Musical Ferris Wheel

#969

c1966-1980

The Ferris Wheel is the very first Little People set that featured a wind-up music box and a ride that spins by itself. This would prove to be a good idea, as a similar concept was adopted for 1972-1977's #111 Merry-Go-Round and again for 1981-1983's #170 Change-A-Tune Carousel. 

The most hard-to-find accessory in this set is the dog with droopy ears. This dog is nearly identical to the dog used in the #932 Amusement Park and the #719 Fisher-Price Choo-Choo, except the dog used in this set has a slightly taller body. The shorter dog used in the #932 and #719 doesn't really fit well into the Ferris Wheel seats.

When originally introduced, the Ferris Wheels were sold with Straight-Sided Little People figures. The Ferris wheel seats had an upright PEG in the center to hold the Straight-Sided figures in place (seat peg fits within hole in bottom of figures).  NOTE: Regular-Base figures do NOT fit properly in peg seats.

In the early 1970's, the figures were upgraded to Regular-Base figures and the now unnecessary pegs were removed from the ferris wheel seats. Both Straight-Sided and Regular-Base figures CAN fit into the seats without a peg.

Besides seats with a peg vs. seats without a peg, the Ferris Wheel base variations are based on the colors of the attached mad boy who turns the crank. Originally, the boy's head was made of wood, later models used a plastic head. The colors of the boys' bodies and baseball cap can be any mixture of blue, green, red, and yellow.

• Retail price in the 1971 J.C. Penneys Spring and Summer Catalogue was $5.66