Review: 40521 Mini Disney The Haunted Mansion

July 29, 2022 | 9

August marks the release of 40521 Mini Disney The Haunted Mansion, a follow-up to 2021’s excellent 40478 Mini Disney Castle.

It’s the second mini Disneyland attraction at this scale, and apart from the very clunky name (why couldn’t they just call this the Mini Haunted Mansion), marks an exciting signal that LEGO are beginning a cycle of these pint-sized Disneyland attractions that suggest a yearly release.

Disneyland Parks are massive attractions, welcoming millions of visitors a year, and are massive pop culture institutions for the house of mouse, so it’s great that LEGO and Disney are working on these mini LEGO attractions.

40521 Mini Disney The Haunted Mansion will be released on 1 August 2022, and will be available from LEGO.com or your local LEGO Store.

Can it live up to the high bar that 40478 Mini Disney Castle set upon release? Let’s find out in this quick review!

40521 Mini Disney The Haunted Mansion Set Details

Name: Mini Disney The Haunted Mansion
Set Number: 40521
Pieces: 680
Price: AU$69.99 | US$36.99 | £30.99 – Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK]
Exclusive to: LEGO.com / LEGO Stores
Theme: Disney
LEGO Designers: TBD
Release Date: 1 August 2022

Unfortunately, we’re greeted by the instructions manual in the dreary white format – a shame, in my honest opinion as the box art and packaging is brilliant, and this just undermines the premium Disney feel that you’d expect from a set like this.

Despite being a small set, there is a two-page spread of information about the Disneyland Park Haunted Mansion – helpful for people like myself who have never visited, with plenty of reference images of the attraction.

Here’s a look at the sticker sheet, which has five 1×2 portraits of three of the Hitchiking Ghosts, Silas Crump, the Caretaker and Madame Leota.

The set, like the Mini Disney Castle comes with an exclusive minifigure the Butler, which is a great companion to the build.

The Butler has a very nice face print, with deep sunken eyes, and an almost bored to death expression. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have an alternate face which is a bit of a bummer.

His teal jacket is very nice, and based on photos of the actual Butlers in the Haunted Mansion attraction, looks very accurate to the Butlers you encounter in Disneyland.

Here’s a look at the back printing, as well as the Butler’s teal coattails.

Here’s the completed mini LEGO Haunted Mansion, which features a pretty accurate rendition of the Disneyland Haunted Mansion.

The architecture and design, inspired by neoclassical manors, and plantation manors that you’d expect from the American South is captured really nicely here.

The mini Haunted Mansion has its own shallow diorama base that’s shaped like the letter D, and as you can see is quite blocky without many curved angles throughout.

The facade and front entrance, is the most recognisable and aesthetically pleasing part of the build, emphasised by these 4 white columns. I also like the dark orange base, which contrasts nicely against the sand green and white.

Plenty of repetition is employed using these sand green windows to mimic the ironwork that envelopes most of the facade.

The techniques used for the gabled roof in this section is quite nice as well, with the layered cheese slopes working wonders.

Here’s another look at the side, where you can see the walls and windows are built with horizontally stacked plates and bricks. There were a lot of these throughout, and the end result seems decent, but it’s one way to bump up the piece count.

Here’s a look at the roof, which has plenty of vertical clips, the chimneys provide a nice pop of colour amongst the white and grey.

Here’s a look at the back which features a large gaping hole that gives you a peek into the interiors. The scale is quite small, so it’s quite a challenge to really appreciate the interiors, which features 2 floors, and has some little details in there.

For best results, you’ll need to lift the roof off, and the first floor, to allow some light in, but practically, you’ll get a good glimpse during the build.

Here’s a look at the upper level, the portrait gallery which has some torches, as well as this comically huge chandelier. The black railing are a nice touch, but you can’t really see the portraits unless you move the chandelier out of the way.

There we go, much better.

And here’s a look at the Dining Room, which includes 3 more portraits, some white statuettes (which I believe represent the moving busts), as well as a long banquet table, complete with a large cake, and candles.

The interiors are done so much better than the Mini Disney Castle, which were inaccessible after building, so the window works well in this case.

Here’s a look at the mini Haunted Mansion alongside the Mini Disney Castle, the latter of which was one of my favourite sets of 2022.

As you can see, the Haunted Mansion pales in comparison to the Mini Disney Castle, which has plenty of display presence from its height, and more vibrant and magical colour scheme.

They do look great next to each other, and you can almost begin imagining more Mini Disneyland attractions coming to join the duo – I would really like a Space Mountain or Splash Mountain next.

What I liked:

• Great architectural features captured at this scale
• Butler minifigure is a fun addition
• Interiors are visible from the back

What I didn’t like: 

• Expensive and feels like poor value
• No interesting printed elements/easter eggs
• Clunky official set name
• More recognisable minifigures like one of the Hitchiking Ghosts or Bride would’ve been nice

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The Mini Haunted Mansion does as advertised on the box, delivering a well-designed miniature version of the classic Disneyland attraction.

The architectural details are stunning, and it really captures the Southern manor aesthetic well at this scale, with some clever use of repetitive elements for the facade.

The exclusive Butler minifigure is also a nice touch, and adds a lot of character to the model, however given the nature of this attraction, I think die-hard Disney fans would probably have preferred a more iconic “ghost’ like the animatronic Hatbox Ghost, or even one of the Hitchhiking Ghosts as the sole minifigure.

That said, the Butler’s minifigure design and face is well done, and it does fit the overall theme.

Unfortunately, this set feels vastly over-priced. At US$36.99/AU$69.99, it doesn’t really feel like a 600+ piece set, which makes sense as most of the elements are single studs or plates, but the final model is quite small, and doesn’t have that X-factor.

Comparisons are inevitable to the Mini Disney Castle, which seems to be the exception rather than the rule, when it comes to these miniature Disney sets. It had height, great colours, and (prior to the price increase) only cost US$34.99/AU$59.99, a package that screamed exceptional value.

That said, for Disneyland fanatics, and park devotees, this is an exciting model to add to your collection, especially if you have great memories of visiting the actual Haunted Mansion in Disneyland.

This also opens up so many possibilities of future mini Disneyland LEGO sets, now that we know LEGO and Disney are committing to at least one new mini attraction a year, so if you own the Mini Disney Castle, you almost need to bite the bullet on the price to have the mini Haunted Mansion next to it.

For someone like myself who has never been to Disneyland, or the Haunted Mansion, it just doesn’t create enough wow-factor to recommend the set, to anyone that isn’t already a massive fan. I’ll still be very happy with my Mini Disney Castle, even as a standalone set, and can’t see this having a long shelf-life.

Rating and score: 2/5 ★★✰✰✰

Build [2] – Building experience was tedious, having to build with so many small fiddly bits
Real Value [2] – Feels very expensive relative to the final model’s size and display presence
Innovation [3] – Techniques used for the facade are lovely
Coolness [2] – If you’re a massive Disneyland devotee, you’re going to love it, but I couldn’t connect to the set
Keepability [3] – With LEGO and Disney doing more of these mini sets, it’d be one to slowly collect and display together for best results

Thanks for reading this review of the Mini Disney The Haunted Mansion set!

40521 Mini Disney The Haunted Mansion goes on sale on 1 August 2022 from LEGO.com or your local LEGO Store. I also suspect that it’ll be available in the gift shops at Disneyland, or at the LEGO Store in Disneyland.

What do you think of 40521 Mini Disney The Haunted Mansion? What other mini Disneyland attractions would you like to see next?

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