LEGO City and Friends are rumoured to focus on theme parks this summer, sparking a trip down memory lane to LEGO rollercoasters from the past.
Between a number of rumoured LEGO Friends sets seemingly centred around theme parks (42700 Candy and Cupcake Ferris Wheel, 42702 Twirling Flower and Fairytale Teacup, 42703 Mermaid Roller Coaster, and 42676 Fun at the Water Park) and one said to be coming to LEGO City (60501 Lava Land Amusement Park), this summer is set to be big for theme park fans.
What's more, they won't be too expensive, coming in child-friendly, home-grown themes. The most expensive rumoured price for these sets is $99.99 / €99.99, and several are expected to be even cheaper than that.
Of course, LEGO City and Friends sets are typically geared more towards play than display, with the latter also featuring mini-dolls rather than minifigures, but that's not to say that sets from these themes can't both look good and appeal to adults. Take 42691 Garden Restaurant, which joined Friends on January 1, as just one recent example of how eye-catching a play set can be.
If these rumours prove to be true, LEGO City and Friends will be the only places to find brick-built rollercoasters and theme park builds. That wasn't always true, however – although past LEGO rollercoasters have been absent from shelves for over a year now.
Rewind to the LEGO Fairground Collection
The LEGO Fairground Collection was spread across first the Creator theme and then the Icons theme when it rebranded, kicking off back in 2009 with 10196 Grand Carousel and running for 15 years, until the last set, 10303 Loop Coaster, retired in 2024.
These sets were more adult-focused than the ones we can potentially expect from LEGO City and Friends, although they included interactive play features to bring them to life as well. The Fairground Collection was made up of six sets in total, none of which were on shelves for longer than two and a half years, and one of which (10196 Grand Carousel) was only available for a short and sweet 10 months.
That short shelf life has made it pretty rare – and therefore expensive to find secondhand, now fetching an average price of £1,352.63 over the last six months on BrickLink, 16 years on from its retirement in 2010.
That's the most expensive of all the retired Fairground Collection sets on the secondhand market, but all of them have retained or increased from their original value in terms of resale according to BrickLink's data.
The modern era of rollercoasters
The last time we saw a brick-built rollercoaster on shelves was 10303 Loop Coaster, available between 2022 and 2024. Originally retailing at £344.99 / $399.99 / €399.99 for 3,756 pieces, the LEGO Icons set had lofty ambitions, taking up a huge amount of desk/shelf space (not to mention LEGO budget), and using LEGO Powered Up elements (sold separately) to actually power the rollercoaster cars along the track.
It's LEGO trains on steroids, and several reviewers noted that it improved upon earlier track functions both technically and aesthetically.
"10303 Loop Coaster improves upon its predecessor in some respects, including a much more elaborate and therefore more exciting route," wrote Brickset. "This mechanism works consistently and I love the twin loops. Furthermore, the track configuration surrounding the loops avoids the overwhelming forest of pillars present on 10261 Roller Coaster, instead emphasising the colourful track."
You can see those functions in action yourself thanks to video reviews, like the one embedded below from Tiago Catarino, who noted: "I never really cared about LEGO Fairground sets, but if whatever comes next stays in line with the level of building experience, functions, and mechanisms that the Loop Coaster has, consider myself a fan."
Unfortunately, 10303 Loop Coaster was the last Fairground Collection set to date. The mini-theme seemingly ended on a high, with 10303 pulling together the lift function from 10273 Haunted House, improving on the track mechanism from 10261 Roller Coaster, and smoothing out the aesthetics for a more visually impactful set than anything that had come before.
While there are still some exposed Technic elements, that feels like both an unavoidable consequence and also a realistic one. Actual rollercoasters don't always hide all their mechanisms, and this LEGO one leans into that, showing off its technical parts. After all, you'd have spent quite a while building them in the first place.
What's next for LEGO theme parks?
Perhaps the LEGO Group felt as though it had peaked with 10303 Loop Coaster, or perhaps it's only peaked in terms of adult-focused LEGO sets. With the rumours of LEGO City and Friends sets, this summer seems to be a hotbed for child-friendly models.
However, the fact that these rumoured sets will seemingly be more geared towards kids and therefore play could result in some even more exciting play features. LEGO design has come on since the earlier sets, meaning more mechanisms can fit into even smaller spaces.
While we shouldn't expect any complex mechanisms in City or Friends, we've seen how effective even simple techniques can be in sets like 60337 Express Passenger Train and 60508 Police Train Heist. Both of those stick to train tracks, sending cars moving in a flat direction rather than up in the air but surely the same logic applies.
Simplifying the mechanisms, as we've already pointed out, should also reduce the prices down from the eye-watering tag associated with 10303 Loop Coaster. In a LEGO world where prices feel increasingly inaccessible, LEGO City and Friends could not only be a path back to LEGO rollercoasters for the first time since 2024, but also a return that won't break the bank.
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