My Trip to the Walt Disney Family Museum: Adventure Recap

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to travel to San Francisco with a small frozen yogurt company I work as a brand ambassador for. Every year, the city hosts the Winter Fancy Food Show in the Moscone Center, and I was able to attend for the second year in a row. The show is amazing. It's absolutely chock-full of food brands, new and old, all wanting you to do one thing and one thing only; Try. Samples.

It's heaven. It's everything good about Costco times one thousand, and every year I've managed to scurry away with a very satisfyingly plump tote bag filled to the brim with goodies. Love.

This year, I traveled without the company CEO or any other employees. Just myself and my boyfriend, Dyllan, who the company head was kind enough to allow me to bring. Another lucky turn was the fact that I would only be working half a show day at our booth as we were sharing with other companies. Awesome. So, we had a good chunk of a day for a few days to explore San Francisco. And what does any Disneyfile in their right mind do when they're in the bay area?

They see the Walt Disney Family Museum.

And we did.

I have wanted to visit the WDFM ever since I heard about it's groundbreaking, and was absolutely crushed when I learned it would be a 6+ hour drive to get there. Why not friendly Burbank, which has just as much historical significance and is much much closer? However, on arrival my previous griping was eliminated. The museum is absolutely beautiful. Located in the Presidio, an old army base just off the bay with STUNNING views of the golden gate bridge. It was hands down the most secluded place we found in the city, not to mention the parking was incredibly reasonable.

After working a half day, we headed to the museum around 3. I braved the streets of San Francisco in my car, something I would normally never want to do, but the museum didn't seem to be very accessible by bus and anyway, we were on a time limit as the last admission to the WDFM was at 4:15. The journey down was surprisingly smooth, and before long, we were in the warm, inviting lobby. I'm horribly inconsiderate because Dyllan hadn't eaten all day and was looking a bit pallid. We detoured to the museum cafe to avoid mishap and picked up a tuna wrap. Yummy. YUM. SO YUM. The food there was way beyond any pre-made sandwich I had ever tasted, and the combinations were so unique! I remember one in particular, the ham and persimmon sandwich, really called my name. Seriously guys, if you're visiting, the cafe is worth it.

After our late lunch, we headed into the main entrance to purchase our tickets. We each paid the student price of $15 (even though I graduated two months ago! Bad Jen! No!). Normal adult tickets run $20, which is crazy expensive, so the discount was greatly appreciated. We briefly wandered the area around the ticket counter which had several awards given to Walt on display, as well as a nice little tribute to his daughter, Diane, who recently passed away.

Seven Dwarfs Oscar(s) + bonus reflection shot of Dyllan and I.

In we went! I sobbed internally from feelings. Every detail was there. The tour began with Walt's early life. His family in Missiouri, his schooling, his paper job, his stint as an ambulance driver. There were some severely cool videos he had taken with an old camera he bought. At a young age, Walt was already experimenting with film reversal and double exposures where he acted out a scene with himself. There were some great in-depth displays about the Alice shorts, along with details of his development (and loss) of Oswald. I was having a coronary. I could have easily spent hours on the first floor alone. Easy. But alas, that was a luxury we just didn't have that day. We moved on to an elevator which took us to the higher floors. Oh, which also happened to be fully decorated like a train car that played a sound byte of Walt talking about his train ride to California while you ascend. No big deal, just some of the most effective elevator storytelling ever. So cool.

By now, Mickey is alive and well. We learned about Mickey's rapid rise to fame after Oswald left Walt's hands, and studied some of the early cartoons the Mouse is famous for. There was a fun (but confusing) game where you and some friends can sync the music and sound effects to "Steamboat Willie" just like they did back in the old days. We failed, and the Disney company crumbled in our inefficient hands. This was a neat idea, and a great way of showcasing how difficult it was to put a cartoon short like SW together back in the day, but it felt a little harder than it had to be due to the lack of sensitivity in the brass "instruments" designed to respond to your touch. No big, though. Leave it to me to blame the sophisticated technology for my incompetence. Now, if it feels like I'm leaving out details, I am. There is far too much in this place to cover in full. The sheer amount of letters, telegrams, storyboards, artifacts, renderings, sound bytes, and other memorabilia is enough to give anyone a headache. Props to whoever compiled all this, because my head is spinning just trying to remember vague details about it. I truly apologize.

We shuffled into the animated motion pictures portion, which covered Snow White, Fantasia, and the like. Again, drawings and designs galore. Each section telling a different story about how the piece was created, and how painstaking the process was back then for the animators. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. There was a very cool display of old paint left over from the glory days that reminded me so strongly of the display in Ink and Paint at California Adventure I got giddy. I wonder if it would be easy to recreate for an apartment one day. Each paint jar has a unique name of what they were used for which is the coolest. I couldn't even begin to remember some of my favorites so I'll just recommend you do some research on these because it's a very cool detail.

After rows and rows of history about the Walt Disney Studios films and a brief portion on the artist's strike, which I found pretty fascinating, things got a little more familiar. I will readily admit, I'm a much bigger aficionado of the Disney parks (namely Disneyland) than I am of the Disney films, an imbalance I would very much like to even out. So once we started on the creation story of Disneyland, I got even more excited, which was probably harmful to my health. Guys, they had everything. All the folklore I grew up dreaming I would one day lay my eyes on. Walt's train was there! That train everyone has seen him sitting on. There were concept sketches aplenty. I hate that I didn't get more pictures because it was pretty great. The grand daddy of them all was this giant, GIANT, scale model of Disneyland. It was massive, yet tiny. Perfect in every detail. I'm a little hazy on the exact year the model is set in since it featured rides like Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion, yet also housed the Carousel of Progress and Adventures through Inner Space. A plaque said it depicts Disneyland as Walt dreamed it, which explains the rides not in place before his passing I suppose. Very, very cool anyway. My eyes were glued for nearly half an hour, I'm sure of it.

Tiny Jungle Cruise! 

I ripped myself away eventually and explored the tail-end of the museum. There was still so much left, but it was so overwheming, I honestly can't remember what all came in what order. I know we covered a good bit about Mary Poppins, as well as the sodium vapor process used to film Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds", and some details of Walt's plans for Epcot, which always felt a tad bit dystopian to me. After about another half-hour, we moved on to the section of the museum dedicated to the end of Walt's life. I knew it was coming. They really built up to it well, and it hit me right in the gut. This is actually odd for me, I respect Walt quite a bit for all he's done, but I'm more of a supporting imagineers fan and therefore don't really get emotional about the thought of his passing. I cried you guys. I did. Straight up. Maybe the museum just did such a great job at making you feel the whole "Uncle Walt" persona? Whatever it was, I was a wreck when they showed video of the news broadcasts, and the articles about it. Don't even ask me what my heart did when I realized they were playing "Feed the Birds" over the loudspeakers. Since I saw "Saving Mr. Banks", I've already become more prone to developing a lump in my throat when I hear it, but in that context after I had already been on a roller coaster of different emotions for the last two hours, forget it. It really was lovely though. A very nice tribute, and not at all a sob story even though I decided to make it one.

We finished the tour and I made a bee-line for the gift shop. Dyllan went to rest his feet and I dawdled through the overwhelming selection of books, DVDs, pencils, sweaters, and the usual museum fare that I should never buy but always do. Eventually I settled on a pretty cool trinket exclusive to the WDFM, a necklace with a vial of reproduction animation paint on it at $25 each. They were all named after original paint colors which was a neat touch and looked pretty authentic. If I could, I would have probably taken them all home, but in the end I decided on "Lips Red as the Rose". I haven't had a chance to wear it yet, but it's taking up some real estate hanging on a wall in my room presently so I get to enjoy it every day.

I can confidently say that my experience at the Walt Disney Family Museum was an excellent one. They really seemed to spare no expense in it's construction and every detail was just as wonderful as I would have imagined. The staff were all friendly and provided a nice sprinkle of pixie dust in the middle of a busy, crowded, hectic cityscape. Without a doubt, this was the highlight of my trip. If you have the chance to visit at any time, I recommend you do. I only wish I had more time to fully look around, but that just wasn't possible for me this trip. I'm already dreaming up my next adventure when I'll allow unlimited time to browse this amazing facility. You've done it again, Disney!

I apologize for making this SO INCREDIBLY HUGE, but you really need to just look at the detail of this. Hopefully posting the original size will allow you to do that better. 

Have you been to the Disney Family Museum? What was your experience? What were your favorite displays? I'd love to hear in the comments!

Thank you all for reading!


xoxo


I should mention that I am not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or the Disney Family Foundation in any way. I purchased my ticket for this experience.

TV Recap: The Amazing Race, Season 23 Ep. 3

Welcome to my Amazing Race blog! Seriously, I'm so behind on these recaps this has totally become a blog dedicated to AR. I'm a little sorry, but not that sorry. Who doesn't love Amazing Race recaps? I know I do! Let's begin! Episode three!

We're still in Chile and the teams are preparing to depart. Get ready for some pretty involved travel commentary, everybody. It's pretty much half of the episode. Off you go, Football Buddies!

Teams are flying to Lisbon, Portugal where they will board a tram to a lady who will give them a painting.

But trust me, that wont happen for a really, really long time. 

TV Recap: The Amazing Race, Season 23 Ep. 2

Hello again! I have another Amazing Race recap for you today. A very, very late recap. It's been so long since this episode actually aired, I couldn't remember most of it. Thank goodness for Amazon. This episode was frankly kind of hilarious. I loved it. Overall, the challenges were kinda boring, but the mistakes were so funny! Hang on to your butts!

Early in the mornin', we start releasing the racers. Tim and Marie are first to leave since they were first to arrive. That's how it goes here, ya dig? It's like 3 AM. No thanks. 

Their clue instructs them to travel to the deck of the Mueseo Corbeta Esmerelda where the officer of the day will post their next clue. 

Team Doctor Boring leave second.

Followed by Team Bingo.

The teams race off and arrive at the ship only to discover that it doesn't open until 7:15. Which means it really doesn't matter when everyone leaves because all the teams are going to get there before then. Boring. 

*sad trumpet*

Nothing really happens except scruffy Afganimal makes this face and is gross.

While the teams are waiting for the ship to open, we learn that it's Lady Doctor Boring's birthday. What better present than the spare express pass that Fight Club holds in their clutches? She proposes this.

"We'll see."

We'll see definitely means: "yeah nope." 

To continue her unsavory streak, Marie decides that since they were first, they're in charge. And since they're in charge, everyone should line their backpacks up in order so there's no cutsies. It's super lame and for some reason everyone does it? 

One of the Football Buddies challenges her and she fights back. This is stupid. He is much bigger. 

It's 7:15 and everyone rushes in. Seemingly in order behind Tim and Marie which is SO STUPID OF THEM. I don't care who I have to punch! I'm at least kind of in front if I can muscle my way in. But wait! The Afganimals are running around the side like little geniuses. Little, gross, sexist geniuses.

It's a showdown! 

And it's kind of hilarious. 

Scruffy is victorious! 

Everyone finds the clue and gathers round in a very story-time sort of way. It's super cute. The clue instructs the teams to find the famous phrase uttered by national hero, Arturo Pratt before sinking his ship. They must then repeat the phrase in Spanish to the officer to receive their next clue. Everyone sets off to look for the phrase somewhere on the boat. LIKE FOOLS. 

FOOLS

FOOLS I SAY

The Sparkle Ice Princesses have a stroke of brilliance and head off the boat to ask a nearby local.  The Bearded Beauties have the same idea and corner someone who has the answer. AND SO MUCH TIME IS SAVED.

Easy! They jump back on board and deliver the message to the officer in Spanish (with hand movements for extra credit).

It works! 

Yes. Yes they did.

This next clue tells the teams to head to some salt mines or something and choose some challenges. The Bearded Buddies try to board a cab but are immediately accosted by Marie. She demands they tell her where the phrase is because she has the express pass. EW. GROSS. YOU'RE AWFUL.

Somehow the boys escape her evil clutches and take off with a familiar face.

It's the friendly local helper man! Well that worked out. Everyone else disembarks to ask for help.

They all get the answer and return to the officer to deliver the message in flawless imitation of the Brady Bunch. 

Everyone moves on with no issues. It's pretty straight-forward. Now it's time to meet up at the salt mines! They'll have to take these bikes and ride them literally into the middle of nowhere towards their imminent doom.

Actual photo of hell.

This detour requires teams to choose between two tasks: "Brining" or "Mining". In brining, teams must fill a pool of water with salt until they are able to comfortably float and read the local newspaper. Bonus points if you look really silly doing it. 

When the judge man is satisfied, they'll receive their next clue. Also, yeah. I'm not fooled, Phil. I see that chair under that dude. You can't trick me. 

There is totally a chair. 

The other task, mining, requires teams to break apart giant salt boulders with hammers and stuff. I have no photos of this because that seems pretty straight forward, right? Also, I may have forgotten to. It's irrelevant.

There will be a clue in the rock that looks like this. Got it?

Every one choses their task in the order they arrive, you know the drill. Mister Doctor Boring points out that spending your birthday enjoying a salt bath with your husband is a good way to do it. It's kinda cute. I made a cute noise.

On the flip side of the coin, the Football Buddies choose mining. This is wise. As they put it, they're big and it will be harder to make them float. Also, they are big and can easily smash the things. I agree with this logic.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Team Bingo is very lost. Uh oh. Thanks to subtitles, we find out that their cabbie is trying to take them to either the airport or back into town. Bingo understand none of this whatsoever so they're forced to ask directions from a person.

They figure it out as sassily as possible. Meanwhile, this is happening:

That face.

"Forgot how to bike"

 Seriously, come on. It's a bike. You literally never forget how to do that. I know it's your birthday but I'm mad at you.

The Football Buddies are bypassing the whole sledge hammer and chisel game and accessing their hulk powers. It's pretty awesome. And effective! They find their clue.

As do the Bearded Beauties! The clue says that teams must now go back to Iqueque and take a 1,000 mile bus ride to Santiago. 

1,000 miles

One. Thousand. Miles. ONE THOUSAND MILES. ON A BUS. THAT'S TOO FAR ON A BUS. The Afganimals make it to the bus station and figure out just how long one thousand freaking miles takes on a bus.

Yeah guys, they spent a whole day on the bus. One day. No thanks. No freaking thanks. This is awful, but one million dollars, blah blah. After the initial shock wears off, Scruffy just can't help himself:

Can you not? For two minutes.

Back at the salty lands, Bingo is getting a little crotchety for my taste. "Don't talk to me, you're using my air" he says, multiple times. It's unnecessary. Calm your tits.

"Meeeeeeh!"

Tim and Marie are fighting again. Weird. It's like that's their thing or something. Marie bangs a stick on the water to assert her dominance.

Preach it, Icy.

The Baseball Wives finish the challenge and Baseball Wife #1 just gets so cold! You could say she's...Chile. PAH!

It's sorta weird because this is a tropical climate, right? In the middle of the day? I dunno, do it for Spidey, girl. Do it for Spidey. 

Agreed, sir. 

He gets a hug, though.

At the bus station, everyone has secured a spot on a 1:30 PM bus to Santiago. Except for Tim and Marie. How saaaaaaaad!

Suck it.

Lookit that! Team Bingo have caught up and finished the mining challenge. They look...moist. Also, nice hat. Off they go to the bus station! They're catching up!

The first bus has arrived! The Football Buddies express their disdain for the eternity of a bus ride they are about to experience. 

Team Bingo arrives at the bus station, ready to go. They're given the option to hop on the bus that leaves at 2:00. The safe choice. But these two are gamblers. You can see it in their eyes.

Here's what goes down: Rowan and Shane inquire about earlier busses outta the joint. To them, it sounds as if this mysterious other bus will arrive in Santiago at 4:00 PM tomorrow in spite of it leaving later...(?). They take the bait! They wave away the 2:00 bus and ask when the next bus will arrive. 

Whoooops! Yeah no, you guys. The bus LEAVES at 4:00 PM today. It doesn't arrive earlier than the other bus for no damn good reason. How does that make sense? Guess when you're actually getting there. 

Heartbreaking.

The guy behind the counter manages to help them out and put them on a slightly earlier bus that arrives at:

Basically, they dun effed up. Royally. This was probably one of the least funny mistakes of this episode. Seriously, listen to people and don't take an earlier bus/flight if no one else is. Race rules. (#racerules) Whatever, I had hopes for these two and they turned out to be pretty annoying and not at all nice to each other. Moving on. 

After forever, the first bus arrives at Plaza De Armas and the teams find a road block! Hey-oh! 

In this road block, one team member must use a shoe shine cart to shine a shoes. A shoes of a person. Then they have to assemble the cart, bench, chair, etc. into the proper shape to transport it back to a storage facility. If they're correct in their packing, they get the next clue! Everyone begins and shines them shoes. Guys, it's pretty boring. I'm gonna be honest with you. So I zoned out and didn't screen cap anything. Everyone on the first bus finishes shining and assembles their carts with no visual aid so naturally, it's crap. 

Of course it's not. Jeez. Everyone fixes it with little to no effort.

On the second bus, something kinda scripted weird goes down. One of the baseball wives is seen asking Tim if he used to play baseball at Rutgers? Rubbers? Baby Ruths? I dunno what that is. Either way, he says yes and she asks if he played with a man by a name I can't remember. He says yeah. Well guess what bros, but that's her husband! Ba-wah? I didn't see that coming. Literally not at all. Totally shocked. Honest. Tim acts poorly surprised to "discover" this and says to keep this on the down low. Why? What do you gain by keeping your baseball career under wraps, Tim? Guys, the people who "play" the race too much really bug me. It will be no secret to you. I hate it. Eyes on your own paper and you'll come out fine. Race rules! 

Marie talks to the Baseball Wives and tells them that they're pretty much a shoe-in as express pass recipients. Because baseball connection? Seems like a pretty weak basis for something like that. She also says that everyone else hates them anyway which makes WAY more sense. The Baseball Wives fake appropriate laughter. 

*forced laughing*

The Football Buddies have finished the shoe shine challenge! They read their clue.

Teams must now travel by taxi to Cascada De Las Animas which is a nature reserve that looks very beautiful. It's the pit stop! The last team to check in may be eliminated! 

It's seeming like a tight race for first between the Football Buddies and the Afganimals. The Afganimals arrive in their cab and go to pay their driver. 

The fare is 40,000 pesos and they totally don't give him enough. Then like the asses they are, they run away. Um. No? Don't do that. Pay the guy that is helping you win the race by providing a service. They get to the pit stop and are told they're first to arrive, BUT since they didn't settle their cab fare, the have to do that first before they can check in. 

They look far too shocked and appalled that this is a thing. Jerks.

The Football Buddies arrive and prove that there is good in this world. 

They're first! They win a trip and share a wonderful bro hug. It's majestic. Like when salmon swim upstream.

The Afganimals are back at the taxi settling their fare. The cabbie tells them whats what and Scruffy (rudely) sorts it out. 

RUDE

So dumb. So rude. When are these two gonna go away? They finish second and learn nothing from this mistake. The worst.

The Bearded Beauties have arrived at the pit stop! They do so in the cutest way possible. 

They're third! 

Night falls and we return to the shoe shine challenge where the second bus has since arrived. Marie is hard at work shining them shoes. 

Her customer is literally the coolest because he keeps making her do it over again. Pretty sure she's the only one to run into this. He also makes this face: 

FAVORITE PERSON. 

Whoa whoa whoa, hold up! Team Bingo has arrived! Things just got interesting. They may have a chance of survival after all!

This is where my favorite part of this episode begins. It's amazing. Watch carefully. Bingo sets off to find a shoe shine!...Wait...no. What're you doing? Not that shoe shine!

Dude, he's not with the race! You are going up to a gentleman who has no idea what is going on and asking to use his shoe shine station. He doesn't seem to take the hint when the gentleman has no idea what he's talking about and initially tries to brush him off. Bingo persists and somehow, miraculously convinces the shoe shine to let him use his station. What. Is. Happening. 

The shoe shine actually gives Bingo a lesson! Not only that, he packs the station up for him! It's not supposed to be this easy, Bingo! Bingo aggressively convinces the gentleman to let him TAKE HIS LIVING AWAY and wheel it to the marked storage facility. I'm dying. He is still completely oblivious to the fact that this man is not an official race shoe shiner. I do not understand how you don't notice that. I was yelling but also laughing with glee because this is freaking hilarious. 

 Quick side note! Just in case it's been a while since Marie filled you up with rage, she has a moment at the storage place with Oklahoma. Taylor Lautner Oklahoma is kind enough to point an Ice Princess in the right direction. Marie says no! Don't give her directions. You're stupid! In that moment I swear the entire viewing audience rolled their eyes. It caused a blackout in Burbank. Serious.

Perfect reaction.

 Back to the real drama here. Bingo has finally arrived with his new friend/prisoner.

Of course no one has any idea who this guy is and tells Bingo it's not right. Naturally, the shoe shine turns to leave. For whatever reason Bingo gets on his knees and begs his little heart out to get him to stay. LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE TELLING YOU YOU DID IT WRONG. He is so annoying about it every inch of sympathy I could possibly feel for Bingo flies out the window like the thing you threw out the window when you were in a blacked-out Bingo-induced rage. Marie notices the scuffle and throws in her two cents by repeating, "No no. No. No.". I think this makes sense to her but I'm not sure it did to anyone else. 

Nice one, Bingo.

At long last, someone get's through to Bingo. He sasses his way back to the real shoe shine stations and proceeds with the damn challenge. 

A bit of drama that was lost on me during the whole Bingo debacle was that Baseball Wifey forgot her rug! Teammates were clearly supposed to pack every item that came in the cart and she forgot hers. She now has to run back and collect it, but first she pleads with Marie for her to hand over the promised express pass. 

Nope! Marie flat out says not right now. Why?! Why are you being so mean? There's no need. Rude. Marie later tells the camera that it wouldn't have benefited them in that moment. Screw you, Marie. Your pink hair is dumb. She also complains in the cab later that Bingo called her the devil and Tim makes this face:

Does Tim do anything guys? I'm worried about Tim. In comparison to his fake girlfriend, he seems like a decent human. I'm sure he's probably not, but I still worry about anyone that has prolonged exposure to this woman. Seek help, dude. 

Oh yeah, Oklahoma is at the pit stop and they are sixth.

Team Sparkle Ice Princess: seventh

Finally, Bingo finds the right shoe stand. The one that's marked with the race colors duh-doy. He's probably a pro at shining shoes and assembling stands though since he got that neat private lesson earlier. Maybe he'll have an edge?

Something works for him cause he snags a clue! 

Tim and Marie have checked in and we're left in suspense over who will finish next. Bingo or Baseball? Baseball Wives were dealing with their rug and Bingo had their stupid hang-up. Who will emerge victorious?

****

It's the Baseball Wives! Everyone is shocked.

Of course Team Bingo was last. We knew it from the moment these morons messed up the first time. Editing at it's finest. They did manage to pull through a lot more than I expected, I'll give them that. 

They're last. They're eliminated. They hug.

Boy I was so stoked about this team. They seemed so fun at first! Under pressure though, they made stupid, costly errors and turned into a pretty dysfunctional pair so, it's curtains for them. They sure were entertaining while they lasted at least. Bye guys! 

What'd you guys think of this episode? Not totally dull considering it was the second show of the season, am I right?