Uncategorized | Miniatur Wunderland

“From ‘Sonderzug nach Pankow’ to the ‘Panik-Express’: Udo Lindenberg takes over Miniatur Wunderland—and continues his story on the rails.

Francisca Hallmann — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 19:30:20 +0000

What happens when you pack Miniatur Wunderland, eight decades of Udo Lindenberg, and a whole lot of attention to detail into a train? You get what is probably the craziest, most detailed, and most charming train that has ever existed.

On March 24, 2026, Udo Lindenberg himself set the “Panik-Express” in motion at Miniatur Wunderland, launching a rolling journey through time that traces his own life. Eight train cars showcase countless stories spanning eight decades.

The “Panik-Express” was created over the past few months at Wunderland in close collaboration with Hamburg’s honorary citizen. The intricately designed train cars chronicle a journey through eight decades of Udo’s life—from his childhood in Gronau to his time as a drummer in Libya, legendary moments connected to the GDR, and recent successes such as the hit “Komet.”

“This special train at Miniatur Wunderland is a great honor for me. What impresses me most, aside from all the incredible details, is the depiction of German history,” says Udo Lindenberg.

The project was also something special for the Wunderland founders: “The Panik-Express is probably the most elaborate train we’ve ever built. It’s incredible to see how much creativity, passion, and countless hours of work the model-building team has put into this,” says Frederik Braun. Gerrit Braun adds: “Udo and Hamburg simply belong together—and that’s exactly why the Panik-Express fits so perfectly into Wunderland. And even more importantly: Udo Lindenberg has always brought people together—across borders, generations, and cultures.”

The model is more than just a train. It is a living monument that tells real stories through its rich detail: Behind the locomotive—inspired by the legendary “Special Train to Pankow”—are eight wagons that become small stages. There’s childhood in the ’50s in black and white, his time as a drummer in the dunes of Libya in the ’60s, and his first nights at “Onkel Pö” in Hamburg in the ’70s. This is followed by moments from the GDR, such as a concert at an FDJ peace rally. While Udo is carried on the shoulders of fans in front of the concert hall at the Berlin Wall, Erich Honecker tries his hand at the strings in a compartment, complete with the famous guitar and the message “Guitars instead of guns.”

After hitting rock bottom, Udo rises like a “phoenix from the bottle” and returns to life. With companions like Clueso, an MTV Unplugged vibe takes hold—and eventually the procession arrives in the present. There, a glowing comet—ridden by Udo and Apache 207—provides a spectacular finale at the end of the procession.

Starting now, the Panik-Express is running through the Hamburg section of Wunderland. And if you’re looking for it, listen closely: when it stops at Dammtor Station, a track from the classic “Sonderzug nach Pankow” plays. This train doesn’t just run. It rocks. And it does so on a 1:87 scale.

The “Panik-Express”

The Locomotive: The locomotive’s design combines his artwork “Menschenfamilie 1” with his personal signature and a miniature portrait. His characteristic glasses and hat were produced true to scale using 3D printing. The locomotive brings the story full circle, connecting back to the legendary “Sonderzug nach Pankow.”

Wagon 1 – the 1950s: The first wagon takes us back to Udo’s hometown of Gronau. Like a photograph from a bygone era, the entire scene is rendered in black and white to highlight the middle-class constraints of that time. The only splash of color is Udo with his first drum set, marking the moment when music and new possibilities entered his life.

Wagon 2 – The 1960s: Udo spent a formative year as a young drummer at the Libyan Air Force base in Wheelus. While desert sand covers the roof of the car, inside you can see the bars where he used to play through the night and laid the foundation for everything that followed.

Wagon 3 – The 1970s: The era of the “Panikorchester” began in Hamburg-Eppendorf. This wagon shows the facade and interior of the legendary scene hangout “Onkel Pö’s Carnegie Hall,” where Udo took the decisive step from the drums to the microphone, thereby revolutionizing German rock music.

Wagon 4 – The 1980s: The wagon recreates the historic 1983 concert at the Palace of the Republic. Inside the illuminated interior, the audience selected for the propaganda event sits in blue FDJ shirts. Outside, Udo meets his real fans at the Berlin Wall and is lifted onto their shoulders.

Wagon 5 – The 1990s: This wagon depicts German reunification. It consists of two halves joined in the middle to form an open stage. One half features the design of the GDR Reichsbahn, while the other side is styled as a West German Bundesbahn car. Standing on the stage amid a replica of the fallen Berlin Wall, Udo performs for his fans just as he did on his 1990 tour of the GDR, symbolizing the end of the division.

Wagon 6 – The 2000s: This wagon takes up Udo’s motto, “Phoenix from the Bottle,” illustrating his liberation from alcohol. You can see the empty bottle from which a phoenix rises, sweeping away a wave of paintings, gold records, and awards. Udo is depicted in the pose from his comeback album “Stark wie Zwei.”

Wagon 7 – The 2010s: With its Zeppelin-inspired shape, this wagon draws on an iconic stage element from Udo’s stadium tours. It depicts the legendary 2011 MTV Unplugged concert, which went down in music history thanks to the duet with Clueso on “Cello.” The wagon thus highlights the artistic diversity of his live performances.

Wagon 8 – The 2020s: This wagon brings the parade to a grand finale, celebrating the record-breaking hit “Komet” by Udo and Apache 207. The two artists are seated on a brilliant blue comet’s tail that bursts out of the car. It symbolizes not only the immense success of this duet, but also the special bond between the two artists, who together bridge generations.

Downloads

Click here for collaboration with Udo Lindenberg

Here you will find additional video footage from the opening.

Frederik Braun and Udo Lindenberg at the opening of the “Panik-Express”.

Frederik and Gerrit Braun present Udo Lindenberg with the locomotive of the “Panik-Express.”

Udo Lindenberg flips the switch and sets the “Panik-Express” in motion on its maiden journey through Miniatur Wunderland.

Udo Lindenberg is looking at the wagons of his moving train on the track.

The post “From ‘Sonderzug nach Pankow’ to the ‘Panik-Express’: Udo Lindenberg takes over Miniatur Wunderland—and continues his story on the rails. first appeared on Miniatur Wunderland.

New virtual reality experience: “Wunderland Miniathlon” launches at YULLBE WUNDERLAND

Francisca Hallmann — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:08:25 +0000

Following the successful VR adventures “Walking in Wunderland” and “The Crazy Shrinking Tour,” Miniatur Wunderland is expanding its immersive experience offerings: Starting in March 2026, guests can look forward to a

a new, action-packed virtual reality adventure called the “Wunderland Miniathlon.”

Visitors are shrunk to a scale of 1:87 and experience Miniatur Wunderland completely at eye level—right in the middle of the action.

In this approximately ten-minute experience, participants embark on a fast-paced competition through the microcosm of the model world:

a turbulent kayak race through Venice,
precise cotton swab archery,
a daring balancing act in the model-making underground
as well as a chaotic finale in Knuffingen’s market square, where a gang of monkeys causes additional challenges.

Whether it’s skill, courage, or nerves of steel – the outcome of the miniathlon remains uncertain until the very end.

Addition to the successful VR walk

The “Wunderland Miniathlon” is deliberately designed to be the fast-paced counterpart to the popular VR walk “Walking in Wunderland.” Since April 2022, over 700,000 guests have already immersed themselves in the virtual worlds of YULLBE WUNDERLAND in Hamburg’s Speicherstadt district.

The experiences are created in collaboration between the creators of Miniatur Wunderland and Europa-Park. Visitors move around freely in the space (“free roaming”) either alone or in groups of up to six people, becoming part of the model world themselves.

The YULLBE WUNDERLAND GO Experience

For the experience, guests receive VR glasses and hand sensors and can move freely around an 80 m² play area.
The YULLBE WUNDERLAND GO adventures last around ten minutes each, with several experiences to choose from. The offer is recommended for visitors aged between 8 and 70. The experiences can be enjoyed in combination with Wunderland or independently.

Start: March 2026
Location: YULLBE WUNDERLAND, Am Sandtorkai 33, 20457 Hamburg

More information under:
www.yullbe-wunderland.de

Press contact

Niklas Weissleder

n.weissleder@miniatur-wunderland.de

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Miniatur Wunderland founder Frederik and educator Johanna Braun launch a musical appeal for a more conscious use of smartphones.

Francisca Hallmann — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 15:09:00 +0000

Miniatur Wunderland founder Frederik and educator Johanna Braun launch a musical appeal for a more conscious use of smartphones.

Hamburg, July 2025.
A silent moment at the airport: three teenagers, around 16 years old, sat side by side, all staring at their phones – for 15 minutes. Not a glance, not a word, not a laugh. Two men next to them were engaged in a lively, emotional conversation.
“This contrast deeply affected me,” says Frederik Braun, one of the founders of Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg. “I was sitting on a plane and wrote the lyrics to ‘Bildschirmblick’ during the flight.”

The song, produced under the project name Generation B, is more than just music. It’s a plea. A wake-up call, wrapped in humor and heart – and could become Germany’s highest-charting AI music project to date.
Frederik and his wife Johanna (herself a musician and educator) are parents of five children and want to make a difference:
“We use modern digital technology ourselves every day and are very grateful for the opportunities it offers, but children first need to experience the analog world so they can later learn to navigate the digital world safely. And they can’t do that alone.”

The vinyl record “Bildschirmblick” features side A (Bildschirmblick) and side B (Heute kein Handy. Versprochen). One side depicts life without a smartphone, the other life today.

Between Dopamine and Constant Stimulation – What Happens in Children’s Brains
The initial spark for the project came at the beginning of the year when Johanna Braun, frustrated with the way her twins’ fifth-grade class handled smartphones, gave a presentation on children’s media use in schools. She explained why children between the ages of 10 and 12 are particularly at risk:
“During this phase, the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain responsible for impulse control and decision-making – is not yet fully developed. Every message, every like triggers a small dopamine release. This feels good, but it trains the brain for short-term rewards instead of patience and concentration.”
Neuroscientific studies confirm this: Constant overstimulation can lead to reduced self-control and increased distractibility in the long run. Children whose daily lives are dominated by social media or fast-paced games have greater difficulty concentrating on a task for extended periods or tolerating frustration.
The DAK and UKE study (2023) shows that over a quarter of 10- to 17-year-olds in Germany use social media in a risky or pathological way, and 4.7 percent are already considered addicted.
“We are facing a tsunami of addiction disorders,” warned Professor Rainer Thomasius from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. Boys are particularly at risk: six percent already meet the criteria for media-dependent use.

Other countries have long been taking action.
While Germany is still debating, other countries have long since taken decisive action:
• France banned smartphones in schools back in 2018 – including their use during breaks and on school grounds.
• New Zealand introduced a nationwide ban on mobile phones in schools in 2024. Prime Minister Luxon explained: “We cannot stand idly by while our children’s concentration and educational success decline.”
• In the same year, Australia not only banned mobile phones in schools, but also social media access for those under 16. Platforms there are required to verify age – violations are punishable by fines of up to AUD 50 million.
• The Netherlands and Belgium have implemented similar regulations – with measurable success: 87% of schools report better concentration, 81% of improved learning behavior.
• Germany, on the other hand, remains hesitant. “We discuss data protection and innovation, but not the well-being of our children,” says Frederik Braun.

What Generation B wants for Germany
“We’re not calling for a total ban,” emphasizes Johanna Braun.
“But we do want clear guidelines at last – and the courage to take children by the hand again.” It will only work if politicians, schools, and parents all pull together. One cannot exist without the other.

Their key points:
• No smartphones before age 12, ideally 14
• Smartphone ban in schools up to grade 10 to protect social and cognitive development.
• Social media use only from age 16 – in combination with age verification.
• Mandatory lessons on media literacy, data protection, and digital ethics.
• Parental education instead of blame: Adults must model responsible media use.

An AI Song with Heart – and a Social Mission
The fact that “Bildschirmblick” (Screen View) was produced using AI is not a stylistic choice, but a symbol:
“We wanted to show that artificial intelligence doesn’t have to be the enemy,” says Frederik Braun.
“If AI helps us talk about real issues, then it becomes a tool for humanity.”
All proceeds from the song, CD, and picture disc will go to the Rolf Zuckowski Foundation “Children Need Music.”
A charming and deliberate contrast to the AI: The song is available in a unique vinyl edition with a genuine signature pressed into the vinyl – each copy is one of a kind. (www.releeze.de)
What began as a quiet moment at the airport is now a song, a statement, and perhaps the beginning of a long-overdue social debate.
“Children need closeness, music, and real conversations – not constant lights shining in their faces.”

Sources (selection):
• DAK / UKE-Studie 2023, Medienkonsum und Suchtverhalten bei Jugendlichen in Deutschland
• Deutsches Schulportal: Handyverbot in Frankreich und Belgien, 2024
• Tagesschau.de, Neuseeland verbietet Handys an Schulen, 2024
• Spiegel Online, Australien verbietet Social Media unter 16 Jahren, 2024
• Rainer Thomasius (UKE): Deutsches Zentrum für Suchtfragen des Kindes- und Jugendalters, 2023

Johanna and Frederik Braun are playing in the leaves with their five children. Photo: Oliver Kraupner

Johanna and Frederik Braun are playing with their five children in the leaves.

Johanna and Frederik Braun with their children and the limited edition vinyl record “Bildschirmblick”. Photo: Oliver Kraupner

Johanna and Frederik Braun, along with their children, engrossed in smartphones or tablets. Photo: Oliver Kraupner

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Wunderland is coming to the movies

Niklas Weißleder — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 11:08:43 +0000

From March 7, the film “WUNDERLAND – Vom Kindheitstraum zum Welterfolg” will bring Miniatur Wunderland to the cinema screen for the first time!

After two years of work, the story of the world’s largest model railway is being brought to German cinemas as an emotional documentary with never-before-seen footage.

With previously unpublished archive material, the film takes a look back at the difficult childhood of Wunderland founders Frederik and Gerrit Braun. It shows how the joy of playing gave birth to the craziest ideas and how this early fascination with model making ultimately laid the foundations for Wunderland.

As animated miniature figures, young Gerrit and Frederik Braun slip into the Wunderland themselves, discover the craziest details as children, have exciting encounters with some of the more than 289,000 figures, learn to understand the complex world of technology behind it and learn to control it. A fantastic adventure begins!

In addition to emotional interviews, the adventure takes us all the way to South America to the Martinez model-making family. Together, the Rio de Janeiro and Patagonia sections were created over several years in the workshops near Buenos Aires. Started as an cross-continental building project by a team of model builders from Hamburg and Argentina, true friendships across continents developed in a very short time.

The breathtaking images, combined with heartfelt stories, caused plenty of genuine tears and enthusiasm at a first screening at the film festival in Hamburg. “The standing ovation after the movie really touched us emotionally,” the two brothers report. Several weeks before the theatrical release on March 7, more than 300 cinemas in Germany have already announced the film.

“WUNDERLAND – Vom Kindheitstraum zum Welterfolg” was created by film production company B I 14, the makers of the famous Michael Schumacher documentary (currently streamed over 35 million times on Netflix) and director Sabine Howe.

Downloads

Further information can be found in the information booklet, click here to download.

To download the photos, please right-click on them and select “Save target as…”:

Press contact:

Contact for the movie:

Bernd Fehr

bernd.fehr@boxofficePR.de

Contact the Miniatur Wunderland:

Niklas Weissleder

n.weissleder@miniatur-wunderland.de

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Free admission for people who can’t otherwise afford to visit Wunderland

Niklas Weißleder — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 16:51:22 +0000

As part of the “I can’t afford it” campaign, Miniatur Wunderland invites all people who can’t afford the entrance fee. On 20 dates in January,0 anyone who can’t afford to pay admission can enter Wonderland for free. It is enough to say the following sentence at the checkout “I can’t afford it” and you can enter to Wunderland for free without asking.

The event was organized for the first time in January 2015. Since then, over 100,000 people have already taken advantage of the offer. Since then, the reactions have been positive almost without exception. There are now countless letters of thanks and we have been able to see emotional moments almost every day. The videos explaining the initiative on Facebook and YouTube have been shared millions of times. There is often concern in the comments that it is being exploited. The opposite is the case.

“I’m happy for every single person who finds out about this offer and takes advantage of it. Maybe one in a thousand will exploit the program, but in the end I don’t care about them. The last few years have shown that it pays to trust and believe in the good,” explains Gerrit Braun.

Many hundreds of visitors are expected to take advantage of the offer on each of the 20 dates in January. There are emotional scenes at the entrance every day. “You only have to stand at the entrance for a few minutes on the event days and you know that it’s worth it. People’s reactions are touching and motivating. Unfortunately, the great response also shows that there are still many people in Germany who live in precarious conditions. It is a great pleasure for us that we are in the fortunate position of being able to give these people a wonderful moment,” reports Frederik Braun.

A video in which Frederik and Gerrit Braun explain the campaign is online on Facebook and YouTube. The first day of the campaign is on Sunday, January 7 and ends on January 31. Saturdays are excluded. All dates and further information can be found at www.miniatur-wunderland.de/leisten

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PBHFJOZPhE

Facebook: https://fb.watch/pt8UA8N3Qz/

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A journey from Patagonia to Antarctica

Miniatur Wunderland — Wed, 03 May 2023 07:42:21 +0000

Miniatur Wunderland opens the gates to a new world full of natural spectacles.

After four years of work on two continents, over 50,000 working hours and almost 2,000,000 euros in construction costs, the new Patagonia section of Miniatur Wunderland was opened today at 1:50 pm. The 65 square meter installation complements the neighbouring Rio de Janeiro in the South America World and adds a wonderful attraction to Wunderland.

“I personally had the good fortune to travel to Patagonia almost 20 years ago. I have never been able to get this breathtaking and beautiful nature out of my head. The endless expanses make you feel very small as a human being. Since then, I have always dreamed of having Patagonia in Wonderland at some point. Now it is a reality and the almost impossible has been achieved. We have been able to capture the beauty and vastness of this landscape on these 65 square meters,” says Wunderland founder Frederik Braun.

A storm is brewing, the sea is getting rough and the sky is darkening. The sun disappears at one end and rises at the other end of the Andes mountain range, bathing the vast land in golden light. That’s how beautiful Patagonia is and it has now been immortalized at least as beautifully in Wunderland.

With the new section, the team has scaled new heights of model-making skill and technology and impresses with incredible scenery that you could almost forget isn’t real. One of the highlights is the infamous Drake Passage. The strait between Antarctica and Cape Horn has already brought many sailors to their limits or even to their end due to the temperamental swell. This natural spectacle is recreated extremely realistically using an elaborate combination of complex wave mechanics and visual projections. The entire mechanical system contains the most technical components ever installed in a Wunderland ride. The play of light, which simulates not only day and night but also a threatening thunderstorm, offers a unique experience. In this moment of the forces of nature, despite their miniature size, you feel very small.

“Perhaps it is precisely because this vastness of the landscape triggers a certain feeling that Patagonia is a unique work of art for me. With the new technologies, attention to detail and boundless creativity, the team has once again outdone itself and it simply makes me happy to stand here and admire the result together with everyone once again. In the last few decades, in which we have reinvented ourselves time and again, this opening doesn’t leave me cold either. Quite the opposite,” says Gerrit Braun, describing his emotional state.

The famous Perito Moreno glacier, on the other hand, gives you a feeling of cold. Every few minutes, blocks of ice crash into the water, accompanied by a realistic soundscape and effects in the water. In the background, the summit of the Fitz Roy rises into the air, which, as one of the main attractions in the Argentinian national park Los Glaciares, is of course also a must in the miniature Patagonia.

Like the Rio de Janeiro section before it, Patagonia was also created in collaboration between the Wunderland team and the Martinez family of model builders in Buenos Aires. The long-awaited end of the pandemic meant that visits were also possible again to perfect the model layout together on site. The end result is impressive and the new technologies that have been developed offer guests an unforgettable experience that has never been seen before.

The opening was also attended by some familiar faces, who were able to take a first look at the world of the Andes, glaciers and penguins. These included Arved Fuchs, German polar explorer and author, and the Second Mayor of Hamburg, Katharina Fegebank.

Patagonia will be followed by the rainforest with the Amazon and Andes at the turn of the year 2024/2025 and the Caribbean in 2025/2026. Subsequently, parts of Asia are planned. These will then be located above South America on the 4th floor of the new warehouse. Until then, the floor will be used for special exhibitions and a huge opening in the ceiling will provide a spectacular view of the South American sections being built.

Downloads

Video footage of Patagonia and the existing sections can be found here: Patagonia-Footage

To download the photos, please right-click on them and select “Save target as…”:

You can find more photos and footage here: Downloads

Press contact

Niklas Weissleder

Miniatur Wunderland GmbH
Kehrwieder 2-4
20457 Hamburg

n.weissleder@miniatur-wunderland.de

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YULLBE WUNDERLAND welcomes its 100,000th guest. Guest

Miniatur Wunderland — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Less than six months after the opening of YULLBE WUNDERLAND, the virtual reality attraction, which was created in collaboration between Germany’s two most popular attractions – Europa-Park and Miniatur Wunderland – is celebrating its 100,000th visit. Guest. In the late morning of September 27, Ben Lennart Endres was surprised by YULLBE initiators Sebastian Drechsler and Stephan Hertz and a celebrating team after his 30-minute excursion into the virtual world. In addition to gifts from the old world, a very special surprise awaited the jubilarian: Ben was scanned using photogrammetry and cloned twice – once on a scale of 1:87 in Miniatur Wunderland and once digitally in the virtual world.

Since April 1, 2022, it has been possible to virtually “shrink into Wonderland” thanks to state-of-the-art VR technology. 100,000 visitors have already tried out this technology wonder and experienced an exciting adventure in the person of small model figures in a kind of walk-in metaverse of Miniatur Wunderland. With this visitor mark, the newly opened VR attraction already ranks among established Hamburg attractions such as the Hamburg Chocoversum or the Planetarium in the first six months of its existence.

Wunderland co-founder Stephan Hertz is more than happy about the success of the first six months: “Ever since Miniatur Wunderland was founded, our guests have been dreaming of actually being part of our miniature world and strolling through the streets of Knuffingen or climbing the Swiss Alps as a little character. We had to wait a little over 20 years for this dream to come true and now we couldn’t be happier about the success of YULLBE WUNDERLAND.” Sebastian Drechsler adds: “The technical innovations of the past two decades have made possible today what was unimaginable back then. With this VR experience, not only are our guests breaking completely new virtual ground, but Miniatur Wunderland has also entered a new digital age.”

The new attraction in Hamburg’s Speicherstadt warehouse district has big plans for the future: the two existing Wunderland experiences will be continuously optimized in terms of graphics and technology, and the operators can also imagine developing another new VR adventure.

Downloads & more information

Further information about YULLBE WUNDERLAND can be found here: yullbe-wunderland.de/press

Press release as PDF

To download the photos, please click on the right and select “Save target as…”

The 100.000. visitor, Ben Lennart Endres, is surprised after his VR experience

Stephan Hertz, Ben Lennart Endres, Sebastian Drechsler (from left to right)

100,000 YULLBE WUNDERLAND visitors

Contact us

Sebastian Drechsler

sd@miniatur-wunderland.de

040 300 6 800

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Record: 1,000,000th construction hour reached! A creation story that never ends…

Cornelia Klein — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 06:20:41 +0000

While some people only need six days to create the world, others spend more than 1,000,000 working hours to create miniature worlds on just 1,545 m² of space. We are talking about the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, where the world’s largest model railroad and miniature worlds of superlatives have been tirelessly under construction for almost 22 years now.

1,000,000 hours – that’s more than 41,666 days, around 6,000 weeks, over 1,360 months or even 114 years. That’s how much time the hard-working Wunderlanders have spent together creating more and more miniature worlds. In all these hours, entire landscapes and cities have been created on 1,545 m² of layout area, a sea with a capacity of 30,000 liters of real water has been excavated, over 16 km of track has been painstakingly laid and around half a million LEDs have been installed, while 289,000 little figures have found a home in the wondrous worlds of Wunderland during this time.

Over the past 22 years, not only has the world’s largest model railroad layout been created, but also a complete work of art that is constantly under construction. “Every single one of the 1,000,000 hours of work has made Wunderland what it is today and we are so happy to have put so much time into every little detail,” says Wunderland founder Frederik Braun. And indeed, even the smallest details are not spared in terms of working hours. Even individual figures, such as colorfully costumed carnival performers or baroque dancers in opulent dresses, are given exactly the dedication and time they need. And then it can happen that the special production of a single figure suddenly takes several days. Elaborate buildings and important sights keep their builders busy for several months at a time.

Expressed in working hours, this means, for example, that a parking garage at Knuffingen Airport took around 3,000 hours to build, while the construction of the miniature Elbphilharmonie and the development of its mechanics took around 13,000 working hours. The scale of projects such as the world’s largest miniature airport can already be imagined in view of the construction times of individual buildings or figures. The development and construction of the in-house Knuffingen Airport took no less than 150,000 hours. This corresponds to a construction time of more than 200 months or even more than 17 years if a single person had done nothing else around the clock. Fortunately, a whole team of Wunderlanders pitched in and the construction time was reduced to “only” six years.

And who owns the hard-working hands that create the wonder worlds? In the past 1,000,000 working hours, trained dental technicians have created entire landscapes, former confectioners have designed countless sceneries, trained florists have maintained square kilometers of grounds and former zookeepers have made cars drive. “Our Wunderlanders come from a wide variety of backgrounds and each and every one of them brings very special skills and their own personality to the table. This makes Wunderland a very special place,” says Braun.

The diverse worlds of Miniatur Wunderland range from a quaint fantasy location in southern Germany to the Hanseatic home of Wunderland, Switzerland, Italy and now even South America. The “end of the world”, Patagonia, is set to follow at the beginning of 2023. Of course, this is by far not the end of Wunderland’s map expansion and the next million hours of work have already been tackled.

PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

YouTube: https://youtu.be/AMChQr668EM

Facebook: https://fb.watch/eW2bLupjgP/

The TOP 10 most elaborate buildings in Wunderland

The picture gallery as a click gallery for download: ZIP file; Buildings-TOP10

The TOP 5 high workload worlds

The picture gallery as a click gallery for download: ZIP file: Worlds-TOP5

1 MILLION WORKING HOURS AT A GLIMPSE

WORLDS
Italy ……………………………………………………………………………..180,000 hours
Airport …………………………………………………………………….150,000 hours
Switzerland………………………………………………………………………….150,000 hours
Scandinavia……………………………………………………………….140,000 hours
Hamburg ………………………………………………………………………109,000 hours
America………………………………………………………………………….99,000 hours
Central Germany…………………………………………………….69.000 hours
Rio de Janeiro……………………………………………………………..60,000 hours
Venedig………………………………………………………………………….35.000 Stunden
Knuffingen……………………………………………………………………..28,000 hours
Austria……………………………………………………………………..12,000 hours

BUILDINGS
Colosseum …………………………………………………………………..23 months
St. Peter’s Basilica …………………………………………………………………..22 months
Elbphilharmonie…………………………………………………………13,000 hours
Schloss Neuschwanstein …………………………………….12 months
Prokuratien ………………………………………………………………….34 weeks
Doge’s Palace………………………………………………………………..26 weeks
Airport parking deck P4…………………………………………3.000 hours
Michel …………………………………………………………………………….2,800 hours
Chocolate factory ………………………………………………….2,500 hours
Volksparkstadion………………………………………………………1.200 hours

AIRPLANES
An-124……………………………………………………………………………..5 months
Concorde………………………………………………………………………4,5 months
Beluga…………………………………………………………………………….600 hours

SHIPS
AIDAblu………………………………………………………………………….1,000 hours
Superfast VII………………………………………………………………..720 hours
Kronprins Frederik…………………………………………………….650 hours
Wind of Change…………………………………………………………3 months

CARS
FDNY Tiller Ladder „Seagrave Marauder II“…………………………..72 hours
Airfield fire engine „Ziegler Z8“………………………………………….60 hours
Mountain Valley Truck………………………………………………………………………..40 hours

Press contact

Sebastian Drechsler

s.drechsler@miniatur-wunderland.de

+49 40 300 68 00

The post Record: 1,000,000th construction hour reached! A creation story that never ends… first appeared on Miniatur Wunderland.

Hollywood at the Elbe – Hamburg’s newest and most modern attraction opens

Miniatur Wunderland — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 15:01:36 +0000

Federal Minister and First Mayor open spectacular new virtual reality world “YULLBE WUNDERLAND” in the Speicherstadt.

For centuries, the air, the deep sea and outer space were considered unattainable and were the setting and place of fantasy for great writers and generations of children’s dreams. We can now dive into the Mariana Trench and will soon be able to fly to Mars. And yet we are still surrounded by boundaries that we cannot yet overcome. After all, what child doesn’t dream of floating out of the window like Peter Pan and escaping to Neverland, saving the world with superpowers, changing bodies – or shrinking into another world?

In order to make these dreams come true and provide a glimpse behind the physical boundaries of our world, Germany’s two most popular attractions – Europa-Park Rust and Miniatur Wunderland – have joined forces to develop YULLBE WUNDERLAND – a state-of-the-art virtual reality attraction covering 750 square meters, where it will be possible to immerse yourself in other worlds with all your senses. After more than a year of construction and development, Hamburg’s newest attraction was opened today at 3:30 p.m. in the Speicherstadt warehouse district by Federal Digital Minister Dr. Volker Wissing, Hamburg’s First Mayor Dr. Peter Tschentscher, Europa-Park CEO Michael Mack and Miniatur Wunderland founder Frederik Braun.

Thanks to next-generation virtual reality technology, visitors will be able to shrink themselves into Miniatur Wunderland in two specially designed rooms with special equipment. “We’ve actually been dreaming of being able to shrink ourselves into Wunderland and experience this world ourselves as a 1:87 scale figure since the very first Wunderland days. Until now, that wasn’t possible. But thanks to Corona, it’s now possible,” explains Wunderland founder Frederik Braun with a grin, adding: “Of course, the last two years have been tough for us, with more than 1,500,000 fewer visitors than before. But we can at least take some positives from the time. We finally had time to rethink Wunderland and really let off steam creatively. When we came across this new VR technology from Europa-Park, it completely blew our socks off. It was immediately clear to us that, thanks to this technology, we could overcome the disadvantage of our size and become little wonderlands. In the end, the pandemic has made our dream come true.”

In addition to two Wunderland experiences, visitors will also be able to travel to other virtual worlds in the future. There are two rooms for this, which differ in size and technology:

YULLBE WUNDERLAND GO – 10-minute experience
The YULLBE GO room is 80 square meters in size and will be home to four different experiences in the first stage of development. In addition to a crazy walk through Wonderland, there will also be three fantasy worlds from Europa-Park’s creative workshop (Ed & Edda, Alpha Mods and Traumatica).

YULLBE WUNDERLAND PRO – 30-minute experience

The YULLBE PRO room is equipped with the very latest tracking technology, as used in the most modern Hollywood studios. Thanks to this technology, six guests can walk through the 250 square meter room at the same time for 30 minutes with all their senses. There are two experiences to choose from at the beginning: The Completely Crazy Shrink Tour through Wonderland and Mission Rulantica from Europa-Park.

“Whether it’s 80 or 250 square meters doesn’t really matter to the visitor. In virtual space, the boundaries of space and time become blurred. It’s spectacular how you can trick the senses and give you the feeling of infinite space. For me, it’s simply magical. It feels as if I can now walk through my imagination with full consciousness,” says Frederik Braun, describing the attraction.

Visitors are free to decide in which world they want to cross which border. In the two Wunderland experiences, for example, guests are shrunk and can experience Miniatur Wunderland from the perspective of a small figure with all their senses. In “Mission Rulantica”, on the other hand, you are a futuristic explorer who leaves gravity behind or become a kind of comic hero in “Ed & Edda”. Over the coming months and years, there will be more and more experiences that will constantly test the limits of what is possible.

Downloads & more information

Photos, footage and information about YULLBE WUNDERLAND can be found here: yullbe-wunderland.de/press

Contact us

Sebastian Drechsler

sd@miniatur-wunderland.de

040 300 6 800

The post Hollywood at the Elbe – Hamburg’s newest and most modern attraction opens first appeared on Miniatur Wunderland.

Hamburg gets a new high-tech attraction

Miniatur Wunderland — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 10:46:07 +0000

On April 1, Miniatur Wunderland will open one of the most modern virtual reality facilities in the world on 750 square meters.

Since the holodeck was introduced in Star Trek in 1988, millions of children and adults have dreamed the same dream for many years: to walk through another world completely freely and playfully and experience it with all their senses.

For a long time, this vision was considered completely utopian and unrealizable. Thanks to the latest generation of virtual reality technology, which allows you to move freely through the room, interact with friends and feel objects in a fully immersive way, the holodeck is within your grasp.

Now this technology is coming to Hamburg, allowing you to immerse yourself in new worlds with all your senses. “For one and a half years now, we have been working together with Europa-Park on a spectacular high-tech attraction called YULLBE WUNDERLAND. Among other things, you will be able to shrink yourself into Wonderland,” explains Miniatur Wunderland founder Frederik Braun, adding:

“For some, virtual reality is already a magical term. For many, however, it is still something distant or even strange. We are going to change that! From April 1, virtual reality will be on everyone’s lips. You could say that, together with Europa-Park, we are making ‘VR’ socially acceptable. We will offer almost everyone aged 8 and over an experience that they have never had before, unless they have been at home in the VR world for a long time. We have a cheeky promise: It will be an experience that will blow almost everyone’s socks off!”

At Sandtorkai 33, two experience areas, a bar and a hidden passageway to Miniatur Wunderland are currently being built on 750 square meters. With the two showrooms, guests will be able to choose between two experience rooms in future:

YULLBE WUNDERLAND GO
– 10-MINUTE EXPERIENCE

The YULLBE-GO room is 80 square meters in size and will be home to four different experiences in the first stage of development. In addition to a crazy walk through Wonderland, there will also be three Europa-Park fantasy worlds to experience at the launch (Ed &Edda, Alpha Mods, Traumatica).

YULLBE WUNDERLAND PRO
– 30-MINUTE EXPERIENCE

The YULLBE-PRO room is equipped with state-of-the-art tracking technology, as used in the latest Hollywood studios. With the help of this technology, six guests will be able to walk through a 250 square meter room at the same time for 30 minutes with all their senses. There are two shows to choose from at the beginning: The completely crazy shrink tour through Wonderland and Mission Rulantica from Europa-Park.

“Whether it’s 80 or 250 square meters doesn’t really matter to the visitor. In virtual space, the boundaries of space and time become blurred. It’s spectacular how you can trick your senses and give you the feeling of infinite space. The most decisive difference between the two spaces, apart from the length of the experiences, is their intensity. Even after what feels like the hundredth test, I always take off my VR helmet at the end and am fascinated by how real the unreal can seem,” concludes Frederik Braun.

More about YULLBE WUNDERLAND: yullbe-wunderland.de

Downloads

Photos and footage can be found here: yullbe-wunderland.com/press

Press contact

Sebastian Drechsler

Miniatur Wunderland GmbH
Kehrwieder 2-4
20457 Hamburg

sd@miniatur-wunderland.de

The post Hamburg gets a new high-tech attraction first appeared on Miniatur Wunderland.

Uncategorized | Miniatur Wunderland

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Record: 1,000,000th construction hour reached! A creation story that never ends…

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Hollywood at the Elbe – Hamburg’s newest and most modern attraction opens

Federal Minister and First Mayor open spectacular new virtual reality world “YULLBE WUNDERLAND” in the Speicherstadt.

Downloads & more information

Contact us

Hamburg gets a new high-tech attraction

On April 1, Miniatur Wunderland will open one of the most modern virtual reality facilities in the world on 750 square meters.

YULLBE WUNDERLAND GO– 10-MINUTE EXPERIENCE

YULLBE WUNDERLAND PRO– 30-MINUTE EXPERIENCE

Downloads

Press contact

Sebastian Drechsler

YULLBE WUNDERLAND GO
– 10-MINUTE EXPERIENCE

YULLBE WUNDERLAND PRO
– 30-MINUTE EXPERIENCE