It’s been a long time dream of Diane Disney Miller, and others in the Disney family, to open a museum to honor her father Walt and now that dream is a reality. I still have a major quibble with the museum’s location, in the Presidio area of San Francisco, being of convenience to the Miller household instead of centrally located to Walt’s personal story, but the museum itself appears to be everything a Disney fan could want.

Here’s the local news coverage of the opening ceremony. Those people in the back are the members of the Disney-Miller family in attendance.

Famed Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr was also at the Grand Opening and gave his unique perspective on the events in his column on LaughingPlace.com

Sadly the museum is not without controversy. It’s “No Photos” policy has raised the ire of Thomas Hawk, a noted digerati from the central California region. He points out that many museums have recognized that guest photos are essentially free advertising and have changed their policies to be more open. Hopefully this no photos policy is just for the initial few weeks and eventually you’ll be able to capture your own memories to share after the tour.

Capacity at the museum is limited, so you’ll need to visit the official website to reserve a time. If you can’t make it to the museum, be sure to become a fan on Facebook where you can keep up with the goings on. I also recommend the “Friends of the Walt Disney Family Museum” facebook page.

I’d like to thank everyone who worked to make this dream of every Disney fan a reality. In particular Bruce Gordon who, when treated badly by Disney company, turned his passion to making the museum the best it could be. We tragically lost Bruce in 2007, but I’m sure he’s looking down with pride on his success. We miss you Bruce.

I was walking through the “One Man’s Dream” attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios the other day when I noticed that they’ve added a Wildebeast Mask from the Disney Broadway show The Lion King. It’s a huge piece and incredibly crafted. So it is no surprise to me that other props and costumes from The Lion King are joining the collection at the American History Museum on the mall in Washington DC.

“It is an honor to see The Lion King enter this place,” Thomas Schumacher said. “The Lion King is more than a musical—it has become a global phenomenon, and this donation forever seals its place as an icon of American culture in one of our country’s leading history museums.”

The items added are the Simba Headdress and the full costume for Rafiki. (via Smithsonian Magazine)

Disney fans with cash to spare have a chance to own some unique history – the home where Walt Disney was born. Walt Disney’s father Elias built the Tripp Avenue two-story house himself in 1892. Walt Disney was born in an upstairs bedroom in 1901. It has currently been split into a two-unit rental.

In 2006 Disney’s birthplace was up on ebay, but that sale never closed. Perhaps its an indicator of how soft the housing market still is, that this unique home is still for sale. The price has now dropped below $200,000.

This is the 5000th post here on The Disney Blog. That’s 18 posts a week or more than two posts a day since I launched the blog in June 2004. A fairly respectable average, if I do say so. According to Technorati there were about 3 million blogs at that time. There are over 250 million blogs today.

I’ve been on the internet in its various forms since 1991. I started writing about Disney on USENET’s Rec.Arts.Disney and Alt.Disney.Disneyland, then later on LaughingPlace.com beginning in August 1999. I also joined and learned a lot from the e-list “FutureCulture.” It was my first online community and I’m proud to say I’m still a member.

I started my personal blog in 1998 before they were called blogs. I called it “You are your URL” or iURL for short. It was obvious to me then that the internet would become the new “permanent record” that parents so often warned their kids about to keep them in line. As so many have found today, an unfortunate photo onFacebook can often mean the difference between getting that job or turning public opinion in a court case. An iURL was my attempt to control that message by putting my information out there first in the manner I wanted others to see.

In 2004 when I started writing The Disney Blog, there were no other Disney blogs. There were a dozen or so Disney travel planning websites and about 500 other Disney fan websites, each with a specific topic, but none used the now common reverse chronological post and the informal voice that comes with a blog. Sadly many of these excellent websites have been lost to the ravages of time, but some survive and even thrive.

The early weeks of The Disney Blog benefited from the three hurricanes that hit Central Florida. Although I was living in the Las Vegas area at the time, I was able to collect and synthesize news and on the ground reports of the preparations and damages for the storms, particularly as they impacted Walt Disney World. This brought a lot of traffic to a young blog and really helped developed the writing style I still use today. I aim for my writing to be about 90% news and information combined with around 10% of my unique perspective on how it all fits together.

Since I started The Disney Blog thousands of blogs have sprung up in the Disney niche and most of the big Disney travel planning websites have sprouted their own blogging platform in some fashion or another. I am overjoyed about this. I believe that a rising tide lifts all ships. I wouldn’t have learned half the fascinating stuff I have these last 5 years without all those other wonderful voices. So if you write a Disney Blog out there, thanks to you. Please keep up the great work.

Another growth area for online Disney fan activity has been Podcasts. The number of talented individuals and the amount of new and interesting material covered each week never ceases to amaze me. There’s so much good stuff out there that you could literally listen all week to just Disney podcasts and still be behind when the next week’s episodes are released.

Related to podcasting has been the explosion of fan created park DVDs. Historical videos, tributes to attractions and cast members, park guides, park tours, and so much more. That the Walt Disney Company hasn’t stomped out this cottage industry is a blessing for us all. By letting fans produce blogs, podcasts, DVDs, Disney keeps the fires stoked in the belly of its most devoted customer base and reaps the benefits of new fans as the word gets spread around by those same passionate customers.

Speaking of the Mouse House. Let’s look at the Walt Disney Company’s involvement when it comes to blogging and social media. I still don’t think the company has recovered from the disaster that was the Infoseek and Go.com purchase. Because of that, there really isn’t one unified theme from the company when it comes to social media.

The Disney parks division got started a few years ago with some video podcasts. Since then the podcast format has been dropped, but the video production quantity has risen steadily. It’s also spread into other divisions. The Cruise Line, Animation, Disney Consumer Products, Disney Channel, and ABC all use the online video format fairly extensively. If your division isn’t on this list (games, movies, archives, etc), why not?

The company has even begun testing the social media waters. Many Disney divisions now have Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, and they’re exploring other products. The one area I think Disney is lacking is content creation by subject matter experts, specifically blogs. There is a certain amount of freedom that’s been granted Disney animators (specifically Pixar animators) to blog about what they love and are experts at. I would like to see that model expanded to the rest of the company.

I believe Walt Disney would have been a tremendous user of social media, once he got over his fear of letter go of control of the discussion. He would have been all over it to talk about whatever his next big project was.

The lesson to be learned from Social Media and online Disney fandom in general is that, while Disney still controls the product they produce, the fans now own the brand.

This could not be any clearer than with D23. Billed as The Official Community for Disney Fans, D23 is Disney’s early attempt to harness some of that fan magic. Get the product in front of the fans and let them take it from there. I’ll save my views on D23 for another post some day. But let’s just say some action in this area is better than nothing.

So what does the future hold? We’re still in the youth of blogging, podcasting, social media, and other disintermediation as to what it means to be part of Disney culture. We’re also just a few short years from Augumented Reality having a large impact on our daily lives including leisure travel. The seeds of augmented reality can be seen right now withYelp’s iPhone app, FourSquare, some other iPhone apps. Disney parks are experimenting with it using RFID technology and, if the sudden proliferation of Disney parks themed iPhone apps is any indication, fan use won’t be far behind.

What else would I like to see? Closer cooperation between the Walt Disney Company and its fans. Right now so much of the relationship work is handed off to third parties or has to pass through so many layers of legal dancing that many great projects never get off the ground. There is still very much a parent child relationship between Disney and its fans, as if we’re not mature enough to handle the truth. For instance, don’t tell us you’re not building a DVC hotel when we can see the thing reaching skyward right from the monorail. It’s better to cultivate the mutual interest in the success of the product.

I would also like to see closer cooperation between Disney websites. I know the economy has played havoc with our yearly MouseFest reunion, but I hope it comes back. There should also be more online connections made and synergy found between us.

It’s about time to wrap this up. Obviously this was not the unquestionable and complete account of Disney fandom online. But I think it’s a good look across the breadth of it. Five plus years and 5,000 posts covers a lot of change and that’s the one thing I promise you we’ll see more of when it comes to Disney. Just look at the Marvel acquisition. I haven’t even begun to think about how we’ll integrate with the online Marvel fan community.

Most important, thank you for being part of The Disney Blog. Thanks for reading my look at the State of the Disney Blogosphere. I hope you’ll still look here for your dose of Disney news and information 5,000 posts from now.

If you’re a Disney fan, and I hope you are if you’re reading this blog, stop what you’re doing right now and set aside the next 50 minutes to flashback to the very first moments of Disneyland with Walt Disney pacing off the site and proceed through the year via timelapse video until the park is ready for opening day. This never-before-seen footage was sitting on a shelf all these years and only saved by a curious employee.

It starts off with some never before seen footage of Walt, Marvin Davis, Dick Irvine, and Roy Disney (seldom seen in photos) on the site. You really get to see how Walt already had the park in his mind and everything else was just details. Commentary is by Tony Baxter, Ed Hobleman, and Walter Magnuson.

Building Walt’s Dream – Playlist

I don’t know about you, but I’m in Disneyland heaven right now. So beautiful to watch.

Update: Apparently this footage is from a DVD released in 2007. I’d never seen it.

Look up news anchor in the dictionary and there’s a photo of Walter Cronkite. He died today at the age of 92. Known as the most trusted man in America Walter Cronkite guided the country through many difficult times. But he also had a lighter side that he showed in his friendship with Walt Disney and later as narrator in a few Disney attractions at Walt Disney World.

He was the narrator of Spaceship Earth from 1986 to 1994. He also appeared and narrated “Back To Neverland” a film about animation featuring the talents of Robin Williams and Disney’s Animators that was shown in Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World.

As a tribute to Uncle Walter here’s a quick clip from that film.

“And That’s The Way It Is”

Just stumbled across a clip of Walt Disney explaining the Multiplane Camera system.

Two things strike me about this clip. First, Walt Disney Animation is completely different these days, (Okay, 1st that Mickey was way off model wasn’t he?) and yet still very much the same. The magic of the multiplane camera was all about mathematical computations to determine the precise speed and direction of each plane and the camera. These days it’s all done in a computer, but the math is still an important part. One part art, one part science.

Second, not that anyone can ever replace Walt, but that doesn’t mean the public’s desire to see how things work has changed. Where is the person at the Walt Disney Company charged with highlighting the company’s technological and entertainment advances? I’d tune in to watch the modern equivilant of this clip, perhaps explaining the Walt Disney Animation Studios return to hand-drawn animation, wouldn’t you?

Update: video of President Obama as he records his lines for the show.

“I [name] do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States”

Click to view larger image. Photo courtesy Kevin Yee

When it came time to add one more Audio-Animatronic figure to the famous Hall Of Presidents attraction at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, the Imagineers could have chosen the easy path and just added one more AA figure with a new speech. Instead they spotted a weakness in the attraction with how it duplicated much of the same American history as the much more involved American Adventure attraction at EPCOT Center and then somewhat abruptly switched tracks to a Presidential roll-call.

So they set to work to refocus the attraction on the story of what it means to be an American President. Along the way they’ve changed the attraction’s message, given more time to the Audio-Animatronic Presidential figures, plussed the exterior with a marquee, and spruced up the lobby area as well. As I said in my previous post, the overall change is certainly a good one.

The lobby looks largely the same, but the addition of a new display case that features dresses, and more, from some of America’s First Ladies adds balance to the attraction. They had to ditch a couple Presidential portraits for that. But if they rotate the portraits like they plan to rotate the dresses, all should be good.

Inside the theater very little has changed. The show opens with the familiar ‘We The People’ silhouettes, and the group recitation of the Constitution’s pre-amble, but there is very little visual connection there. It seems like guests are expected to remember the symbology from the previous show?

Once the show gets going and the sonorous voice of Morgan Freeman kicks in as narrator, you know you’re in for a treat. We still get our American history lesson, but now it ties in much closer to the story behind the American Presidency starting with George Washington

Pay attention to the Presidents Disney selected to highlight in the script and you’ll see a trend. All the Presidents were very popular, either as they were elected, or grew in popularity during the course of their term.

The theme of populist politics is the thread that holds the Presidential tapestry together. It’s summed up in the frequently repeated line “One of Us” meaning that the President comes from the people and not at the tip of a sword or via a hereditary line, unlike any other nation on Earth at the time.

This switch to populism is the biggest shift of the attraction. Previously the political message was decidedly neutral. Neither left nor right. Populism is neither left nor right as well, but it can lead to fascism if not kept in check. So I’m personally left feeling just a bit uneasy by it. There is much more to the Presidency than them being potentially ‘one of us’.

The planning for this new attraction began long before the November election results were in. So were Disney’s Imagineers just lucky or are they savvy readers of politics and able to detect the popular groundswell that swept Barack Obama into office? I hope to ask them more about that this Friday.

(Aside: That’s a lot of political talk for The Disney Blog, I know. Please don’t read anything about my personal politics into it. I’m not sure Disney wants you to either, so come see for yourself and make up your own mind.)

There’s a great little bit of staging during the Civil War section. We knew that the Abraham Lincoln figure would give the Gettysburg Address, but I didn’t know that he would appear alone on the stage while doing so. A crafty bit of curtain design hides the other AA figures during this portion of the show and then the audience is returned to the screen portion of the attraction.

It’s a great break from what is basically a slide show, albeit a very well produced slide show, up to that point. The address doesn’t go over the top nor slow the show down. The Lincoln figure’s movements range from grand to intimate, the best AA performance I’ve ever seen, so far. I also want to ask the show producers if this is a little nod to Walt Disney, who was known for his ability to recite the Gettysburg Address in grade school.

From the Civil War we jump from national crisis to national tragedy. Very little time is spent celebrating what makes America strong, but then America’s Presidents are not remembered for the peaceful times, they’re cemented in our memories for how they deal with the difficult times we find ourselves in. It’s nice that Disney did not skip over these patches, but by the time we get to the real stars of the show, the AA figures, we’re definitely ready.

My chief complaint with the attraction is the distance the audience is set from the stage. Short of reconfiguring the raked seating (an expensive proposition) there hasn’t really been a way to resolve that. However, the new show only uses three of the five screens in the auditorium. Could the two end screens be used to show closer view of which ever audio-animatronic is performing? Yes, the flaws of the figures will be more apparent. But so will the technical wizardry of the performance.

Speaking of technical wizardry, I am really impressed with the way the George Washington and Barack Obama figures interact. At that moment it feels like two actors up on the stage. These are two more very impressive Audio-Animatronic figures. President Washington’s words provide a wonderful message that drives home the importance of the role of President. They also ties naturally into the quote I started this article with, the oath of office.

Barack Obama recites the oath and then is announced as President by the narrator. This moment received applause at all three shows I attended. It does feel a little bit like you’re there on the frozen tarmac of the Washington Mall waiting for the inauguration speech. A very nicely captured moment.

I’m a little sad to say that President Obama’s speech is not memorable. But perhaps that’s as it should be. The institution of the Presidency is showcased here, not one individual president. The much anticipated Robobama lives up to all its hype, even with the unfortunately prominent ears. Clearly a new level in audio-animatronic wizardry.

The show then hurries to a patriotic conclusion, and I do mean hurries. With the show running at almost exactly 20 minutes I would have liked to see a bit more care taken with this moment. Another 15-20 seconds to let it all sink in would be appreciated.

While the Hall of Presidents usually gets hardly a glance from the average theme park guest, they really do themselves a dis-service to walk by without experiencing this uniquely American story. Walt Disney’s Imagineers have done a spectacular job updating this attraction and it will continue to be a frequent stop on my families visits. I hope it is for yours as well.