Going into last weekend, the buzz that LEGO was making a mini-version of Disney Castle (71040) had intensified. The LEGO.com Building Instructions portal recently listed an entry for LEGO Mini Disney Castle (40478). It pretty much confirmed the set’s existence and identified it as a gift-with-purchase item. But at the time there were no other bits of info available. There wasn’t even a picture of the assembled set or its packaging; operative word being “was.” As might be expected, the first image of LEGO Mini Disney Castle was released Saturday.
Brickset.com notes that LEGO Mini Disney Castle (40478) now has several declarations of conformity on the LEGO.com Legal section. On the declarations, all dated September 3, is a small image of the set’s box packaging. One can perceive from the grainy details the faithful recreation of the original 71040 set down to minute details. About the only changed details seem to be the gold detailing on the castle’s towers. Then again the Disney theme parks do refurbish the decorations on the actual buildings every now and then. You can compare the look of the 567-piece mini-Castle in the image above, with the 4,080-piece 71040 below.
There’s one other point of reference for scale we can go on. Apparently set 40478 also includes one Mickey Mouse minifigure. He seems to be the same design from 71040, and as we know that set was big enough for minifigs to play in. Mickey standing next to the mini-castle in the box image comes across to be slightly taller than the drawbridge. On a scale like that a LEGO/Disney collector with limited display space may appreciate this possible GWP. Presently, we don’t know what promo/pricing the LEGO Mini Disney Castle (40478) will be attached to. However speculation pegs its release sometime this coming October.