Happy 111th Birthday to Walt Disney! Thank you for everything you’ve given us

Thanks, to Deb at Focused on the Magic for hosting our weekly blog hop and coming up with the great theme’s each week! Don’t forget to hop on through to visit the rest of this week’s shots of the birthday boy and if you have one to share, don’t be shy – link on up!

It’s been a week and a half since our trip to Marceline but the sights I saw and the people I met are still very fresh in my mind and will certainly remain so for a long time to come.

It was quite an experience to visit the town where Walt spent some of his childhood years and I think even now, more than a 100 years later, the town has that special quality that was such an influence and inspiration to Walt in his later years. A big part of that specialness is the current residents. Every single person we met was so welcoming and really made us feel like a part of the Marceline family. Kaye Malins, the director of the Walt Disney Hometown Museum and her team of volunteers did a fabulous job making sure that we were all well taken care of and that we had a great time. If you ever find yourself in Missouri, I highly recommend making a stop in Marceline – you won’t be disappointed!

Of course the day wouldn’t have been possible without the work of the awesome D23 team. That team, along with several folks from the Walt Disney Archives made sure the day went smoothly from start to finish. The great thing about the team is that you can tell they are all big Disney fans themselves. They enjoy experiencing all these things just as much as we do, which I think is one of the reasons why the D23 events I’ve attended are always very special.

Another great thing about this event, and really ANY D23 event is just the opportunity to connect with other Disney fans. Other than Colorado Dad, I don’t have any other close friends that share my Disney obsession, so having events like these where I can meet other Disney fans in person is great. In Marceline, we were able to reconnect with some friends we’ve met before and we met several new people that I’m sure we’ll keep in touch with going forward.

I’m often asked if I feel like being a D23 member is worth the price. I’m a gold member, so also receive the magazine, which I love and look forward to every quarter, but the real value I get is from the events. It’s true that many of the events are in California, so we don’t get to attend many of them, but I’ve been able to attend at least 2 events per year and every one of them has been an awesome experience. For us, being D23 members is definitely worth it and we are looking forward to attending more events in the future.

Make sure to check out D23′s recap of the Journey to Marceline for lots of additional pictures showcasing more of the amazing town of Marceline! And don’t forget to read Part 1 and Part 2 of my trip report if you’ve missed them

In part 1 of my trip report, I covered the first half of the day, including our warm welcome by the students of Marceline, our trip to the Walt Disney Hometown Museum and more.

After our yummy lunch, we had the opportunity to visit Marceline’s elementary school, aptly named Walt Disney Elementary. The school was built in 1960 and as part of it’s opening, Walt commissioned Disney artist (and Disney Legend) Bob Moore to create some original artwork that is still hanging in the school today. Walking into the school, you immediately know this is a special place.

The artwork extends into the gymnasium and covers all four walls with images from Goofy to Donald to Alice.

The school’s motto is “Where the magic of learning begins” which is perfect for a place with a very special past.

After visiting the school, we had a little bit of time to walk around Main St. Walt’s memories of the town and particularly it’s Main St., gave him inspiration when he was building his own Main St. at Disneyland and you can definitely see some similarities, and some familiar stores.

There were several shops selling antiques, jewelry and lots of Disney memorabilia. We had a great time browsing in the stores and talking to all of the Marceline folks. They were so welcoming and excited for us to be there. Almost everyone we spoke with had some personal story about meeting Walt on one of his trips back to town and it quickly became clear to us that Walt had a huge impact on this small community.

After our stroll along Main St., we headed to the Uptown Theater, where we were going to be treated to a screening of “So Dear To My Heart”, a movie that was influenced by Walt’s childhood years in Marceline. The theater has been used twice for Disney movie premieres and Walt visited in 1956 for the “Great Locomotive Chase” premiere. Before the movie started, we saw a skit done by “Walt” and “Ruth”, two Marceline children who spent the day as two of our hosts and were so sweet. Dave Smith, founder and Chief Archivist Emeritus of the Disney Archives, shared a few memories from his first visit to Marceline in 1971 and then we settled in to watch the movie.

The movie was cute – I hadn’t seen it for many, many years and was a nice afternoon break.

From there, we boarded the buses and headed out to the site of Walt’s childhood home. The house itself is privately owned and is not open for tours at this point, but close to the house is Walt’s “Dreaming Tree” – a favorite hangout for both Walt and Ruth and a spot that inspired Walt’s drawing and storytelling. “Walt” and “Ruth” introduced us to the Dreaming Tree and then another Marceline resident, Chris Ankeney, whose family has been in the area for 4 generations, shared some of her family’s memories of the Disney’s time in Marceline.

A short distance past the tree, Walt’s barn, where he first dabbled in entertainment by putting on a “circus” for his friends, has been restored. The barn has turned into a memorial of sorts, where Disney fans from all over the world have visited and left messages for Walt on the walls and beams.

Each one of us was encouraged to leave our own message or signature in the barn and we all did so while enjoying a glass of Missouri wine while watching the sunset. What a gorgeous area this was, and I could certainly see how the area must have been very inspiring for Walt. It was a great experience and a wonderful end to the day…although we weren’t done yet!

Our evening finally ended with a trip back to the center of town, where we were treated to a farewell dinner, Missouri-style. All the food was delicious and included roast beef, turkey, carrots, green beans and mashed potatoes. Dessert included peach cobbler and a chocolate pie, which I was told was an “icebox” pie. During dessert, a group of singers seranaded us with a song about Marceline that was sung during the opening of EPCOT. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day!

Reluctantly, we said goodbye to our new friends from Marceline and boarded the buses for our trip back to Kansas City. The ride back was quiet and uneventful as everyone relaxed and, I’m sure, thought back over the amazing day spent in Marceline!

My final thoughts on the event are coming up in Part 3.

This past week, Colorado Dad and I got the opportunity to journey to the fine state of Missouri for D23′s Journey to Marceline tour, where we got to visit Walt Disney’s childhood hometown of Marceline, MO. I’m working on a trip report of that amazing day, but for now, I thought I would share a bit of Walt Disney history since it’s Flashback Friday.

By the early 1920s, Walt was living in Kansas City and had opened up a small animation studio called Laugh-O-Gram Studios, where he and a few animation pioneers like Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harman and Friz Freleng were working on cartoons like “Little Red Riding Hood” and the “Four Brothers of Bremen” along with the famous Alice shorts that combined live-action with animated cartoon sequences.

While the studio only lasted a few short years, it was the start of greatness for Walt Disney and was, according to Walt, the place where he got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse when he was visited by a real-life mouse who lived in the floorboards of the studio.

Amazingly enough, the building that housed Laugh-O-Gram studios is still standing (after some restoration work was done by a group called “Thank You, Walt Disney”). Colorado Dad and I found out it was just a few blocks away from where we were staying in Kansas City, so made a stop to see it while we were there.

While the outside of the building has been restored, it sadly sits empty, with only some cartoon character drawings covering the windows to hint at it’s original purpose. You can read more about the restoration project at Thank You Walt Disney’s website and if you’re ever in Kansas City, stop by and see the building. It’s a great piece of history and something I think all Walt Disney fans will enjoy seeing.

While many of you may already know that Harper Goff used his childhood hometown of Ft. Collins, CO as inspiration for some of the building designs on Main Street in Disneyland, did you know that Colorado has another connection to Walt Disney and the Disney Company?

I didn’t either, until I had the pleasure of attending D23′s Destination D at Walt Disney World this year. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the opening of Walt Disney World, Destination D explored the history of “Project Florida” and how Walt Disney World was championed by Roy O. Disney after Walt’s passing.

My newfound trivia was discovered during a session by Walt Disney Archives founder, Dave Smith. As Dave walked through some of the early discussions about the park, he put this image up on the screen and it made me sit up a little straighter and take notice.

For anyone who grew up in Denver and the surrounding areas during the 70s and 80s (like me!) this was an instantly recognizable icon of awesomeness. This was Celebrity Sports Center. The indoor “theme park” in Denver where every little kid begged to have their birthday party. A mix of bowling alley, arcade and water park all rolled into one, it was one of my favorite places to visit when I was young. But, what did it have to do with Walt Disney World?

Turns out that Walt Disney was one of the original group of “Hollywood celebrity” investors who started the project in the late 1950s. This group not only included Walt and his brother Roy, but also famous folks like Jack Benny, Art Linkletter, George Burns and Burl Ives, hence the “Celebrity” part of the name. The project was very successful, and Roy continued to invest in the center even after Walt’s passing in 1966. According to Dave, it appears that Celebrity was even used as a training ground for some of the management team that eventually went to work at Walt Disney World during the early years.

The Disney connection to Celebrity Sports Center ended in the late 1970s as the company moved on to other projects but the center stayed open and remained quite popular through the 1980s. Unfortunately, it finally closed in 1994 and shortly thereafter was bulldozed to make way for a shopping center.

I have very, very fond memories of my visits to Celebrity Sports Center – from my first experience on a “scary” water slide to my killer streak at the Skee-Ball machine. Now knowing the history behind it, I guess it doesn’t surprise me at all that I loved it so much – it was my very own Colorado-based version of a Disney theme park!

During my research for this post, I came across a fabulous article about Celebrity and the Disney connection on BuckFifty.org, a site that’s chock full of interesting Denver history and trivia, that’s well worth a visit. Check it out when you have some time to spend!