Back in December I talked about the hot gifts of 2011 that Big Brother is receiving for Christmas. In that post I had mentioned that I was a mom on a mission who had found the hot wheels wall track starter set in stock at Sears. I was so proud of myself because it was 1 of 3 toys that Big Brother kept saying he really wanted.
Well it ends up I was in a for a huge let down. The day the shipment was to arrive had came and went and I still did not have the hot wheels wall track hiding in my Santa pile. I checked my order and it still said the item was to be shipped on the day that had come and gone. I called up Sears to find out that they cancelled my order as they were not going to carry the item but decided to not inform me or mark it as cancelled on their site. This mom was not a happy camper. Christmas was less than 2 weeks away. I took my mission to Facebook and Twitter. Even with my Facebook and Twitter friends helping out I could not get my hands on this gift that I just had to have under the tree for Big Brother.
So I did what any mommy blogger who does product reviews would do. I contacted Mattel directly. With one of the best written pitches of my life Mattel came to the rescue and saved Christmas. In fact I even titled the e-mail “Please Save Christmas”. Mattel showed just how much their young customers mean to them and they rushed me out a Hot Wheels Starter Track to put under the tree on Christmas morning.
Big Brother was over the moon excited when he opened that gift. He looked up at me and yelled “Mommy, I was good!” then went running to Tobei asking him to open the wall track for him. It was an awesome moment and made my hunt for the wall track well worth it.
Review
We waited for my dad to arrive as we always have something for him to set up Christmas Day for his Grandson. My dad and Big Brother headed up to his room to install the wall track. They came down about an hour later. According to my dad the wall track was not that bad to set up. The only part he complained about was getting it at the right height. That isn’t a Mattel issue though since the right height all depends on how tall your kid is. It only took him about 15 minutes to set up. They spent the other 45 minutes playing with it.
I was worried about the track as Big Brother likes to take things apart and it only came with one set of 3M strips for set up. However those 3M strips are pretty awesome. Big Brother has taken the track apart twice that I know of. Both times he put it back together himself (shows how easy it is to put together since he is only 4) and has used the same 3M strips that the track set came with. The track is still soundly in place on his wall.
The only thing that I feel I should bring to your attention is something that has to do with parent smarts, not the toy itself or Mattel’s manufacturing. DO NOT install the track on a wall that adjoins your bedroom. Big Brothers track is on the wall that shares a wall with my room. That thing is way too noisy for my liking when I am trying to sleep.