walt disney museum

happy friday! and how can it not be, when you're about

to see a museum all about the life of walt disney?!

we've been meaning to check out san francisco's walt 

disney museum since moving here, and last weekend's

visitors gave us a reason to. my brother jeff just finished

reading a biography of walt, and with saving mr. banks

coming out this last year, we all felt a little more interested

in the man behind the magic. walt's daughter has done

an amazing job with this museum, and it's well worth

the entry fee to go wander around all things disney for

a few hours. *note: it actually isn't the best museum for

kids, as it's less interactive and more informative...

but it's amazing for adults and disney lovers!

i love the location, it's so unexpected right in the

presidio with a great view of the golden gate.

^^ the entry cost is $20 which might seem steep, but it is 

one of the most well done museums and well worth it.

^^ upstairs in the entry you can see the many awards and

accolades walt received in his life...including lots of 

academy awards for disney movies. pretty amazing

to see everything in one place and realize he was

responsible for so many great productions!

^^ that unique oscar award in the middle bottom 

was specially made for snow white & the 7 dwarfs, 

disney's first feature production and the first animation 

to win an oscar. now i need to go watch it again!

early animations ^^

and welcome to hollywood! the museum truly goes 

through walt's life as if you're walking through it.

it's crazy to think of walt arriving in hollywood with

$40 to his name. good thing he had enthusiasm! ^^

i loved seeing all of his first animation ideas ^^

AND, the first ever sketchings of mickey mouse. ^^

what??? i love it. walt came up with the character 

and almost named it "mortimer mouse" before

realizing mickey was much better, thank goodness! :)

mickey used to look a little bit different! ^^

^^ little did walt know that mickey would still be a 

household name today...and that minnie would come along!

^^ love these cute original dwarfs. we read all

 about how disney came up with the names and

ideas for them, and then found the right voices to

match all of them for the movie. they're so cute!

^^ i was blown away seeing the level of detail

the animators had to use when creating characters.

once the company grew and multiple animators were

working on movies, they had to write detailed notes 

for exactly how characters moved and looked in every

instance. it was so fascinating to watch examples of this.

early sketchings of jiminy cricket.

how do these not make you smile?!

jeff and chase both LOVED every single detail

 of this museum and couldn't miss one part. ^^ 

^^ and, that view!!

^^ and that view! :)

^^ the end of the museum is all about disneyland

and how it was created. these TVs were showing

footage from disneyland's opening day. can you imagine?

^^ walt in front of the castle while it was under

construction -- such fun pictures to see! 

how did he imagine this magical world?

^^ and here is the model they made for the 

original disneyland plans. chase LOVES d-land 

so we had to spend some time here while he 

pointed out all his favorite parts of the park :)

cheers to a great tribute to a man who truly

spread magic. it's hard not to like him, and

hard not to like this museum experience!

xo