{No compensation was received for this post. Sunny Chanel attended a press event which facilitated the writing of this post}
Honestly, you don’t need a fantastic, fascinating and fanciful special exhibit to lure you to the Walt Disney Family Museum; the beautifully designed Mecca for all Disney, entertainment, animation, and history fans is a draw enough. But yet, the five-year-old museum – in the heart of the Presidio – keeps things fresh and new with an array of carefully curated exhibits and activities. This cultural institution lives true to the statement that there is indeed something for everyone, be they one of the Disney faithful or just an occasional watcher of one of filmmaker’s movies.
If you are planning to visit the museum soon (and you should) keep in mind some of the current and upcoming exhibits and attractions to make the most of your trip.
Disney and Dali
Back in 1945-46, Walt Disney and the surrealist Salvador Dail – two visionary geniuses – attempted to collaborate on a project entitled Destino. Although the film was not officially completed, it led to a deep friendship between the two cultural icons. In celebration of this, the museum and Guest-curator filmmaker Ted Nicolaou has put together a fascinating exhibit – Disney and Dalí: Architects of the Imagination – about the “unlikely alliance.” The exhibit uses an “interactive multimedia experience of original paintings, story sketches, conceptual artwork, objects, correspondences, archival film, photographs, and audio,” to present this historic bond between the men. The exhibit runs until January 3, 2016 in the Diane Disney Miller Exhibition Hall.
Little Studio
In the downstairs area of the Museum, there is a large studio dedicated to learning, collaborating and crafting. Along with the day camps that are offered each summer and visits from school on field trips, the weekends at the studio are a must-do destination. Each Saturday and Sunday the studio offers family-friendly crafts from painting your own animation cels to creating a map of your very own theme park. Older kids will love to try their hand at creating their own animation using one of the computers equipped with mini-multi-plane camera set-ups.
Mobile Tour
To get the most out of your visit, you can use the mobile STQRY audio tour (which is available in various languages such as French, Spanish, Japanese and more). While you navigate the museum, you’ll be able to dive down into more in-depth content, which will give you a deeper understanding of what you are seeing.
Upcoming:
Pinocchio
Opening in the Spring of 2016, the Museum will pay tribute to the Walt Disney masterpiece Pinocchio. The large exhibit, the most detailed on the film ever, will celebrate the creation, art and impact of the 1940 film (based on the 1883 children’s book) with original sketches and illustrations. This is a MUST for any fan of the iconic film and not to be missed.
Mel Shaw: An Animator on Horseback
Opening in 2016, Producer Don Hahn (Beauty and the Beast and Lion King) will be curating a look back at Disney animator Mel Shaw (earlier films like Bambi, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and later projects such as The Great Mouse Detective, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. Not only was Shaw a great animator and storyman but he was an avid horseman, world traveler, owned a pottery company, designed children’s toys, was a wartime filmmaker during World War II, worked for the Stars and Stripes newspaper in Shanghai, and created the look of Howdy Doody. A fascinating man who will, we’re sure, make for a inspiring exhibit.
For additional information or to schedule a visit, visit WaltDisney.org.
Sunny Chanel is a regular contributor to Babble.com, Mom.me, Fandango Family, Disney Imagicademy and Mommy Nearest as well as her own whimsical site Wonder and Company. When she isn’t writing, watching movies or doing crafts, she is playing dress up with her nine-year-old daughter.
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We visited the Walt Disney Family Museum last summer: http://www.metropolitanmama.net/blog/2014/06/21/travel-kids-san-francisco/. Super interesting! I hope to go back again someday when our kids are a little older.
Oh I had no idea Stephanie. My kids would love it. My son has been reading about Walt so I think it would be particularly meaningful for him. : ) LOVED your photos by the way.
I wish I saw this post literally a week ago! My family and I just went to San Francisco and decided not to go to this museum and now I regret it. Maybe we’ll go next time. Thanks for the great review!