If you’ve read Product Review: Playskool Toy Car, you know I’m not a big fan of the Playskool Step Start Walk n’ Ride activity walker/ride-on toy. But I have found some other Playskool toys, including a Playskool toy-car racetrack called the Wheel Pals™ Triple Track Tower™, that are toddler-friendly and lots of fun. In fact, my son likes his Wheel Pals™ Triple Track Tower™ toy-car racetrack so much that it’s among the recommendations included in 5 Gift Ideas for Toddlers Who Love Cars.
The Playskool Wheel Pals™ Triple Track Tower™ is terrific for a first toy-car racetrack. Playskool/Hasbro recommends it for children who are 18 months to 3 years old, but my son has been playing with this toy since he was about a year old.
This toy-car racetrack is called Triple Track Tower™ because it has three raceways. One is green, one is blue, and one is red. Each one has a slightly different slant and angle. The three Wheel Pals™ cars that come with this toy-car racetrack match the tracks: one is green, one is blue, and one is red. The Wheel Pals™ cars themselves are fun for little ones to play with, because they are slightly squeezable and just the right size to fit in their hands. They also have cute little faces with friendly expressions. In fact, before my son really played with the toy-car racetrack, he liked to carry the cars around and run them along pieces of furniture or the floor.
However, this toy-car racetrack is even more fun when you use it as intended. This means perching the little cars on their respective “starting gates” on the Triple Track Tower™ and pushing a button to send them racing down the tracks. It only took a few times to demonstrate to my son how to start the race by pushing the button, and the button is not too difficult for little ones to press on their own. When they do, the toy-car racetrack emits a “peeling out” sound as a little platform under each car raises up to send the Wheel Pals™ cars speeding down the raceways. If you visit toysrus.com and pull up the page for this toy-car racetrack (search for item number 370646), you can view a demonstration of the toy in action. Just click on the yellow button labeled “Set it in action.”
Before each race, you can push down on the checkered flag at the finish line to activate somewhat of a little road bump at the end of each track that keeps each from traveling too far away. That way, you don’t have to go searching for the cars across the room to give them another go.
This toy-car racetrack comes with two AA batteries so that your kids can have all the sound effects if they want to play with it right out of the box. It’s easy to assemble, too. You simply snap the top of each track onto the three-tiered starting gate, and then you snap the bottom of each track into the finishing line. There is also some quick, one-time assembly work needed to get the checkered flags in place.
This lightweight toy-car racetrack, which measures 15 inches by 8 inches by 16 inches, is a good toy to take when traveling because you can easily disassemble it to save space in your luggage or car and then quickly reassemble it at your destination. Our Triple Track Tower™ flew from Texas to Michigan this summer, in fact.
A few of the reviews of the Triple Track Tower™ I’ve read that were written by other parents are not as favorable. One parent complained that the button got jammed; another said that the track’s pieces kept coming apart. We have not experienced either of these problems, and the toy-car racetrack has been played with over and over.
The Playskool/Hasbro Wheel Pals™ Triple Track Tower™ is available for sale at Amazon.com, Target.com and Toysrus.com for $14.99, and in my opinion, this toy-car racetrack is well worth that reasonable price. If you would like a bonus of five additional rescue-themed vehicles to use on this toy-car racetrack, JCPenney.com offers the track and Wheel Pals™ cars as described in this review plus the bonus cars for just $19.99. If your child loves cars, this is a fun toy to have around.
