Lighten Up!

Walking into "Lighten Up" Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium instantly come to mind. If you haven't seen the movie... SPOILER ALERT...... its a magic toy store. "Lighten Up" isn't in a shortage of magic.

Especially if You have the privilege of Todd working the counter. A true kid at heart, he will never leave you walking away with a toy that wasn't tailored to your needs. Plus some! He is the master of finding where all the good stuff is hidden. We left with Quarto a very complex checker-like game. Along with becoming new collectors of the Kanoodle games.

Keep in mind this isn't an ordinary toy store that gives in to the gimmicky newest and best toy, that requires 7 triple A batteries, sold separately. This is true local spot to get simple but EXCITING toys from hacks and kites to collector toys and board games; Lighten Up
is a safe place where everyone can be kid!
Needless to say we have found our favorite gift store for kids and adults alike or our place to just "Lighten Up"!

Sadly the days are past where a mom and pop toy store was a regular site. Lighten Up is still very much holding its own on Park Ave in Winter Park historic area. You'll easily know them by their storefront since it always has fun and whimsical items readily on display.

This store has been around a long time and is always a fun place to stop in. They carry some really fun toys, games, stuffed animals, and other items that you won't find in the regular chain toy stores. I'm a fan of old school style toys, and any toy that incorporates a learning opportunity with fun! I've been here a few times to shop for new moms-to-be and my nieces when they were a bit smaller.

They do have some of the regular brand items if you want to grab some of those while you're here, too!

Staff here is another way that the stars go up at this location! They are always friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. They are great at recommending toys for any age, or child personality - just let them know what kind of thing you are looking for, what kind of child you are buying for, and you'll be good to go!

Overall: A
Who doesn't love toys??? This place delivers on that great mom and pop vibe with both old school and new school options.

This great toy store is OPEN! They moved to the gorgeous Millenia Mall in Orlando. We were shopping for birthday presents for our soon to be one year old grandson and hit the jack pot! We bought bath toys, a safari floor mat, a Brio wooden train set, and soft fabric cars that you pull back on and they go forward on their own. Vroooom!

The store clerks were very helpful, answering questions and suggesting toys without feeling in the least bit like pushy sales people. One of the clerks played word games and strategy games with us to give us a sense of the games. I snuck one game into the pile of purchases to surprise my husband on his birthday.

They kindly wrapped every toy!

A cute unique shop in the heart of Orlando.
This shop is open to any age group, there are some pretty interesting finds that I haven't seen for ages. You can spend hours inside and still find something new.

The guy that works there was super helpful and explained some toys and its uses.

Great store for gun toys and kids' stuff. Kites. Games. Colorful and fun to explore. Books. Train sets. Figurines. You name it..

Awesome local toy store with a fantastic selection of toys. Of course you are paying retail price, but remember that they are finding the neat stuff that you didn't know about. So before you pop open Amazon on your phone and save it in your cart remember that and support a store like this.

This is a really neat toy store. I like that they have a HUGE variety of non-traditional toys (no Barbies here). Another thing that I love is kids are free to play and explore the toys. A lot of toys are opened and stored a kid eye level for optimal playing and exploring. This is a true toy store experience. My 2 and a half year old niece is always asking to go here every time we're on Park Ave.

Yeah toys might be a little more but they are for sure HIGH quality. If you're looking for a unique gift for a special kid this is the place to go. I hope it is able to stay

I really wanted to love this toy store, but it just didn't have what I was looking for at the time.

I went to the store on a Friday evening in January, post-Christmas, looking for Christmas presents (we were having a late Christmas get-together) for my nephews. I prefer not to shop at Target, WalMart, etc. or to get them the same-old types of toys, so, since I live close to downtown Winter Park, I looked for a toy store in the area.

Upon walking in, all I could hear were two women LOUDLY talking to the girl on the register and their dog yapping. I really don't mind dogs in stores; I have a dog, and I get it, but Lighten Up! is small, and the dog wandering around combined with these two women having the most meandering, loud conversation with the check-out girl made it rather uncomfortable for me to shop. I know that this isn't exactly the shop's fault (the dog and the loud conversation, though the employee was a part of it), but I also wasn't greeted by the employee or asked if I needed help as I wandered around the small space. Basically, I felt like I was invading the store and wasn't actually welcome there.

There were some interesting toys there, and some unique toys, too. But the selection was limited, and, ultimately, I didn't find anything for my nephews. I ended-up at Barnes and Nobles and bought them board games and books there.

It's not a bad store, but it's not some place I'd go to again if I needed to buy a present. Kids, I'm sure, would love it there.

My wife and I found this awesome local toy store by searching on Yelp. We were in the area for the holiday and wanted to buy something fun for our niece and nephew. Yes this store is very over priced, we found it almost impossible to buy two gifts under $40 and most of the female targeted toys seemed to be for ages less than eight. After looking around a while we settled on two nerf style rockets and bean boozled candy. The kids loved their gifts and were most amused by the bean boozled candy.

I was excited to check this place out because the reviews were overall positive. While they did have lots of neat looking toys, among them was a bunch of fake cigarettes and cigars! Really? Who wants their kids to grow up to be a smoker so they can die early from lung cancer? Who in the world would think that it would be a good idea to still sell these in light of ALL that we know about how harmful smoking. Unbelievable.