Last month’s visit to the San Francisco area was beyond AMAZING to say the least. One of the highlights from this trip was visiting The Walt Disney Family Museum. If you are not familiar with The Walt Disney Family Museum, you are not alone, I wasn’t aware of it either. Before visiting the museum, one thing I knew for sure was that anything associated with Disney is pretty much magical. In the shadows of the grand Golden Gate bridge and in the historic Presidio area, lies The Walt Disney museum. This 40,000-square-foot museum, helps tell Walt’s life story and legacy through state-of-the-art technology, original painting, drawings, personal stories, music and videos. Today, I want to share with you some of my favorite images and anecdotes from my visit to the museum.
Walt Disney Family Museum
#Waltagram
The Walt Disney Family Museum was founded by Diane Disney Miller (Walt Disney’s daughter) in 2009 and it is now run by The Walt Disney Family Museum Inc. The museum features 10 different permanent galleries with a few non-permanent exhibits, so if you are planning to visit, check the website for a list of current exhibits. The museum lobby houses some furniture pieces from the Disney family Disneyland apartment (seen on the image above), as well as, a display with some of the awards, including the Oscars, Disney won while he was alive.
The 10 permanent galleries are sectioned into these categories: Beginnings, Hollywood, New Horizons, The Move to Features, New Success & Greater Ambitions, The Late ’30s to Mid ’40s, Post-war Rebuilding, Walt and the Natural World, The 1950s & 1960s, and Remembering Walt Disney. Walt tried to enlist in the U.S. Army, but was rejected for being underage. However, he joined the American Ambulance Corps and arrived in France as World War I ended. In the image above, you see a replica of a Ford T-model ambulance, the type he drove during his time with the American Ambulance Corps.
In 1923, Walt Disney arrived in California, later he founded Disney Bros. studios with his brother Roy Disney. Through the different exhibits you see how Disney had ups and downs and after creating and developing Mickey, his studio became an established animation studio.
Some of my favorite parts from the “Hollywood” exhibit is seeing the original drawings of the earliest known Mickey Mouse (pictured above), business correspondence between Walt, Roy and their associates, the move to the new Hyperion Studios and Walt and Lillian’s marriage certificate.
Moving further into each gallery, you get to see the development on many of the classic characters we grew up watching. Development and production of such characters as Pluto, The Three Little Pigs and many more.
Walt Disney dove into the featured-length film with Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, during production, there were many skeptics. However, Disney forged ahead and eventually Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs won the Oscar for innovative movie.
I was thrilled to learned that during the late 1930’s and 1940’s, Walt went on several goodwill tours of South America and Latin American countries. He later went on to produced two Latin American-themed animated movies based on his trip. Pretty neat, right?!
Entering the 1950 & 1960s gallery is pretty impressive! Some of my favorite exhibits here are the Lilly Belle locomotive, which Walt helped build and install on a half-mile track around his home. And a 12-foot model of Disneyland (seen in the image above). What an amazing imagination he had!
One of my all time favorite rides at Disney World is the Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, which features state-of-the-art Audio-Animatronics. Well, the original concept developed by Disney himself, is on display at the museum (you can see it on the image above). Arriving at the end of the tour is the “Remembering Walt” gallery, here I decided not to take pictures, because I was a little set back and feeling very nostalgic. I wanted to take it all in and completely appreciate the person he was and that I admire so much. If you are a Disney fan, The Walt Disney Family museum, is a must-visit. Put on your comfy shoes and spend a couple of hours seeing, reading, listening and experiencing this fascinating labor-of-love by his family.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more on our San Francisco adventures!
***More about the Walt Disney Family Museum***
Explore the remarkable life story of Walt Disney—the man who raised animation to an art, tirelessly pursued innovation, and created a distinctly American legacy that transformed the entertainment world. Located in the scenic San Francisco Presidio, the museum features interactive galleries and state-of-the-art exhibits narrated in Walt’s own voice. Get to know the man behind the magic through early drawings, cartoons, movies, music, listening stations, more than 200 video screens, and a spectacular model of Disneyland.
The Walt Disney Family Museum: Animating a Legacy
Disclosure: I was provided an all expense paid trip to San Francisco to attend the #GoodDinoEvent, #MilesEvent, #Waltagram, and #InsideOutBloggers events. No additional compensation was be received. I was provided with the information in this post by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.