Sunshine Ranch Review

Sunshine Ranch Review

by Toni

Sunshine Ranch offers so much to do! Ride some horses, feed the bunnies, or collect eggs
from the chicken!  Let's take a closer look at LEGO Friends set: Sunshine Ranch.

The FriendsBricks community wishes to thank TLG's CEE Team for generous support of
this set to review and share with fans.



This is a large box. This is a heavy box. And with good reason. This set is big!


The back of the box shows the back of the barn, and features the playability of the set.


Inside the box we get two instruction booklets, a sticker sheet and two horses. The horses
are rare.


The box also includes six bags, two 16x16 tan baseplates and two 8x16 pink baseplates, which
are rare.


In the first bag, we get some interesting parts. This includes fences, medium lavender
2x3 slopes, animals, cherries, carrots and flesh colored 1x1 round tiles.

Exclusive to this set in bag 1:

• Tan foal
• Light flesh 1x1 round tiles
• Medium dark flesh 2x2 plate

Rare items in bag 1:

• Dark orange 3x3 cross plate
• Bright orange basket
• Grey bunny
• Medium Lavender 2x3 slopes
• Medium Lavender 1x6 plates
• White chicken
• 1x3x3 Brown Arches

The first bag makes all of the outside bits. There is the tree, bunny pen, wheelbarrow, horses,
fences, Mia, and chicken coop. The flesh colored round 1x1 tiles are eggs under the chicken
coop. At first I thought it was strange to have chicken feed that color, and it didn't click until
I started writing the review that's what it was supposed to be. Now that I get it, how clever!
The egg collection bucket has a handle so you can pull it out. The tree is quite short, but
decorated well. The carrots in the pink bucket are a nice touch.


Bag 2 contains some more intriguing pieces. The gray 2x2 round tile has the new circle
underneath instead of the x. There are lots of magenta pieces and a neat white 2x2 corner
tile. Currently the only other set that has this piece is the Simpson's House, which is much
more expensive than this set.

Rare pieces in bag 2:

• White 2x2 corner tile.
• All magenta pieces
• Pink gate/door

Bag 2 makes the start of one of the stables. The yellow technic beam with technic pins
will eventually hold a 1x10 plate, which I thought was clever.


You'll notice that most of the pieces are the same from bag 2. This is due to the symmetry
of the set.

Rare pieces in bag 3: 

• Same as bag 2
• Red insect and flower pack

As you can see, bag 3 continues the stables.


There are some wonderful lavender pieces, and lots of white tiles.  We also get hats for
the girls.

Exclusive to this set in bag 4:

• Dark green 1x1 headlight brick

Rare pieces in bag 4:

• Light blue saddle
• All medium lavender pieces
• Hat with blond ponytail
• Hat with red ponytail
• Lavender 1x2 log bricks

Bag 4 completes the ground floor. There are bails of hay that hold saddles, a grooming
station, and a swivel chair. The mother and foal's stall has more room, and I appreciated
the detail. The instructions had the left white 1x10 plate reversed, but with so much symmetry
in the set, it didn't look right, so I mirrored it from the one on the right. The plants add great
visual interest, and the lanterns help sell it as a barn.


The yellow 2x2 round tile has the classic x underneath. The pink plates are nice, as well
as the solid white door. This is nice for MOCs with bathrooms in them, as well as bedroom
doors. I have been wanting more of these!

Rare pieces in bag 5:

• The solid white door
• All magenta pieces
• All medium lavender pieces
• White upside dome

Bag 5 makes the bedroom and bathroom. The new upside dome piece makes a great
looking toilet bowl. That piece is going to be super useful in MOCs. I'm already thinking
of uses for them. As shown in Kristel's review of Heartlake Juice Bar, they make great
seats too. There is an awkward space next to the pillow on the bed. You can't see it from
here but if your minidoll rolls over they can see right into the bathroom. It's one of those
weird choices the designer made that seems silly to me. The space is used efficiently and
holds a lot of details. The little attic space is used to store a book, which has the letter in it.


Again, due to the symmetry of the set, we get a lot of similar pieces in bag 6. We also get
a pink plate, an apple and the cookies!

Rare pieces in bag 6:

• The solid white door again.
• 1x1 tile printed with cookie pattern

Bag 6 makes the dining area, stove, and fireplace. Both second level pieces have the barn
windows blocked, which I guess prevents a minidoll from falling out. The planter boxes
on the front are a nice detail. (Take a look at the box art again. One of the planter boxes isn't in
the right spot. The instructions have it in the correct spot though.)

You'll notice the top levels are made individually, which allows the builder to play immediately
if they so choose. This is one of the great things about LEGO Friends; you can build a little at a
time and play as you go.


This is the finished back of the set. The designers really packed a lot in. My least favorite
part is the bedroom. There's not much to it. Granted they had to fit a bathroom in as well.
My favorite part is the kitchen/dining area. The table looks like a red and white checkered
tablecloth. The fireplace looks great for the space allotted. I also like the swivel chair Liza
is sitting in.


The three pieces excited me the most. The cookies are adorable, and the flesh 1x1 round tile
is awesome. I can't wait to figure out a use for it. As I said before, the upside dome is pretty
darn useful. The colors featured in the set are amazing too, but isn't that one of the reasons
we buy Friends sets?  Pieces like this are what I'm looking for.


Here is Mia. I am not really pleased with the outfit. The tank top is okay, but she does not
have on proper footwear for working on a farm. I'm afraid she'll roll over her toes with the
wheelbarrow! At least she's not in a skirt. The top is from the Bakery and we've seen the
green Capri pants many times before.


Liza is wearing appropriate pants and footwear! The pants were featured in the two previous
horse themed sets, Heartlake Horse Show and Heartlake Stables. She is wearing the same shirt
from Olivia's Newborn Foal. Liza has Stephanie's face and the hair is also not new.


There are 52 extra pieces. This makes the set $0.09/piece which is really a great deal. Sure,
they are not large pieces, but anything extra is great! There is even an extra cookie.


The Sunshine Harvest (41026) fruit stand looks great next to the barn. The color schemes are the
same and it makes the two sets come together perfectly.


This set is full of playability. You can ride and groom the horses, check the chicken coop,
pet bunnies and a cat, use the wheelbarrow, play in the bedroom, use the bathroom, cook
on the stove, read a book under the tree, a whatever else you can think of. There is non stop
action at the Sunshine Ranch. Kids will love this set. There is just so much to do. I would
have loved this set as a kid. Adults may pass this up as there aren't many new pieces, but
who can pass up the colors? I am personally not disappointed with how the set came out, as
it surpassed my expectations.

A special thank you to everyone who made this review possible.

Note: All exclusive parts mentioned in the colors noted were applicable at the time this review was posted.
Parts may be available in other colors and sets after the post of this review. Brickset and Bricklink was used
as a tool to verify this information.
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