As per usual, Christmas is over and here I am finally getting to review the Winter Village themed set released for Christmas. Better late than never I guess. This one is #10293-1: Santa’s Visit. It was released on 17 September 2021 in the US. It contains 1,445 pieces and retails for $99.99. This works out to $0.069 per piece which isn’t that bad.
The box is in the 18+ branding and while the background is dark, it does look like they tried to brighten up the set so all of the features stand out. The box is pretty standard. The front shows the full set and the front of the house you build. The back shows the back/inside of the house and then some of the features of the house.
This set contains nine numbered parts bags and two instruction booklets wrapped up with the stickers. The first and smaller booklet covers bag one and all of the accessories not attached to the main structure. In theory, if you were building with someone else, you could hand off that one while you worked on the house. I suspect they will finish first, but I like the concept.
Here are the instruction booklets. The inside has some details on the set and on the builder, Chris McVeigh who also designed last year’s Winter Village themed set #10275-1: Elf Club House.
Only four stickers with this set. Not too bad I guess.
The first bag builds what I loosely refer to as the accessories, but mainly it is parts not connected to the main structure. There is a small fence section with a mail box and an entrance large enough for a minifigure. For whatever reason, the designers decided this piece should be separate so if you want it linked to the house, you need to use your own pieces. The same goes for the fence, unless you want the fence to highlight the entrance to the walkway that you also need to build with your own pieces. The mailbox is a simple build that easily gets across what it is and there is a post with a lamp on it and some greenery.
There are also a bunch of gifts you build to put under the tree. Some are just boxes with decorations, but there are a few actual items to include a small rocket and a trumpet. The girl’s room has some space themed decorations so you can assume the rocket is for her. The trumpet looks pretty good considering its size, but would be quite large for a minifigure to play. For it to be more realistic, you’d need a molded element similar to the saxophone that has shown up a few times in the past.
Lastly comes the tree. The designers continue to come up with new methods to build trees. This one is no different. The tree has a light brick on the bottom and is built on top of the brick. It is built in a way that when you push down on the top of the tree, the light brick turns on, but it is not heavy enough to keep the light brick on all the time.. There are clear plates throughout so that the light from the brick shows through the tree. This is a fun technique to use and I like how it was done. Bonus points to the designers!
The second bag builds the base for the house. As has been the recent trend, instead of just using a base plate, the designers attached a bunch of plates together. The good part about this is it allows them to get some different shapes besides just making everything square.
A few interesting parts of this bag… you build the fire in the fireplace. The fire appears to be a gas fire as it comes from burners versus a log type design. The burners pivot which I believe allows Santa to come down the chimney and not get burned. Although the “fire” stays lit so the house burns up when it tilts over. The other fun part is the present that you build and place on the floor. Later, you build a chair that goes in front of the gift. This is supposed to be the parents hiding gifts for the kid, but any kid would find that gift in seconds so not really a good hiding spot.
Bag three builds up some of the outer wall. This includes some greenery decorations made of claw type pieces. There is also a lot of snow that has fallen off the house or been shoveled into the areas. There is also a small white bird perched on a window sill.
I didn’t take a picture of the inside, but the kitchen is built up with a sink, some counters, an oven, drawers, a kitchen mixer, and a loaf of bread on the counter.
Bag four finishes most of the first floor. You build up the walls, add the windows, and install the door. On the inside, there are a few additions like a flower, the wood pile, and more of the chimney.
The fifth bag builds up the living room area of the house. This includes adding a chair, with a coffee table, and then decorations on the fire place. The fire place decorations include stockings, some candles, a clock, and a family picture. It also builds up the chimney and some of the wall of the house.
The sixth bag adds a dining room table with four chairs. The table has a red table runner and a candle on some greenery.
It also has you build the girl’s room. This includes a bed, a desk and chair, a picture on the wall (focused on space exploration), and the Christmas list on her desk. There are no stairs to the upstairs as usual, but no complaints considering the piece count and price of the set.
On the outside, there is a roof portion added over the kitchen area with some decorations. The bell decorations are a cool addition.
This bag also adds the girl minifigure. She is in pajamas which I don’t think have been done before. Her face has smiling on one side and then eyes closed and sleeping on the other.
Bag seven finishes off the chimney and adds on most of the roof. A different method is used to attach the roof that hasn’t been used previously. Nothing overly complicated, just different.
Bag eight adds the center section of the house along with the roof. It doesn’t add an additional floor, just a wall section, but there’s more greenery, some bells, and a window.
Bag nine, the last one, adds a bunch of different small details around the house. You finish off the chimney with some snow around the edges. Additionally, you add a tree on the ground near the chimney. The stem and branches are brown, but the smaller branches are all white as if it had just snowed. And because I put it in the picture, you get a Santa minifigure in this bag. He comes with a sack.
The next part as seen in the picture is a small snowman. In the past, they have used minifigure parts, but this one is all white and just uses round bricks.
The last addition to the house is some roofing on the back over the girl’s bedroom and a brick build decoration of a planet with rings to go with her enjoyment of space exploration.
This set comes with four minifigures. To me, it looks like a lot of new torso parts we haven’t seen before. Is that true? Both the mother and father have smiling faces and then laughing with eyes closed on the other side. The daughter has eyes open and mouth open and then sleeping. Santa has a big hat and beard so you wouldn’t be able to tell if the face had another side (it doesn’t).
Here’s the final build. To be honest, it’s nothing that really screamed out to me that it was awesome. It had some good building techniques and it uses some fun pieces, but other than that, it was just a house. The light up Christmas tree is a nice addition to the set as compared to light up houses and fire places in the past. Other than that, it’s okay. If you’re into this theme, then definitely get the set. It’s been sold out on LEGO.com since before Christmas 2021, but I did see it listed on Walmart. Check around for it, but good luck if you can find a sale. Hopefully you can get a good gift with purchase or double VIP points to go with it.
Happy building!
