Always liked Playmobil toys, but set aside 2-3 hours just to put this together. There are many many tiny pieces; you have to put even the tiny little flowers in the flower boxes. Nothing at all is done for you. That being said, once it is put together, it is lots of fun for my daughter who loves animal toys.

I'd love to see the faces of the thousands of parents on Christmas morning getting their first look at what is inside the box. The zoo is in about 1,000 tiny pieces randomly sorted into dozens of little bags. My first thought was that this was a practical joke. Now I think that the designer was simply sadistic.

Don't believe me? There are 144 little, tiny red connector pieces used to put the thing together. Not to be confused with the 64 tiny yellow connector pieces also used. Each flower pot involves installing every individual flower -- of which there are over 50. The pretend flood light (yes, they really have not one, but two. Not sure what it adds in play experience) are in five different pieces each. Were they drunk?

In fairness, I would add say that the IKEA style directions work pretty well and I put it together in about 3 hours. They also shorted me a tree, but I can't imagine my son will notice.

We bought this a few years ago when it was first out in the US. We also bought some extra zoo fencing from Playmobil. Although we have a few other Playmobil sets/themes, this zoo has the widest appeal. Although we do not always have the structure up, the kids will play with all the other animals, people and various accesories. The kids and their friends will gravitate to this set - including boys and girls from toddler to age 12, although the older kids play with it because the younger ones are playing.
Since it has been so popular at our house, I have bought most of the additional animals (add-ons) from the Playmobil website since that is the only place I know where to buy them, and have purchased the penguin water zoo as well. All of these will be under the tree in a few weeks : - )

Well this WOULD be a great toy if they had assembled even some of it!!!! They did not even put the little lights together-imagine putting lenses on teensy little lights- 3 hours plus of assembly- get away from children and find a quiet spot to assemble this nightmare!! Also the instructions are pictorial only, the pieces are bagged completely randomly and related pieces could be separated into 4 different bags and are NOT numbered!! They should pay me for assembling this for them- NOT what I would expect from such an expensive toy. Every other Playmobil set we've bought has been completely or mostly assembled AAAARGH!

My 4.5 year old received this for Christmas a year ago and still loves it! She gets it out regularly, sets it up, arranging all the fences and animals (we have extras), and creates her own zoo. This toy gets played with more than any other toys we own.

There are a lot of small pieces and we have a place to store it where we don't have to take the main zoo apart for storage. It does take a while to initially set up, but then your child's imagination can take it over.