Welcome To Weaver Wonderland-The Disney Christmas House
December 8, 2013
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Here in Northern California with Thanksgiving means that we also welcome Weaver Wonderland, the Disney Christmas House.
Nestled in Sonoma County, some 50 miles north of the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, residents from hundreds of miles around are treated to Scott Weaver’s little slice of Disney Christmas heaven. Each year for the past 16 years, Weaver has transformed his Rohnert Park home into a castle with over 300 handcrafted characters, 40,000 lights, a waterfall, a tower, a train, and a bubble machine. His self-described “Weaver Winter Wonderland” gets bigger every year. The display, a labor of love, takes Scott over a month of 12-hour days to set up.
Each year Weaver is allotted five weeks of vacation from his job. He sets aside four of those weeks for preparation. “During those weeks leading up to December, I am working seven days a week — anywhere from eight to 12 hours a day.” Currently, Scott has about 20 of his neighbors involved in the displays as well as students from the local high school who receive community service hours for working on the project. “It’s great to work with the kids and get to know the people in the community,” Weaver said. “Plus, they get a lot out of it learning how to set-up displays and use tools.” Incorporated into this holiday spectacular are trees from his mother that she worked on as she was going through chemo, his beloved dog complete with her actual dog collar and ashes mixed into the paint used on her life sized cutout as well as a complete Lion King display as a tribute to his father who helped guide Scott back on his journey of life. Always a man of giving back to the town that has been so good to him, Scott puts out a donation box with the proceeds helping to keep many of the high school programs that have gone by the way of state budget cuts. Weaver, 50, developed a passion for Christmas and decorating that goes back to the early 90s. Each year his light display grew bigger and bigger. When his passion finally outgrew the Weaver house years ago, it started migrating to the homes of neighbors. On a nearby lawn, the “Island of Misfit Toys” are displayed. The Abominable Snowman towers higher than one neighbor’s home. Jessica Rabbit poses on another next-door lawn. Weaver looks forward to creating his work of art all year, like a kid waiting for Christmas morning.
However, things don’t really get serious until the fall. “I usually start in the first week of October with planning what to do for new neighbors or maybe adding a new display for someone,” Weaver said. “This year we only added 22 new cutout displays — like Mr. Magoo, Spongebob, and the Smurfs.” “One of my neighbors really wanted to add the Smurfs because her kids and grandkids really liked the Smurfs so I made them for her.” It turns out that 22 new cutouts is a rather small number for Scott, as he has added over 120 new displays in a previous year. He does all the work for the displays for free and only asks for material costs if he doesn’t already have what he needs in his shop. The neighbors are more than happy to be part of the Christmas extravaganza.“Well, Scott made everything in my yard,” shared Janice Butler,”Including Sleeping Beauty and the prince dancing, the fairies and the 20-foot-tall dragon. He also made Roger Rabbit and Jessica Rabbit, a couple Dalmatians (there are all 101 of them around the court) and some candy canes and soldiers.” 
Aside from the local community, the Weaver lights have gotten plenty of attention over the years. ABC has done segments including his displays, he placed third in 2008 in a national competition hosted by Kentucky Fried Chicken, and last year took first in a contest run by Disney Corporation. “Winning the award from Disney meant a lot,” Weaver said. “But really I do all of this for the kids.” Words cannot describe this Disneyland-like, majestic, magnificent, hand-carved castle nestled on Cielo Court in Rohnert Park.
The details are endless as are the Disney characters displayed. “The candy shop has real candy!!” “It’s snowing bubbles,” are just some of the squeals of delight from those of us that count the days until the house is officially lit up for the holiday season. Dalmatians align the yard, along with a flowing waterfall where Surf’s Up and South Park is keeping watch on the roof.
At the very top of the roof is a star complete with Santa’s sleigh and eight reindeer. As you walk along the court you are greeted by hand-carved princesses, the cast of Madagascar, the abominable snowman and various other Disney characters. This is by far the most creative and detailed home we have ever seen; enjoyed by all ages and a marvel for our children.
