With all the walking we’d been doing, exploring the streets of Hamburg, Germany as a family, it was time for a kid’s day –that is, a day dedicated to doing something we knew the kids would really enjoy!
We had heard about Hamburg’s Miniature Wonderland (Miniatur Wunderland), home of the world’s largest model railway in the world…and loved by locals and foreigners alike. With 86,000+ likes on Facebook…it was determined it MUST be worth the admission (12 Euros for adults, 6 Euros for children).
The exhibit is located in the Speicherstadt area, the historic warehouse district of Hamburg…essentially on a little island on the River Elbe (accessible by bridge).
It is located right next to the Hamburg Dungeon, a permanent haunted-house-ish exhibit in the same building (they don’t have Halloween Haunted houses in Germany…but some big cities have permanent Dungeon attractions, instead)!
Anyways…we learned the hard way that it is best to book your tickets online, because they only let a certain amount of visitors in at a time. So, I stood in a line for about 45 minutes, where a ticket agent would only sell tickets to one person (that person may buy multiples) every 5 minutes. It was long and tedious…but they were kind enough to serve refreshments every 20 minutes!
When we finally entered, Ethan immediately found himself in heaven. There were miniature cars in massive quantities!
The first room showed some smaller displays (about 3×3 feet) of cities like Berlin, and how they changed over decades. Our kids were amused…
But what they didn’t realize was what awaited them in the next room! There were endless displays of miniature lands that sprawled from one room to the next, and to the next, and to the next, and to the next. Let’s just say this was one happy little boy!
He did, however, get very upset when we carried him to the little children’s viewing platform on one display, to another. That is, until he realized he got to see more…and then he was a happy camper!
Displays included sights from the US deserts…
to Vegas…
To historic sights throughout Europe…
Adults are just as entertained as children…
Half of the fun for adults is finding the funny little scenes that are placed throughout. Such as the truck hauling a snowman…
The punks fighting in a parking garage (as a stork with a baby sits in the back of their convertible)…
And police waiting for a robber to drill through the walls of a bank safe, so they can arrest them…
The big picture is just as cool…
as the little picture…with all of its details!
Even the crowd in a little scene like this has every last detail thought out…
One of the biggest attractions is watching their airport scene, which took a reported 7 years and $4.8 million to build. YES–$4.8 MILLION DOLLARS to build a MINIATURE AIRPORT! The airplanes have flight plans to follow…and like the other scenes throughout the attraction…everything is moving, lighting up, and acting like a real-life miniature of the real event. The airport attraction was so well-loved that I didn’t get to watch it (I’m way too short).
So, Ethan and I watched one of the “lesser” airport scenes, instead!
Another cool feature is that as you walk through the exhibits, it suddenly becomes “nighttime,” and all the lights go low, and the scenes change to a nighttime scenario. Very fun!
There are hundreds of buttons the kids can run and push, to start different scenes, and set things into motion. The kids even pushed a button to start a chocolate factory, which then spat out some wrapped chocolates for them!
Did I mention there were trains? LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of trains!!
And massive scenes like this…of a large crowd watching a performance!
And the stage actually had moving performers on it!
We visited on a Saturday, but on normal workdays you may be lucky enough to see some artists at work, creating new displays and miniatures. I watched a video of an artist working (while I was waiting in line for tickets), and was BLOWN AWAY by the detail that goes into these displays!
If you’re going to Hamburg with children, the Miniature Wonderland is a must! Or, if you have an appreciation for miniatures or small artwork…it’s great for adults, as well!
That is totally awesome!
We thought so!!
Wow…that is so amazing! Thanks for sharing all these amazing pictures!
It was so cool!!
Ok – this is DEFINITELY getting added to our list of things to see. Thanks for sharing!!!
Yes! It was awesome! Especially if you have any car or trained crazed kids in your crew!! Oh…and just overall cool for adults, too!
We saw this place on the cable program “How Do They Do That” which featured at great length how they made the airport & how the planes take off & land. This is definitely on my list of things to do!
That would be fun to watch! The craft is really just amaaaazing!