WALT DISNEY FAMILY MUSEUM
Animation Magic at San Francisco Presidio
The
world famous characters, toys, movies and games generated from the
imagination
of Walt Disney
and his animators, writers and “imaginers” can
be found in stores and theme parks in almost every corner of the globe.
All of them are the property of the Disney Company a corporate monolith
giant based in Burbank, near the original corner of Mickey Lane and
Dopey Drive on the Disney studio lot, where artists bent over animation
stands to hand draw the cells which flickered together to create the
magic of “Sleeping Beauty” and wacky antics of “Donald
Duck”. What gets lost in all the commercial products and branding
megalomania of the Disney machine is the personal story of the originator.
The family of Walt Disney, or at least part of the family, lead by Walt’s
daughter Diane Disney Miller, has set out to rewrite that.
The Walt Disney Family Museum opened its doors in Oct. 2009 in a former
military barracks building on the main square of the Presidio, the army
base encompassing the tree grown hills of the San Francisco Peninsula
at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge recently decommissioned and turned
over to the National Park Service. The museum dedicated to creator, family
man and visionary is intent on focusing on the personal story of Walt
Disney, from his childhood to the creation of his master works and his
empire. Born in 1901, rejected for military service in WWI, Walt drove
and ambulance in France. He had seen early European animation and set
out to create a more expressive kind of character through the photographing
of cel illustration, starting companies, going bankrupt and ultimate
developing the ground breaking technologies which led to the icons so
familiar today.
The museum
takes up three buildings converted from the Army barracks which once
housed
the 30th Infantry Regiment, known as the "Rock
of the Marne" for their heroic stand which turned the tide in WWI
in 1918 (see Marne Memorial France). The entrance at 104 Montgomery Street
is a building from the 1890s on the west side of the main parade ground
holds the 10 main galleries a screening room where a changing program
of films is shown a learning center, café and the Museum Store,
where the two story multiplane animation camera that made much of the
Disney magic can be found among the gifts and souvenirs. In the galleries
the Disney story is told through Walt Disney’s early drawings from
his youth, cartoons from his first company in Kansas City Laugh-O-Gram
Films, the earliest known drawings of Mickey Mouse, family photographs
and film and audio clips, Disney’s Oscars and other award, and
of course the colorful animation cels which brought his characters to
life. From anyone who grew up in the days of the Wonderful World of Disney
television program every Sunday knows, Walt Disney liked to talk about
his work, so the voice of Walt Disney narrates pivotal moments in his
life and career and home life. A changing schedule of film screenings
and discussions are held through the year on a monthly schedule, with
special themes for Christmas and other holidays.
The Main
Parade Ground of the Presidio has been turned into a vast parking lot
with the red brick barracks of Montgomery Street on the bayward side.
By car take Lombard Street through the Lombard Gate and right on Lincoln
to Montgomery. The Walt Disney Family Museum can be combined with the
Palace of Fine Arts and Exploratorium a few blocks away (see 40
Years of Exploratorium) or the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point. By Public
Transportation,
Municipal
Bus line
43 (or 28 cross town to 43) to the Presidio, then line 29 through the
former base, or take a taxi. Admission is on a time stamped basis, every
15 minutes. Tickets can be purchase online of at the entrance in the
flagship building. Admission prices are $20 for Adults, $15 for Seniors
and Students and $12.50 for children 6-17. The Walt Disney Family Museum
is open from 10am to 6pm Wednesday to Monday, closed on Tuesdays and
some holidays. © Bargain
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