Our eldest two children have done play based preschool and loved it. Our youngest does both play based preschool and a Monti preschool (which really, still feels very much like play to her, it's beautifully done). We would like to get her a second day at the Monti if we can, because she LOVES it, but she enjoys both very much, one of the main reasons we would like to get her the second day at Monti is not specifically to do with the Monti preschool at all, so much as having two environments she goes to keeps things interesting and diverse.
One thing I do feel this particular Monti preschool does far better than any other preschool any of my children has used is work on pencil grip in fun ways (for the children who are ready) and the necessary hand strengthening play for pencil grip for all children. My children all have congenital low tone and hypermobility, pencil grip and handwriting are major issues in our family and my youngest is (so far) showing signs of possibly getting to avoid some of the worst problems my middle child has experienced. If we can avoid custom made braces in order to learn to hold a pencil that would be awesome.
