Saving the Best for Last

Today was the day I’d been waiting for the entire road trip, the visit to the Walt Disney Family Museum. I’ve been a fan of Disney ever since I can remember. I enjoy the feature films and am probably an even bigger fan of DisneyLand. I’ve had an annual pass for the past two years and have loved visiting the park with Mom and Joe, as well various people in my dorm at college. I’m not one of those crazy DisneyLand fans, however, who go to the park thirty times a year or takes pictures with Disney princesses. Okay, well maybe I have gone to the happiest place on earth twenty-five times this year. I guess I can’t really help that I have a passion for the park. I never get tired of going on the different rides, watching the magnificent shows, and learning about the park’s history. So you can understand my excitement when we pulled up to a museum all about the life of the man behind it all, Walter Elias Disney.

Alright, so maybe I got a photo with one princess.

The Walt Disney Family Museum

Located in San Francisco, the Walt Disney Family Museum offered visitors a chronological history on the life of Walt Disney, from his parents’ marriage to the passing of the influential man. There are several rooms with tons of placards about Walt’s life and a wide collection of artifacts. Some portions of the museum were even narrated by Walt Disney himself. The first room provided info about Walt’s childhood and the constantly changing careers his father had. The next room was about Walt’s time in WWI and his growing interest in entertainment. We then road an elevator decorated like a 1920s train caboose, symbolizing Walt’s move to Hollywood and to a career in animation. The second floor was devoted to Walt’s early successes and failure in the entertainment business. There were placards that mentioned Walt’s Laugh-O-Grams, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and of course Mickey Mouse. The next room was about process of making Disney’s Silly Symphonies and their increasing sophisticated animation over the course of the 1930s. The following few room gave information about the feature length animated movies done by Walt as well as a few nature films. We walked down a hallway which provided a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge and entered my favorite room in the museum: the DisneyLand room. 

Thought to be the earliest drawing of Mickey Mouse

The Academy Award given to Walt Disney for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

This room had clips from the DisneyLand television series, a model of Walt’s vision for DisneyLand, and even an old Autopia car. Further down the room, there was information about Walt’s hand in the World’s Fair, especially the influence of audio-animatronics. Another room had some info about some of the final films Walt had a hand in, like Mary Poppins. The next room was very solemn as it informed visitors about Walt’s death, a loss felt by millions around the world. The final room paid tribute to Walt as it featured pictures of his life and achievements as well as quotes from family, friends, and others who had been inspired by the legendary animator. Overall, the museum did a phenomenal job honoring Walt Disney and his contributions to animation, film, and theme parks. It has definitely become my favorite museum of all time (no offense to the Museum of Clean). I could have spent the entire day reading and learning about one my favorite heroes, but we had a six hour drive to Uncle Marc and Aunt Jackie’s house, so we hit the road around three.

Walt's train that he rode in his backyard

Walt's vision for DisneyLand

The drive to Newbury Park was only made shorter by listening to third book in Maze Runner series. The road was not very scenic and we drove through the least pleasant smelling portion of the I-5 decorated with manure fields. After only a couples stops for gas and food, we pulled up to Uncle Marc and Aunt Jackie’s house around 10 pm. We greeted our family and spent some time catching up and telling stories from our road trip. Tomorrow, we’ll spend the day with the Newbury Park McKays and then head home to Spring Valley to conclude our twelve day adventure.

To read a different perspective of today’s events, read my Mom’s blog here and my brother Joe’s blog here.