The Future of Miniatur Wunderland
For a long time, we have kept a low profile when it comes to the future plans of Wunderland. There have been many rumours about bridges, Brexit and building new sections. Now the secrecy has finally come to an end and we can tell you how things will continue.
The problem has been omnipresent for years: we have too little space. In our current building, every corner is being used, so it was clear that we would have to move away if we wanted to continue building. In March, the long-awaited lease agreement for our new area was finally signed. On the other side of the canal, 3,000 more square meters will be connected to the Wunderland.
As the last section of the existing building, Monaco and Provence are currently under construction. Together with his team, Gerrit is trying to develop a completely new technology. The vision is to use scalable magnetic fields to create a miniature Formula 1 race. Whether this will really work is still not known. Next to the airport, the dream of a miniature Formula 1 race is the most technically demanding project in the history of Wunderland so far. The developers still have a little time left. The opening is planned for 25th April 2024.
Even before that, a small but very detailed section of 8 m² will be opened: a new fun fair. The previous fair, which was built in 2001 for the opening of the Wunderland, is now completely revised and more than doubled in size. New rides, around 100,000 LEDs and many technical gadgets will be the highlights in one of the original sections of Wunderland. In June 30th, 2020, the new fair is supposed to be officially opened.
But by far the most spectacular project is without a doubt the crossing of the canal. Originally, England was planned on the other side of the canal. This idea has now been replaced by the greatest adventure in the history of Wunderland: In summer 2017 the vision was born to build South America together with a great and wonderfully crazy South American family. This new section is intended to make South America an authentic experience for our visitors. Therefore, we are very euphoric not only to let the "European perspective" determine the new layout are, but - thanks to the Martinez family - also to be able to plan, build and design from a South American point of view.
For one year now we have been working together with the Martinez family in a suburb of Buenos Aires on the most daring project in the history of the Wunderland. Together with a team of 15 South Americans, model builders from Wunderland are creating the new, spectacular section. In the first construction phase, 200 - 220 m² are planned from the Amazon to the Andes, to Rio and to the Antarctic. This section is to be shipped to Hamburg in 2021 and opened in the new storage facility at the December 2021.
Parallel to the South American section, another very special section is being built in Hamburg. On their way to the new building the visitors may view the world from a bird’s perspective. In the exhibition "The World from Above" we will reconstruct the most beautiful places in the world from the perspective of a low-flying airplane. A total of around 10 million Euros will be invested into the new sections over the next few years.
A very exciting time is starting for Wunderland. In recent years we have been building and enlarging our exhibition section after section . Now we are traveling new roads and embarking on a great adventure. Nobody can tell us whether everything will work out the way we have dreamt it to be. But it has always been our aspiration to outperform ourselves and to surprise our visitors. In order to accomplish that, we probably have to leave the road well-travelled and explore new paths into the unknown. We are beyond excited to see the outcome and can hardly wait.
