up who's mad for theme parks, roller coasters and a little touch of spooky will get enormous mileage out of this. There's a proper spread of play here, from the silly arcade game to the shivery ship, and it looks fantastic assembled. If you're a Friends collector who missed the days of genuinely large sets in the range, this scratches that itch nicely too. The people I'd steer away are anyone who baulks at the sticker price, since this is absolutely one to grab on discount, and anyone who wants a display piece they can pick up and reposition without pieces raining off. Buy it on sale, keep it parked, and it's a lovely, characterful centrepiece.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build breaks neatly into five sittings, which makes it a friendly project to share or to spread over a few evenings. You start small with the ticket booth and the spin-the-wheel arcade game, both quick confidence-builders, then move on to the snack stall and the swing carousel with its spinning, twisting three-seat mechanism. The ghost ship ride is the main event and the most satisfying stretch, layering up the shipwreck, the track and all the spooky set dressing. Techniques stay approachable for the 8-plus audience, but the atmospheric detailing in the ship section gives even seasoned builders something to enjoy. It's varied, well paced, and never turns into a slog of repeated steps.

For parts people, this is a generous box. The headline pieces are the new-for-2019 foil curtains and sails, which are lovely and hard to find elsewhere. Alongside them you get coral elements, an anchor, a treasure chest, transparent gem pieces and a light brick to give the ship its glow, plus all the amusement-park food props like popcorn, waffles, ice cream and an entrance ticket. The mini-doll lineup is Olivia, Emma, Stephanie, Zack and Chloe, joined by a dolphin, a bird and two skeleton figures. At roughly 1,267 pieces for a 129.99 dollar launch you're near the ten-cents-a-part mark, which is fair rather than remarkable, but the sheer variety of specialised and printed elements is where the real value sits.

Fun facts

01It was the largest LEGO Friends set of its year at launch, and reviewers were genuinely pleased to see a build this big return to the range.
02The pirate ghost ship ride uses foil sails and curtains that were brand new for 2019, a material you rarely see in the Friends theme.
03The set retired in January 2020 after roughly 19 months on shelves, and boxed copies now trade above their original 129.99 dollar retail price.
04Despite its cheery boardwalk look, the ghost ship ride hides bats, scorpions and two skeleton figures, making it one of the spookier scenes Friends has ever put out.