Growing up in Florida, I have been surrounded by Walt Disney my entire life. As a kid, I associated the name with my most favorite theme parks, but as I’ve grown, the name Walt Disney has been synonymous with so much more than just rides and attractions. For me,รย Walt Disney was an artist …. a storyteller … a visionary … a dreamer รขโฌโ a man whoseรย legacy will carry on for generations and generations to come.
Having this great admiration for Walt Disney, I was especially excited to visit The Walt Disney Family Museumรย during my my stay in San Francisco for the INSIDE OUT event at Pixar Studios.
Founded by Waltรขโฌโขs daughter, Diane Disney Miller,รย The Walt Disney Family Museumรย illuminates Waltรขโฌโขs fascinating life, fromรย Disneyรขโฌโขs childhood, young adulthood and his early, fitful startsรย at developing live and animated films, including the difficulties with his firstรย cartoonรย company.
It was interesting to learn that afterรย Laugh-O-gram Films went bankrupt in 1923, Disney took the train to California with only $40 in his pocket. He truly lived and breathed the American Dream!
By the end of the 1920s, Disney hadรย risen to international fame and recognition with the creation of the worldรขโฌโขs mostรย famous mouse. รย His studio also enjoyed great financial successรขโฌโand changed theรย animation industryรขโฌโwithรย Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsรย (1937), its first feature-length animated film.
Walt Disney received a custom-made Oscar at the 11th Academy Awards from Shirley Temple for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsรย รขโฌโ the awardรย includedรย one statuette and seven miniature statuettes.
During my visit to The Walt Disney Museum I learned a lot of interesting facts about the man behind one of the most iconic brands in the world. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Walt Disney was bornรย in Chicago, ILรย on December 5, 1901. รย In 1906, his family moved to a Missouri farm, where he had an idyllic early childhood and first learned to draw. รย The farm failed, and in 1911 his family moved to Kansas City, MOรย where he rose at 3:30 a.m.รย to deliver newspapers on his fatherรขโฌโขs paper route and fell in love with vaudeville and movies.
- Walt was rejected from joining the U.S. Army for being underage, and instead joined the American Ambulance Corps and arrived in France as World War I ended.
- Walt arrived in California in 1923 hoping to find work as a director. But when he received a contract for his own work, he launched Disney Bros. Studio with his brother Roy.
- Disneyรขโฌโขs animation studio nearly went bankrupt after the completion ofรย Fantasiaรย (1940), a film that received favorable reviews but did not win large audiences.
- After aรย hiatus mandated by World War II, during which the Studio produced morale-boostingรย films,รย Disney began to expand the scope of the studioรขโฌโขs work by making live-actionรย nature documentaries that grew out of his childhood love of the outdoors.
- Walt Disneyรขโฌโขs work on the Worldรขโฌโขs Fair pavilions inspired him toรย develop a new paradigm, EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) รขโฌโ aรย project Walt described as รขโฌลa community of tomorrow that will never be completed, butรย will always be introducing, testing, and demonstrating new materials and newรย systemsรขโฌยฆa showcase to the world of the ingenuity and imagination of American freeรย enterprise.รขโฌย
Walt Disney was a visionary who turned his dreams and the dreams of children into a reality. He never gave up when he was told something was impossible. This legacy is still a driving force behind all things in the Walt Disney company,รย and can even be seen with the upcoming release of legendary director Brad Bird’s and Walt Disney Pictures Tomorrowland.
TOMORROWLAND opens in theaters everywhere May 22nd!
In addition to its galleries, the Museum presents screenings of a different Disney classic film every month, as well as related lively programs and concerts, featuring Disney Legends, actors, animators, musicians, character voices, historians and Disney family members. Weekly Disney Discovery classes and workshops teach animation, illustration, sketching, painting, stopรขโฌยmotion cinematography, voiceรขโฌยacting and more for all ages. A series of one and two week summer camps encourage children to explore acting onstage, learn the secrets behind special effects, create an animated short, unwrap the magic of illusions, explore the outdoors with a video camera, create a comic book hero and more.
Hours: The Museum is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesdays through Mondays. Closed Tuesdays, and January 1, Thanksgiving Day, and December 25.
Admission: Admission can be purchased at the door or at waltdisney.org. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and students, and $12 for children 6 to 17. Admission is free for members and children under 6. Movies are $7 for adults and $5 for children. For information about annual memberships,รย please check waltdisney.org/membership.
Special thanks to Walt Disney Picturesรย for hosting my visit to San Francisco. All opinions are my own.
