Review: Mundo Pixar Experience (London)

Photo: Luke Dyson

With over 3.5 million visitors having already attended in Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Belgium, Mundo Pixar has now arrived in the UK. Set within a custom-built venue a stone's throw from Wembley Stadium, this self-guided walkthrough exhibition contains 13 immersive sets depicting scenes from classic Pixar movies and includes over 25 life-sized sculptures, with fan favourites like Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Dory, and Nemo all featured.

With attendance figures in the millions and a line-up of beloved characters, expectations for Mundo Pixar are understandably high, and it's easy to see why Disney fans would be eager to attend, drawn in by the opportunity to step inside the worlds of their favourite films. At its core, Mundo Pixar is a visually immersive, photo-friendly experience, which prioritises impressive sets and striking design over the type of interactive engagement that London audiences have grown accustomed to thanks to the success of shows like The Paddington Bear Experience.

Whether or not this is a problem will, of course, depend on your age and expectations going in. For little ones, it's going to be a fun-filled hour of exploring scenes from some of their favourite films and getting some cool photos, but for the parents footing the bill, it might leave them wanting a little more. If you're aware going in that Mundo Pixar is a Madame Tussauds-style experience and are happy to go without the level of insight and archival detail present in the likes of Disney100, you'll likely walk away with your expectations met.

Photo: Luke Dyson

The exhibition boasts a pretty formidable line-up of spaces, covering everything from Toy Story and Monsters Inc. to Coco, Inside Out, Ratatouille, and Finding Nemo. Within each of them, there are a couple of meticulously made sculptures of the film's standout characters, supported by 360-degree sets, background music and, in some cases, scents. Although every corner of each room could feasibly work as a photo op, there are marked-out spots on the floor that highlight the best places to stand for photos, and throughout the exhibition, there's over a dozen hidden Pixar balls waiting to be spotted as guests move from room to room, which adds a light scavenger-hunt element.

The exhibition's standout spaces are without a doubt the two Toy Story-themed rooms, which recreate Andy's bedroom from the original film, and the Sunnyside Daycare from Toy Story 3, which has been created specifically for the London run.

Photo: Luke Dyson

Guests explore these rooms from the perspective of toys, with everything around them, from personal items and furniture, all scaled up to be truly larger than life. The change in scale is cleverly handled, creating playful optical illusions that produce some of the exhibition’s strongest photo moments. The collection of sculptures on offer in this room - made up of Woody, Buzz and Jessie - is equally strong, with all three being amongst Pixar's best-loved characters. Lot’s-o is also there, but he rightfully isn’t as well loved, as he was kind of mean…

Elsewhere in the exhibition, some spaces haven't received quite the same level of love and attention. A subway car inspired by 2023's Elemental, which features Wade and Ember, is by far the smallest of the lot and is pretty rough around the edges, with low-resolution, pixelated vistas visible through the subway car's windows. Similarly, the area dedicated to 2021's Luca relies heavily on printed backdrops to suggest Portorosso’s shopfronts, with balconies and windows rendered in two dimensions, which is a far cry from the level of detail present in the exhibition's biggest spaces.

Photo: Luke Dyson

Alongside omitting several of Pixar’s best-loved films, including The Incredibles and WALL-E, the exhibition also excludes many characters from the properties it does feature, boiling each film’s cast down to just a few essential characters. Andy’s bedroom only features Woody and Buzz; the Scare Floor is completely absent of Boo or any monsters besides Mike and Sully, and the exhibition's final space, depicting Finding Nemo, is missing everyone but Dory and Nemo. Weirdest of all, Remy is completely absent from the Ratatouille room and is only visible as a silhouette inside a huge chef's hat.

It’d be unrealistic to expect every character from every film to be present throughout Mundo Pixar, but to have comparatively few characters on display feels like a missed opportunity, especially given the size of the exhibition and the number of people vying for photos in each room.

In terms of interactivity, Mundo Pixar provides a light amount of engagement beyond taking photos, with several items reacting to visitors throughout the experience, including the Scream Canisters and Closet Doors from Monsters Inc. and foot-operated pedals inside Carl's floating house that play a tune. Clearer signposting around what can and can't be interacted with could help ensure these moments are more widely discovered, as they add some welcome moments of connection, but the staff on hand within each room are more than happy to point the most curious guests in the right direction if needed.

To get the most out of Mundo Pixar, we'd suggest hanging back once your group are let loose to explore, and taking your time in each room - you'll be able to appreciate the smaller details far more, and likely get better photos too.

Photo: Luke Dyson

While it's far less hands-on than the likes of The Paddington Bear Experience and last year's Jurassic World Experience, Mundo Pixar is likely going to be a hit with Disney fans of all ages, if only for the nostalgia and Instagrammable nature of the exhibition. Despite its shortcomings, it’s hard to deny that there’s something pretty magical about stepping into recreations of Andy's bedroom or the Scare Floor and coming face-to-face with life-sized versions of the beloved characters you’ve grown up with, even if the experience has been designed first and foremost as a collection of photo opportunities and not as a fully-fledged immersive experience.

★★★

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Mundo Pixar Experience (London) runs on Fulton Way in Wembley Park until 28th June 2026. Tickets are priced from £24.00 for Adults and £18.00 for Children. To learn more and book tickets, visit mundopixar.com

For more reviews of immersive and interactive experiences, check out our recent Reviews.