The Disney-inspired winter wonderland put on every year by Rohnert Park’s very own Scott Weaver is making its last appearance. Weaver has decided that it’stime to move on.
Throughout the years, Weaver has handcrafted a variety of Disney characters to increase the size of his Christmas wonderland. Characters like Woody from Toy Story, Woody the woodpecker, the South Park crew, gingerbread men and many more well known cartoon characters can be seen in his front yard, roof and windows draped in 40,000 colorful christmas lights. His Jungle Book attraction has its very own built-in waterfall that completes the jungle.
“During the weeks leading up to Dec. 1, I am working seven days a week — anywhere from eight to twelve hours a day [but] not one thing looks like Christmas for the first three weeks,” said Weaver.
Not only does Weaver spend the year handcrafting characters for his own yearly spectacular, but he also has made multiple christmas decorations and cartoon characters such as Roger Rabbit and Jessica Rabbit, a couple Dalmatians, Sleeping Beauty and candy canes for his neighbors to be apart of the Christmas extravaganza.
Weeks before the lighting of his eye catching holiday castle, Weaver spent most of his time hanging up lights and setting up his precious characters.
“I spend four and a half to five months out of the year doing this,” said Weaver.
Ever since 2014 when Weaver’s house won the grand prize of $50,000 on season two of ABC’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight,” and had his hard work shown on national television, people from all over the country have driven to Rohnert Park to witness his yearly christmas spectacular.
At age 56, Weaver has decided to close the curtains on this one-of-a-kind annual ritual that has astonished thousands for years.
“It came from changes in my inner self,” said Weaver. “That I wanted to do things and realizing how many eight-hour days and how I put everything else off to do this,” said Weaver.
The time, effort and expense that comes along with this yearly event will hopefully be passed down to a new Rohnert Park Christmas decorator who will be chosen by Weaver himself.
“It’s something that has been going on for 22 years. I drop sometimes around $1,500 to $2,000 a year before I even turn a light on,” said Weaver. “The thing I’m going to miss most is the kids and the families’ joy.”
The lights will be on every night from Dec. 1- 25 from 5:30 p.m. to9 p.m., you can see the lights illuminating the Christmas spectacular at 1190 Cielo Circle.
