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.

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.

There are few of my favorite childhood movies that hold as special a place as BedKnobs And Broomsticks. Although it was produced after Walt Disney’s death, it continued the Mary Poppins tradition of combining live action with animation, brought on wonderful actors like Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson, and was chockful of musical tunes to boot. What more could a budding Disney fan want?

How about the new Enchanted Musical Edition DVD? It’s restored and remastered and ready to occupy that empty spot on your shelf.

We have the Sherman Brothers to thank for the songs for the film, including The Age of Not Believing, Portobello Road, and The Beautiful Briny Sea. If that strikes your memory bone, then you’ll want to make sure you watch the best special feature — Music Magic: The Sherman Brothers. Inside Angela Lansbury narrates the history of the development of the songs and you’ll enjoy a rare listen at a song never before heard.

Also knew is the “Wizard of Special Effects” feature that walks viewers through the special effects of the movie and compares them with Disney’s current wizard TV show, The Wizards of Waverly Place.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a must have for any Disney fan. The Enchanted Musical Edition DVD captures the family entertainment value you expect from the team at Walt Disney Pictures.

More details of the DVD below the jump:

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Yesterday evening, I had the pleasure of attending the World Premiere of the groundbreaking documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty (IMDb page) at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The film chronicles the revival of Walt Disney Animation beginning in 1984 and the start of the decade-long Disney Renaissance.

Without rambling on, Waking Sleeping Beauty is a top-notch, honest, captivating documentary. There was enthusiastic audience applause as the end credits rolled.  Every fan of Disney animation has to see this film, even if they already know the backstory. Actually, it will be best enjoyed by those who know the history of what transpired during those crucial years for Disney and the animation industry as a whole.

There’s a wealth of never-before and rarely-seen footage, from home video to old interviews with the major players, like Roy E. Disney, Michael Eisner and Jeffery Katzenberg, each of who participated in the making of the film.  That and the many hilarious satirical caricatures drawn of them by the artists at the studio. The film relies entirely on archival material, with voice-overs, to convey the story. And never has a filmmaker had such behind-the-scenes access to the topic ―the filmmakers here are a large part of the story.

Director Don Hahn (who produced Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King) and producer Peter Schneider were in attendance (they opened the screening and did a Q&A with the audience) and I had a chance to talk briefly with them afterwards.

On my way out, I met and chatted with animator Mark Walton, famous as the voice of Rhino in Bolt, who was there with his girlfriend. As it turns out he’s in Toronto working on the Miramax project Gnomeo and Juliet (IMDb page).

Waking Sleeping Beauty will get a limited theatrical run in April through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and will be shown to interested groups, according to Hahn and Schneider. It deserves a high-quality release on DVD and Blu-ray for sure, hopefully with extras.

There’s a new trailer out for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ next release – The Princess And The Frog. There are some new scenes included (new to me at least) and it’s clear to see why early buzz is that Disney has recaptured the magic of hand drawn feature animation that was created by Walt and practiced so wonderfully by his crew.

Although the above trailer is not on it for some reason, there’s also an official youtube channel for the movie. But it is on Facebook. So, if Facebook is your think, go become a fan of the movie over there.

The film opens nationwide on Dec. 11, 2009.

People sometimes ask me why Disney stopped producing video podcasts. I wondered about that too, but it looks like the video production never really ended. They just don’t call it a ‘podcast’ anymore. Now you can just subscribe to a couple YouTube channels and you’ll have quite a bit of new content from The Walt Disney Company coming all the time. The only problem with Youtube is it’s not really suited for longform video, but perhaps Disney Parks and Disney Living will get a Hulu channel of their own soon to solve that.

The latest to hit is a new ‘promotional’ video from Walt Disney Imagineering. The video masterfully edits in a bunch of stuff you’ve probably seen before but also tosses in a few new exciting items from the folks at WDI. This would work as a great recruiting piece… if only WDI was hiring.

I love how they snuck Joe Rhode in there at the end. That’s what an Imagineer should look like if you ask me.

Here are a few links from around the web that I’ve been meaning to write longer stories about, but just ran out of time.

Walt Disney’s original movie muse Virginia Davis passed away this week at age 90. The Alice series featured Davis interacting with cartoon characters. She became a Disney Legend in 1998. CartoonBrew and The Kansas City Star have remembrances.

The NY Times reviews Hayao Miyazaki’s PONYO, with voice over and distribution in the US added by The Walt Disney Studios. Are you planning to see it? The film did well with limited exposure last weekend.

I also wanted to catch “The Time Traveler’s Wife” at the cineplex this weekend, but life got in the way. Someone at Disney obviously liked what they saw because now ABC is turning the book into a TV series. I really liked the book, but it’s very dark and quirky and Disney didn’t do very well with Pushing Daisies. What do you think?

DISunplugged has a few photos from inside the newly opened Kouzzina, the new restaurant from Iron Chef Cat Kora at the Boardwalk Resort. Scott Joseph, Orlando’s food watcher, has copies of the menus. Go ahead and try some Greek inspired food.

A new study says frequent vacations are key to a long life. Those who take the time to wind down and catch up on sleep live longer. I think I see a new resort idea for Disney here — Sleepy’s Inn’.

One more detail from this weekends visit to the parks. Air Conditioning was a major issue. Most stores, some restaurants, and some bathrooms had little or no A/C. Two locations I visited were practically saunas. It’s unsure if this is a new energy-conservation effort or just a string of broken A/C’s due to cut maintenance hours. Most locations tried to adjust by closing some of their doors, but they might as well have had giant holes in their ceiling. Environmentally speaking, the right thing to do is have your doors closed when running the A/C. But will guests still wander through the stores? That said, there’s no excuse for a restroom that’s hotter inside than it is out or a restaurant where the cast members are walking around waving plates to cool themselves.

The Secret Tour of Disneyland is a fan produced tour of Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom that’s chock full of fun, facts, and trivia about the park. The DVD production and script approaches Travel Channel quality and the host Lauren Delmont could some day give Samantha Brown a run for her money. By far the best quality fan DVD I’ve seen so far.

I know that if ‘Secret Tour’ had been around when I was a kid, I would have worn a rut in it watching it over and over again. But this DVD couldn’t have been around when I was a kid, because it is a mostly up to date tour of the park (there are a few bits that have changed since it was released in 2008). The research on this DVD was obviously done with love and many many visits to the park.

The ‘Secret Tour’ is appropriate for all levels of Disneyland fandom. My 6-year old son enjoyed learning about the park and its history, while myself (someone who knows every on-stage nook and cranny and some backstage areas) even learned a thing or two. It’s also sprinkled with useful tips you can use on your next visit to Anaheim.

The only general complaint in my house was the length. But I really see that as a strength. The two and a half hour tour really allows them to cover a lot of territory. Since it’s a DVD, just hit pause if you need to take a break.

Finally, here’s the trailer they created for the DVD.

Buy it now on LaughingPlace.com’s store and save 15%.