San Francisco, October 28, 2020—We are happy to announce that The Walt Disney Family Museum plans to reopen to the public on Thursday, November 5, 2020 in accordance with guidelines recently announced by the Mayor’s Office of San Francisco and the Governor’s Office of California.
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We hope to save you time by answering some of the most frequently asked questions about Virtual Programs below. If you do not find the answers you are looking for, please email the Public Programs team at publicprograms@wdfmuseum.org.


At The Walt Disney Family Museum, we have a dedicated team of Preparators that utilize creative ways to display artwork in our galleries and special exhibitions. Preparator Ryan Mortensen works primarily with 2D objects, creating custom displays for the public to enjoy our collection of animation artwork.

In October of 1966, Walt Disney was declared “Showman of the World” by the National Association of Theatre Owners. His creative legacy was so diverse, spanning so many realms of entertainment and outdoor recreation, it’s remarkable to think that before 1955 he was “merely” a producer of motion pictures...

While he did not live to see it completed, many Disney fans know that, at the time of his passing in 1966, Walt Disney was working on plans for what would later become Walt Disney World in Florida. What is not so well known is that he was concurrently planning a year round family resort in the Sierras known as Mineral King.

Hide in plain sight.
As a student of Disney history I have come to embrace that particular cliché. Simple and almost always overlooked details in Disney entertainment can often lead to very enjoyable and enlightening journeys of historical discovery. I recently embarked on such a journey after watching the Goofy cartoon The Art of Skiing...


The Walt Disney Family Museum presents Animate Your Night—a new Museum-wide monthly after-hours party. Experience the galleries in a whole new light and illuminate your imagination with music, performance, film screenings, and hands-on art activities!

After years of making package features that compiled animated short subjects, Walt Disney’s artists knew that Cinderella, released 70 years ago in 1950, would be different. As a full-length fairy tale, it was more akin to the stories they’d told before World War II. But the film would have a twist on its predecessors.

This multiplane camera was unlike anything ever used before at Walt’s studio, and in particular it was a favorite tool on his second feature film, Pinocchio (1940). Learn more about the foremost and often celebrated use of the multiplane’s wondrous ability in sequence two of Pinocchio, “Goes to School.”
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- The WDFM Team

Watch any Disneyland fan walk into the park, and you’ll see their eyes glance up to the left just before they reach Main Street, U.S.A. Walt Disney’s apartment sits nestled above the Town Square Fire Station, easily invisible to those who don’t know of its existence, while remaining an iconic part of Disneyland to those who do…
Lady, a poised cocker spaniel, loves her lavish life with her owners Jim Dear and Darling, but when they go out of town, she is falsely accused of troublemaking and muzzled by her new caretaker, Aunt Sarah. Confused and terrified by the muzzle, Lady runs away and is protected from danger by Tramp, a...
This September, we invite you to go behind-the-scenes of a few of Disney’s most beloved animated musicals—The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994)—in Don Hahn’s illuminating documentary, Waking Sleeping Beauty (2010). Follow a pivotal and often...
San Francisco, June 24, 2020—The Walt Disney Family Museum is pleased to announce a range of innovative virtual offerings designed to make the galleries more accessible to guests of diverse abilities, economic circumstance, geographic location, and language. These initiatives include a new mobile
We are excited to share some updates to our website, waltdisney.org. We have streamlined and improved our ticket purchasing system, including:
- A Member Portal, where you can find and update your membership information, access hours of exclusive members-only content, and more
- Checkout for member tickets, memberships, donations, and merchandise
- Discounts automatically applied at checkout, without the need for a discount code
To try out the Member Portal, view one of the following step-by-step set-up guides on setting up and accessing your account below.
Contact the Membership Department at membership@wdfmuseum.org for further assistance.