Mini Disney World - Fan-Made Model

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hey All!

So I finished my Quarantine Project this past weekend and had a feeling you guys would get a kick out of it - I've been a longtime collector of the Monorail Train Sets sold in the parks, and used to stare in awe at the old setup in Once Upon a Toy at the formerly-named Downtown Disney. Over the years I was able to complete my collection of the different Playsets, from The Haunted Mansion to Space Mountain and beyond, and always wanted to set up my own Mini Walt Disney World and fill in the gaps between the playsets with Models of my own making. By the time I'd actually gathered the skills to even attempt something like that I was out in the working world and couldn't make it a priority.

Cue lockdown! Suddenly for the first time in my adult life work wasn't standing between me and my silly dream project - so I went for it! And I went hard. Maybe too hard.

Since lockdown made it difficult to pick up new supplies, much of the new pieces were made exclusively out of leftover materials hanging around my workspace. Scraps of cardboard, pieces of foam, and lots of hot glue.

I wouldn't call it a Scale Model, since the scale is all over the place working backwards from the varying sizes of the Disney-made pieces, so it's really more of a caricature. I reached across years in choosing which attractions to represent - they range from all-time classics to long-gone favorites, and even some new rides that have very recently opened or are currently under construction at Walt Disney World.

I finally pulled it all out over the Fourth of July weekend and set it up the way it was meant to be seen - outside in a wild, sprawling mess, an enormous plaything, glowing in the night while the Monorails glide through it. My own little Small World. I'm just glad I was able to get it done before the real one opened back up. Hope you guys like!

Shoutout to @marni1971 who offered assistance in working out the Epcot portion of the model - Thank you!

Mini Walt Disney World 1 Smaller.jpg


MK Resorts HDR 1 Smaller.jpg


MK HDR 1 Mini WDW Smaller.jpg


EPCOT RAW 1 Smaller.jpg


EPCOT Reverse Angle HDR 2 Smaller.jpg


DHS HDR 1 Smaller.jpg


Animal Kingdom HDR 1 Smaller.jpg


Aaaand a Video Tour for good measure:

 

cgersic

Well-Known Member
Hey All!

So I finished my Quarantine Project this past weekend and had a feeling you guys would get a kick out of it - I've been a longtime collector of the Monorail Train Sets sold in the parks, and used to stare in awe at the old setup in Once Upon a Toy at the formerly-named Downtown Disney. Over the years I was able to complete my collection of the different Playsets, from The Haunted Mansion to Space Mountain and beyond, and always wanted to set up my own Mini Walt Disney World and fill in the gaps between the playsets with Models of my own making. By the time I'd actually gathered the skills to even attempt something like that I was out in the working world and couldn't make it a priority.

Cue lockdown! Suddenly for the first time in my adult life work wasn't standing between me and my silly dream project - so I went for it! And I went hard. Maybe too hard.

Since lockdown made it difficult to pick up new supplies, much of the new pieces were made exclusively out of leftover materials hanging around my workspace. Scraps of cardboard, pieces of foam, and lots of hot glue.

I wouldn't call it a Scale Model, since the scale is all over the place working backwards from the varying sizes of the Disney-made pieces, so it's really more of a caricature. I reached across years in choosing which attractions to represent - they range from all-time classics to long-gone favorites, and even some new rides that have very recently opened or are currently under construction at Walt Disney World.

I finally pulled it all out over the Fourth of July weekend and set it up the way it was meant to be seen - outside in a wild, sprawling mess, an enormous plaything, glowing in the night while the Monorails glide through it. My own little Small World. I'm just glad I was able to get it done before the real one opened back up. Hope you guys like!

Shoutout to @marni1971 who offered assistance in working out the Epcot portion of the model - Thank you!

View attachment 482178

View attachment 482179

View attachment 482180

View attachment 482181

View attachment 482182

View attachment 482183

View attachment 482184

Aaaand a Video Tour for good measure:


That is AMAZING!!!! So glad I opened up the thread! Truly magical!!!
 

Mickey Pride

Well-Known Member
Omg that is amazing. You should consider contacting Disney themselves about your project because they just might want to interview you about this project and maybe even display this on the property somewhere so even more people can view it. This is truly magical.
 

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
I love it!

And I always wondered why Disney never officially licensed models of their parks to model railroad manufacturers. As I'm sure the responses to your models will show, they would be very popular.
 

yoda_5729

Well-Known Member
This is very well done. The models themselves ae quite impressive, but you even have much of the lighting. It'd be interesting to see it in daylight, though it might give away some of the stufff like dark rides can.

Either way, very good job :)
 

denyuntilcaught

Well-Known Member
Spectacular! This is so impressive and detailed. Despite you explaining how to do it, I still don't know how you did it, and that's true magic. :)

Bravo!
 
HOLY COW.

This is amazing!!! Can we get more views of this?? I have no idea how you made this! Can we see some daylight images? Maybe a live commentary of you going through it? I’ve always wanted to do something like this.
 

KaliSplash

Well-Known Member
Out of this world Amazing! This is stunningly Great. Thank you so much for sharing. We could use a really good thread like this these days.:):):):)
 

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Man and I wasted my quarantine on Tiger King...
DW had me cleaning out closets, organizing shelves, getting rid of old accumulated junk, rearranging things, and other useless jobs that Ive put off for years. I COULD HAVE DONE THAAAAT!!!! ( Who am I kidding... I'd not have the patience or talent ! )

It'd be interesting to see it in daylight,
Yes. please give us a daylight video for a more detailed look.
 

InnKpr

Well-Known Member
Hey All!

So I finished my Quarantine Project this past weekend and had a feeling you guys would get a kick out of it - I've been a longtime collector of the Monorail Train Sets sold in the parks, and used to stare in awe at the old setup in Once Upon a Toy at the formerly-named Downtown Disney. Over the years I was able to complete my collection of the different Playsets, from The Haunted Mansion to Space Mountain and beyond, and always wanted to set up my own Mini Walt Disney World and fill in the gaps between the playsets with Models of my own making. By the time I'd actually gathered the skills to even attempt something like that I was out in the working world and couldn't make it a priority.

Cue lockdown! Suddenly for the first time in my adult life work wasn't standing between me and my silly dream project - so I went for it! And I went hard. Maybe too hard.

Since lockdown made it difficult to pick up new supplies, much of the new pieces were made exclusively out of leftover materials hanging around my workspace. Scraps of cardboard, pieces of foam, and lots of hot glue.

I wouldn't call it a Scale Model, since the scale is all over the place working backwards from the varying sizes of the Disney-made pieces, so it's really more of a caricature. I reached across years in choosing which attractions to represent - they range from all-time classics to long-gone favorites, and even some new rides that have very recently opened or are currently under construction at Walt Disney World.

I finally pulled it all out over the Fourth of July weekend and set it up the way it was meant to be seen - outside in a wild, sprawling mess, an enormous plaything, glowing in the night while the Monorails glide through it. My own little Small World. I'm just glad I was able to get it done before the real one opened back up. Hope you guys like!

Shoutout to @marni1971 who offered assistance in working out the Epcot portion of the model - Thank you!

View attachment 482178

View attachment 482179

View attachment 482180

View attachment 482181

View attachment 482182

View attachment 482183

View attachment 482184

Aaaand a Video Tour for good measure:


You win at quarantining. You win at life.

Fantastic!
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom