Review - Disney Family Museum in SF

[cascarlet]

I put this in my PTR and I just wanted to share because every Disney fan needs to go visit!! I loved it and so did my dh and dd10.

My husband had a furlough day last week and my foot has been feeling better so we took a day trip to visit the brand new Disney Family Museum in San Francisco!!

I wish I had more photos for you, but they were SO STRICT about taking pics inside. What an amazing homage to Walt and the legacy he's left to all of us. The tour brings you from his humble beginnings all the way to his death in 1967. Along the way you see the ORIGINAL sketchings of Mickey Mouse, which was amazing. THAT has got to be worth zillions..that little piece of paper. It gave insight on what it to be pioneer in the cartoon and movie business and what Walt and his family went through. The personal touches were really special to me like a book of Snow White autographed to his daughter.."To my daughter, from your Daddy, Walt Disney" or the items that he kept in his little box in his room like a pocket watch or cuff links and of course his Oscars including the seven little Oscars they Shirley Temple presented him with for Snow White. They gave in great detail what went into making a cartoon from Steam Boat Willey to Fantasia and all of the cast of characters that joined him on his incredible journey. My favorite "room" was the creation of Disneyland and everything that went into that. The little train that Walt had and he loved was on display and of course pictures of him riding the train.

The museum was built by Disney's daughter who lives in the SF Bay area. It's located at the Presidio very close to Lucasworks studios. It's prime real estate with an breath taking view of the bay. Because it's historic and all the restrictions there the only sign is a tiny, tiny sign in front of the musuem that if you blinked you would miss!! We hardly found the place and we are familiar with the area.

If you are a Disney fan and you come to Northern California you MUST visit!! They have a little gift shop where I bought some Mary Blair postcards, I love her art and they have a little cafe that wasn't very good. It's run by Wolfgang Puck. Overpriced and not very good food.

In the Disney tradition there is great attention to detail here and that's part of what makes it special.

One pic I took with my IPHONE, you can see the lady with the nametag catching me in the act, I got busted. The quote on the wall says..."You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality" - Walt Disney

My dd learning how sounds are made for cartoons.

The view from the back of the musuem

Afterwards we HAD to go to Ghiradelli to have some ice cream. That's a San Francisco treat!

Oh yea, we got a flat on the way (we are about hour 1/2 from San Francisco)
DD helping dad fix it.

After our ice creat treat we went to House of Prime Rib, our FAVORITE restaurant in San Francisco. If you watch Anthony Bourdain he just did a show on SF and he featured this place. Amazing prime rib, a salad that makes you drool just thinking about it..that's right I said SALAD, creamed spinich and yorkshire pudding. The best Dirty Martinis anywhere and they give you extra in a really cool shaker..... AND if you are still hungry, they will give you more.

The whole day made me really proud that I am able to work for Disney and I like to think in my own special way that I am able to spread a little bit of pixie dust on his behalf!

 

[TLinden16]

This thread would be a better fit over on the theme parks community board, so I'm going to move this there now.

 

[isk8]

Thanks for the review! Would a four year old boy find anything of interest in the museum?

 

[cascarlet]

Thank you, I was just thinking that I posted to the wrong place!!

 

[cascarlet]

Thanks for the review! Would a four year old boy find anything of interest in the museum?

Your Welcome!! Honestly no. My dd was the only child that we saw there, granted it was a Monday morning on a school day.

There is a lot of "information" to take in, a lot of reading or listening to exhibits. It takes about 3 hours. The picture of my dd is probably the only hands on things that a smaller child would enjoy. From what I understand they do not allow strollers in the museum. I would say if the child is very interested in Disney perhaps 8 or above, if not I'd wait til 10.

I can see how a child would become bored there while you are trying to take in the exhibits.

ETA..my dd10 loved, loved, loved it. She can't wait to go back. On the way home she kept spouting facts..did you know..did you know. She has to write a biography for school and she said she's going to do it on Disney.

 

[LilGMom]

I really wish they had something like this in Orlando! I doubt that we'll be flying out to CA anytime in the near and not-so-near future but I sure would consider it to see the museum.

I'm sure that you are one of the many wonderful CMs that do add a lot to guests' vacations. I know that during each of our trips we are lucky enough to encounter quite a few that just sparkle with Pixie Dust and magic.