My almost 9 yr old son and 11 1/2 yr old dd have recently started playing with these (dd picked up the first set at Disney)....but these kids have ALWAYS been into little figurine/imaginitive play. Right now my sun room has got an attractive display of Puppy in my Pocket dogs!! They've been playing with those for 3 days solid--every chance they get.
So some of it probably depends on your kid.