Gone To The Walt Disney Family Museum

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I actually had something completely different planned for today, but the pending rain caused me to change my plans. So, last night, I came up with a few backup plans. This was one of those. The Walt Disney Family Museum has been open for a year now, and I had never taken the opportunity to go check it out.


J and I were hungry when we arrived, so we decided to check out the Cafe (operated by Wolfgang Puck). We definitely felt that this was a letdown. They had very basic sandwiches, a caesar salad, a couple soups, and some mini cupcakes. I thought there would be a little more, considering Wolfgang’s name is on it. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t terribly exciting.


From here, we decided to go into the museum. Admission was $20. Before you enter the first gallery, there is a room filled with the awards Walt Disney received during his lifetime. It was amazing how many there were, including a special Oscar for Snow White that had seven dwarf Oscars.
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They even had awards from the fine publication Seventeen:
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This is when we entered the gallery. Unfortunately, they would not allow pictures to be taken of any of the exhibits. So, I’ll just give a short summary of what you can see.


The first part talks about Walt’s upbringing, family history and his time in France with the Red Cross. They had quite a few of his cartoons from his high school newspaper and a ton of family photos.


The museum takes you through all the trials he faced as well as the successes. They have a wall full of amazing frames of Mickey Mouse animation drawn by Ub Iwerks, model figures from Pinocchio, Mickey Mouse memorabilia, concept art from Bambi, and tons of photos.


Some of my favorite highlights from the museum include:

-The amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the back of the building

-The full scale model of Disneyland

-The optical printer

-The multi-plane camera setup in the Store


We really enjoyed the museum. In the end, we decided to get a membership. The story of Walt Disney’s life is an amazing one. I found it as compelling as (if not more than) any of the movies he made. The way he faced adversity (failed businesses, having properties ripped off from him) is something to be truly admired.


"You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you." --Walt Disney

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Furniture from the apartment above the Disneyland Fire Department


Cool stuff:
Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination
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