The Man Behind the Mouse

A trip to the Walt Disney Family Museum, San Francisco

by EVERARD STRONG | photos courtesy DISNEY MUSEUM

Walt Disney. For anyone exposed to a television in their youth, those two words conjure up mouse ears: iconic, saucer-sized, dark black mouse ears. From that vantage point, the mind might wander to other members of Disney’s animation family: Cinderella, Davy Crockett, Snow White, Goofy, Ariel, and even the many memorable villains that populate these stories. From there, you might reminisce about your visits to the two magical lands where all of these characters come to life, Disneyland (in Anaheim, California) and Disney World (in Orlando, Florida). But, you always end up coming back to the mouse.

Few of us, however, are drawn to or know much about the man behind the mouse, the flesh-and-blood animator whose magic pen and wandering imagination brought these worlds to life, the real Walt Disney himself.

It’s this man that the Walt Disney Family Museum pays a high homage to. If you plan your visit to the Walt Disney Family Museum with expectations of seeing various Disney character actors greeting you at the door, you’ll be disappointed. If you plan on going to get some insight into the creative process behind Walt Disney, and how he transformed a little mouse into the most well-known icon in the world, then your visit will be richly rewarded.

Housed in a beautifully renovated old barracks building in San Francisco’s Presidio Park, the museum’s inconspicuous outside gives away very little about what lies inside, with only a couple banners and small signs heralding its location. This feeling of ambiguity lifts slightly in the anteroom, where you buy tickets and wait for your assigned time to enter the exhibit room proper (the museum sells tickets based on specific entry times—this does not mean you have a certain amount of time to go through the museum, but serves as a rather brilliant internal process to keep too many people from visiting at once.) While waiting, you can amble around and look at the many cases adorning the three walls, each filled with the numerous personal awards and honors Disney received throughout his lifetime, and some other personal mementos from his estate.

Once inside the exhibit hall itself, however, interests are picked up rather quickly. Comprising two floors and a huge showroom, sections are divided according to Walt Disney’s timeline: you start at the roots of Walt Disney’s family tree, proceed on to his early years as a cartoonist, and then on to the building of his empire, the WWII era, on to the creation of Disney World, and then end with a eulogy about his life.

If you have young children (9 years of age or younger), skip the first floor entirely—it’s interesting and fascinating for adults, and the interactive “paper cut-out” style of movies that showcase the highlights of Disney’s story are imaginative, entertaining, and educational—but children who associate the name Disney with animated mice, pigs, and princesses will be bored, confused, and impatient and ready to get out of there.

The second floor, reached through a quaint elevator ride, is where it’s at, and children of any age will be enthralled and kept occupied for the rest of your visit. Here you can see Disney’s first forays into animation, Oswald the Rabbit (his first successful character that was then stolen from him, but forced him to create and then move forward with Mickey Mouse), and the assembling of his team of animators that would go on to change the world of storytelling forever. Take the journey through the many interactive displays and activities—you can “play” certain instruments along with the soundtrack to Mickey’s first starring role in “Steamboat Willie,” look at various reels showing the transformation of Cinderella from concept to final drawing, and other behind-the-scenes notes and movies. The progression is so logical and intuitive, that you follow along Disney’s growth without major gaps or sudden stops, and before you know it, you arrive at Disney’s post-WWII films, which include more “live” actors along with his animation.

From here you head down a ramp, past the saddle Zorro rode, and enter into a cavernous display room dedicated to Disney’s ultimate vision, Disneyland Park. Overseen by Disney personally, he had final approval over every last detail of the park, evident even in the miniature diorama—complete with moving rides—at the center of the room. Television screens adorn one of the walls, each showing television shows, interviews, and other Disney videos. (Note: Since the Museum is dedicated to Walt Disney and his life, you will not find anything “current” from Disney studios here: no Little Mermaid, Lion King, and so on.)

Taking it all in, you leave, rightfully so, by going past notices of his untimely death (he was only 65 when he passed away December 15, 1966), followed by a hall filled with tributes and letters of condolences from around the globe, which is a fitting way to say goodbye: Walt Disney literally changed the world, and the world thanked him for it.

If you go:
Walt Disney Family Museum, 104 Montgomery Street (in the Presidio), San Francisco
www.wdfmuseum.org
Parking at the Presidio is free.