I love San Francisco. I love to travel. I love Disney. I love to hear the story behind the story. So, my trip to The Walt Disney Family Museum was such a treat! You know that the man has literally changed our world. I mean, can you IMAGINE life without Disney princesses and Mickey Mouse? I … just … couldn’t?
So, to be able to walk through his story and to be able to really get a look at the beginning of it all was something that I will treasure!! I only wish I had my children with me. Perhaps that why I took a BA-BILLION PHOTOS!!!! I’m apologizing in advance because this one is a doozy.
Co-‐founded by Walt’s daughter, Diane Disney Miller, and grandson, Walter E.D.Miller, the Museum is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Family Foundation, a non-‐profit foundation.
As soon as you walk in, you are treated to a room filled with SOME of Disney’s many accomplishments. My favorite happened to be this one (pictured above)! It was for ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. Don’t you just love the way that they customized this Oscar? I can’t handle it!!!
You can opt for a tour – which I highly suggest because it allows you to really get a full understanding of each era that you walk through. I LOVE the fact that there are quotes throughout the museum. If you walk through my house, you will find a TON of art filled with words. I always joke to my family and friends that my children learned to read just by walking around our home. So, to be able to absorb all of Walt Disney’s personal words in bite-size chunks was truly a pleasure. Yes, it’s about the imagery… but it’s also about the passion.
I had no idea that Alice was one of Walt’s original comics. A little girl stuck inside a cartoon. She was infamous during her time. We got to see some clips and take in what it was like to be a child during that time. Silly me – I thought ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ was the first cartoon to do something like that!! Walt was waaaayyyy ahead of his time.
The Birth of Mickey Mouse — “They’re cute and they can do anything!” I mean, can you believe that’s how it all started? Honestly, Walt Disney could have said that about any other animal too, right? And do I have to talk about how he was leaving New York when he thought about a mouse? Maybe he saw one too many while riding the subway systems. LOL!
My favorite quote of the entire day — you know I run my business from my house, right? Well, my partner and I have this opportunity to take a pretty big leap with something but it will cost us to do it. We THINK the return will be worth the risk, but we’ve been dragging our feet on it. Reading this quote pushed me forward and ahead!
Let’s go after this thing in the right manner!
I mean, reading it again and again – even so many weeks later – still gives me the chills. It almost made me cry when I read it because I was SO IN THE MOMENT. We had the call last week and have decided to push forward with the opportunity. Hopefully, it will do what it’s supposed to? FINGERS CROSSED! With Walt by our side, we can’t go wrong, right? 🙂
I won’t summarize this for you. Just read it. Very powerful. How one small mouse changed the world.
And then there were all the drawings we got to see! I mean – original sketches for Snow White… and the inspiration behind her. AMAZING!
From Cinderella to the Sorcerer’s Apprentice – everything was on hand to devour.
I even got to sit on one of the park benches that Walt Disney used to dream about Disney World on as he waited for his children to finish with the carousel. I love that his dream included an amusement park that was CLEAN. If you’ve been to Disney before, you KNOW that statement is TRUE.
A look at Tomorrowland — this is how he envisioned it and it’s what the park resembles today.
Speaking of Tomorrowland — this movies opens in theatres on May 22nd!!!
And the saddest room in the museum, was the last of course. It was filled with artwork from fans and animators who wanted to pay respect to Walt Disney after he passed away. I actually started to tear up a bit here because a) I recognized a great man was lost but also b) I saw how much these artists truly loved Walt through their drawings. They lost a mentor, an inspiration, a creator of limitless imagination and fun. In his industry, Walt was… is… one of a kind. I doubt we will know of another man in our lifetime that will leave such an impact on our childhood and that of our babies as well.
* Disney and Pixar invited me to San Francisco to attend an Inside Out event and to visit The Walt Disney Family Museum. All opinions are my own.