Lego Ideas Magic of Disney… what more do we need in a sentence than Disney, Lego and magic! This set was released on 1 October 2024 and is a LEGO Ideas build with 1103 pieces. The set was created with both the LEGO collector and Disney fan in mind. This set celebrates both classic and new Disney animated films. Each of the small vignettes surround the large central figure of Mickey Mouse. These vignettes include characters from Fantasia, Lilo and Stitch, Lion King and many more!

The set was part of the 100 years of fairytales challenge. To compete in the challenge a builder could submit their own Disney creation (using between 50 and 800 Lego elements) and the lucky winner (Anna Chen) would get to see their set go into wider production. Which is what I’m reviewing here. Ms Chen’s design with a few minor tweaks.

The Build

This build states that it’s best for people that are 18+. But my16-year-old daughter and I had no trouble tackling the build together. Although the set is rather fragile. There are many pieces that can easily fall or get knocked off. It’s a set designed for display rather than play. So be very mindful of how you maneuver it.

What we loved

The mini dioramas were finicky but still great to build. Seeing them all come together was very enjoyable. No sticker sheets! YAAAAAY!! All the pieces are
printed. I get frustrated by building a perfect set and then placing my stickers all wonky. Kudos to Lego for going the extra mile for this set.

What we didn’t love

Mickey’s hands kept falling. I mean how frustrating. And one of the mini builds, the Case Madrigal, was extremely fiddly.

Who is included?

Besides the central figure of the build, Mickey Mouse, there are several minifigures and mini animals included.

Belle (Beauty & the Beast)

Geppetto (Pinocchio)

Bruno (Encanto)

Lilo (Lilo & Stitch)

Simba standing on top of Pride Rock (Lion King)

Sebastian & Flounder

Magic brooms from Fantasia (love the inclusion of these)

Photographing

My daughter and I had a blast building this set. But as a toy photographer I couldn’t help but wonder about the photographic possibilities. Because this set was designed as a display piece, photographing it has proven to be a challenge. Because its not a modular design I could only work with what I had. This set inspired me to create an homage to the Disney’s castle intro that is seen at the start of all the Disney movies.

To begin, I started by placing an image of a sunset on my television set that could serves as the background. Then I sat up a tub of water in front of the screen that I could place the set in. I used a bin bag to line the tub to mute the color. For the “shooting star” effect I employed a technique called light painting.This is where I set a 2 second timer on my camera and pointed a torch onto the TV. While the shutter was open I moved the torch from right to left in an arching motion. This created the shooting star effect.

Other figures

Lilo [Lilo & Stitch]

Well, you can’t have a minifigure of Lilo with her surfboard and not be inspired to take an image in the water. This simple image was created with some plastic fish tank plants in the background to give additional variety to the puddle.

Geppetto

With all the rain we have had, I wanted to make use of the walkways that have flooded. Again, a very simple setup, but I often find that it is the simple shots that tend to be the most effective!

Simba


For this photo idea, I wanted to try take it outdoors. But sadly, here in the UK, it’s been a very rainy fall. So instead I positioned it in front of my PC screen with a sunrise image and shone my small rig torch onto Simba from top left to simulate the sun shining down on him.

Bruno [Encanto]


For this image of Bruno I wanted to re-create the scene where he’s looking at his vision of the Casa Madrigal breaking. I found the best way was to take a photo of him with a black background and use that to create a composition shot.

Belle

Wrong beast Belle! For this image I wanted to play around a bit and create a comedic take on Beauty and the Beast. I replaced the Beast with a Mythic Legions Ice Troll. I used a Lume cube to give the high sunlit look from the top right of the troll to add a little separation from the background. I then added a and a Ulanzi RGB light from the front to evenly light the scene to match the brightness of the background.

Flounder and Sebastian


An image featuring Sebastian and Flounder was tricky because of the size of the figure. They are so teeny! I wanted to try showing the pair as being just offshore with flounder about to fly into Sebastian. To achieve this I made I tiny wire stand for Flounder and sat him in a pebble. I then took a rock from my garden and placed that next to Flounder. Once I had composed my photo, I dropped a pebble just behind Flounder. My goal was to give the appearance that he had just jumped out of the water. I used a continuous shutter and remote trigger to catch the splash. With a few attempts I managed to get an image I liked. As for the wire, that was removed in Lightroom.

Final Thoughts

Overall, my daughter and I really enjoyed building this set. It’s fun, and has more potential for toy photography than I had originally thought. My only wish would be that the mini dioramas were removable to create your own mini sets to make it easier to photograph. Once on the shelf it looks so beautiful and I will have a lot of fun with this in the future.

If you love Disney and nostalgia, then this set is an absolute must. If you collect the Disney CMF mini figures then you can add additional characters to many of these dioramas. Or you can expand the set by modding your own vignettes. Or even adding even more iconic scenes under tha large magic Mickey Mouse.

In terms of value for money, I would say that this set is a smidge on the expensive side when you compare other sets with similar brick count, but Lego does have to take licensing into account. Generally licensed sets are more.

In conclusion, if you love Disney, Lego and most importantly toy photography, then this set is a winner. I know I will have a lot of fun down the line with this set.

/Mark Phillips

Howdy! While you’re here, we invite you to sign up for our weekly Toy Photographers email roundup, where you’ll get a recap of all the week’s babbling. And while you’re at it, you should definitely join our MeWe community! We hold monthly contests with prizes and lots of other cool stuff.