Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives: Part 1

Recently I headed to Simi Valley for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library but not just to experience the life and presidency of Ronald Reagan but for their newest exhibit, Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives. This exhibit features truly treasures from the archives and was amazing to see. I enjoyed the way Disney laid out the exhibit into three sections, the first was the life of Walt Disney, the second was treasures from the Disney Parks and Disney films, the third was Disney and the Presidents.

As a Disney nerd I was mostly interested in the first section. I loved seeing these hidden treasures of the man himself, Walt Disney. There were so many awesome things to check out, some telegrams from Walt and Roy, the screenplay for Steamboat Willie, the Automa bird that inspired Audio-Animatronics (AA), the script from the opening day of Disneyland, the Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White books, and of course, Walt Disney's formal office. There were some other great pieces from Walt's lifetime like the 20-foot model Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the Mary Poppins costume and even an autographed Mary Poppins book by the author P.L. Travers with an inscription for Walt Disney! There were so many things to choose from, I felt like a kid in a candy store.

There were so many amazing treasures but I think my favorite was a telegram from Walt to Roy. This, I believe, is one of the most important pieces of Disney history, this is the telegram Walt sent Roy when they had lost their hit character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. It is simple to cover up to Roy the terrible news walt had just been given, it reads: "Leaving tonite stopping over KC arrive home Sunday morning seven thirty don't worry everything ok will give details when arrive." Personally, I rarely trust everything is alright when someone says "don't worry" and "will give details" together. Another great piece was the script from Walt Disney's introduction of Disneyland. It is very interesting to see Walt Disney's handwritten notes and how he changed the lines of the script to seem more natural.

These are just some of the amazing things to see at the Walt Disney Archives exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. This is the first part of my experience at the Walt Disney Archives exhibit and will post the  other two parts soon. Hope you enjoy and make sure to head out and see the exhibit yourself before April 2013 when the exhibit closes!