Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden Folding Princess Castle

Opinion :
FINALLY! A castle for girls DIMENSIONS: 18" W x 15"deep closed and 26"high (Including the flag) and an incredible 36" or 3 FEET long when unfolded. Bigger than my daughter's dollhouse, this princess castle is enormous, and folds out to be even bigger, it is natural wood with very pretty screened (not hand painted but still very nice) flowery decorations. We try to buy all wood toys (some painted some not) and this was, while not unadorned, a very beautiful alternative to the nauseatingly pink and plastic princess castles out there. The roof and turrets are pink accented with gold, a very nice and pretty touch. The quality is excellent, as are all Melissa & Doug items. Don't even hesitate to get this one - your daughter will absolutely love it. When you consider how unique it is, how beautiful and well-made it is, how BIG IT IS, and how now your daughter can have a castle to rival that of your son's, it is well worth it. This is actually bigger than my son's blue castle. My two play with theirs together and the hours of imagination and cooperative play with all the different story lines (his knights and her princesses) is just endless. May 2008: UPDATE: over a year later and this castle is still is perfect shape after hours and hours of play. The ONLY caveat would be the flag - it is held on by a magnet, which does make sense since if it had been glued on it would have broken off by now, but it gets lost easily and the castle looks so much prettier with the flag on. To contradict myself, being able to take it off easily lets my children act out "capture the flag" storyline. I just have to move heaven and earth to find it when misplaced. I cannot believe how much this product has come down in price. I paid over [...] for this when it was first released. Now, with a lower price and Amazon Prime free shipping, you can't go wrong. As a commenter pointed out, it is small inside for furniture, but, this is not really a dollhouse after all. Add the fantasy/princess figures, a unicorn for the unicorn stable and your children will be all set. UPDATE JANUARY 2009 I just purchased the M&D matching princess furniture. The castle has held up to much playing and still looks brand new. After the Tinkerbell movie, it became a fairy castle. The Papo fairy and princess doll figures, Tales and Legends I think, fit perfectly, too. The Disney princess figurines (the mini ones, favorite moments) are a good size also. I am still very happy with this purchase and daughter is still playing happily with it. Our local upscale toystore has this for just under a hundred dollars. Amazon's price is still the best around.