PixieHollow (http://pixiehollow.com)

common sense media says

Fancy fairies play among lots of Disney branding.


parents & educators say
  • 31% say they noticed product placement

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that it's hard to argue with Disney's creativity and the magical fun that it consistently produces for kids. But it's also hard not to pick a bone with the amount of Disney branding and tie-ins to other Disney sites and products on this site, which is otherwise a simple, fun place for kids who like to dress up fairies, chat with other kids (within a safe, preselected chat dictionary), earn badges, and fly around looking for fun features. Be sure to read the site's informative section for parents and the three introductory emails sent to the parent's email address (required for kids under 13).

Educational value: This site is pure fun. It would be a stretch to call any of the current games educational.
Positive messages: Most of this site is sweet, harmless fun. That said, the focus on earning badges by "making as many friends as you can!" and rating other users' fairies high or low for no real reason may send the wrong message to the youngest users about what real friendship (online and offline) means.
Violence: Not applicable.
Sex: Not applicable.
Language: Not applicable.
Consumerism: The Disney brand is heavily marketed here. From theme parks to the Disney Channel and a link to the Disney online store, players can't escape being wooed by the Disney brand.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Not applicable.

More on PixieHollow

What to talk about

Talk to your kids

Families can talk about the idea of "making friends" online. Especially for the youngest users, consider making a rule that no online friends are to be made, or set the tone early and clearly that online friendships are different than real-life ones. What does it mean to make friends with an online fairy that belongs to a person you don't know? What does it mean if someone turns you down when you ask them to be your friend online? Parents, does your child agree or disagree that it's a good idea to earn points by getting the most friends or to rank fairies with a number of stars that everyone on the site can see? Point out the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that Disney uses this site to encourage kids to ask for and buy Disney products and media.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 

Overall, this is a fun site, but not without frustration for young players. There's a lot of text and blog-type entries, most of which aren't at the appropriate reading level for the youngest members of the 6-and-up age group this site is courting. Loading times are long, and games are currently few. The site's terms state that your child's Disney.com account also provides access to content at sites like ABC.com and ESPN.com, so it may be wise to explain to younger kids that they need to stay in fairyland and not wander into the land of Desperate Housewives.

Website themes & details


This review was written by Dana Villamagna
 
 

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What parents & educators say

8
Based on 13 parent & educator reviews:
  • 31% say they noticed product placement

Most useful reviews by all members

xxhersheyloverxx
kid, 12 years old
 
nice website.but whats up with the membership????99 percent things are membership like for real???

EspumaMarina
teen, 15 years old
 
I'ts one of best sites, but some users mis-use it
I've never played a game that I love yet makes me furious all at once, this is it. I know its fun in a few cases, well, it is for the 'members' (I'm a member) Sure there is loads of cool things to do, throwing parties and buying things (if you're a member) but the kids on there... Oh my freakin gosh. A lot of young ones HAVE common sense, but most of the population... no. They host 'gal cons' 'gf cons' 'bf cons' and 'boy cons' its all rather pathetic. The ONLY time I attended these sicko cons is to watch out for friends and shout the living snot out of the pervs (well actually I just try to explain how low their honor may go that way- believe me, it will embarress you if it runs into you in the future) What goes on in 'cons'- in all kinds it shows loads of girls (or 'sparrow men') trying to compete to win the person hosting it (Like Tila Tiquila) a lot of the times it resolves in creepy rage ("you can't have him, he's MINE!" I'm so much hotter than YOU are you little beach!) -like that. I am not lying to you, I've seen it so many times. Sometimes the 'winner' and their new boy/girl friend celebrate with (hearts) and fake kissing, then they try to undress as much as they can (You can't really go too far) and type sounds to express what their doing. In Dewdrop Vale (a meadow on pixie hollow) is usually where most of the drama takes place (usually just cruel comments or sexual refrences) Examples: "Oh no, I forgot to wear a con dome!" -condom. "Where the heal is Magpie!" -hell. "Go to HELP!" -go to hell. (And the many OTHER ways to try to say that hidious word) "Rose you HORse!" -whore. "Heather you iS Lie Up Tea" -sl*t. "You little beach!" -b*tch. And what's people's reactions to these words? (lol lol lol lol LOL ROFL lol lol lol)- yeah. Someone from Youtube even records such behavior that is a dayly thing for some on Pixie Hollow. And just when things can't get any more chaotic in DewDrop Vale someone comes in and says "GF CON!! MY PLACE!" and people shout "Go away nobody likes you!" all the freakin time, um, and I can see no way of liking HER. (I'm typing it as I am watching and remembering) -by the way, the moniters hardly watch, I have a friend that ALWAYS has "boyfriends" and stuff (she's nice tho, just can be a total brat) she's on everyday. And they always threaten to report you for NOTHING (I always say go ahead because I didn't do anything) but others will make the situation worse by hissing back. People incourage such behavior by screaming "FIGHT!" One girl says "Go FUn lUcK a hampster!" -f*ck. See how well our youth is.. okay enough of examples. Its really fun, on how you make it anyway, but its hard to trust kids on there because one minute they're okay, next they frame you for nothing or try the drama thing (someone's been watching too much Hannah Montana...) It's really fun though, if you make the best of it. Unfortunitly that's not the case for quite a few people on there. I'm not sure if I'd let my kid on, consittering the moniters rarely do much about it, and if you do ONE thing wrong, they will almost never let you back on period.

MsMakaykay
teen, 15 years old
 
I cried!
Pixie hollow is NOT for kids! I joined thinking that it would be very fun and it was until my second day on the site. I was flying around and I walked over to these fairy's who were just talking and said, "Hello." they started being mean to this one girl so I said, "Be nice!" so, this one person said to me, "Fly away BEACH!" I was astounded! He meant the 'b' word! I reported it but nothing happened! I replied with, "Beaches don't fly." and got in trouble just for saying that!! A short while after that I was talking to my friend and telling her what had happened when suddenly this girl fairy said, "OMG! Guess what she just said to me because I asked to be her friend!" I flew over to her and asked, "What? What did she say?" she said, "She said, "I can't be your friend because you're black!" Before I could respond the girl she was talking about said, "Hey everyone! Whites only group at my house!" I quit after that. So, please note that this site is not for children.

Athena2264
teen, 14 years old
 
The God's Honest Truth
Here's my beef with Pixie Hollow. Two years ago, I see an ad for it, so I get on and love it. The people on there were kind to each other, the mini games were a blast, and the moderators quickly took care of any and all problems that arose. However, about six months into it, they (Disney) offered this thing called a membership. Well, I showed the price to my mom, and she automatically says, NO WAY! Given the prices, I assumed that most people wouldn't be getting one anytime soon, either. Was I wrong! I was getting to the point where I wasn't getting on for a full week because I didn't want to have to hang out amongst the members.Not only were they full of themselves ("Oh, you're a loser! I'm rich! You must be poor! HaHa!" was what we non-members got on a regular basis.), but they were just MEAN! Oh ,man, were they mean! I've been called some really ugly names by members! That brings me to my next complaint: The Moderators! As mentioned before, they don't "moderate" anything! I can't count far enough to describe how many times that I have reported bullying and I got back a message ,"sorry, but the Never Council is too busy with other problems!" (funny, no matter how many times they say that, nothing ever gets fixed, really.) That leaves us with the final,and worst problem with this site. That's right. BOYS! Honestly, girls, you think it's O.K. to "date" any random boy on this site, and assume he's not a perv? As mentioned before...HAVE A LITTLE SELF RESPECT! That's pathetic! Boys infesting this site is the cause for the majority of the bullying here (He's mine! No, He's MINE! You little *****!), and the worst part? Disney's promoting it! Like, I think it was 3 mo. ago, and they decided to actually try to fix something. Well,any self deserving member of the Never Council would start cracking down on fairies caught dating and getting rid of their accounts. (I'm sorry they never did this, as most members would have left the hollow.) But is that what they did? Well, lets use some common sense here, unlike the people responsible. Hmm, knowing Disney.... NO! As a matter of fact, they welcomed it, Even allowing the boys to create a "Sparrow Man". Really, Disney, Really? Now they're just encouraging it. That's sad, considering SIX YEAR OLDS can easily make a account as well. Well, I hope no body is letting their kids on. Because when I have kids, I won't.

TwilightChicaXD
kid, 11 years old
 
Great for tweens. A little iffy for under 10.
I love it... Ive been playing PH for over a year now! The only problem i have is the ''boys''... alot of the boys are actually girls.. I dont really have a problem with the dating.. Thats fine. BUT IT CAN GET UNAPPROPRIATE. Like kissing.. etc etc. I give this Great for tweens! Iffy for under 10.

Almanac8
teen, 14 years old
 
This game is F-U-N!
Alright, so I've played this game (Yes, I'm a guy and I play Pixie Hollow. Deal with it.) And here's what I think. Pros: Badges (Some are kinda difficult to get) Games (Very fun games!) Events (For the different seasons) You can customize your Fairy, there's Quests, you can chat between players, and there's stuff laying on the ground! Cons: There needs to be boy Fairies (Sparrowmen, I think.) And there needs to be more Quests. Overall, I give it a 4/5.

grimgirl88
kid, 12 years old
 
Upseting
I have an account on here. It's upseting because my best friend also has an account but doesn't have membership like I do. Just about everything is for members and my friend doesn't go on anymore. Also it gets really boring if you did all the quests like I do.

BookGirl1
kid, 13 years old
 
Beautiful and wonderful world of fairies [for members that is!]
When i went on Pixie Hollow* i was amazed at the beauty and quality of the website and when i got a semi-annual membership the fun and beauty got better. The membership is very good, there unlimited games, challenging logical yet fun games, beautiful fairy avatars, heaps of pretty clothes and furniture to buy. It is plain wonderful! the only problem was, before i became a member most of the things were limited and most fairies [who were members] would not want to make friends with you because you were not a member and only till i became a member and started dressing like one [only members can buy clothes, non-members could only buy one outfit which is not very pretty] THEN people wanted to be your friend! I could not expect more from Disney, and i hope all members and non-members can enjoy the magic of Pixie Hollow!

Reba_Nell_Fan
teen, 14 years old
 
I do not think this is age appropriate. Many People use talk about drugs,love and others with Speedchat Plus and Gf of bf cons wich cause problems. However, Regular chat is ok.

Gopherit
teen, 14 years old
 
Good for younger, ehh for older
It's nice! I like the atmosphere, chat is a bit too safe, but oh well! I also think the membership thing is too much, just like club penguin's. You can't do much without the membership. I also like how safe it is, so you know nothing will happen. It could use more education, however. I don't recommend it for anyone who is nearing their 13th or higher bday.

KitHeart
teen, 15 years old
 
What a lovely, kid-friendly site! *sarcasm*
One day I was babysitting my little sister, Savannah. She was playing on PixieHollow. Suddenly, she walks up to me crying. I am scared and ask her what's wrong. She tells me this, I quote. "I was on PixieHollow and I found a quiz. It was How Would You Use Magic If You Were A Pixie and I answered it. They called me a crow and said that I would use magic for selfish reasons." Oh my god. My mom has now banned that site from our family. They shouldn't be talking bad like that about their users!!

JosieGrl
teen, 14 years old
 
Need lotsa $$$
It's a great site for little girls, very happy and sweet and all that, but like many disney sites, you have to pay to do anything worthwhile on the site. Only play if u wanna pay.

SweetieV
parent of and 3 , 5 , 7 year old
 
Fun, Really well done, bummer they charge you to "play"
Really fun site for kids who like to "play dress-up" and are really into the "Fairies" franchise. My biggest beef is with the almost required membership cost. At first, the site was free, but more and more the fun "features" --like being able to buy different clothes for you fairy with points earned from collecting berries and twigs are now only available for "Members" who pay a monthly fee. With all the cross branding and pushing of Disney products going on, I would have hoped Disney wouldn't also be hitting my 6 year-old up for a monthly "membership fee" to play.

fantasy_faerie
teen, 17 years old
 
Love it...just one problem
I love Pixie Hollow, both content and graphics, but I have only one problem. Membership. Membership is strongly encouraged and a LOT of the features require membership, including more quests, being able to throw a party, buy clothes, get a new hairstyle, buy a pet. The games are very educational and fun at the same time. There is absolutely no inappropriate language in Pixie Hollow as only approved words are allowed.

MamaBearToo
parent of and 4 , 9 , 12 year old
 
I think it's Flitterific!
First of all how can a site about a famous Disney fairy not seem to be product placement? It is not about buying fairy toys, it is not about Disneyland, it is about flitting around collecting ingredient items to trade for goods, going on quests to help other fairies, and playing little games to earn more ingredient items. By the way the games are very easy and the child can quit when a level gets too hard and then hit replay to start off easy again. I am a newbie to all this but have helped my 7 year old collect items to buy things. Yes it was very disappointing to shop and agree to buy things then be told "Oops!" you are not a member. But This is not the only site out there that requires membership. (However I do wish that when you did invest in the membership it would be for families and not one child only, that adds up.) My guys are on the middle level chat and for the past few months have not encountered what the other reviewers have. There is a report feature, and I do not know if you would be notified of the action taken, but on another Disney site my kids have reported others. I used the kids fairy home address as their 'Homepage' and there are no ads. Just a very cute page including their home, a quiz, an option to print your fairy....They give you the link to this page after your child creates each fairy. They can make 3 different fairies for free! Which brings me to the extras that are also free. WONDERFULL printables, bookmarks, crafts, garlands, even recipes for fairy foods! They are my favorite part of it all and I repeat, it is free! I think if your child is old enough to be online at all, they can be taught to "not talk to strangers". Have them only go to Quiet servers.(LOVE that they give you the 'rankings' on servers, Crowded, Ideal, Quiet) In my time online the other fairies are barely on the page long enough to make friend requests let alone chat. If you are worried make a fairy of your own, (It can be erased later), and try it out.

 
Commericalized problems and excuses for not fixing them
Although the marketing is heavy, from pushing to toys, custom T-Shirts, etc. on the front page, to sales of a hand held game that allows you to play with a butterfly flying behind you while in the game, certain "badges" earned in the game can only be done by buying "Clickables" toys, "friendship bracelets" and so on; the game has far too many MAJOR glitches, that despite numerous "error reports", they are fixed VERY slowly if at all. Kids and adults alike are very frustrated, for instance with the latest additions where items earned in the game simply have disappeared. It's been nearly 2 weeks and this and MANY other problems in the game are STILL not corrected! My friend's grand daughters used to play, and have since lost interest, since they had earned so many tings and they simply disappeared. The game had problems when I first signed on, though I thought, "Hey! It's Disney, they'll fix it lickety split." Boy was I wrong! The problems have only increased, and they continue to add more and more to the game without fixing the problems they still have! Some have been there the entire approximately five months I have been a member. The latest additions caused items that took weeks to earn to disappear. After about 2 months, myself and others became bored with the game. When the new editions came, we were excited about them, and although the new things are cute, the game has too many problems to list. The game is very repetitive (one has to play the same games inside the game over and over for quests to earn things, and that becomes boring.) You and play for free, although you cannot buy things such as clothing and items for your fairy home, make things such as clothes or cookies for quests, go on member quests (there are a very few for non-members) or go into the new areas, so there is a constant push to buy a subscription. On the front page, the products to buy are pushed heavily (latest has the hand held game, friendship bracelets, Clickables, and so on advertised on the front page (If you want to be able to have friends online, get certain badges, be "in style and have a butterfly fly behind you" then buy this!) If the game was error free (or even tested properly), I would recommend it highly. The artwork is incredible, yet the game has problem after problem after problem with simply playing the game. Connections are frequently dropped in busy times, and the cute sayings about why their servers crashed, this and that doesn't work, items your characters have earned that were not that easy and took hours of play simply disappeared during an update (Roughly half of my items disappeared, which for an adult is about a month's worth of work playing nearly every day!), when you file an "error report' you get a form letter back, their live help is rarely available and hasn't been while I've been on since the latest mess where everyone's things disappeared. You use three characters per account. Two of mine are stuck in a loop of the same quest and cannot buy items, the other simply cannot buy anything and is missing an item earned from a quest, as are many more peoples'. There are party games that only work about half of the time. When they freeze, you are stuck logging out, and if it is your party, you spent things you had to collect to throw the party and loose it all. This could be a wonderful game, but needs some good programmers to update it about every 2-3 months, not including the special events, to keep it fresh so kids and adults alike don't get bored. As Pixie Hollow exist now, I would not buy a subscription for anyone. There are simply too many problems to list here. I did make a free account (which anyone can do) yet most of the problems go unnoticed on a free account. It is only after you've paid and start playing that you notice there are major problems that should have been worked out before the game and additions were put online. Great ideas, great artwork but a 1 on execution.

napamom
adult
 
Pixie Hollow might be fun for a month, but then they get bored. THEN, when you want to cancel it won't let you do it online, gives you a message that you have to call 800# - and you can't get a live person for 4 tries! When you finally do they say they will cancel and don't. THEN, they send you an email requiring more information. THEN when you send them the info they still don't cancel. Been 4 months of trying all the while they are still charging me. One more try and then I file a complaint with credit card company and local tv station!

RainFog
teen, 16 years old
 
Rip off dating servace
I like it a little, but I think its ridiculous that they charge you like 30 bucks or over just to play on there. You can go on for free, but it lets you do almost nothing if you're not a member! Like if you make a fairy, you have only three options for types of hair, you have no option for clothes (they USE to) when you get in pixie hollow, you can buy ONE outfit, which isn't very good looking, when you get to your house you only have like two pieces of furnature! And above that, you can't do pretty much anything else! Certain games are restricted, you can't buy ANYTHING, places are banned, cooking and clothes making is banned, certain quests are banned, I mean all you can do is talk if you're lucky. But people wont want to talk with you because if you aint a member they assume you cant talk and members cant take their friends places because they cant be let in! And also they make boys fairies now! It was bad enough without them because girls made their girl fairies look like boys and hosted GF cons, now they have boys that actually are boys, so now girls even LITTLE girls, get carried away with weddings, fake sex, kids, and kissing! I'm tired of people coming up to me screaming they got a boyfriend .. this is how it looks- "Hey Aria, guess what! I got a boyfriend now!" "On here or real?" "Here" "But didn't you ever think these may be grown-ups or girls pretending to be boys?" "Oh (boys name) wouldn't lie to me! Your just jealous!" "Yeah because dating a total stranger is something to be jealous about, have some self respect" "He loves me, you'll never understand! Tears!" then the little drama queen flys away and deletes me, but if they dont delete me they either agree or come back crying their 'boyfriend' was cheating on them or broke up with them... These are mostly girls 10 and younger. Dont think your kids dont have hormones at that age. I was just naming the things that go on, also I'm a member, but I know how frustrating it is if you're not.

RainforestGal
teen, 15 years old
 
I think its an awesome idea, but these kids are getting out of control. Like those gf cons ( mentioned be-4 ) These total strangers ask little girls in THEIR terf to compete in a "gf con" to see if they get to date these people! They may even be online pretaters, and these girls AGREE to such things and answer questions the "male" player asks. And they fight and get angry if they lose! People these "boys" are on a GIRLS site, wearing DRESSES and calling themselves names such as Ash, River, Acorn, things like that. What happened to self respect? My friend whispered to me and said "gf con, fly to me" I followed her, because I wanted to shout this "boy" out, "his" name was River- by the way. I sat in the corner of his house "monitering" him ( unlike the website does ) and shouted "TO MUCH INFO" everytime he asked a personal question like "were do u live" and "how old r u" My friend aperantly won such a con, and he went to her house, and I hid in his house until he came back ( just studying- making sure what gender and age it really is )- i can tell by behavior. And I kept whispering to my friend "there's a reason why they are called 'cons'" and "Ever wonder why he goes on little kid sites and ask all these questions?" My friend finally knew what he and she did was wrong and called him a "noob" whatever that means, and left. I feel like a babysitter. . .

diamonddust2264
teen, 17 years old
 
not appropriate for the fan base!
i have two issues.for one,unless you buy a membership, you will probably get really bored, and younger kids may not make any friends. before, it wasn't a problem because of secret codes, but even those are limited now. and many boy fairies have registered, giving way to the girlfriend contest. because of a concern over safety,however, the codename is GF con. 6 year olds can be lured into dates, marrige, even adopting kids. i found no sensual, violent, or alchol/drug themes, however. but if you do allow your 6 year old on, watch closely and mention things that seem innappropriate for her age. and don't her give out personal info!

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About our rating system
ON: Content is appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child, some content may not be right for some kids
OFF: Not age appropriate for kids this age