Where in the World Wednesday - Destinations to Explore Before Leaving This Life

The Walt Disney Family Museum - San Francisco, California

The Walt Disney Family Museum first opened October 1, 2009.  It is a 77,000 square foot facility which is located within the historic Presidio of San Francisco, near the Golden Gate Bridge, and is comprised of three buildings within the former military post. It is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Family Foundation, established by Walt's heirs, and is not formally associated with the media conglomerate that also bears his name - The Walt Disney Company. 

Walt Disney Family Museum
© Frank Anzalone

The museum features early drawings and animation, movies, music, listening stations, plus a 12-foot diameter model of Disneyland as Walt knew it.  The lobby contains 248 awards that Walt Disney won during his career, including many Academy Awards - including the honorary award for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (the one full-size Oscar alongside the seven miniature versions), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

There are ten permanent galleries, beginning with his family history and ending with his death on December 15th, 1966.  They are comprised of:

• Gallery 1 Beginnings: Walt Disney’s Early Years (1901-1923)
• Gallery 2 Hollywood (1923-1928)
• Galleries 3 New Horizons: The Emergence of the Walt Disney Studio (1928 to 1940)
• Gallery 4 The Move to Features: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Gallery 5 New Success and Greater Ambitions
• Gallery 6 The Late ‘30s to Mid ‘40s
• Gallery 7 Post-War Rebuilding: Mid-‘40s to the early 1950s
• Gallery 8 Walt and the Natural World
• Gallery 9 The 1950s and 1960s: The Big Screen and Beyond
• Gallery 10 Remembering Walt Disney

Walt Disney Family Museum © Frank Anzalone

Admission is by timed-entry ticket, which helps to regulate the flow of visitors - at least through the front door. Once inside, you are free to tour the Museum at your own pace, Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and students, and $12.50 for children 6 to 17. Admission is free for members. Tickets can be purchased online, up to 60 days in advance of your visit.

To museum is located at:  104 Montgomery Street * San Francisco, CA 94129 * (415) 345-6800 * waltdisney.org‎.

For more information and to reserve your next vacation to California, or to visit The Walt Disney Family Museum, contact me at 855.776.1733 or via my websites:  www.neverlandadventurestravel.com or www.neverlandadventurescruises.com.  Be sure to follow me on Twitter, like my page on Facebook, circle me on Google+, and pin me on Pinterest.