Dfenz

I've just noticed that the Pirate Tank and Home One sets are up on LS@H Europe but are listed as not available yet. Looks like the sets might be about to be released? David PS I forgot to add that the mid-scale Millenium Falcon is showing up as available for €29.99.

If we do return to Gunzburg I've just spotted that Ryanair now fly into a former WWII base at Memmingen. Its south of Gunzburg and looks nearer to Legoland than either Munich or Stuttgart. Won't help everyone until rouite network expanded. Its being billed as Munich West (Legoland south to us) David

I've stayed in the Eurohotel several times before and will return to it again simply because its the most convenient and cheapest hotel to Legoland and the rooms are clean. There is also a restaurant/ bar / bowling lane in the carpark within spitting distance (almost) of the hotel and a service station to stock up on supplies for the day. The row over breakfast shouldn't recur because everyone would know what to expect. If the breakfast isn't seen as good value (and given some children's eating habits this may be the case) then breakfast can be obtained elsewhere. I appreciate there were other glitches regarding internet access and the public areas for meeting but the restaurant facility across the carpark would surely only be delighted to have 20+ meals/ beers etc. every evening, especially if it was in an off-peak time. I'd look at the location as a package with the hotel primarily being a base for the night and the restaurant/bar providing the social aspect. My two cent. David

I can blame my wife for my interest in recent years in Lego. She suggested a few years back that I buy our son a small Harry Potter set and I'd been reluctant to do so on the basis that any sets that contained anything other than bricks, plates and slopes was overpriced rubbish supported by marketing propaganda. Well, after Harry Potter, Star Wars, Indie, Spiderman, Batman etc. that was one expensive decision!! Little did she know when we built our house, I had plans for her 'sunroom' which rareley sees the light of day, her sitting room which has a dining table covered with whatever is flavour of the month, attics and cupboards under beds stuffed with secret stashes of sets and empty boxes and an Eiffel Tower display model which I'm trying to convince her looks like the lamp she had planned for that particular part of the room. Fortunately, there are a lot of worse ways to spend my time outside the home and this way I spend time with the kids. She even bought me a UCS Imperial Star Destroyer for Xmas one year! David

Anyone who pre-ordered this on Amazon some time ago should perhaps check their inboxes to ensure that Amazon haven't cancelled their orders. On my return from the Gunzburg event I discovered that Amazon had emailed me to cancel my order. As the item was still showing up as available I simply reordered it and so far so good. David

Try typing 7749 into the search box and see what comes up David

The UK price increases are miniscule in comparison to the price increases earlier this year for some LS@H Europe products, in particular the Cafe Corner, Greengrocer and 1950s Town set, some of which went up by €40/€50 in Ireland (Largest Star Wars sets were even more!). And that's not a typo ... This was referred to in another thread a few months back. I contacted Lego at the time and while I'm grateful that they bothered to reply to me, the following reply is somewhat laughable given the nature of the sets in question, i.e. LS@H exclusives not available in any retail shops in Ireland. If any reasons for price increases are to be sought, I think these outrageous hikes should be top of the list. First reply, following my initial complaint at the tax hikes. Dear [Dfenz] Thank you for your email from 04/04/09 regarding the prices of LEGO® products. There has been a general price adjustment for Shop at Home in Europe which means that some prices have gone up slightly whereas others have stayed the same. We understand that some of the changes have increased prices of certain models significantly such as the one you mention in your email but this measure has been taken to ensure that prices are aligned with the market prices in all the EU countries SAH ships to. Please do not hesitate to contact us again if we can be of further assistance. Thank you again for contacting us. We wish your family many happy hours of creative building with LEGO brand toys in the years to come. I reverted pointing out that there were huge price differentials between products, even before shipping differentials were considered (for example its €14 to ship a €100 set to Dublin yet only Stg£5 to ship it to Derry in Northern Ireland which is further away from continental Europe distribution centres). The scale of the increases were anything but 'slight'. Dear [Dfenz] Thank you for your email from 09/04/09 regarding the prices of LEGO® products. Please accept my apologies for taking longer than usual to reply to your email but I had to forward it to the relevant department and I only received a reply today. We always suggest a price for every toy in each country and this depends on the local market.This means there are sometimes differences in the price of LEGO sets from country to country. In America all toys cost less and the price won't include tax (this gets added on when you pay), so if we want to sell LEGO sets to LEGO fans in America we need to price them competitively. The price alignment I was referring to in my previous email was done for the retailers so there isn't a big difference between a toy shop and Shop at Home. If you would like to benefit from the prices in the UK I can suggest to have your order delivered to a friend or relative in the UK and then forward it to Ireland privately. LEGO Shop at Home has different special offers every fortnight so go to www.LEGOshop.com and click on "Sales & Deals" to find out what's on offer! I hope to have answered your question; please do not hesitate to contact us again if you have further comments or queries. UK price increases are inevitable as it costs more to import the sets into the UK because of a weak sterling and UK prices are out of line with the rest of Europe anyway. Fortunately I have access to a Northern Ireland delivery address but I must use it sparingly meaning less purchases for Lego. I suspect LS@H Irish sales of these more expensive items have taken a dive. The UK prices are still competitive and will attract customers from other countries where available to those customers.

It looks like the new sets are being uploaded one by one. Echo Base 7749 is now available on LS@H Europe (Ireland anyway) for €29.99. Also when I search for the Endor set 8038, it comes up as an available set (€109.99) despite not appearing in the regular listing. I didn't try purchasing it as I acquired it in Gunzburg recently. David

Here's my wheels, and yes if anyone from the Irish Revenue is reading this post I have reregistered it since with Irish plates!! David

One of my CW RGS suffered the same fate a few weeks back. The wing clipped the corner of a table where other sets were sitting and ... well lets just say I'd a simulated crash landing from about two feet off the ground. I was briefly left holding the wings and top section before that imploded in a hail of bricks. Fortunately the super structure of the base of the ship withstood the impact very well and once the search parties had recovered the missing parts it was rebuilt and put back into service. Can't afford slackers in the Dfenz republic fleet. David

Well a certain double lightsaber came in handy for the minifig in the paper airplane competition. But what I can't figure out is what was I supposed to do with those unmentionable black pieces? Did I miss a midnight competition or something? Anyway, Alan and I enjoyed the event. It was nice to put the faces to the names. A special word of thanks to all the organisers as its not easy keeping everyone in line and ensuring everything running smoothly. David

For any eventees that are arriving on Thursday and fail to find particular sets in Legoland, if they PM me by Thursday night I can have a look in the Lego store in Munich for the particular items (including PAB) on Friday morning en route from the airport. While the park stores and PAB are usually well-stocked sometimes the Lego store in Munich has more new releases. David

I don't recall the fire fighter attraction being at Gunzburg. Has this been added recently? The small contingent from Ireland will be arriving shortly after lunchtime on Friday because I'll have to get my fix at the Lego store in Munich en route from the airport. I had intended on driving directly to the park but if the coupons referred to above can be put towards annual passes and are being offered to all attendees please PM me the details. I can arrange to call in to the hotel en route and pick them up at reception if they are available and worth having. thanks David

I didn't think we had to respond. Yes I'll bring 20 black pieces as its one of the easiest competitions to prepare for!. I assume they do not have to be 20 different pieces and that there can be some duplication. David Supporting the BrickIEs

Hi all I've seen that Toys rUs in Germany have chrome darth vaders for sale in Germany at the moment. If any German member going to Gunzburg later this month can pick one of these up for me for collection at the event I'd be most grateful. There is a toys-r-us in North Munich and within easy driving distance of the airport for attendees at the event but I don't know if the promotion will still be operational later this month. regards David

Hi folks I noticed the following item in my Legoland annual pass magazine. I don't speak German and the web translation tools aren't great. Can anyone explain what this is saying? My annual pass expires in early May so I will be renewing the pass at the Gunzburg event. It appears that this allows people to update their ordinary annual passes for an additional €5 to the Merlin pass, which is useful as it would get me 10% off in the shop. However, do I need to renew the pass online before it expires to avail of this offer or is it okay to do the upgrade a few weeks after it expires? David "NUR NOCH BIS 31. MAI: Die günstigste MERLIN Premium-Jahreskarte! img_140x140_upgrade.jpg DAS WAHNSINNSANGEBOT ZUM SAISONSTART - Die günstigste MERLIN Premium-Jahreskarte für unsere treuen Jahreskarten-Inhaber! Wir sind Teil der MERLIN Welt - und wollen Sie daran teilhaben lassen. Zum Saisonstart 2009 machen wir Ihnen im Apri und Mai dieses Angebot: Sie verlängern Ihre LEGOLAND® Jahreskarte JETZT - und zahlen für die MERLIN Premium-Jahreskarte nur € 5 (Erwachsene) bzw. € 10 (Kinder/Senioren) auf! Nutzen Sie heute noch die attraktiven Verlängerungsangebote der LEGOLAND Jahreskarten. Dieses Angebot gilt nur in Verbindung mit einer Verlängerung der LEGOLAND Jahreskarte und ist zeitlich befristet auf den Aktionszeitraum."

Please put me down for one of those airline promo sets also. thanks David

After, a crash course in deeplinking from the tutorials the pics have now been deeplinked. David

Having waited for a while to see if a 7134 A wing fighter review would emerge from the darkness of pending reviews I felt a disturbance in the force and finally secumbed to a review of this set. I today opened my box and commissioned a new 'mark 1' A wing into the Dfenz rebel fleet. As I already had the more recent 'mark 2' A-wing fighter (6207) it was interesting to see how the two compare. First up, the box. Its reasonably small, not much wasted space, but then again it contained not only the pieces and instructions but also advertisement leaflets for the Mindstorms Droid Developers set and other Star Wars sets. Here's the rear side of the box. The contents of the box include three bags of lego and two loose pieces. As this is an older generation of set there is no dreaded sticker sheet. Another nice aspect (for me) was to open a box and see lovely pristine old grey colours - not a bley in sight! The set is a very easy build, about 10 minutes max and that's including some stoppages for photos. As usual its minifigures first. There are two in this set. A pilot for the ship and a mechanic. Unlike some other sets there are no maintenance bay/ technician accessories, just the ship and a mechanic with a magic wrench to fix all problems. Some random instruction shots Once the minifigures are assembled its straight to the ship itself. As its relatively small it doesn't have too many moving parts, so no interim build pics. The windscreen canopy opens as does the storage compartment behind the pilot and the guns on the wings also move. All three aspects also feature on the more recent version. Indeed many aspects of the Mark 1 version are carried over. The guns and canopy look identical and the storage cover is only slightly different. The ship has a few multcoloured filler bricks with yellow, black and blue all making an appearance. The 7134 version is two studs narrower than the mark 2 but this is due to the guns extending further rather than any significant width difference in the ship itself. However it is a few studs shorter. The main differences between the two versions is that this older version is blockier especially around the front and sides. There isn't a wedge slope in sight. Instead we have roof slopes which aren't too bad from the side but are inadequate from the front perspective giving the ship a far less streamlined look than its successor. For landing gear there are three standard support pieces (no resting on the rear chassis for this version unlike the mark 2 set). One positive feature is that the front slopes are printed but in 6207 its stickers galore. Both versions have the printed 2x2 slope for the cockpit (see minifig pic). The other noticeable difference is the rear engines which are smaller on this version. When the two ships are side by side the mark 1 version appears stubbier as its shorter. The 7134 a-wing isn't particularly streamlined from the underneath but then again neither is the later version and it's not a necessity. Its a small ship so it has plenty of swooshibility and like most of the older models is of a sturdy design. The colour scheme shows its age, with grey and red predominant. In my view this isn't a patch on the white and dark red colour scheme of later ships. Here are the two ships in action and, back at base. The only spare part was a second visor for the pilot. Overview I purchased this set off ebay a few years back so I probably paid way over the odds for this set and can't comment on the price or value. Others may have picked this up when originally available. Like most of this generation of Lego Star Wars sets it suffers from the 'could have done better' syndrome. However, given the parts and colours available its not the worst design and indeed many features and parts reappeared many years later. An easy set to acquire a few copies of and build up the rebel fleet. Design: 7/10 - It seems to be accurate representation. Like all old sets it has some wierd colours but its not the blockiest build. Its quick and easy to assemble and its sturdy. Minifigs: 6/10 - Two minigures which I like. Playability: 8/10 - This is not a set for gimmicks. Its simply a pick me up and throw me into the fray, expendable ship. Swooshability: 9/10 - Very sturdy and not the worst looking ship. Reasonably light. Overall: 7.5/10 - An average score. As I can't add a poll, perhaps one of the mods may like to do so.

I received the following response from Lego Shop at Home in connection with the recent increases for certain exclusive items such as Cafe Corner "Thank you for your email from 04/04/09 regarding the prices of LEGO® products. There has been a general price adjustment for Shop at Home in Europe which means that some prices have gone up slightly whereas others have stayed the same. We understand that some of the changes have increased prices of certain models significantly such as the one you mention in your email but this measure has been taken to ensure that prices are aligned with the market prices in all the EU countries SAH ships to. Please do not hesitate to contact us again if we can be of further assistance. Thank you again for contacting us. We wish your family many happy hours of creative building with LEGO brand toys in the years to come." While I appreciate that I have received a response, quite frankly its a load of cobblers. On any comparison with eurozone countries the recent increases for Irish customers are excessive and are way above what the market will bear, especially given todays income tax increases which will eat into disposable income (no stimulus package here). A euro50 increase is not a 'slight' increase. This will simply send purchasers to the UK (or away from Lego altogether). Even postage to the UK is substantially cheaper even though parts of the UK are further from the distribution centre than most Irish addresses. In fact another AFOL calculated that to get the Millenium Falcon it would be possible to fly to Heathrow, get a taxi to Legoland Windsor, spend the day in the park and return with the set back to Dublin. I haven't done the maths myself but differences on this scale throughout Europe risks importing the historical US/Europe pricing divide more widely into the European market place. David

I've sent a complaint to Lego Customer services. Following the hike for minifig PAB I'm hoping this is an error. It will simply cause serious LS@H Ireland sales to dry up as shoppers find delivery addresses in Northern Ireland, as I have done for my two most recent deliveries. In the current economic climate such increases are totally unacceptable. Luckily I have both of the above sets already but I was thinking of acquiring a second Green Grocer. David

The AT-OT Walker is now available on LS@H. Its Stg£166.35 on UK, €249.99 in Germany and most European countries, €299.99 in Ireland!!

The Farm sets are now available on LS@H Europe, at least in Ireland and the UK. As usual the UK prices come out a lot better than the euro prices. David

Just to confirm that I had independently booked the Eurohotel for myself and my son so I'll be in the same location as most people. regards David

In addition to the Eurohotel there is an Axxe Motel a little bit down the motorway. Its a motorway truck stop but when I stayed there previously I found the rooms perfectly adequate and it was cheap. I ended up there one time when the Eurohotel had a function and they transferred me to the Axxe. I don't know whether they do quadruple rooms. It had restaurant faciilties also. Might be worth checking out also if you're stuck but as far as location goes the Eurohotel is much closer to the park which as you've noted is a distance from Gunzburg itself. On the food front there is a restaurant immediately beside the Eurohotel which looks quite decent but I haven't used it. Breakfast in the Eurohotel can be purchased separately if anyone's feeling hungry - I think it was €8 per head. I recollect that the breakfast in the Axxe was superior and especially good value for guests of the motel. Anyway, a word of warning. The Eurohotel is not a particularly large hotel so rooms might get booked up quickly. David