I was excited to get set 43205 Ultimate Adventure Castle for Christmas, and it was a fun build. Let's take a look.
The castle features 5 Disney Princesses: Ariel, Moana, Rapunzel, Tiana, and Snow White. Each section of the castle is personalized for one of the princesses.
We start with Ariel. She is accompanied by Sebastian, and is wearing a new dress. Her head is the same one first used in 2021, and her hair has not changed. The torso and skirt pieces are new. The torso is dark turquoise with light aqua sleeves. The bodice features a print of metallic blue stars and bubbles with dark purple trim, and a medium lavender shell broach. Her full length skirt is light aqua with a dark turquoise inset panel. Framing the inset panel is a pattern of metallic blue stars and shells with more dark purple trim. The look is very similar to her dress in set 41160 Ariel's Seaside Castle (2010). I really like the light aqua and turquoise colors for her, even if she is still shown in her traditional pink dress in the box art.
Sebastian is the same version used in set 43207 Ariel's Underwater Palace (2022), which is a small update from older sets.
Ariel's section of the castle has two floors plus a small space under the roof.
The first floor has an underwater design with sea plants and a treasure chest. Stickers are used to add some fish to the watery wall.
Ariel's bedroom is on the second floor. Next to her bed is a stand for her dinglehopper. I appreciate that LEGO continues to give Ariel a fork instead of a hairbrush. There is also a small balcony next to the bedroom. I really like the new Satin Trans-Dark Pink Cone-Shaped Tower Roof. The shimmery, sparkly color is beautiful, and I really like that it includes a window. I hope we get more of these pieces in other colors in future sets.
Ariel's tower is topped with a space just big enough for Sebastian under the more common Magenta tower roof. Each roof piece is topped with a stickered flag - a shell for Ariel, and a spiral for Moana, whose castle section doesn't show up until bag four.
Bag/booklet 2 creates the center section of the castle. The first floor is an entryway.
Two large stickers are used to create a portrait gallery showing 12 official Disney princesses, six on each side. On one side we have Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Moana, Mulan, and Pocahontas. On the other side we have Cinderella, Jasmine, Merida, Rapunzel, Snow White, and Tiana. While I doubt we will ever get an official Pocahontas LEGO set, I'm super happy to see her included in these portraits. Missing from the portraits is Raya who is the newest Disney Princess, as well as Anna and Elsa who are not official Disney Princesses.
Above the entry way, we have a balcony and a delicious looking layer cake. Yum.
Bag/booklet 3 creates a tower for Tiana.
Tiana is not accompanied by a frog. Instead, she is joined by Charlotte's cat, Marcel. Marcel is a unique Friends-style cat featuring a pink color and gold tag with the letter M. I'm always happy to get a new animal, and I love kitties.
While Tiana uses the same hair piece as past sets, her skin tone has been changed from medium nougat to medium brown. She is wearing a yellowish green dress. The torso features bright light yellow leaves and a metallic blue necklace. Her long yellowish green skirt has an inset panel of bright light yellow leaves. The overskirt is pulled up to the side with a bright light yellow flower and a vine and leaf pattern in sand green. Metallic blue sparkles cover both the torso and skirt.
The castle section mirrors Ariel's tower from the exterior. This will give the finished castle a balanced, symmetrical shape when the sections are clicked together
Inside, the tower features a kitchen on the first floor and Tiana's bedroom on the second floor. A sticker is used to create detail in the kitchen, and a small cake sits under a bell jar in the corner.
On the second floor, Tiana's bedroom mirrors Ariel's. The only difference is the color of the bed and night stand. On her nightstand is a jar to collect money for her restaurant.
Marcel can sit in the nook under the magenta conical roof. Tiana's flag tops the roof, and Snow White's flag tops a second Satin Trans-Dark Pink roof.
Here are the first 3 sections put together. When I started building, I thought the castle would have a modular design that would allow for sections to be swapped and rearranged (similar to the system they used in the Disney Princess sets in 2018). That is not what we get. The clips are set in a way where each section really only fits in one place. While the castle is built in several sections to facilitate cooperative building, they are not swappable. This doesn't really bother me, as I never found the build and swap design very compelling. It always seemed to have one layout that looked best.
Moving on to bag/booklet 4, we build Moana's wing of the castle.
Like Ariel and Tiana, Moana has a new look. She continues to use the medium nougat head from the 2020 sets, but her hair has changed from black to dark brown (it's the same hair piece in a new color). Moana's top and skirt are also new, and both have a lot of printed detail. Her top has a red and coral print. She is wearing a beaded necklace with a pendant. The torso also has a red sash with the sash ends extending onto her skirt piece. Her skirt is tan with a pattern of dark tan geometric shapes and bright light orange flowers. She is not wearing shoes.
Moana is accompanied by Pua, who has also been updated. Pua's spots are now smoother, and his back has a single large spot instead of several smaller ones.
Moana's section of the castle is a single floor, with battlements above. Her bedroom is on the first floor and features indoor/outdoor living. The "roof" features a sandy beach behind the battlements, a waterfall flowing down to the first floor, and a palm tree. You may need to use your imagination to make this island paradise fit with the more traditional castle design.
Bag/booklet 5 gives us our second appearance of Snow White. She has previously only appeared in the Juniors set 10738 - Snow White's Forest Cottage. Snow White is accompanied by a blue bird.
Snow White uses the same hair piece as the previous set, but gets a new face, torso, and legs. Her blue top features a pattern of silver circles and starts with gold trim and seams, a white collar, and short sleeves in dark azure. Her full length bright light yellow skirt features gold stars and a pattern of bright light orange vines and leaves. I'm so happy to add another Snow White to my princess collection.
Her section of the castle has a cottage vibe. Like Moana's section, it is a single floor with battlements above and makes good use of outdoor living space. Her bed sits under an arched window, and a red 3 x 4 x 2/3 wedge with cutout circle is used to create very nice curtains. Next to her bedroom is a fireplace, and a sticker is used for a clock on the castle wall. Outside a sticker is used to create a shuttered window that is actually located behind the fireplace.
Behind the battlements, there is a turntable where the princesses' pets can have a dance party. A tile remover key fits into the center of the turn table to make spinning it easier. The key also fits into the front of the castle section to turn a strange mechanism, that isn't explained until the castle is finished. Next to the battlements is a green space with a mushroom and a bird house.
The final bag/booklet builds Rapunzel's tower, which will stack above section 2 in the center of the castle.
Rapunzel's outfit has appeared in one other set, 43195 - Belle and Rapunzel's Royal Stables (2021). As always, Rapunzel is accompanied by Pascal, who is the same as three other sets.
In Rapunzel's tower, we finally get some decorated wall panels (which are so common in Disney Princess builds). Two white quarter cylinders are decorated with dark bluish gray brick outline and dark turquoise vines and leave with lavender flowers, and they are prints. It was so nice not having to apply a big sticker.
The tower creates the third and fourth floors of the castle. The third floor is Rapunzel's bedroom, and we do add some stickers for decoration on the inside of her wall panels. Above her bedroom is a balcony and painting easel. Clips provide a place for her guitar and paintbrush.
Above the balcony is another magenta conical roof where Pascal can sit, and Rapunzel's flag tops it all.
With each section completed, we can snap them all together to complete the Ultimate Adventure Castle. While I was building, I wasn't fond of the large grey panel pieces, especially since they lacked the floral decoration I've come to expect from a Disney Princess Castle. However, with everything connected, it all makes sense. The grey and white first floor create a strong castle foundation, while the white walls and pink roofs above give it a bright, cheerful presence.
Turning the castle around, the rooms are small for adult hands, but there is plenty of space for the princesses to be posed.
If you don't have room for such a long display, the two outer most wings can be closed creating a more compact castle. The strange mechanism in Snow White's castle section is a lock that fits into Moana's section to secure the castle in its closed form. The palm tree masks the interior of the center castle section which would look strangely open without it.
I've had the castle sitting on my table for a few weeks now, and I love it. It's such a delightful set and displays very well. I could wish for a modular design that would allow the addition of new wings for more princesses, but it's charming at this size. Maybe it will inspire me to build a larger version that houses more princesses, but for now, I'm just enjoying it as is. It was fun to build and I think Disney Princess fans of all ages will enjoy it.
Happy building!
~prrbrix
Disclaimer:
This set was purchased by me, and was NOT provided by The LEGO Group.
Opinions provided here solely mine.
Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.
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