Palace Pets

Like a lot of people, I am a big kid when it comes to Disney. I love the romance and the heroism and best of all... the villains. I don't think any evil villain ever comes close to the wondrous evil that is Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent (and I have a big soft spot for The Little Mermaid's Ursula). Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to review a toy that bore the Disney logo - Palace Pets.

When I opened the box expecting the magic of disney to come pouring out, I was sadly disappointed. All the things I love about Disney were obvious only by their absence. To me, the Palace Pets were trying too hard to be adorable - aspartame sweet and a bit tacky. Of course my five year old daughter absolutely LOVED them! More surprisingly, my three year old son hasn't stopped wanting to play with them since the moment he saw them.

We were sent the Palace Pets Pamper and Beauty Salon which is very ornate and has plenty of little shelves and places to store the pamper accessories.

My son spent ages making it neat and tidy (he'll make someone a great husband one day!) I have to admit that the golden bathtub looks very inviting - I would love a scaled up version for my own pamper time. I like the fact that the Salon has two open out portions to make more room to play but folds back neatly for putting away.

The set comes with an exclusive pet, Rapunzel's kitty Summer, that has a cold water colour change feature.

There are three different categories of Palace Pet to collect: Furry Tail Friends, Primp and Pamper Ponies and Talking and Singing Pets. We were sent one of each.

My daughter loved their removable tiaras and enjoyed swapping them around. As the name implies, the Furry Tail Friends have impressively fluffy tails - very tactile and brushable. The ponies have long hair tails perfect for grooming and decorating with the clips provided.  My favourite was the Talking & Singing Pet. Larger than the other collectibles, this pet delivers cheesy one liners about friendship and meows a catchy tune. It took no time for my son to learn and repeat the phrases. I just love hearing his gruff little boy voice with a girlie lilt saying Let's collect things together! As well as the furry tail, this pet has real eye lashes framing her impossibly huge 'please love me' eyes.

This is not the sort of toy I would normally buy for my kids (unless possibly a new range of Evil Villain Pets was launched) but I cannot deny how much they have loved playing with it. It must be that Disney magic after all!