The inspiration of and appreciation for Walt Disney knows no boundaries. The membership at The Walt Disney Family Museum certainly reflects this diversity. Each month, we’ll introduce you to one of our Members, so you can see the varied and frequently fascinating people, who have come together to learn and experience more about the life, work, philosophies, and ideals of Walt Disney. This month, we’d like you to meet Cory and Roy Johnson, who have a dual membership!
Cory Johnson has been married to her husband and best friend, Roy, for slightly over 26 years, and have one daughter who--as a senior in college--participated for six months in the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World in Florida. Their daughter is now privileged to be a Cast Member in Entertainment at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. Although Cory and Roy are now retired from their primary careers, they still enjoy a fun little part-time job driving for Enterprise Car Rental Co. As the job is quite flexible, it allows the Johnsons to indulge in one of their favorite pleasures and pastimes--"traveling and exploring this beautiful and diverse country of ours!"
Why did you become a member of The Walt Disney Family Museum?
Like most of the kids in our generation, Roy and I grew up waiting anxiously every week for the days to pass so we could claim our favorite spot in front of the television and immerse ourselves in another exciting episode of our very favorite show - ‘Disneyland’, and later the ‘Wonderful World of Color’. Early on we developed a tremendous amount of admiration and respect for the man who always introduced the show. He seemed so wise, so warm-hearted and friendly, and grew to seem so familiar - and didn’t you just wish that he were a member of your very own family? When Roy & I heard in late 2009 that Walt’s daughter and her family had opened a beautiful museum right here in the Presidio of San Francisco to honor her father’s life and his legacy, we knew it was something we wanted to be a part of - to help further and support. Now as we travel around the state or the country we like to take along a little cache of museum brochures and hand them out to people we meet and talk to. We tell them that if they ever come to visit San Francisco (and few people we meet don’t have S.F. somewhere on their “bucket list”!) we tell them it’s the one place here they absolutely CAN NOT miss!
What do you find the most enjoyable about your membership?
As Roy and I made many return visits to the museum (you really can’t see and experience everything in just one trip!) we started to run into more and more familiar faces. We had found before that we made several lasting friendships through attendance at Disney-related activities; visiting the parks, going to conventions, taking a cruise. You just seem to meet the nicest people there. The Walt Disney Family Museum is no exception. From the staff and volunteers, to the frequent guests you always run into-from the moment you open the door you feel welcome. Its great to spend time with folks that share a common interest with yours.
We also love attending the special events and hearing the guest speakers telling about their experiences in working with or knowing Walt Disney. We always come away having learned some new things we hadn’t realized or even thought about before. The more we learned about Walt’s life, the more we wanted to find out, and it’s led to our doing our own extensive research. Since we go down to southern California frequently to visit our daughter, we’ve started going to places there where we found out Walt had lived, worked, or found particularly enjoyable. We are doing sort of a ‘walk in Walt’s footsteps’! It’s amazing to think that at one time in his life Walt visited this spot or walked these very streets. This past June, while on a trip, we made a stop in Kansas City, Missouri, and were able to find a lot of the locations that figured prominently in Walt’s life before he came to California. We also finally had a chance to visit Marceline, Missouri where he had spent part of his boyhood. They have a wonderful museum there as well - the Walt Disney Hometown Museum - which is another great place to visit! Their staff and volunteers are every bit as warm, welcoming and knowledgable as here at the Family Museum. We were thrilled to see that the atmosphere of the town hasn’t changed much since the way it must have looked to Walt when he was a young lad there.
What do you enjoy most about the museum?
I’ll have to admit that I was a little hesitant about my first visit to the museum. I had heard that Walt’s voice would narrate you through the galleries. I truly thought that hearing that all-too-familiar and beloved voice from my childhood would make me very emotional. I miss him. Turns out though that hearing his voice adds just the right touch! Who better to tell his own story than Walt? I particularly like taking the elevator to the second floor and hearing Walt describe the train trip to California. Another favorite is the story of how he hid and surprised Lillian with a puppy for Christmas. My favorite artifacts to visit are the Lilly Belle train from his Carolwood property, and the hat he had bronzed and gave to Lillian.
There is only one spot in the whole museum that can possibly make me sad - and I will always speed through gallery 10a as fast as my feet will carry me!
How does Walt Disney inspire you?
I think the characteristic I admire most about Walt Disney was how important family was to him and being able to spend quality time with those you love. He had such a talent for knowing what others would enjoy and what would be fun for people of all ages. Roy and I grew up enjoying the animated and real life movies, the television shows, the books and comic books, and the music that encapsulated Walt’s career, and when we became parents we enjoyed those same things all over again with our daughter. She was even luckier that we were. I was in my early 30’s before I set foot in Disneyland. We started taking Amanda before she’d even turned two! I also admire the fact that Walt faced so many setbacks and adversities, but he’d just pick himself up and start out again. He really proved that persistence and hard work pays off!
What was your first Disney inspiration or memory?
I can tell you what will be a lasting Disney memory for us. That’s the day we took Amanda down to audition for her job at Disneyland. We dropped her off very early that morning at Casting and headed into the Park to “play”. Although we did have a great time as always I must admit a large part of our time consisted of checking our phones for “text messages” as Amanda completed each step of the audition process. Finally, at about 4:45 p.m. we received the call from our elated daughter that she had made it through and was now a bona fide Cast Member! I’d say that for the rest of that night our feet floated about two inches above the cobblestones! We capped off the evening viewing a performance of our favorite Disney spectacular - ‘Fantasmic’, and at the end where Mickey asks, “Some dream, huh?”, we could say, “Yup, and today we had one came true!”
Anything else you would like to share about yourself?
I was born and raised in Wisconsin and lived for a time in a small town with a population of around 200. I also spent all my summers with an aunt & uncle on their farm in Illinois. I think that gave me a pretty good understanding of how Walt felt about his roots on the farm in the Midwest. I also engaged in “belly botany”, and had two favorite apple trees I loved to climb. My aunt always managed to find where I had hidden out though. The dog at the base of the tree with the wagging tail was always a dead giveaway!
For more information on membership at The Walt Disney Family Museum, or to join today, please visit our membership page!