A Day At The Museum

Not all the adventures in a trip depend on fording rivers and climbing mountains. Sometimes it's the little discoveries, near at hand, that amaze and delight. The Walt Disney Museum in San Francisco turned out to be one of these.

The traffic getting there was truly horrific and the facade was undistinguished so I was unprepared for the wealth of material that was lurking behind the front desk. However, walking into the first room was the beginning of a tour that Walt himself would have enjoyed. There was history, but it was all presented with the flair of a showman.

My dad examining some early history

The combination of static and moving displays was endlessly informative and entertaining. I was with my dad who knew some of the animators and was able to add details and background color.

Young and old seemed equally enthralled

As we followed the trail of Walt's life each room led to another that seemed even grander than the last. The early days led to his first successes as an artist and cartoonist. Then to the decision to break away and do things on his own.

Steamboat Willy

The first Mickey Mouse cartoon was spread across an entire wall of original drawings with highlights of animation to show how they fit together.

Walt was there to present his first great triumph, Snow White.

Not only were there shots of the movie but there was plenty of background material about how the movie was made.

Making the colors for the artists

An animator's desk - That's a still projector, not a video screen!

From there it went on to display the greater triumphs that he and his team went on to achieve. By now we had spent over 3 hours and hadn't even gotten to the Disney Land section. Overwhelmed would be an understatement. I'll leave it to you to visit and discover what joys await. However, I'll leave you with one of the things that was one of my favorites.

Not hard to guess which movie this special Oscar is for!

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