There are those in
the community of Disney fans who believe that a Walt Disney Museum would be
better served if it were located closer to where much of Walt’s legacy was
created. That would be somewhere in the
Los Angeles area, and many of the advocates of that location are residents of
that area, and they feel there would be a greater attraction to a Walt Disney
museum that was located in an area where Walt spent most of his creative
life. There are also some who think that
the Museum is something that the company he and his Brother Roy created is
somehow responsible of creating. Now, I
will admit I have developed my own bias for the Museum’s locations at The
Presidio of San Francisco, as it is just a bit under 50 miles from my front door,
and easy for me to visit. But, I think I
understand some of the reasons it is where it is located.
First and probably
foremost, it is called the Walt Disney Family Museum, and not the Walt Disney
Museum. This is because the Museum is
Walt’s family’s tribute to his legacy and of their creation. It has very little to do with what has become
the company Walt and Roy created, but, for legal reasons, the Walt Disney
Company does have certain controls over what happens and what is displayed at
the Museum; they don’t own or operate it.
That is solely under the direction of Walt’s surviving family. In addition, the vast majority of artifacts
on display are the property of Diane Disney Miller or her family, and many of
those artifacts were stored in a warehouse on The Presidio grounds for many
years. I have heard stories of Diane
taking guests to that warehouse for personal viewings, since she and her
husband Ron live in the area. It makes
certain sense that when uses for The Presidio, after it was turned over as
National Park Services resource, were being considered, that Walt’s family
would look there first, as well as The Presidio Trust approaching the family as
being a location for their Museum.
I also mentioned
there were legal issues which affected the Museum. During his lifetime, Walt created a private
company, which ultimately became Retlaw (Walter spelled backwards) to protect
certain property and copyright claims for his naming rights. Upon his death, control of Retlaw passed to
his wife Lillian. In 1982 the family
sold much of Retlaw to the Walt Disney Company, which consisted of certain
rides at Disneyland and control of Walt Disney’s naming rights, which I understand
included ownership of Walt Disney’s name, image, and voice materials. I honestly don’t understand the reasoning
behind this sale, but, I do understand there were some internal conflicts
developing within Walt Disney Productions, some of which, according to my
observations, seems to still exist today.
But, the main outcome is that Walt’s public company gain control of his
name, image, and voice. This has created
an environment where the Museum must obtain certain approvals for what is
displayed at the Museum. So, what affect
might this have on the location? It
creates a separation – geographically – between Walt the Man and Walt Disney
the company, and is less likely to have
the Museum overshadowed by Disneyland or the Studio. It also keeps the Museum closer to the family
in Northern California.
Some have claimed
that the Miller’s simply put the Museum at The Presidio because it was
convenient for them to have close to them, without giving much thought to any
other location. They claim that Walt
carefully researched – through Buzz Price – the location for Disneyland to
maximize its potential visitation. I’d
like to point out that his actual first choice was a parcel location adjacent to
the Studio, but the dream ended up exceeding the space all too quickly. With the brilliant analytical skills of Buzz,
Walt went on to look for a larger parcel on which to build his dream, and
settled on the Anaheim location, not because it was the best place at the
moment but because of the future plans in place for the area. We should also note that the location was
still relative close to Walt’s base of operations, making his oversight and
development of Disneyland’s progress much easier process. Even the Walt Disney World location was based
on, in part, the local future plans being developed for the area, and not what
was currently in place. Now let’s apply
a little of Walt’s thinking to the thought processes of Ron and Diane’s
locating the Museum, after all Diane grew up as the daughter of this creative genius,
and Ron was groomed by the master to take his place, it would make sense that
some of the creative thought process would have been transferred. First, I understand from a couple of reliable
sources that there were a location of locations looked at in southern
California. No reasons given for them
being excluded, but, there was some thought given to SoCal. Next, as I said earlier, many of the
artifacts were already being stored on The Presidio.
But that fact aside,
The Presidio Trust has
been looking at all the way to preserve the base while making it a valuable
resource for the people of the United States, since The
Presidio Trust Act was passed in December of 2001. So while I have no
evidence to support it, I would not be surprised to learn that it was the Trust
the approached to family about creating the Museum at The Presidio. So, let’s go back to the creation of
Disneyland for a moment, because some have made the comparison, while others
have dismissed this comparison as being wrong.
We all have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight to make the claim that Walt’s
choice of Anaheim was a brilliant decision.
But, let’s remember that none of the access highway that were part of
the basis for the decisions were actually in place or even out of the planning
stage when the choice was made on Anaheim.
Since it is my belief that Walt Disney’s Family is looking at this
Museum as a long term tribute to their amazing Father and Grandfather, it would
make sense to be that they would look for a location, like Walt, that had a fair
well developed plan for future growth, and someplace where they can more easily
maintain oversight of its development and growth.
So there’s my basic
synopsis of the location issue, as I understand it. But, there are people out there who know much
more than I, so if they’d like to share. I’d be more than happy to listen to what they
have to say.
So stay tuned as I
try to learn more about what’s next for the Walt Disney Family Museum.
Your comments or questions
are always welcome. If you have a
correction or something you think I should look at in my research, please feel
free to contact me at mr.grumpyguy@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment