#Waltagram Archives - Dad of Divas

I have been in awe of the life and body of work, as well as the legacy of Walt Disney. I have read books about him, learned about his life as well as the high and low points of his life, and this was before I stepped foot in the Presidio district of SanFrancisco. Because of the admiration I have for the man that built an amazing company and left legacy larger than most, I wanted to learn more and I was excited to have the ability to go to this museum to learn more.

The Museum itself is located in the Presidio district of SanFrancisco. If you have never been to this part of the city, it is right next to the Golden Gate Bridge and it is gorgeous. From everything that I have read, this is a closed area that you cannot actually live in, only stay in overnight. When you drive up to the building your eyes are drawn to the red facade of the building that is very distinct.

As you walk into the museum you are met by Walt himself and then you have the ability to start exploring many of the awards given to Walt Disney throughout his life and career. As I was waiting for our tour to start I came to learn that Walt Disney had received 900 awards in his life and 250 of them were in the museum itself. On top of this the two awards that I thought were the most amazing to see were the Congressional Medal of Honor given to Walt Disney by Lyndon Johnson and the Oscars given for the many movies that he worked on including the one for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

As you start the exhibit you enter the early life of the Walt Disney. You learn about his birth in Chicago in 1901, his family moving to Marcelene, MO and the Kansas City and how each of these moves started to hone him to be the man that he became. I loved seeing the actual comics that Walt Disney drew for the McKinley High School publication which were on display.

You continue to learn about the forging of his birthdate so he could be considered for the war effort. BY doing this he was cleared to go to France and be a driver in the Ambulance Corp. I enjoyed learning that he would draw cartoons on the side of his Ambulance and make cartoon drawings to entertain the troops while over in France.

As Walt came back from France, he started working more heavily in animated films and moving -pictures and the next part of the museum talked about his early career in the business. It talked about his failures, such as Laugh-a-gram films to his early successes with the Alice films. You follow his move to California and start to see the amount of creativity and ingenuity that he had to get his Disney Brothers Company started.

The museum continued on and you learn more and more about things like Oswald and then the eventual scandal that led Walt Disney to making the choice to leave Oswald behind, creating Mortimer Mouse (Soon to be Mickey Mouse) on the train ride back from New York City (after relinquishing control of Oswald).

There were some beautiful initial drawings that Walt drew by hand on display. The image below is one of these. It was images like this that made this trip truly special as they are things you will not see anywhere else.

As Mickey developed and they created the short, Steamboat Willie, everything changed and the company was moving full force forward.

I continued to explore, seeing so much and learning more and more about the process of creating shorts and then animated films. You even get to see some of the original artist renderings for some of the films with notes form the animators too.

As you continue on through Walt Disney ‘s life you see the changes in technology that ended up allowing Walt Disney to continue to grow the company and change the game and push the gauntlet of creativity on his films. Whether this was through motion, color, sound or more, Walt Disney was never afraid of trying something new that would move the company and the animation field forward.

Now, the Walt Disney Family Museum was not all about the movies or about Walt Disney ‘s animation. While this was a large component of the exhibit, there is also a lot about Walt Disney as a man and as a father. You see many touching images of him being a dad to his girls. You also learn that his favorite foods were Chili and Jello and that he loved miniatures and even thought of creating a traveling display of miniatures that he would build / create called Disneylandia, but this project never got off the ground.

Walt Disney loved nature and one of the move breathtaking views of the museum is on the back side of the museum where you are confronted with an entire wall of glass that looks out at the Golden Gate Bridge. The view is spectacular and while you are seeing this you learn about Walt Disney and his documentaries and how he tried to bring together nature and people.

The museum concludes with a large section about the creation of Disneyland as well as the events that led to his death and the world’s grief at his passing.

In all this was a great tribute filled with amazing artifacts about an inspirational man that is beloved. If you are a big fan of Disney like I am, and are ever in San Francisco. It is worth it to take the time to come to the Walt Family Museum to experience this for yourself. Just make sure to give yourself enough time to get through everything. There is a ton to see and take in and you want to make sure that you don’t miss anything!

Find out more!

Facebook –http://www.facebook.com/TheWaltDisneyFamilyMuseum
Twitter – https://twitter.com/WDFMuseum
Website – http://www.waltdisney.org/

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Disclosure: I am being provided with an all-expense paid trip as part of a press Junket with Disney in exchange for my press coverage. All opinions are 100% my own.

As many of you know I had the amazing experience about a year ago to go out to California to experience the press junket and viewing of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie as well as a number of ABC Family shows and the movie Hundred Foot Journey. I had an amazing experience at this event and I am VERY excited to be heading back to California at the end of this month to be able to experience and report back to you great information on the new movie, The Good Dinosaur as well as a number of different other experiences.

These trips are whirlwind adventures, but they are definitely exciting. On this trip some of the things we will be doing include:

Viewing and Learning More about the new Disney Pixar Film, The Good Dinosaur

About the Movie
Have you ever sometimes wondered what it would be like if animals, moreover, dinosaurs roamed the world as we humans do everyday? “The Good Dinosaur” asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of. In theatres on November 25th!

You can follow along with me and all of the other bloggers on the trip with me on social media using the #GoodDinoEvent hashtag.

2. Celebrate the Release of Disney’s Inside/Out With a Press Junket!

My family and I are big fans of this movie and I am looking forward to hearing from some of the actors form this film too. I have yet to find out who I will be meeting, but I know that it will be eye-opening and a ton of fun too!

About the Movie

Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it’s no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions – Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (MindyKaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley’s mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley’s main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.

3) Seeing and Learning About the new Short, Sunjay’s Super Team

About the Short
Sunjay’s Super Team follows the daydreams of a young Indian boy who is bored with his father’s religious medication, and imagines the Hindu Gods as superheroes. See it in theatres on November 25th!

4) Pixar Press Day & Miles From Tomorrowland

I have always wanted to go behind the scenes to explore the Pixar Animation Studios and I will be at the end of the month! During this day I will be having an exclusive press day trip to Pixar where I will also be able to interview some of the amazing and talented filmmakers and animators of The Good Dinosaur as well as learn more about Disney Junior’s Miles From Tomorrowland at Google Headquarters and interview with some of the voice talent from the show.

About Miles From Tomorrowland

Disney Junior’s “Miles from Tomorrowland” is an intergalactic adventure that charts the outer space missions of young adventurer Miles Callisto and his family – mom and ship captain, Phoebe; mechanical engineer dad, Leo; tech-savvy big sister, Loretta; and best friend robo-ostrich pet, Merc – as they help connect the galaxy on behalf of the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Miles, Merc and the Callisto family explore wondrous and diverse new worlds, taking young viewers and their families on a futuristic journey designed to fuel kids’ natural interest in space, and at the same time reminding them of the importance of what lies close to home – the family bond.

You can follow along with me and all of the other bloggers at the event on social media using the #MilesEvent hashtag.

5) Visiting the The Walt Disney Family Museum

I am super excited about visiting this museum. As a lifelong Disney fan I have always wanted to see this museum since it opened and now I can say that I will! If you want to follow along on the fun and geez out with me on all things Disney, follow along with me and the other bloggers at the event on social media using the #Waltagram hashtag.

As you can tell I am very excited to be heading to San Francisco from September 29-October 2. Stay in touch with me on all of my social channels to live vicariously through me! You can follow along with me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!

Stepping into the Life & Work of Walt Disney

I’m Heading to San Francisco For An Amazing Event!