The Mundo Pixar event in Wembley, London was one of those places that, when it was first announced, I wasn't sure about going to. However, after seeing the pictures and other people's reviews, I decided that maybe this was one of those events not to be missed — and I am so pleased that I did decide to go.
You can't just turn up — you do have to book in advance. They offer two ticket types: a dedicated time slot, or an open flex ticket that lets you arrive whenever you like on your chosen day. I booked the flex option, as I do hate being tied to a set time, and took along our daughter Jenny to see what it was all about. Oh, and we also took Elsie and Jenny's support bear Jake with us — why not, it's open to everyone!
When you enter the building there's a cloakroom and a toilet — and note, these are the only ones inside, so it's worth using them before you set off. There's also a spot where they take a few fun photos before you go in. You can skip the photo op if you'd rather; Jenny and I had ours taken, but we didn't buy them, as in our opinion they were quite expensive at £15 for a digital version. Once past the photo point, we headed to the entrance and waited to be let into the pre-show.
The Pre-Show
Before you can explore the wonderful scenes they have at the event, you enter a large room for a pre-show. In the room is a huge screen where they show clips from the Pixar movie franchise and talk you through an intro to the event. Once the pre-show is over, you're directed out to the displays themselves. Before each display there's a short corridor with a sign on the wall explaining which film the next display is from.
Up
The first area you come to is the outside of Carl and Ellie's house from Up. I wasn't sure how big the displays were going to be, but the scale and size of what they've built is amazing. You have Russell standing by the porch in his Wilderness Explorer uniform, the iconic cluster of balloons on top of the house, and — sitting patiently — Dug is there to say hello and look for squirrels.
As you walk through the front door you enter into Carl's front room. He's standing there larger than life next to an armchair, with a window behind him — through which we did spot Kevin the ostrich a few times. What struck me was the detail, right down to the grain on the woodwork; it was really well done.
Monsters, Inc.
We took a few pictures and then headed to the next area: Monstropolis, home of Monsters, Inc. — where you get to step inside the scare floor of Monsters Incorporated. As you enter, James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski are there, larger than life, to greet you, surrounded by an array of scare cylinders — one of which was interactive and screamed when you pressed the button, which was fun. There was also Boo's door, with a projection of Boo's bedroom tucked round the side. Above you hung an array of doors, suspended as if they were on moving tracks. As a huge Monsters, Inc. fan, Jenny loved this area.
Toy Story — Andy's Room
We left Monstropolis and headed down the corridor to the next room — and what a room it was. Suddenly we were the size of a toy, as we were in Andy's bedroom. The way they'd recreated Andy's room was done so well — the scale is spot on, and even the tallest of us is dwarfed by everyday objects. If you know the original Toy Story, you'll clock the details, right down to Sheriff Woody keeping guard by the cardboard jail and the green toy soldiers holding watch. At the far end of the room stood Buzz next to his packaging, with the broken wing where it had been ripped off — which made for a fun photo op.
As we left Andy's room we walked straight into Sunnyside Daycare from Toy Story 3 — another great room. Again we were made to feel like toys, and there were a lot of fun photo ops, including a huge daycare chair that even Jake and Elsie looked tiny on. The detail in here is brilliant — the children's drawings, the textures, the whole daycare chaos rebuilt around you. And we couldn't resist the Aliens' "you have saved our lives, we are eternally grateful" moment.
Inside Out
Stepping into this room was like stepping into the movie itself. You're surrounded by walls of coloured orbs, representing all of Riley's memories. In the centre of the room is the control desk, watched over by Joy and Sadness, with Anxiety in the middle. There's a lot of detail again, though the control desk was roped off — which was a bit of a disappointment, if I'm honest, as I'd have loved to get closer to it and maybe have some interactive buttons to play with. But it still made for some fun photo ops.
Ratatouille
We carried on through the event and found ourselves in the kitchen of Gusteau's restaurant in Paris — the home of Ratatouille. In this room you're shrunk to the size of a rat, and you're greeted by Emile sitting on the edge of a pot of cooking utensils, eating — if you've seen the film, you'll know he's always eating! It was a fun area, although the main rat, Remy, was only there as a projection, which was a shame.
Coco
As we left the kitchens we were transported to Mexico and the world of Coco. This one was split over two rooms. The first featured the classic ofrenda, where it's traditional to leave treats and pictures of your loved ones who are no longer with us. Miguel was in this room too, with Mamá Coco keeping him company. When you left that room, you walked across the interactive bridge of marigolds, where you were greeted by Héctor and Dante celebrating the Day of the Dead. The colours were so bright and warm, and the whole room had a really good atmosphere.
Cars
We said goodbye to the Land of the Dead and headed on through the next archway. Turning the corner, we found ourselves in Radiator Springs. Lightning McQueen was there to greet us, as was Tow Mater. This area was very bright and airy, and again well detailed. This was one room I was looking forward to seeing, as I do like Cars, and it certainly did not disappoint.
Finding Nemo
We said goodbye to Radiator Springs and walked into the final room, where we found ourselves under water — as we were going to be finding Nemo. Huge jellyfish hung from the ceiling above your head, and they'd gone down to the finest details immaculately, including putting the address on the back of the infamous diver's goggles: P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. I sometimes compare myself to Dory, as I do at times suffer from short-term memory loss, lol.
The Gift Shop
As we exited the underwater world we found ourselves in the obligatory gift shop, which has quite a good range of products, and the prices weren't too bad either. There were also the kiosks where you scanned the card from the pre-event photos to view and purchase them. The ones we'd had taken were good, however — as I mentioned at the start — the prices were quite high: £15 for a single digital one. In total we had six different photos to look at, and all were good, but in my honest opinion a lot of money. Another thing I was disappointed in was that they didn't have any pin badges to buy — they had magnets and lanyards, but no pins.
Our Honest Verdict
In total we were in the event for just under two hours. It was very well laid out and flowed really well. However, there are a few negatives. The first was that it was a very hot day when we went, and it got quite warm in the building, with nowhere to stop and have a drink between the rooms. The second, as mentioned, was the price of the photos — if they'd had a package where you could download all your images electronically, that might have swayed me to make a purchase. And finally, no pins.
Overall verdict: a solid 4 out of 5. Would I recommend going while it's running? Yes. Is it worth the price tag? Honestly, we paid £40 for our tickets, and I do think it was just about worth it.
The event is running until November 2026 in London.
Disclaimer: this is my honest verdict — I am not paid for my content.
