On a recent business trip to San Francisco, I (Melinda) went to the Walt Disney Family Museum. I was pleasantly surprised that the museum was in such a discrete area of the Presidio. I got to the museum three hours before it closes and was able to see the main exhibit as well as the special exhibition. Below, I outline some of the things that stuck out to me about the Museum.
1. Turn it into a day event. If you are a large Disney fan, I highly recommend making the museum a day-long event. The museum is open from 10 am–6 pm, with the last entry at 4:45 pm. There is so much to see and do (the main museum, the special exhibit museum, films, workshops, and talks) that you could easily spend the day there. At the time of my visit, the museum was showing Marry Poppins and the special exhibit was Mickey Mouse: From Walt to the World. You could easily see the special exhibit, break for lunch, see the main exhibit, then end with a movie. While you can spend hours there, I don’t recommend anything less than 3 hours to see everything.
2. Leave the little ones at home. The museum does have programming and events geared towards children, however, if you are not planning on taking advantage of those events and are going on a self-guided tour, I recommend that you leave little kids at home. There are TONS of artifacts from the Disney family and the museum walks you through the history of Walt Disney (from birth to death). This was all fascinating to me as an adult, but as a child, I would have lost it. I would recommend the museum for any child that has an interest in history or Disneyland from the 5th grade and upward.
3. Disneyland Miniature: The miniature replica of Disneyland was AMAZING! It was so mind-blowing that so many things at Disneyland have changed, yet there are so many things that have stayed exactly the same since the creature of the replica. If you consider yourself a lover of Disneyland this is a piece of the exhibit you could spend a whole hour examining in detail. It never hurts to ask the docent questions about the replica as they could shed light on some amazing details.
4. Mickey Mouse: From Walt to the World. This exhibit was really interesting because it showcased how the character of Mickey Mouse has evolved over the decades. It was interesting to hear the various voices of Mickey Mouse and to see how the design of Mickey has transformed. This Exhibit is only around until February 17, 2020, so make sure you check which exhibit is currently showing. It does cost extra to see the current exhibit, and it is in a different building.
