Regarding the ice rink, I can't help but feel that its inclusion forced a non-preferred trade-off (in my opinion) to the other builds within this set. I would have liked to have seen the firetruck look a little more... 'complete'. That opinion could come from the fact that when others were posting pictures of the firetruck from 10197 Fire Brigade, my mental baseline got set. Now that I see the stock photo shots of the firetruck from 10263 Winter Village Fire Station, I just see it as "okay". It's not awful, but it feels kind of small and something feels awkward with the ladder (either in the way it would be used or stored, or where a minifigure would sit... I'm not sure what I don't like about it yet).
I think the existence of an ice rink in a multi-set Winter Village display is a nice thing, but I would have preferred to purchase it separately, like 40262: Christmas Train Ride or 40263: Christmas Town Square. In fact, it would be nice to see more $9.99 seasonal sets to serve as add-ons to a growing winter village.
The two sitting on the park bench I really appreciate. I love the saxophone. It totally reminds me of a couple years ago in Marco Island Florida during Christmas where one of the tenants of my folks place was playing Christmas music on his sax. When combined with the street light the bench scene provides a Hans Christian-Anderson kind of look/feel. It's appropriate and can stand on its own as a nice inclusion to an overall multi-set Creator Expert Winter Village. I will be purchasing this set for my wife, it's an annual tradition. This set has more that I like than dislike, so that's positive.