I began the day with a visit to one of my favourite intercontinental institutes, the International House of Pancakes, and enjoyed a stack of banana and blueberry harvest grain ‘n’ nut pancakes, with a free glass of tap water.
I then indulged in a post-pancake nap, a rare and delicious treat that is seldom found in my life in Belgium, before setting on on a half hour walk through the Presidio. It was a beautiful morning, the strong sun already beating down on my shoulders as I walked through the manicured screen lawns of this garrison-turned-park. White picket fences and flags filled with stars and strips made me feel like I was walking through a movie set of Americana, especially once I glimpsed the Golden Gate Bridge rising up above the marine layer of the San Francisco Bay.
The Walt Disney Family Museum was founded by Walt’s daughter Diane, and is not formally associated with The Walt Disney Company. It is a classic museum, filled with photos, art, videos, and memorabilia from Walt’s life. The museum begins with the story of his childhood and his strict father, sending him out to deliver papers three times a day, even in the middle of a blizzard. I could hear Walt and his brother Roy talk about their friendship and their youth. I learned that he worked for the Red Cross in France during World War I when he was 16.
The museum covered the gamble of his 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and I was even able to see the honorary Academy Award that it earned, complete with seven miniature Oscar statuettes.
Shirley Temple: “Isn’t it bright and shiny? Aren’t you proud Mr Disney?”.
Walt Disney “I’m so proud I think I’ll bust.”
(There was also an award “To Walt Disney For The Greatest Single Contribution Ever Made To The Sport Of Racing Pigeons” for the 1958 TV episode of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color called “The Pigeon That Worked a Miracle”.)
I watched “Walt and El Grupo”, a documentary about Walt’s US Government sponsored trip to South America in 1941 and subsequent film “Saludos Amigos”, and saw some of the World War Two propaganda produced by Walt and his mouse.
The temporary exhibit of Mary Blair included many of her vibrant works for the Little Golden Books, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. There was also a free screening of Peter Pan in the theatre downstairs, and it was fun to step back in time and watch this 1953 classic on the big screen.
Throughout the various rooms of the museum, there are also many of the works of art that illustrate Walt’s dream of Disneyland Park from concept into grand accomplishment.
The original 1953 model of Fantasyland Castle, designed for Walt Disney by Marvin David and Fred Joerger.
The 12-foot diameter model of Disneyland showing the park as Walt originally envisioned it.
A Mary Blair penguin from the 1964 It’s A Small World tribute to UNICEF at the 1964 New York Wold’s Fair.
The temporary exhibit of Marc Davis had some great sketches of 1959 Maleficent (based on medieval Czech illustrations), as well as some of my favourite works from the Haunted Mansion, painted in 1965.
I was also interested to see this painting of an “Icicle Princess” by Marc Davis from 1977, 36 years before Frozen appeared on the big screen.
I was lucky enough to be able to spend the whole day there, without having to worry about any else’s boredom or exhaustion, while poor Adrian was a single parent back in Belgium with one very active little toddler.