What's better in summer than a day at the beach? And what's the perfect treat? Ice cream!
This is a 4+ set and is accordingly simplified. The builds are basic but there are no stickers and some fun new parts. For a play set it has just enough to give your imagination a start with a minimal ice cream shop, a beach scene, and a fun little car.
Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck are not official Disney Princesses. I suppose this is because they aren't human. But for fans of Disney these ladies are as popular as our normal princesses. Since our anthropomorphic mouse and duck friends aren't princesses, LEGO has created them in minifig form rather than mini-doll. These are both new figures, so let's take a look before we start building.
Minnie Mouse is an all new figure except for her head. The head piece is the same one used previously for sets 71040 Disney Castle (2016) and 71044 Disney Train and Station (2019). It was also used for the Collectible Minifig in 2016.
She is wearing a cute short-sleeved dress. The torso and matching cloth skirt are in yellow with white polka-dots. The skirt is made from a round cloth piece. This is a change from the hard plastic skirt that was used in 2016. The color of the fabric and the torso match very well, and the torso printing is good with good opacity on the white dots. While the fabric skirt is soft, it is too small to have a lot of drape. The unfortunate side effect is that it wants to stick straight out like a tutu rather than draping down around her legs like a skirt. If you put her arms down, it does help keep the skirt down. It's a bit like the famous Marilyn Monroe pose.
Minnie's legs are black with printing on the front for her bloomers and her pink shoes. Printing on black is difficult, and this print definitely needed to be more opaque to get a true white color. There is no printing on the sides or back of the legs. I wish they had reused the legs from the collectible minifig, or used a white leg with black printing.
Minnie finishes her cool summer look with a fluffy hair bow in plain dark pink to match her shoes - no polka dots. This is a new color for that bow and is also used in set 10776 Mickey & Friends Fire Station & Truck. The pink bow and shoes go surprisingly well with the yellow dress.
Daisy Duck is also sporting a new summer look with a sleeveless medium lavender dress and matching cloth skirt. The torso has a v-neck, a wide lavender horizontal stripe, and a narrow black horizontal stripe. The white printing on the neck is a little light but not very noticeable since Daisy's bill casts a shadow over it. I think the dress could double as a cute swimsuit. With the cloth piece for the skirt, no tail piece or printing has been added.
Daisy has the same head piece used for set 71040 Disney Castle (2016) and her Collectible Minifigure (2016). Since she is barefoot at the beach, her legs are the ones used for Donald Duck in the Disney Castle, CMF, and set 10775 - Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck's Farm. Her previous minifigs all wore shoes.
Like her friend Minnie, she tops her look with a fluffy hair bow. This is the same hair bow she had in set 71040 Disney Castle (2016). It was also used in set 41156 Rapunzel's Castle Bedroom (2018)
With both of our leading ladies in hand, let's get started on the rest of the set.
One of the things I enjoy about 4+ sets is the way the build experience is broken up. For Minnie Mouse's Ice Cream Shop the build is broken into two parts, each part of the build has a separate book and bag of parts. This division provides a fun build, play, build experience. I would like to see it used more for larger adults sets to allow couples or friends to build a set together. So often larger sets that have a natural division are not separated into separate instruction books or the break in instructions doesn't correspond to a break in the parts bags. It's not a big deal when you are building alone, but can be an added feature for some sets.
Bag one builds Minnie Mouse and her Ice Cream Shop. After building Minnie, she gets an ice cream cone (is that pistachio ice cream or a lime sherbet?). Then we build the sign board for the shop. The 2 x 2 tan plate with centered 1 x 2 bracket makes a great base for this simple sign. The sign uses an exclusive print for the ice cream menu with the prices of 2 and 3 on Micky Mouse logos. I can see this being a useful print for anyone building a Disney-themed layout. The sign is topped with a new piece that is so far exclusive to the Mikey and Friends line. This new, black 2 x 2 x 2/3 round brick with 2 1 x 1 round tiles creates the iconic Mickey Mouse head. It appears in all five of the new sets, and makes the perfect branding piece for your Disney-inspired builds.
The Ice Cream Shop is built on a lavender 8 x 8 plate with rounded end. This plate was new in 2019 and has only been used in five other sets, including sets 41164 Enchanted Treehouse (2019) and 41166 Elsa's Wagon Adventure (2019).
Also of note is the new 2 x 2 45° slope with medium azure cash register print. This cash register print, which includes a credit card slot and contactless payment, is new for 2021 and is getting a lot of use. It has already appeared in six other sets including sets 41440 Heartlake City Bakery and 41439 Cat Grooming Car. It's an excellent update to the old cash register.
The roof of the Ice Cream Shop has a fun beachy vibe with alternating stripes of bright and dark pink. The center stripes are created with 3 x 1 x 2 curved slopes. The bright pink ones have been used in eight previous sets starting in 2013, while the dark pink ones were introduced in 2018 and have been used in six other sets. The corners of the roof/awning are finished with 3 x 3 x 2 dome topped round corner bricks. This piece is new in bright pink.
Every LEGO built shop needs standout signage, and Minnie has added her personal style to the Ice Cream Shop. We finish off the little building with a giant bow. The exclusive bow comes on a separate sheet of clear vinyl, and is printed with white polka dots on a bright pink and dark pink background. This is attached to the roof with a 1 x 2 x 2 modified brick with paper/photo holder. This was a new piece in 2020 appearing in bright pink and aqua in some of the DOTS sets; here it is used in dark pink for the first time.
That finishes bag one, with two small left over pieces. You can see all the parts from bag one in this image; note that both skirt pieces come in the little boxboard carton. The holes in the box are big enough that my spare lime cherries were inside with the skirts.
This seems like the time to point out a fun, little feature in the instruction book. Being a 4+ set, the instructions make it very clear which pieces are needed for the next set by putting them in an outline of hands. Below the instructions, Minnie Mouse marks your progress by walking along a progress a bar. She looks so happy to celebrate reaching the end. It's totally unnecessary but also adorable. I wouldn't mind seeing a similar progress bar in more sets just because it made me smile.
As you can see, there isn't much to the ice cream shop. It's more of a beach kiosk than a full shop. But the windshield and 1 x 1 round bricks are convincing as an ice cream counter. The back isn't as attractive, but there is just enough room for the cash register and small refrigerator for fruity toppings, and still be able to place Minnie behind the counter. What more does an ice cream shop on the beach need?
We'll let Minnie get back to work, and see what Daisy is doing in the second half of the set.
The second bag and set of instructions starts with building Daisy Duck. Since we looked at her figure in detail above, we'll just give her this tasty treat from Minnie's shop and keep building.
We build a beach lounger beside a small table and umbrella. There are no new parts in this tiny side build, but it gives Daisy a place to kick back and relax with her ice cream while we move on to the main build of the second bag - Daisy's Beach Buggy
Daisy's beach buggy is build on a lavender 5 x 10 x 2 1/2 vehicle base with mudguard and attached wheel holders. The lavender base has only been used in set 41360 Emma's Mobile Vet Clinic (2019). It's a super quick way to get started with a small car.
The other piece of note for this car is the exclusive grille and headlight print on the 1 x 4 tile. I really love the bright light orange flower in the center of the grill. Its so cute.
It only take a few parts to turn the vehicle base into a cute beach buggy. The dark purple 2 x 4 x2/3 curved slopes are rare. They have only been used in three other sets: 41332 Emma's Art Stand (2018), 41395 Friendship Bus (2020), and 41684 Heartlake City Grand Hotel (2021)
It's a simple car, but its cute. You can attach a surfboard to the back, and the flowers on the windscreen match the print on the grill. It's definitely styled for Daisy.
I don't mind the big starter chassis for the the car. It gets the job done quickly, and is cute for a basic little car. My only complaint has to do with putting Daisy into the car, and the problem is her skirt, not the car. The car has plenty of room for a single minifigure. The cloth skirt allows Daisy to sit much easier than the hard plastic skirts on some minifigs. But the skirt does tend to bunch up when putting Daisy in the car. Maybe a 4-year-old won't mind, but if they do, it will be frustrating. And if that's my only complaint, it's a pretty good car.
The final thing we build is a little beach wave with a bright light orange crab.
Daisy is just as happy about us reaching the end of her build as Minnie was. I was super happy they changed characters for the progress bar in the second book. They are so cute marching along the bottom of. the instructions.
Here's a look at everything we built in bag two under Daisy's supervision. Two small pieces are left over. You can see all the parts from bag two in this image.
Before we bring Minnie and Daisy's builds back together, let's take a quick look at the packaging.
Minnie Mouse's Ice Cream Shop is part of LEGO's the new Mickey and Friends theme. The front of the box shows our completed set on a stylized illustration of a beach. It has a bright, summery feel, with the silhouette of a town over a hill in the background. The LEGO, Disney, and 4+ logos are prominent. In the lower right corner is an illustration of classic Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse along with the Mickey and Friends logo.
The background illustration wraps around the box on the top and left sides. We also get a classic illustration of Donald Duck on the left edge and Pluto on the top. Daisy Duck is used for the scale illustration on the top edge of the box.
The back of the box has a sandy yellow background, with a blue edge to match the other box edges. Classic illustrations of Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck are in the bottom right corner. The minifigs, accessories, and final builds are all shown separately. This makes it very clear what is included. There is a "Learn to Build" callout showing how easy the car is to put together. Minnie Mouse is pictured scooping ice cream in her shop, while Daisy Duck is pictured surfing. While this set doesn't have any action features, these photos to give an idea of the imaginative play possible.
The set is made up of several small builds which can be played with separately or together. Let's have Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck join their halves of the build to create a fun day at the beach with plenty of ice cream to eat.
Daisy's going to go relax after surfing, and Minnie's going to take the beach buggy for a spin while we wrap up the review.
Summary:
4+ sets aren't for everyone. The builds are simple, as they should be for the intended age. Many AFOLs might look past this set because of that. You might be thinking this is perfect for your KFOL fan of Disney, and you would be right. But there are several things I enjoyed about this set as an AFOL without kids.
It's a fast, simple build which is sometimes just what I need to relax, and having Minnie and Daisy cheering me along through the instructions made me smile. While relaxing with the build, it's easy to let yourself get inspired for something larger - like a Disney theme park or a beach with little vendor kiosks.
The minifigs are good. Sure, Minnie could have had better leg printing, but it's not as noticeable once you get the skirt down a little. The two exclusive prints in this set are also really well done, and I think they will be useful in future MOCs. There are also some fun new or rare parts. It's a small set so there aren't a lot of new parts, but I like what we get.
And I will definitely be using that large car chassis when I need a quick car to finish detailing a larger MOC. It's not the right choice for everyone, but a little shortcut here and there doesn't hurt.
Happy Building
-prrbrix
---
Disclaimer:
This set was provided by The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.
Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer.
Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.
Minnie Mouse is an all new figure except for her head. The head piece is the same one used previously for sets 71040 Disney Castle (2016) and 71044 Disney Train and Station (2019). It was also used for the Collectible Minifig in 2016.
She is wearing a cute short-sleeved dress. The torso and matching cloth skirt are in yellow with white polka-dots. The skirt is made from a round cloth piece. This is a change from the hard plastic skirt that was used in 2016. The color of the fabric and the torso match very well, and the torso printing is good with good opacity on the white dots. While the fabric skirt is soft, it is too small to have a lot of drape. The unfortunate side effect is that it wants to stick straight out like a tutu rather than draping down around her legs like a skirt. If you put her arms down, it does help keep the skirt down. It's a bit like the famous Marilyn Monroe pose.
Minnie's legs are black with printing on the front for her bloomers and her pink shoes. Printing on black is difficult, and this print definitely needed to be more opaque to get a true white color. There is no printing on the sides or back of the legs. I wish they had reused the legs from the collectible minifig, or used a white leg with black printing.
Minnie finishes her cool summer look with a fluffy hair bow in plain dark pink to match her shoes - no polka dots. This is a new color for that bow and is also used in set 10776 Mickey & Friends Fire Station & Truck. The pink bow and shoes go surprisingly well with the yellow dress.
Daisy Duck is also sporting a new summer look with a sleeveless medium lavender dress and matching cloth skirt. The torso has a v-neck, a wide lavender horizontal stripe, and a narrow black horizontal stripe. The white printing on the neck is a little light but not very noticeable since Daisy's bill casts a shadow over it. I think the dress could double as a cute swimsuit. With the cloth piece for the skirt, no tail piece or printing has been added.
Daisy has the same head piece used for set 71040 Disney Castle (2016) and her Collectible Minifigure (2016). Since she is barefoot at the beach, her legs are the ones used for Donald Duck in the Disney Castle, CMF, and set 10775 - Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck's Farm. Her previous minifigs all wore shoes.
Like her friend Minnie, she tops her look with a fluffy hair bow. This is the same hair bow she had in set 71040 Disney Castle (2016). It was also used in set 41156 Rapunzel's Castle Bedroom (2018)
With both of our leading ladies in hand, let's get started on the rest of the set.
One of the things I enjoy about 4+ sets is the way the build experience is broken up. For Minnie Mouse's Ice Cream Shop the build is broken into two parts, each part of the build has a separate book and bag of parts. This division provides a fun build, play, build experience. I would like to see it used more for larger adults sets to allow couples or friends to build a set together. So often larger sets that have a natural division are not separated into separate instruction books or the break in instructions doesn't correspond to a break in the parts bags. It's not a big deal when you are building alone, but can be an added feature for some sets.
Bag one builds Minnie Mouse and her Ice Cream Shop. After building Minnie, she gets an ice cream cone (is that pistachio ice cream or a lime sherbet?). Then we build the sign board for the shop. The 2 x 2 tan plate with centered 1 x 2 bracket makes a great base for this simple sign. The sign uses an exclusive print for the ice cream menu with the prices of 2 and 3 on Micky Mouse logos. I can see this being a useful print for anyone building a Disney-themed layout. The sign is topped with a new piece that is so far exclusive to the Mikey and Friends line. This new, black 2 x 2 x 2/3 round brick with 2 1 x 1 round tiles creates the iconic Mickey Mouse head. It appears in all five of the new sets, and makes the perfect branding piece for your Disney-inspired builds.
The Ice Cream Shop is built on a lavender 8 x 8 plate with rounded end. This plate was new in 2019 and has only been used in five other sets, including sets 41164 Enchanted Treehouse (2019) and 41166 Elsa's Wagon Adventure (2019).
Also of note is the new 2 x 2 45° slope with medium azure cash register print. This cash register print, which includes a credit card slot and contactless payment, is new for 2021 and is getting a lot of use. It has already appeared in six other sets including sets 41440 Heartlake City Bakery and 41439 Cat Grooming Car. It's an excellent update to the old cash register.
The roof of the Ice Cream Shop has a fun beachy vibe with alternating stripes of bright and dark pink. The center stripes are created with 3 x 1 x 2 curved slopes. The bright pink ones have been used in eight previous sets starting in 2013, while the dark pink ones were introduced in 2018 and have been used in six other sets. The corners of the roof/awning are finished with 3 x 3 x 2 dome topped round corner bricks. This piece is new in bright pink.
Every LEGO built shop needs standout signage, and Minnie has added her personal style to the Ice Cream Shop. We finish off the little building with a giant bow. The exclusive bow comes on a separate sheet of clear vinyl, and is printed with white polka dots on a bright pink and dark pink background. This is attached to the roof with a 1 x 2 x 2 modified brick with paper/photo holder. This was a new piece in 2020 appearing in bright pink and aqua in some of the DOTS sets; here it is used in dark pink for the first time.
That finishes bag one, with two small left over pieces. You can see all the parts from bag one in this image; note that both skirt pieces come in the little boxboard carton. The holes in the box are big enough that my spare lime cherries were inside with the skirts.
This seems like the time to point out a fun, little feature in the instruction book. Being a 4+ set, the instructions make it very clear which pieces are needed for the next set by putting them in an outline of hands. Below the instructions, Minnie Mouse marks your progress by walking along a progress a bar. She looks so happy to celebrate reaching the end. It's totally unnecessary but also adorable. I wouldn't mind seeing a similar progress bar in more sets just because it made me smile.
As you can see, there isn't much to the ice cream shop. It's more of a beach kiosk than a full shop. But the windshield and 1 x 1 round bricks are convincing as an ice cream counter. The back isn't as attractive, but there is just enough room for the cash register and small refrigerator for fruity toppings, and still be able to place Minnie behind the counter. What more does an ice cream shop on the beach need?
We'll let Minnie get back to work, and see what Daisy is doing in the second half of the set.
The second bag and set of instructions starts with building Daisy Duck. Since we looked at her figure in detail above, we'll just give her this tasty treat from Minnie's shop and keep building.
We build a beach lounger beside a small table and umbrella. There are no new parts in this tiny side build, but it gives Daisy a place to kick back and relax with her ice cream while we move on to the main build of the second bag - Daisy's Beach Buggy
Daisy's beach buggy is build on a lavender 5 x 10 x 2 1/2 vehicle base with mudguard and attached wheel holders. The lavender base has only been used in set 41360 Emma's Mobile Vet Clinic (2019). It's a super quick way to get started with a small car.
The other piece of note for this car is the exclusive grille and headlight print on the 1 x 4 tile. I really love the bright light orange flower in the center of the grill. Its so cute.
It only take a few parts to turn the vehicle base into a cute beach buggy. The dark purple 2 x 4 x2/3 curved slopes are rare. They have only been used in three other sets: 41332 Emma's Art Stand (2018), 41395 Friendship Bus (2020), and 41684 Heartlake City Grand Hotel (2021)
It's a simple car, but its cute. You can attach a surfboard to the back, and the flowers on the windscreen match the print on the grill. It's definitely styled for Daisy.
I don't mind the big starter chassis for the the car. It gets the job done quickly, and is cute for a basic little car. My only complaint has to do with putting Daisy into the car, and the problem is her skirt, not the car. The car has plenty of room for a single minifigure. The cloth skirt allows Daisy to sit much easier than the hard plastic skirts on some minifigs. But the skirt does tend to bunch up when putting Daisy in the car. Maybe a 4-year-old won't mind, but if they do, it will be frustrating. And if that's my only complaint, it's a pretty good car.
The final thing we build is a little beach wave with a bright light orange crab.
Daisy is just as happy about us reaching the end of her build as Minnie was. I was super happy they changed characters for the progress bar in the second book. They are so cute marching along the bottom of. the instructions.
Here's a look at everything we built in bag two under Daisy's supervision. Two small pieces are left over. You can see all the parts from bag two in this image.
Before we bring Minnie and Daisy's builds back together, let's take a quick look at the packaging.
Minnie Mouse's Ice Cream Shop is part of LEGO's the new Mickey and Friends theme. The front of the box shows our completed set on a stylized illustration of a beach. It has a bright, summery feel, with the silhouette of a town over a hill in the background. The LEGO, Disney, and 4+ logos are prominent. In the lower right corner is an illustration of classic Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse along with the Mickey and Friends logo.
The background illustration wraps around the box on the top and left sides. We also get a classic illustration of Donald Duck on the left edge and Pluto on the top. Daisy Duck is used for the scale illustration on the top edge of the box.
The back of the box has a sandy yellow background, with a blue edge to match the other box edges. Classic illustrations of Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck are in the bottom right corner. The minifigs, accessories, and final builds are all shown separately. This makes it very clear what is included. There is a "Learn to Build" callout showing how easy the car is to put together. Minnie Mouse is pictured scooping ice cream in her shop, while Daisy Duck is pictured surfing. While this set doesn't have any action features, these photos to give an idea of the imaginative play possible.
The set is made up of several small builds which can be played with separately or together. Let's have Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck join their halves of the build to create a fun day at the beach with plenty of ice cream to eat.
Daisy's going to go relax after surfing, and Minnie's going to take the beach buggy for a spin while we wrap up the review.
Summary:
4+ sets aren't for everyone. The builds are simple, as they should be for the intended age. Many AFOLs might look past this set because of that. You might be thinking this is perfect for your KFOL fan of Disney, and you would be right. But there are several things I enjoyed about this set as an AFOL without kids.
It's a fast, simple build which is sometimes just what I need to relax, and having Minnie and Daisy cheering me along through the instructions made me smile. While relaxing with the build, it's easy to let yourself get inspired for something larger - like a Disney theme park or a beach with little vendor kiosks.
The minifigs are good. Sure, Minnie could have had better leg printing, but it's not as noticeable once you get the skirt down a little. The two exclusive prints in this set are also really well done, and I think they will be useful in future MOCs. There are also some fun new or rare parts. It's a small set so there aren't a lot of new parts, but I like what we get.
And I will definitely be using that large car chassis when I need a quick car to finish detailing a larger MOC. It's not the right choice for everyone, but a little shortcut here and there doesn't hurt.
Happy Building
-prrbrix
---
Disclaimer:
This set was provided by The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.
Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer.
Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.
How fun! Luv that sunshade part, and the new maus head tile.
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