Current Exhibition
Nov 14, 2025–Sep 13, 2026
The Walt Disney Family Museum continues its celebration of the 70th anniversary of Disneyland with the debut of Happiest Place on Earth: The Disneyland Story, an original special exhibition curated by award-winning producer and Disney Legend Don Hahn...
Upcoming Community Day
Sun, Sep 6 | 10am–3pm
Join us at The Walt Disney Family Museum as we celebrate The Big Draw, the world’s largest drawing festival, on Sunday, September 6! Through various themed activities hosted throughout the museum, we will explore the expressive power of creating...
Studio Programs
Dates, times, and age/skill levels vary
Classes teaching animation are offered as eight weekly two-hour sessions and announced quarterly—typically with both youth and adult sessions available. Workshops—themed to topics relating to Walt's life and legacy—are offered as standalone sessions...
Featured Experience
Book Now
Enjoy the perfect Disney celebration with a birthday party at The Walt Disney Family Museum! Choose from a selection of classic Disney movies to be inspired by and create the birthday party of your dreams.
School Experiences
2026–27 school year
Our goal is to provide Bay Area students an opportunity to engage with art and animation in creative and inspiring ways within their school. Through hands-on activities related to the life of Walt Disney, students will explore important elements of...
Store Highlight
Available now
Explore how railroading influenced Walt’s films, theme parks, and personal life, as well as how he influenced the perception and preservation of railroading in America. From his miniature Lilly Belle locomotive to the iconic Monorail at Walt Disney...
Enjoy the Museum from Anywhere
Navigate through all of our gallery spaces with our 360˚ museum tour.
Films
Young sea monster Luca is discontented with his quiet life under the waves. He meets Alberto, a fellow sea monster who reveals that, when dry, they...
Thu–Mon, Aug 1–31 | 3pm
No screening Aug 15 & 28
No screening Aug 15 & 28
Films
Special Events
Take your place in the Circle of Life as we present a special “mane event” screening of Disney Animation’s The Lion King (1994) paired with wine from...
Wed, Aug 5 | 6pm
“Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child you have stolen...
Sat, Aug 22 | 1pm
During the run of the special exhibition, we will have regular screenings of a new featurette, Happiest Place on Earth: Walt’s Disneyland (2025)...
Thu–Sun, Nov 2025–Sep 13, 2026 | 2pm
Mon, May 25–Sep 7, 2026 | 2pm
No screening Jul 31 & Aug 15
Mon, May 25–Sep 7, 2026 | 2pm
No screening Jul 31 & Aug 15
Special Events
Join us at The Walt Disney Family Museum as we celebrate The Big Draw, the world’s largest drawing festival, on Sunday, September 6! Through various...
Sun, Sep 6 | 10am–3pm
Talks
Virtual
2026 marks the 100th anniversary of Prince Achmed (1926), the world’s oldest surviving animated feature film. More remarkable than the film’s age is...
Wed, Aug 12 | 5:30pm PT
Ronald Dahl captivated the hearts and minds of generations with his whimsical, yet relatable stories. Join us as we honor the 30th anniversary of...
Sat, Aug 22 | 10:30am–noon
Classes
Color is interwoven in all aspects of our lives. Whether it is an intricate mural or a simple sticky note, color plays a very important role in how we...
Every Sun, Aug 23–Oct 4 (no class Sep 6) | 1–3pm
Workshops
Virtual
Grab your magnifying glass and coat as we commemorate the 40th anniversary of Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective (1986). We will investigate the...
Sat, Aug 29 | 10:30am–noon
Gallery 2
The Move to Hollywood
Walt landed his first major contract, opened a new studio, and fell in love with an inker. A sudden turn of events would spark the idea for Mickey Mouse.
“I always liked to show him something he hadn’t seen before.” That’s how Disney Legend and former Imagineer Rolly Crump once described his working relationship with Walt Disney in an interview with historian Jeff Baham.
For celebrated artist Josh Agle, growing up with annual visits to Disneyland® Park helped shape his literal world view. “I’m a really visual person,” he explains, “so I think in images more than words...
“Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)”—the musical anthem of those many rascals and scoundrels we have adored for almost sixty years—is undoubtedly one of the most iconic Disney Parks songs. But how did this famous tune and its accompanying lyrics come to be? Hop in, landlubbers, and hold on tight—let’s take a little boat trip to find out…
Disney Legend Mary Blair was one of Walt Disney’s finest stylists—a visualizer of characters and worlds—but her work was not self-contained: it added up to something larger: a story. “Walt responded...
Opening more than a half-century ago in 1975, the iconic attraction was first envisioned by Walt Disney more than a decade earlier.
The longtime designer and historian is peeling back the layers of how Walt Disney recruited a distinctive team of artists and set designers to build his 1955 theme park.
In November 1918, a young Walt Disney stepped onto a ship named the Vauban, which was set to take him and his Red Cross Ambulance Corps unit from the United States all the way to France. For a 16-year...
Overture
The year is 1935. America is mid-way through the Great Depression. The Dust Bowl is devastating the prairies. A war-weary world, whether aware or not, is a few short years from one of its...
Since childhood, Walt Disney had been a fan of the works of Jules Verne, including the author’s classic 1870 science-fiction novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. But later, as a film producer, he was...