Review: 10773 Minnie Mouse's Ice Cream Shop
Posted by benbacardi,
The new Mickey and Friends subtheme aimed at preschoolers aged 4+ contains five sets of various sizes, each featuring either Mickey or Minnie, along with their friends (the clue is in the name!) 10773 Minnie Mouse's Ice Cream Shop is the middle of the five, with exactly 100 parts.
As with the other two sets in the theme I was provided to review, I handed this off to my daughter (who is just over five) to build and return to me for photographing—she hasn't quite mastered the use of my photography set-up yet! Any mistakes in the photography is all me; the excellent build quality is entirely down to her...
Minifigure
Two unique minifigures are included with the set—Minnie Mouse and her friend, Daisy Duck. Minnie's wearing her iconic polka dot dress, although in yellow rather than red, and her ever-present bow is pink. Surprisingly, Minnie's head has never appeared in a set this small before beyond the original CMF: previously, your only options were either the two large D2C models (71044 Disney Train and Station and 71040 Disney Castle,) or in black and white with the Ideas 21317 Steamboat WIllie or second Disney CMF.
The yellow dress is brand new, and looks fantastic, with excellent detail of a waistband and neckline that continues onto the back. The choice of dual-moulded arms to give the dress sleeves was the correct one, in my opinion—yellow print on black wouldn't have been able to achieve the same vivid colour.
The white-on-yellow polka dots continue onto the skirt, which is only the second appearance of this circular cut of fabric (the first was red with white polka dots in 71044.) The design is a big improvement over the previous fabric dress pieces that required folding, although it does tend to stick straight out on all sides when not pinned down by an arm or two. Daisy also makes use of this part, but in Medium Lavender instead.
Speaking of which, Daisy's head is similarly rare, and her torso is also unique, with a print of a white strip across a lavender v-neck dress that likewise continues onto the rear.
Daisy's legs are dual-moulded in white and flame orange, which has been used previously for other ducks in the Disney universe. Minnie's, however, are unique to the set, with her white bloomers printed onto the front of a pair of black legs, and pink shoes also indicated by printing.
The Model
Minnie's titular Ice Cream Shop is the first thing to be built, along with a display stand showing the menu. It's very clear that this is a Disney set, and whose ice cream stand it is! Not only are the prices of the ice creams highlighted with the classic Mickey Mouse silhouette, but the menu is topped with the new black double-thickness tile in the same shape, and the stand itself sports an enormous Minnie Mouse bow on top! This made of stiff-but-flexible plastic, and held in place using the new part developed for the Dots photo frames, new in bright purple.
At the base of the stand, four different flavours of ice cream are available, along with some cherries stored in a cupboard, and a till. Minnie's supplied holding a cone, and Daisy a sundae glass, but beyond those, there's no way to actually serve the ice creams.
The ice cream shop may be Minnie's, but the rest of the set belongs to Daisy, on a trip to the beach. There's a small sun lounger underneath a parasol for her to relax upon (ice cream in hand,) and a tiny patch of shore where blue waves lap against the sand. Oh, and there's also a crab!
The majority of the parts beyond the shop, however, make up Daisy's car. In keeping with the character, it is predominantly purple, with yellow/orange highlights. A surfboard is attached to the back, and flowers adorn the windscreen. The headlights and radiator grill are printed: a design unique to this set, with a flower on the grill matching those on the roof.
As this is a set designed for preschoolers, the chassis is a single piece, and my daughter had no trouble putting it together. There's room inside for Daisy to sit, and the classic steering wheel and windscreen. With the chunky tyres, it looks like a perfect little off-road buggy for a trip to the beach.
Conclusion
100 parts doesn't sound like much, but when put altogether, it's a fun and colourful scene with plenty going on. As you'd expect from the Disney licence, the two minifigures are excellent quality, and it's great to see Minnie available in her iconic design in a more accessible set than before.
As to the suitability to the age range, my five-year-old daughter had no trouble building the set entirely unaided, and in a single sitting; with many of the other sets aimed at 5 and up, she finds the instructions slightly daunting and the length of time they can take to build off-putting. The new instruction design in this 4+ subtheme has helped significantly, as mentioned in my review of 10772 Mickey Mouse's Propeller Plane.
For a licensed set (and the Disney licence at that) the price of £17.99 / $19.99 / 19.99€ is really not bad for what you get. I think this would be a must-buy for any young Disney fans.
Thanks to LEGO for providing this set for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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16 comments on this article
The beach scene and the car, put together are very reminiscent of 10677 Beach Trip, one of my first post-Dark Age sets! Too bad about the generic unprinted lime green surfboard, though.
For this price Minnie should have doublemolded legs.
love that icecream print! Shame it has Mickey mouse on it xD
I like it, but I still think I prefer Mickey's plane, from yesterday's review.
In my opinion, the instructions introduced in this subtheme are simply non-ecological - they use twice as much paper. And did LEGO not want to introduce ecological packaging, bricks, etc.? Instructions also count.
For some reason, it reminds me of Paradisa. Also, I failed to notice until now that the skirts are cloth, not the existing plastic skirt. That's cool!
I imagine Mickey will fly over quite regularly for an ice cream with two of his closest buddies. Lots of opportunity for play with those two sets. Thanks for another great
review:)
Looks like a good “volume of stuff” for the price and the play opportunities seem quite varied! Good set for younger kids.
I actually like the idea to include kids in these reviews; they're the target audience after all. How does your daughter like the sets?
While the fabric skirts look quite good, I'd be concerned about their longevity in the hands of 4&5 year olds (or indeed my own 6y.o. daughter).
@benbacardi : do these sets come with the usual spares of small parts?
@jkb said:
"I actually like the idea to include kids in these reviews; they're the target audience after all. How does your daughter like the sets?"
Good question, I'd also like to know if she liked the set and if she played with it.
Interesting they use the DOTS "photo holder" piece to hold the bow piece on top of the stand.
Also, in a "cartoon" type of set like this, the 4+ car is pretty good.
My goodness, that 'white' trouser print on minnie looks more like light grey or even dark grey. I'd say it's a good thing it's normally obscured by the skirt, but that still makes it inexcusable. Lego's quality control is just as bad as it was in 2017 with the 'yellow' head on Lady Iron Dragon. It's been FOUR YEARS and Lego still has the same issue.
That said, this set looks like another good use of parts within 4+ limitations. The giant pink bow on the ice cream shop is a bit much though XD
Why does Lego even pay for the Disney license if they only want to make completely generic Friends-/City-like models? None of these sets seems to be based on the comics and cartoons these characters are from.
This set puts the "Friends" in "Mickey and Friends"...
@jkb said:
"I actually like the idea to include kids in these reviews; they're the target audience after all. How does your daughter like the sets?"
A lot, actually! They've stayed out in a tub in the lounge, and she loved that she was able to build them all entirely unaided. Both her and my son play with them frequently.
@DoonsterBuildsLego said:
"do these sets come with the usual spares of small parts?"
Yes, but very few of them.
it's cute.
Oh, my, Mini has bloomers! xD Very old school, must approve.