Fisher Price Cruise & Groove Ballapalooza

RECOMMENDATION:  Very high

My one year old LOVES balls.  He is all boy.  And he is also the fifth kid - as in "what can we possibly this kid for a gift?" at Christmas and birthdays kind of kid.  With four older siblings, we already had necessary baby gear, clothes and plenty of toys.  He really doesn't NEED anything.

Fortunately he also came preprogrammed with his own personality which zeroes in directly to balls and trucks.  All on his own.  Trust me.  His older sisters have thrown enough girl toys and Barbie movies in his path that I'm amazed he isn't converted at all.  Although, he does love to dance with the girls.

So, when I came across the Fisher Price Cruise & Groove Ballapalooza, I knew we had found a perfect match.  Balls and music.  PERFECT.  And I am happy to say that we were not disappointed.  Being only 17 months and on the tiny side, Ethan was too short to reach the top ball drop on the Ballapalooza for a month or so.  Fortunately he could start the ball anywhere he wanted until he got to where he can reach the top.

While I knew our toddler would love it, I grossly underestimated how much his older siblings would!  He had no shortage of people volunteering to start a ball for him, or crawl through the arch, or push the music buttons.  You get the idea.  Fisher Price definitely knew what they were doing when they designed the Ballapalooza.

Initially we had to get on the big kids cases to let Ethan play with it.  Envision telling your 14-year old son, "Hey, it's THE BABY'S toy. Let HIM play with it!".  We've now had it three months and we still have big kids playing with it.  It's like a magnet.  When Ethan plays with the Zballapalooza and the music starts, without fail a sibling comes running over.  The Ballapalooza is probably the MOST well loved toy in our house!

The fun things we love about the Fisher Price Cruise & Groove Ballapalooza:

1.  Multiple starting points.  One down low for babies, mid-range for toddlers and top drop slot for 18+ months.

2.  Two arches.  One is short for babies to crawl through.  The other is taller for walking toddlers.  And in our case, five and ten year olds to crawl through.

3.  Three spinners.  Two down low for babies and one in the middle.

4.  Music.  We love the energetic music chosen.  I've had to listen to it a lot and have yet to have it drive me crazy.  Music does keep playing for a bit after a ball is inserted.  Also has two volume levels.

5.  Six lights.  Coordinated to the music and great for entertainment.  Three lights on center pole on two opposite sides for a total of six.  Low, middle and high for different vision levels.

6.  Set of 8 balls.  There are enough balls that even if a few get wandered off with, baby still has plenty left.

7.  Hanging inflatable ball with rattle and swinging gate.  Just a little extra fun for baby to swat at.

8.  Very stable and we don't have to worry about the Ballapalooza tipping over.

What we didn't expect:

1.  The Ballapalooza is a lot bigger than we thought and takes up about a 4 foot diameter space including play room.

As you can see, the pros greatly outweigh the con.  We highly recommend the Fisher Price Cruise & Groove Ballapalooza toy for babies and toddlers.  There is definitely lots of fun to be had with it!