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Playmates Amusement Park train (1980s)
First written September 16, 2024The Lil Playmates line, sold by Hong Kong toy company Playmates and also under the Unimax name, was a range of plastic figures and vehicles released in the 1980s and 1990s. The system had two train systems, one from the 1980s with yellow track with limited rearrangement capabilities and a more versatile 1990s system that seems to have been based on LEGO Duplo track. This system seems to have originated in a mid 1980s Disney licensed set but the set was rereleased and the track system used in other Lil Playmates sets later.
Disneyland Play Set (1986)
The train system later used in the Lil Playmates range seems to have first appeared in this 1986 Disneyland Play Set. The set, which is similar in concept to the older Walt Disney Character Fold-A-Way Play World or Child Guidance Kiddie Land toys, has a battery-powered train that traverses a branching path to reach and power different spinning, operating amusement park accessories.
Set contents
| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 3
pieces |
Disneyland train |
 |
| 12 | Figures |
 |
| 4 | Curve rail |
 |
| 4 |
Stop rail |
|
| 4 | Branch rail |
 |
| 1 | Cross rail |
 |
| 4 | Signs |
 |
| 1 |
Ferris Wheel |
 |
| 1 | Carousel |
 |
| 2 pieces | Paddleboat ride |
 |
| 1 | Rocket ride |
 |
The train in this set is red, white, blue, and yellow. The cab has a switch in the side that acts as the power switch and the train turns on when a figure is inserted as the driver. Two carriages hitch up behind the train. The boiler of the train opens to take a C battery.
The track system is fairly simple and restrictive but it makes a looping crossing layout. The signs slot into the branch rails to help redirect the train one way or the other.
The four rides include the Mark Twain riverboat, a spaceship ride similar to the Astro Orbiter, and a fairly generic carousel and Ferris wheel.
The train in my copy of the set does not run all that well - I think the tires have perished with age and don't transmit power properly anymore.
Li'l Playmates Amusement Park (1989)
In 1989 a generic version of the Disneyland Play Set was released as the Li'l Playmates Battery Operated Amusement Park. Other than including generic figures, the contents of the set are pretty much the same. A figure-eight Li'l Playmates First Train Set was also released with straight rail sections.
Muppet Babies Imagination Park (1989)
Seemingly also around 1989 a Muppet Babies themed version of the set with some changed toolings for the park rides and new figures was released.