Ost Brave Disney

[Maximina]

PrincessMerida: [last lines; narrating] There are those who say fate is something beyond our command. That destiny is not our own, but I know better. Our fate lives within us, you only have to be brave enough to see it.

Set in Scotland in a rugged and mythical time, BRAVE features Merida, an aspiring archer and impetuous daughter of royalty. Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida makes a reckless choice that unleashes unintended peril and forces her to spring into action to set things right. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.

When seen on a store wrack in The Emporium or viewed on an internet browser, it is easy to find oneself excited at the prospect of building a beloved attraction; however, once it comes time to open the cardboard sleeve, the task begins to feel a bit daunting. It does not take a deep dive into Facebook and Twitter to find a number of individuals who have refused to open the packaging at all or have braved slicing open the adhesive seal only to find themselves, hours later, with a garbled piece of metal resembling something Wall-E has compacted rather than Cinderella Castle or Space Mountain.

As someone who excitedly requested three of the models for gifts, I have successfully assembled the Monorail, Haunted Mansion and Cinderella Castle versions, in that order. Each one increased in difficulty and posed its own unique challenges. First and foremost, these models are not for children. Not only could they hurt themselves on the sharp edges, but I would struggle to see even most teenagers having the patience, let alone the finger dexterity, that is required.

As you can see in the images below, the pieces of the model come in metal sheets with very tiny tabs that must be snipped in order to free the piece from the sheet. This requires the use of clippers or cutting pliers, and it is difficult to nip the connecter flush with the edge of the piece, leaving a small sharp edge. Also pictured below, is a portion of the instructions from the Cinderella Castle set. This section shows the layout of the metal sheets which identifies each piece of the model with a number. These numbers are then used in the assembly portion of the instructions as seen in the lower portion of the photo below.

You can see the turrets of Cinderella Castle in various states of assembly in the photos below. While unknown to anyone besides myself, two of these towers have the wrong base. I inadvertently switched the bases of two of the turrets. Luckily they still fit because once the tabs have been twisted, it is nearly impossible to get them apart (I say nearly because I managed to accomplish this feat on another part of the castle, but I do not recommend it.) For this reason, it is very important to take your time and be sure you are assembling the correct pieces in the correct orientation. It is also imperative to be sure that the individual pieces are being bent into the proper shape because some of them have been perforated where corners are to be made. Bending these perforations more than once or in opposing directions can cause the piece to come apart. This unfortunate occurrence happened with one of the chimneys on my Haunted Mansion model.

If, after reading this review, you are ready to brave building one of the Disney Parks Metal Earth models, you can purchase them from shopDisney.com, Amazon, the Shop Disney Parks app or in the Disney Parks.

3a8082e126