71040 Disney Castle

[Bruce N H]

Hey all,

Today LEGO announced an upcoming set, 71040 Disney Castle. You can read the full press release and see more pictures on GeekDad, but some details include:
4080 pieces
US$349 (ouch)
5 Disney figs - Donald looks to me like the one from the Collectible line, Minnie and Daisy in different colors than the ones in the Collectible line, Mickey in formal attire, Tinkerbell (new fig, right?)
Also two knight figs (suits of armor)
Release September 1, 2016
Tons of little details for Disney fans - e.g. Lumiere and the rose from Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty's spinning wheel, Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey's hat and mops, Alladin's lamp and rug, etc.
Great build details for castle fans. I particularly like the way they shaped the towers, also that awesome spire at the top. Three new shields, though they might be stickers.

[Bluesecrets]

This is a dream come true for me. I shall be saving up for it. SO excited. Not 100% sold on the curved slopes but hey...I'll be a super happy girl no matter what building this one.

[rogue27]

Looks pretty awesome! I will get this if I can ever afford it.

[Lobberuno]

It is pretty awesome and expensive at the same, perhaps the detailed rooms worth it.

I'm curious about the shield coat of arms, which even if these become generic will be welcome.

Have good luck and fun, the people that will get this set.

[architect]

I am very excited that TLG finally created a true UCS castle. The detailed interior is very nice. I agree that the new shields will be a good addition to classic heraldry for castle creations.

Ben

[soccerkid6]

Stunning castle for sure! Incredible amount of detail for an official set.
I hope those great new shields are printed

[sassymanjohnson]

totally awesome. i'm buying day 1.

i also like the new lava castle coming out for nexo knights.

[Bruce N H]

Hey all,

Just going through and looking more closely at details.

I mentioned Disney Easter eggs above. Here's what I see as a full list:
Princess and the Frog - two frogs kissing in moat
Alladin - lamp and rug on the ground floor interior left hand side
Beauty and the Beast - Lumiere and rose-under=glass in the middle of the second floor interior
Cinderella - glass slipper in a secret compartment you get to by removing the dark blue roof/slopes just to the right of the Beauty and the Beast room
Fantasia / Sorceror's Apprentice - third floor interior just above the Beauty and the Beast room has buckets, mops, and the wizard hat
Sleeping Beauty - spinning wheel on the third floor interior just to the left of the Sorceror's Apprentice room.
Rapunzel - I'm guessing - brush and scissors in chest on the fourth floor just above the spinning wheel
Snow White - Magic Mirror and apple in the fifth floor just above the Rapunzel reference.
Brave - bow, target, cookies - you can see these in a detail shot but not in either the front or back view - since these are on a brown plate, they must be in between the central tank palace and the light bley outer walls.

There are some that I'm curious about:

Bedroom on the fourth floor - Is this a reference to a specific movie? Just a playable detail since castles need places to live? Or I read once that Walt had a private office or maybe apartment in the castle where he could look out and see the whole park. Hmm, if this is the reference, maybe Walt's frozen head is somewhere in a secret compartment? okay, probably not

Kitchen. This is nicely done:

Kitchens certainly show up various places - e.g. Cinderella has to clean one (hmm, there is a pumpkin), a mad chef chases Sebastian around one singing about how fun it would be to kill and eat all of the major Little Mermaid characters, etc, Ratatouille maybe. I just don't see a direct connection. Again, maybe this is just a playable detail because castle residents have to eat.

Grandfather clock. I love the design on this and so hope the clock face is printed, not stickered.

Clock that strikes midnight for Cinderella? Cogsworth on growth hormones?

These awesome shields:

I tried to re-orient them in Gimp. Are those crests from something? It's not Prince Philip (my first guess until I looked up a picture). Maybe something from Sword in the Stone? They're really detailed and lovely (of course if stickered I'm less excited), so I love them regardless, but wondered if they were something specific.

Some other details, not Easter egg related:

Great design on this vase. Also note that they are using that tile first introduced in Nexo Knights as an ornamental detail in various places.


This chandelier (8 of those fez hats in white):


The detail work that went into the tops of these towers:

I love the repetition of the 1x2 bar with handles (classic space lasers) around those panels (hmm, didn't know about that piece - a doubling of the older corner panel piece). Also the layering of details in white on the other tower.

This spire might be my favorite bit. Very reminiscent of various cathedral MOCs.


These are in an upper window. Two of those shooters that show up in a lot of Star Wars sets. I'm guessing these are fireworks?

Now someone needs to light it all up Frozen style:

I don't know if they're still doing this, but we were at DisneyWorld last Christmas and at night they did that. It looked really awesome.

[vendezzz]

This set is very well done. Im not sure about the price though or the minifigures. While the figs are cool they aren't exactly useful

[sathalarin]

with the new shields, this is going to be a dream come true, for bricklink i am going to be getting 2 myself, in addition i am hoping to get a bunch of the new shields. and i wouldn't mind to see the lug list for future lugs ....

[TeufelHund]

I guess it's nice enough if you're into fairytale castles but I can't help wished they'd made a 4000 piece medieval style castle - now that would be awesome (probably wouldn't sell so well, I guess).

[Bluesecrets]

Thing is with this set you have all the Disney fans wanting it...which is a huge amount of people in the world. It's a castle. Pull in more castle people, how is that ever wrong? Inspiring more people to build castle? WOOOHOO!

The details in this set, the build, forget that it is a license and just check out how well each room is. That's the kind of thing we all try and build in our castles. It's why we LOVED the MMV. And why a lot of people love the modulars.

So maybe it isn't what most castle people would want. But it does have amazing ideas in it...and parts, don't forget the parts.

And while it may be out of your price range, just think about the amount of them that will be bought for kids and then thrown in their LEGO bin...and eventually put in garage sales. And that is BECAUSE it is Disney.

[Dubbadgrim]

This has to be the most impressive 'castle' set ever. The choice between buying this and Jestro's Lair will be a tough one.

[Thor]

And while it may be out of your price range, just think about the amount of them that will be bought for kids and then thrown in their LEGO bin...and eventually put in garage sales. And that is BECAUSE it is Disney.

You are so right Bluesecrets, there are so many pro's with this set.

[athronieth]

Well it's beautiful from a distance and as Bruce points out has marvelous little details reminiscent of movies/scenes we know as well as a few puzzlers. It's not something I will buy given my limited budget and building interests, but I admire it immensely nonetheless. I hope they sell 10 million of these to help keep castle alive.