Very close to the Golden Gate Bridge is the Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. I say it’s close because there is a nice view from inside the museum. The Walt Disney Family Museum holds so much information inside it about Walt Disney and his accomplishments and I was fascinated. Walt Disney’s life was brought to life in the 40,000 square foot Museum that illuminates his tremendous successes, disappointments, and unyielding optimism as he pursued innovation and excellence while entertaining and enchanting generations worldwide.He was an amazing innovator, dreamer and imaginer. He dared to be challenged and saw his failures as opportunities to grow and learn.

Here’s just a little bit about this life:

Walt Disney was born in Chicago, IL on December 5, 1901. In 1906, his family moved to a Missouri farm, where he had an idyllic early childhood and first learned to draw. The farm failed, and in 1911 his family moved to Kansas City, MO where he rose at 3:30 a.m. to deliver newspapers on his father’s paper route and fell in love with vaudeville and movies. In 1917, the family moved to Chicago, where Walt created cartoons for his high school yearbook, took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago, and tried to enlist in the U.S. Army. Rejected for being underage, he joined the American Ambulance Corps and arrived in France as World War I ended.. He constantly drew and earned a quarter for his first drawing at the age of 19.  With only $40 in his pocket he rode first class on a train to California and made his dreams come true.

There was so much to Walt Disney’s life that I loved learning about. Family was important to him, he used his fascination with trains through his career. He created things constantly pushing the limits and never believing that something was impossible. He was a collector too.

Here s a list of a few things he invented.

First animated film that successfully synchronized sound and image (Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie, 1928)

First animated film in three-strip Technicolor (Flowers and Trees, 1932)

Refinement of two-story multiplane camera, which gave unprecedented depth to animated films (The Old Mill, a short, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, both 1937)

Redefining the concept and production of a feature-length animated movie (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937)

First movie to use Fantasound, a multi-channel sound system that predated the widespread use of stereo and surround sound by nearly 20 years (Fantasia, 1940)

First major Hollywood movie studio to produce series programming directly for television (ABC, 1954)

First animated feature to use widescreen, CinemaScope technology (Lady and the Tramp, 1955)

America’s first daily-operating Monorail system (Disneyland, 1959)

He never stopped. I mean yes he took time off for his family but he kept creating and expanding until he died. He was an amazing and inspiring man.  The museum has a fantastic collection of miniatures and I loved looking at them. There was a quote and I can’t remember it exactly but it said that he found his collection calming, when things were stressful at the studio the miniatures were relaxing.

And amazingly what I shared is still just a small portion of his accomplishments and the amazing life story inside the Walt Disney Family Museum.

Travel and expenses were covered by Disney/Pixar.