One big layout

[Ian MacMillan]

I kinda like Wunderland...yeah it is a tourist trap, but their scenes are much more detailed and "realistic" than Northlands.

To me the difference between the two is the amount of effort and money that Wunderland has.

[ljudice]

Living 10 miles away from Northlandz and having kids, I've been there several times. Frankly, the place has gotten shabby - scenery looks walked over - cracked and broken in places. And the general theme has nothing to do with reality - it would have been better named "Bridgeland".

But even at Northlandz there are a couple of nice scenes - the winter double track through a small Pennsylvania or West Virginia-ish town in snow towards the end is probably the best.

[mirage]

Living in Hamburg I've been in Miniatur-Wunderland several times. You guys are quite right that it's not "Model-Railroading" as done here. They don't do OP-Sessions and as I heard from interviews with the owners the "American Part" is not like "Model" but is like most germans see the USA. They wan't to see something what they saw in their last vacation trip to California, Las Vegas or the Grand Canyon. That's why it's not to scale and the Florida Keys are side by side to Las Vegas. 

BUT..... they do one great thing for the hobby: a lot of the visitors are familys. And often the wife is very taken of what can be seen. And, as speeking for me  , a wife supporting the hobby, is quite good ;D ;D

Btw. my favorite parts are the Hamburg City and Scandinavia. Nearly every building scatchbuilded )and all bridges  .

[DKS]

I will agree that the craftmanship behind Wunderland is exceptional--all other attactions of its ilk pale by comparison. Even if it's all fantasyland stuff, it's really well executed. And as I stated before, the technology behind it is simply outrageous. If it were located in northeastern US, I'd apply to work for the team that builds it.

[FrankCampagna]

they are something else that I can't define..

Circus?

Frank

[m301]

 I've seen still pictures and video of Wunderland before, and thought it was a tremendous achievement. As a modeler, you have to focus on the trains and tracks, the scenery is on over load.
  Consider the station. Every track has a signal protecting the switch in front of it. You have to respect the Germans for this. They are famous for over kill on technology (see WW2), but this can be looked at in awe of what is possible with lots of time and certainly lots of money.
 I have heard of and seen the website for Northlands, and think this is one man's insanity. Where Wunderland is build with detail, Northlands seems to be built as a joke. 

  Long gone are the days when manufacturers built layouts to display their products. I guess I am lucky enough to have seen the Lionel displays in the toy building here in NYC. Needless to see, that was a very long time ago.  I would like to see the new display in Chicago some day.