The Walt Disney Family Museum Blog

As part of our "12 Days of Christmas" special, we asked Disney historian, Paula Sigman Lowery, to tell us about Holidayland!

When we look at the “Disneyland of Walt’s Imagination”—the wonderful model showcased at The Walt Disney Family Museum—we are enchanted by the miniature versions of the lands Walt and his artists created: Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Adventureland… plus Main Street, U.S.A. and New Orleans Square. But there’s one land that we don’t see, a land that existed for only five years: Holidayland.

In April of 2007, Michael Labrie, Lynne Phillips, and Hugh Chitwood embarked on a journey to a town outside of Chicago, IL called Ottawa.  Their mission was to sort and pack one of the first donations to the Walt Disney Family Foundation.  This collection would not only double the size of the already existing collection, but it would also help fill innumerable gaps in the permanent exhibition at The Walt Disney Family Museum...

A cold wind whipped through the buttes and chilled the small town of Yuba City on a wet Christmas Eve.  Residents prepared for the following morning, filled with the joy of the season, but also with a watchful eye on the Feather and Yuba Rivers, swollen with winter rain.  At four minutes past midnight, the emergency announcement went out and visions of sugarplums were dashed, as parents snatched sleeping children from their beds and headed for higher ground... 

To this day, those words increase my heart rate.  I didn’t care much for the Lawrence Welk show, but I’d routinely sit through a half hour of The Lennon Sisters to be certain not to miss a minute of what was to come.  Once Tinkerbell appeared over the Disneyland®castle, I would start the incantation: “Please be animation, please be animation, please be animation…

Since its founding on St. Cecilia’s Day 2004, Artists’ Vocal Ensemble (AVE) has been engaging audiences with thoughtful programming and consistently exceptional choral singing that has set it apart from other ensembles in the Bay Area.  Composed of mixed voices (male and female) that are especially suited to Renaissance and contemporary repertoire, their reputation has spread rapidly as a leader in sacred choral music.  

Christmas with Walt Disney  screens daily at 1pm & 4pm.
(except Tuesdays and December 5, 11, and 25 ).

In celebration of Hanukkah, we sent our friends at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco complimentary tickets to give away to CJM visitors, at sunset, every day for the past eight days! Whatever special occasion it is you may be observing this holiday season, we'd love to celebrate with you at The Walt Disney Family Museum!

On December 5th, what would have been Walt Disney’s 109th birthday, the museum hosted “Memories of Walt: A Conversation with Legends, Featuring Alice Davis and Marge Champion.”  Diane Disney Miller joined the lady Legends and moderator Charles Solomon on stage in celebration of her father’s birthday. 

To anyone who has read a Walt Disney biography, you know the story of Walt Disney's 1926 Moon roadster. Walt was quite proud of that car, and it was the very automobile he used to court Lilly.

However, after losing Oswald, Walt and Roy fell on hard financial times. Of course, that didn't seem to disturb the ever-optimistic Walt Disney. Instead, he came up with a new character, Mortimer Mouse (aka Mickey)...