Day 24 - 22/09/2022 - San Francisco

Since the last time I visited the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco three and a half years ago I have come to think of it as a pilgrimage. The first reason for this is that I have worshipped Disney pretty much since I was born. I love all Disney movies (except Pinocchio, which is terrifying) and my favourite continues to be, to this day, Sleeping Beauty.

The second is that it's surprisingly difficult to get to. From San Francisco Station I took a bus to Embarcadero and from there I aimed to catch a Presidigo bus that would take me to the Presidio, only to watch the bus leave just as I was arriving at the bus stop, having missed it by seconds. The next one would take another hour, so I gave in and caught an uber to take me the rest of the way.

Having arrived there, I was told they had a special exhibition on The Jungle Book. However, with 4 hours to go until closing time and having seen the museum last time in 2.5 hours and having really rushed through it, I knew I needed those 4 hours, so I passed. The museum was just as amazing as I remembered. As I was walking in, two ladies were walking out and I heard them say: "They did a good job." "Yes, they packed a lot of information there. Perhaps too much information." I disagree. For me, the museum is built to please everyone: if you're Disney-mad like me, you will love the wealth of detail and information. I found out plenty of things about Walt Disney that I didn't know even after reading multiple biographies and watching countless videos on him and the Disney Studios. If you just have a general interest in Disney and want to look at a few cool things, the exhibition is so interactive that you will have a really fun experience.

It turns out that 4 hours is exactly the perfect amount of time if you want to take in every single thing (which I did). Highlights include the first known drawing of Mickey Mouse, a wall filled with original Mickey merchandise, and the gigantic multiplane camera used, for example, in Snow White, which allowed the studio to move down into a scene, approaching and passing some scenic elements while others remain in the background. The use of screens throughout the museum is excellent, and I particularly enjoyed one where original drawings of the Evil Queen appeared alongside a video of Walt Disney acting out her part in order to convey his vision of the character to his animators, looking and sounding exactly as she did in the film. Whatever you think of Disney, the man was a fantastic actor and storyteller. I love finding out about aspects that made Disney unique as a film studio: Grim Natwick, one of the animators for Snow White, for example, explains how, in order to animate Snow White they spent two whole months not producing an inch of footage but just being allowed to do experimental animation on the character by drawing Marge Champion, who modelled for that character: "No other studio would do that." Another personal favourite of mine is a moment, also on Snow White, in which Disney shuts down all inane conversations about Disney not being for adults but for children with: "Everybody in the world was once a child, so in planning a new picture we don't think of grown-ups, we don't think of children, but just of that fine, clean, unspoiled spot down deep in every one of us, that maybe the world has made us forget, and that maybe our pictures can help recall."

I love finding out new details about the Disney family I didn't know before, like that at some point Disney found out he could purchase from the Academy a miniature Oscar for every one he had received as an award, and that he used them to make a bracelet for his wife, Lilian, who also wore a golden bracelet with Snow White and all seven dwarfs to the premiere of the movie. And you might have known that Disney had a thing for trains, but where else will you see the original one he built for the miniature railway in his backyard alongside a photo of Salvador Dali, whom he met, riding the train and looking very dignified while doing so? Most impressive of all is the maquette of Disneyland, with twirling teacups and everything, that I got so excited to see again I had to be warned not to lean over the banisters to take pictures of it.

At the end of the day, I was very proud at myself when I managed to get back to the train station by finding my way first to a bus and then through the underground. Walking around San Francisco reminds me again of how much I love city life, and, as I make my way down its streets feeling more comfortable than I ever thought I could, I have a Disney song in my head: "Why should I worry? / Why should I care? / I may not have a dime / But I got street savoir faire."

The Walt Disney Family Museum

The first-known drawing of Mickey Mouse

All of the Mickey merchandise!

Walt Disney as Evil Queen

The maquette of Disneyland