Mundo Pixar Immersive Experience

 Mundo Pixar Immersive Experience.

It all took place at Wembley Park which was roughly half a mile away from Wembley Stadium where it all happened for the England football team last Friday and where it memorably happened 60 years ago against the same opponents and 60 years later. Effectively, the England fans were still scratching their heads on Friday at the new Wembley. But this time we were admiring some of Hollywood's most lovable and endearing cartoon figures at Wembley Park. That in itself was enough to send you down the sweetest memory lane and suddenly there it was. Nostalgia. 

The Mundo Pixar Immersive Experience is currently packing them in along Wembley Way and inside Wembley Park, it is a childhood haven. You remembered the old Wembley Stadium and could hardly believe how dramatic a transformation there had been since the days when the Twin Towers dominated the North London landscape. The new Wembley now has the most striking arch which immediately catches the eye and for those who designed the new stadium, this must have represented their crowning moment of glory. 

And yet Wembley used to look like a huge concrete piece of architecture with a basic concourse and hundreds of  burger, hot dogs and exotic food outlets. But Wembley almost divided opinion and when it was demolished at the end of the 20th century, some of us were more relieved than anything else. Now the new Wembley has endless art installations, both innovative and progressive looking, more restaurants and cafes than you can possibly imagine, donut stalls, mini children's playgrounds and so much more. Now Wembley is down with the kids, cool, sophisticated and forward thinking. 

Yesterday, my lovely family and I took the opportunity to visit the Mundo Pixar Immersive Experience. For those who may not know about Pixar, then here's a synopsis of what Pixar is. Pixar used to be called Disney,  as in the home of cartoons, and everything associated with our childhood although families were, of course, included. Suddenly you were back in your early years and it was a fantastic privilege to be among our children and grandchildren while at the same time appreciating the fun and enormous enjoyment they were getting from the day. 

So Pixar conjures up its own symbolic significance in the movie franchise market. It is a young boy perched comfortably on the crescent of a moon fishing the day away. It is the angle poise lamp that swivels around ever so cutely and then shines the brightest light. It is your childhood and now your grandfather's experience because we'd all love to recapture the spirit of our youth because it reminds us of who we were and what we might have been doing as kids, playing on our bikes, picking strawberries with mum and dad, buying vinyl albums and singles and dancing in nightclubs. 

But yesterday we went back to days of more recent vintage. Toy Story has to be one of the most imaginative, superlative, magnificent of children's films ever made. There have now been four Toy Story films and all of them have been just astonishing cinematic masterpieces. Woody, as voiced by Hollywood acting royalty Tom Hanks, is the Wild West cowboy with a natty Stetson hat, country and western checked shirts and trousers and the guy who made you laugh uproariously, smile amusingly and just make you feel good. 

Woody's best friend is Buzz Lightyear and Andy just wants everybody to behave themselves and be happy, lifelong friends without a single malicious word for each other. So Buzz Lightyear is the figure who just keeps everybody ticking over and always ensures that the whole gang at Pixar never step out of line. They're happy and they are united, like all families should be. There's Slinky, Jess and those adorable toy soldiers who sit on one of the tables and are just contented with who they are. 

You move around the whole Immersive Experience and wonder if you may be imagining this but it's true, undeniably so. There's Grumpy from the movie Up, who harbours a private ambition to go flying with balloons to South America and just pulls on our sentimental heart strings. There's Cars, cartoon figures with red bonnets who race each other quite earnestly and competitively because that's what motor racing cars do. Pixar transports us to the world that Disney would have dearly wanted us to join him on. Cars get very upset and annoyed when things go wrong and then they apologise and all is well.

Then, just for a couple of minutes or so, you cast your minds back to your first ever childhood movie. It was Jungle Book followed almost immediately by Bambi. And then there were your precious and beautiful children and now our grandchildren and everything in our world is complete. We are deeply and immensely satisfied. We take photographs of Woody and Buzz, pose unashamedly for the red Cars, smiling and laughing all over again. We buy the Pixar souvenirs and merchandise because the kids love of all that. And then it's time for a relaxing lunch and time to head for home. It was simply brilliant.