Welcome back to part two of our tour of the Walt Disney Family Museum. If you started here, be sure to read part one first, as this post will pick up later in Walt’s life, and it is chronologically based.
On the tour, we left off in the late 1930s area of Walt’s life. There was a poster that said it all, “We were in a new business.”
In 1939, The last Silly Symphony, The Ugly Duckling was released. In 1940, two major hits were released, Pinocchio & Fantasia.
The early 40s shows some serious issues that faced Walt. He experienced hardships along the way, but this period of time served to be another rough patch. He deemed this “the toughest part of my life”. There were two crises during this period, one being a 3 month artists’ strike and another being World War II. Red the panel below as it will flesh out the further details.
Artists’ Strike
World War II
During these crises, and with American artists on strike, and many of America’s resources being focused on the war efforts, he decided to go outside the boundaries to try his work in Latin America.
Before we move on through this dim section in the life of Walt, you can tell it was not a highlight period in his life. The museum even had the above section tucked into a corner of the museum, so if you not taking your time taking it “all” in, you would miss it. Don’t overlook it, it is worth the extra time.
After the war was a time to move forward. Here is a recap of the late 40s.
As we move on through the museum, we come to a huge window with spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge.
At the other end of this window area, is another exciting piece of history. It’s the Griffith Park bench. It is said that is is where Walt came up with the idea for Disneyland.
So without further adieu, the Disneyland Room:
As a avid train lover, as you walk into the Disneyland Room, you see another grand possession at the museum, the Lilly Belle. This was Walt’s miniature train which was designed for his new home on Carolwood Drive in Holmby Hills. The train track ran all around Walt’s house. Walt called it the Carolwood Pacific. At the very end of the train is a yellow caboose. It was built by Walt himself in the red barn on the property that served as his workshop.
The Disneyland Room is a downward spiraling spectacle of great Disneyland facts. It terminates at the bottom in the model of the Disneyland Park.
After this section, the cover the last few years of Walt’s life with the opening of Disneyland, and his idea and progress in the design of what is today, Walt Disney World. Walt did not live to see Walt Disney World open, but he was still instrumental in its design.
This, one of the final happy photos of Walt nearly got me emotional. What an innovative man.
The final area of the museum covers the passing of Walt on December 15, 1966.
Thanks for everything Walt. You bring joy to our lives everyday! I highly recommend taking the time to visit the museum if you are in the San Francisco area. Now I only covered the surface, there is far more pictures and memories that I just couldn’t get in the posts. There is an online album of all my pictures, so you can at least get a good pictorial of the museum.
