5 of the best Disney LEGO sets tried and tested

We’ve also recruited some very willing Parent Testers and their children, who had a chance to get hands-on with the sets and share their own feedback on how fun they were to build, explore and play.

Explore the entire LEGO Disney range

5 of the best Disney LEGO sets at a glance

• Best for Disney Princess fans: The Enchanted Treehouse, £149.99
• Best for younger builders: Disney Celebration Train, £34.99
• Best for straightforward instructions: Ultimate Adventure Castle, £89.99
• Best for repeat play: Princess Enchanted Journey, £59.99
• Best for sharing: Aurora, Merida and Tiana’s Enchanted Creations, £59.99

1. The Enchanted Treehouse, £149.99

– Best for Disney princess fans

Age: 7+ | Pieces: 1016

The Enchanted Treehouse is one of the biggest sets in the entire LEGO Disney range, with a variety of play opportunities. At 1016 pieces, it’s definitely one of the more complex sets, but the wide array of features and high level of detail make the complexity more than worth it.

It comes with 13 famous female Disney figures including princesses Tiana, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan and Moana.

Parent Tester Kelly, whose 7 year old daughter Willa built the set, said, “she was amazed at seeing the mini figures as Disney princesses, she was able to spot them all, picking out her favourites straight away.”

The instructions for the set are intimidating having been spread across 2 booklets. However, they are concise and readable in typical LEGO fashion. Kelly did note that her child preferred using the ‘BUILD’ application from LEGO to access the interactive instructions as opposed to using the included booklets.

It took Willa 5 hours to build the set with minimal adult input. Kelly said, “She refused to stop for a break and was adamant she would finish before dinner! I occasionally helped where bricks needed removing and replacing. I did put the stickers on too.”

In our testing, we were particularly struck by the interactive elements included in the set like the zipline and slide, which both provide exciting play opportunities. Kelly said, “both Willa and her sister have played for ages since its been completed. Making their own play scenes, with voices and singing...the imaginary play element is endless.”

While this set is expensive, the lengthy build time and the multiple play opportunities more than make up for the cost. “I can highly recommend this to any child (definitely 7 plus) who is a Disney fan, it's amazing how it features so many princesses,” says Kelly.

Available from: LEGO.com

2. Disney Celebration Train, £34.99

– Best for younger builders

Age: 4+ | Pieces: 200

On the simpler end of the Disney LEGO range is this Disney Celebration Train, a great option for children who’re new to LEGO. Our first impressions of this set when we unboxed all the pieces was just how vibrant and colourful everything was. It reminded us a lot of the parades at the Disney Parks around the world.

Parent tester Jordannah, whose 4 year-old son Bobby built the set, said, “He absolutely loved it. Each section he would tell me which characters he had and the backstory for why they were on the train. He enjoyed following the character on the bottom of the instructions as well which showed how much of that section he had done and what was left to do.”

As this set is aimed at younger LEGO fans it isn’t particularly complex. The instructions book was slim and easy to follow, with the typical LEGO pictorial build guide. Jordannah noted, “It took about an hour to complete the full set. He’s had a few sets in the past that have been for slightly older age groups so has needed help and guidance, but with this he was able to follow the instructions all by himself.

“He felt grown up turning the pages and a bigger sense of accomplishment at the end when he’d done it all by himself. A few of the figures' heads needed a bit of force to go on but other than that he completed the set all by himself with no help from any adults.”

Jordannah said, “I would 100% recommend this set. It’s a really good set and so easy to build for little hands as well as grown ups. I think for what it is, the time to build and the Disney characters it is really good value for money. I would expect it to be more expensive all considering, especially as it has the extra value of being playable with after.”

Available from: LEGO.com

3. Ultimate Adventure Castle, £89.99

– Best for straightforward instructions

Age: 6+ | Pieces: 698

If you’re looking for a set that’s somewhere between the Disney Celebration Train and the Enchanted Treehouse in terms of complexity, then the midsized Ultimate Adventure Castle is a great choice. It still has a wide range of interactive features and moving parts included, but with fewer pieces the overall build is far simpler.

As parent tester Cheryl, whose 8 year-old daughter Isabella-Mai tested the set, noted, “It took about 3 hours for her to build, this was because she likes to look over each page and choose the pieces that fit together according to each page. The connecting white pieces to link up the castle along with the very small pieces she struggled with just because they were so small and she was worried about breaking them, but mum helped and she was then happy to carry on building.”

What struck us most during our testing was the fact that of the 6 bags included each one has its own instruction booklet making the instructions less intimidating and overall more straightforward.

Of course, as with all LEGO sets, the build is just the beginning. As Cheryl noted, “After Isabella-Mai built it she spent about 2 hours role playing with the castle and little figures, especially the animals. Her imagination is wonderful and even mum and dad joined in playing as she was having so much fun making up stories we wanted to join in too!”

Considering the price and overall play potential Cheryl said, “I told Isabella-Mai once she had built it the RRP and she said '’WOW! Now that's good value mummy, as it's got a lot of detail and pieces and I can play with it for a long time afterwards.’ As a family LEGO is a treat at Christmas…however, because of the quality we have seen, I won't be sticking to the smaller sets now, instead I’ll be looking at the £90 price range as we now know it is going to be excellent value.”

Available from: LEGO.com

4. Princess Enchanted Journey, £59.99

– Best for repeat play

Age: 6+ | Pieces: 320

The Princess Enchanted Journey set might be on the smaller side in the box, but it includes 3 different characters complete with 3 different vehicles, making it a standout set when it comes to play. The set includes minifigures of Jasmine, Elsa and Repunzel and each of them comes with a different themed vehicle to build including a hot air balloon, carriage and magic carpet.

As parent tester Corina, whose 6 year-old daughter Ayvah built the set, said, “There was so much enjoyment from this set as there are 3 main parts to it, each very different and allowing different ‘ scenes’ so different types of play. The air balloon was most talked about and most played with as it was quite an unusual thing to build and brought lots of talking points.”

In our testing, we noticed that each of the 3 bags included has its own instructions booklet to help simplify the build process. This also means that the build could be spread across multiple days to maximise your child's enjoyment. That being said, the instructions and general complexity of the set does mean that some adult / older sibling help will probably be required.

As Corina noted, “She is at the younger end of this being just 6.5 and the set is aimed at 6+. Although the instructions are all images, some of the smaller bits she found difficult to manage, trying to work out where they went in context to the pictures. We did each part separately, as each was bagged separately, to hold her attention and each took a little while but spaced over a day or so. She wanted to do as much as she could by herself which made it take quite some time.”

Thanks to the range of characters and scenes included, the play potential with this set is great. Corina said, “The sets really set her imagination going. Also, they can be used together for one big scene. At this age she just wants to do her own thing with them so it’s really about independent play with them.”

Overall, the set is great value for money with the benefit of multiple play opportunities on top of the build time. “Having 3 separate characters and 3 separate items to build gives it some longevity of building and playing,” Corina continued, “There’s nothing worse than spending a fortune and only having one thing at the end of it in a 6 year olds eyes.”

Available from: LEGO.com

5. Aurora, Merida and Tiana’s Enchanted Creations, £59.99

– Best for sharing

Age: 6+ | Pieces: 558

This Enchanted Creations set featuring princesses Aurora, Merida and Tiana, is similar to the Enchanted Journeys set in that each princess has their own included vignette. With over 200 more pieces, the Enchanted Creations offers a longer build time and the same wide array of play opportunities.

Parent tester Nadia, whose 7 year-old Hafsa built the set, noted, “Once they were all built Hafsa and her sisters took one each to play with and then they roleplayed with the princesses to play as they were visiting each other's houses.”

While the instructions are spread over 3 booklets (one for each of the princesses) we found that they could at times be a little vague in demonstrating where each piece is supposed to go. Nadia said of her daughter's build, “She managed to do all three items in the LEGO set within a couple of hours, her older sister was sitting there with her in case of any tricky bits but she managed to do it alone. She did let her sister have a go of a few pages as she lives to share. This LEGO set is definitely for the age that was advertised and it was very easy to follow, it looks more complicated than it actually was.”

Overall, the simplicity and play potential make this a great option for parents looking for a multipurpose LEGO set for the Disney princess fan in their life. “For the price that it is, I feel it's great value as you get 3 individual LEGO sets in the one box,” Nadia says, “I have already recommended it to a few of my friends as they have their daughters' birthdays coming up. It's definitely a hit when her friends come over as they are in awe of it! It's a truly amazing LEGO set and the attention to detail is amazing!”

Available from: LEGO.com

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