Disney Castle Playset by LEGO 71040 – Limited Release
Cross the stone bridge and enter the arched doorway to a place where dreams come true. This delightful LEGO replica of the Walt Disney World Resort Cinderella Castle is full of authentic details for you to explore.
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a castle to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace, and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for pleasance and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace.
European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries after the fall of the Carolingian Empire, which resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. These nobles built castles to control the area immediately surrounding them and they were both offensive and defensive structures: they provided a base from which raids could be launched as well as offered protection from enemies. Although their military origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the structures also served as centres of administration and symbols of power. Urban castles were used to control the local populace and important travel routes, and rural castles were often situated near features that were integral to life in the community, such as mills, fertile land, or a water source.
Many northern European castles were originally built from earth and timber but had their defences replaced later by stone. Early castles often exploited natural defences, lacking features such as towers and arrowslits and relying on a central keep. In the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle defence emerged. This led to the proliferation of towers, with an emphasis on flanking fire. Many new castles were polygonal or relied on concentric defence – several stages of defence within each other that could all function at the same time to maximise the castle's firepower. These changes in defence have been attributed to a mixture of castle technology from the Crusades, such as concentric fortification, and inspiration from earlier defences, such as Roman forts. Not all the elements of castle architecture were military in nature, so that devices such as moats evolved from their original purpose of defence into symbols of power. Some grand castles had long winding approaches intended to impress and dominate their landscape.
Although gunpowder was introduced to Europe in the 14th century, it did not significantly affect castle building until the 15th century, when artillery became powerful enough to break through stone walls. While castles continued to be built well into the 16th century, new techniques to deal with improved cannon fire made them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result, true castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery star forts with no role in civil administration, and château or country houses that were indefensible. From the 18th century onwards, there was a renewed interest in castles with the construction of mock castles, part of a Romantic revival of Gothic architecture, but they had no military purpose.
Playsets, or play sets, are themed collections of similar toys designed to work together to enact some action or event. The most common toy playsets involve plastic figures, accessories, and possibly buildings or scenery, purchased together in a common box. Some sets during the 1960s and 1970s were offered within metal "suitcase" containers that also functioned as part of the playset.
First pioneered by metal figure manufacturers around the turn of the 20th century, usually as military "play" figures with simple accessories, the concept of the playset was further developed by companies like Marx Toys, Superior Toy, Remco, Deluxe Reading, Multiple Toymakers (MPC) and others throughout the Baby Boomer era. Several manufacturers continue to produce playsets today.
Release may refer to:
- Art release, the public distribution of an artistic production, such as a film, album, or song
- Legal release, a legal instrument
- News release, a communication directed at the news media
- Release (ISUP), a code to identify and debug events in ISUP signaling
- Release (phonetics), the opening of the closure of a stop consonant
- Release from imprisonment
- Release, in medical classification, a root operation in the ICD-10 Procedure Coding System
- Software release, a distribution of a computer software in the software release life cycle
by Flair
I really enjoyed putting this Lego set together. The details and the special little touches are incredible. I must admit that I was slightly overwhelmed when I saw the instruction book (almost 500 pages!), but the directions are very clear and easy to follow.
by Gerth
Purchased this just before it was sold out. We are only a third through the build, but it is a lot of fun. Amazing how so many pieces go together to make all the shapes. We have not found the “stickers” that attach to the shields or the brick elements that are supposed to go on the plain flat surfaces of the walls and turrets. We are hoping they are hidden somewhere in the packages.
by Kansas
We had been looking at this for years, but became concerned it would retire after being out of stock for awhile. It was available on the Disney site briefly this month.
The box is huge as expected and the castle doesn’t disappoint at all! My daughter and I have always loved Legos, but this is as good as it gets if you’re a Disney fan. And the instruction manual is huge, like phonebook huge.
We are halfway through the build and have loved every minute of it, and look forward to the rest of it.
by Pop
I purchased this fine castle, as I had been looking at it for years. After 3 hard days of assembly, it was completed. I was surprised by the detail, as the picture does not truly capture the size and detail of this castle. It was very great, and fun to project the Happily Ever After Firework show on with my mini projector! Very great item!
by Holic
Very challenging build. Tons of detail. Has iconic movie memorabilia from 10 princess movies and great mini-figures.