Temporary Waffle: Kidcraft Transportation Station Train Set

I received the following product(s) in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

When I first saw the Kidcraft Transportation Station Train Set for ages 3 & up, I thought it was adorable and wanted to give it to my 3 year old nephew as a gift. But in receiving it, I don't feel like it's very gift friendly. The box it comes in isn't very appealing, and the set is ridiculous for a 3 year old to set up. Even I had a hard time with it. The pieces all come individually wrapped in either foam paper or plastic, which protects the items, and keeps it organized. So I opened all the parts, and begin setting the train set up.

The instructions included are hard to understand, but you get the hang of it after a bit, only to find that some of the wooden train tracks do not fit together well at all. I found myself having to force the pieces in order to fit. It seems that the cutting was done poorly, so a lot of the tracks fit like wrong puzzle pieces. And then you have to screw some of the pieces together to make the Transportation Station Area, which isn't 3 year old friendly so a parent will definitely have to help. I put most of the set together, and found it is still pretty adorable once put together. But such a pain putting together. I am now uncertain if I will gift this to my nephew, because it just doesn't seem like gifting quality. We'll see though. I do love the little wooden pieces, such as the trees, tractor, and two little people. I wish the airplane and light post were wooden; But they are made of plastic, as well as some of the other pieces. I like that this set includes a mat to build the tracks on (I realize I built mine backward on it lol) but there are some flaws with this product and I really do not feel it is worth such a high price.