Review: 40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride GWP

December 11, 2023 | 5

With LEGO’s final Double Insider Points promotion of the year ending on 12 December 2023, it’s a pretty good time to pick up some last minute Christmas gifts or splurge on LEGO for the year, especially as you may also qualify for two December 2023 GWPs.

The most notable GWP for December is 40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride, which will be available until 14 December 2023, and with Double Insider Points on all purchases until the 12th, you can’t really go wrong with any big ticket purchases.

Here’s a quick review of 40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride and the corresponding purchase thresholds below, as well as 40604 Christmas Decor Set. Unfortunately, the set has sold out in Australia and New Zealand but is available everywhere else.

• 40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride – spend US$150 / AU$240 / £130 / €150 or more on LEGO.com from 1-14 December 2023
• 40604 Christmas Decor Set – spend US$70 / AU$110 / £65 / €70 or more on LEGO.com from 1-14 December 2023

Special thanks to LEGO for sending this set over for review!

If you’re thinking of picking this set up, please consider using these affiliate links to purchase, as I may receive a small commission with each purchase.

For a 153 piece set, you get a really solid lineup of three minifigure included in the set, which is quite a lot for a GWP. You get a couple, both with matching red scarves and a Coachman who looks very dapper with a navy coat, pocket watch, and a tophat.

The Coachman utilises the new-ish Santa Claus head, so you can also pretend this is Santa’s side hustle when he’s not out delivering presents to kids all over the world.

The build was fairly quick, but incredibly enjoyable. It’s everything that you could want from a LEGO GWP – an interesting build using a really nice palette of colours with some interesting techniques thrown in.

The classic carriage look is accentuated by the colour-scheme, with the predominantly dark red colours being brightened thanks to the pearl gold wheels and steps, as well as some tasteful sprigs of holly as decorative elements.

The inclusion of the dark orange horse is also a nice bonus as it’s a fairly rare horse colour – it’s only shown up in 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle and 60327 Horse Transporter prior.

One of my favourite things about the design is what I believe to be a fairly new innovation in LEGO Carriage design, with a turntable for the wheels! LEGO Designer Dan Squirrell incorporated this into the build, which allows the horse to properly lead and turn the carriage, instead of the usual rigid harness.

It works well enough and is a small but significant touch to inject more realism into the build.

In this top view you can also see the strategically-placed studs for the minifigures to sit on – it’s a bit of a right fit but it allows both minifigures to sit facing each other.

The ornate Disney Princess wheels look great here, and give it that extra bit of Christmas and old-world magic.

And yes, if you wondering, the 40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride looks fantastic as an add-on to your LEGO Winter Village. Here it is pulling up to the 10325 Alpine Lodge!

As LEGO GWPs go, there’s a lot to like about 40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride – a curtain closer to what has been a memorable year of Gifts with Purchase. It works well as an attractive standalone model, but shines when added to your LEGO Winter Village or another similar Winter/Christmas scene.

With a generous number of minifigures, and attractive old-school carriage design, plus an uncommon LEGO Horse, this is an all around great GWP.

If you can think of something to buy from LEGO.com before the 14th of December, or the 12th to make full use of Double Insider Points, I highly recommend picking up 40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride. Thankfully, the US$150 / £130 qualifying threshold isn’t too outrageous either, so it feels like you’re getting a great value GWP as a reward for your purchase.

Rating and score: 4/5 ★★★★✰

Special thanks to LEGO for sending this set over for review!

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