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Osky
04-30-2006, 10:25 AM
Got this from the latest Oakland Museum of California Newsletter:



Behind the Magic
50 Years of Disneyland

The artifacts presented in Behind the Magic are drawn primarily from Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney park attractions. These artifacts consist of sketches, notes, mockups, photos, models, and actual park elements. They range from original concept art introduced by Walt Disney to 1950's American television audiences to a Peter Pan ride vehicle to Mickey's Toowntown® mailbox.


Historic Disney photos, film, and video footage are blended together with original interpretive media created especially for the exhibit. Visitors see and hear the stories behind Disneyland's inspiration, creation, and evolution from Walt Disney and the Imagineers themselves.

Behind the Magic appeals to every generation by providing different frames of reference, whether it's 1950's Disneyland, or Disneyland with Toontown® and Indiana Jones™ Adventure - Temple of the Forbidden Eye.

Exhibit visitors can learn something new about all their Disneyland favorites, including The Haunted Mansion®, Pirates of the Caribbean®, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride®, Space Mountain®, it's a small world®, and much more. They can view up close Disney's first Audio-Animatronic® figure, Abraham Lincoln.

Don't miss Behind the Magic - 50 Years of Disneyland opening May 6, 2006.

Oakland Museum usually does a good job with their exhibits.

Osky
04-30-2006, 10:31 AM
Just noticed they have a website for the event:

http://www.behindthemagic.org/

(http://www.museumca.org/press/press_disney.html)

darph nader
04-30-2006, 10:55 AM
Sounds cool,I'd love to see it.Too bad,no vacation this year,just changed jobs.:crying:

Mark Mywords
04-30-2006, 10:56 AM
The Museum is also running an admission special for the exhibit's opening day.
Check out "Behind the Magic—50 Years of Disneyland at 1955 Prices" (http://www.museumca.org/cal-public/calendar.cgi?month=05)
(it's about half way down the page).

Osky
04-30-2006, 10:58 AM
The Museum is also running an admission special for the exhibit's opening day.
Check out "Behind the Magic—50 Years of Disneyland at 1955 Prices" (http://www.museumca.org/cal-public/calendar.cgi?month=05)
(it's about half way down the page).

It's a special admission on top of the museum's normal admission. So you still have to pay the museum admission, but then only get charged the nominal opening day price on top of that.

Opus1guy
04-30-2006, 11:19 AM
An FYI on this traveling exhibition that was posted here last September:

http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=48264

I think there was another thread somewhere as well.

Osky
04-30-2006, 11:21 AM
Wow. Somehow I missed those.

ralfrick
05-07-2006, 10:24 AM
I got on the freeway yesterday morning, and, locking the doors and cocking the pistols, headed into Oakland to see the "Behind the Magic" exhibit which opened that day at the Oakland Museum. With a special opening day price, I feared large crowds, but ease of parking on the street eased them considerably.

The exhibit consisted of mostly artwork and video, but there were other treats including some sculptures, a few models, aritifacts like signs and trash cans, and PP and Toad ride vehicles. For me the two highlights were the original Lincoln AA with visible inner workings, and the painting that was behind WD on the first DL TV show. They even had the wooden lid from the crate used to ship Lincoln to the WF in 1964. I do wish the painting had been displayed so it could be seen in ordinary and black light since it's painted with flourescent paint to show DL at night. They did display a large cobra from Indy in this fashion, so it can certainly be done.

The video footage was mostly from the DL TV show, especially opening day. Many monitors had a clip relevant to the adjacent display, but there were four interactive ones for each of the original lands with various clips from the TV show, films that inspired attractions and such. There was a large monitor above each for others to be able to see, but getting to these would have been a problem had it been more crowded. Some clips had current interviews with Marty Sklar and the like, and there was a really good one with Ward Kimball talking about (what else) Walt and trains. Although the first couple of monitors had speakers near the screen, most had a speaker and dome above on the ceiling, so look up to find the best place to hear. There was also some footage of the Epcot film, but I just saw it on DVD, so I didn't linger there too long.

The rides that were best represented were a section about Alice, Pirates, the HM, and Indy. The HM one had a "naked" raven AA and the stretching room paintings. There was a thorough area devoted to the 64 Fair as well. They had several versions of the CM traing materials that showed how they evolved over the years, and of course, merchandise is available for your retail enjoyment. Had they been selling DVDs of opening day, they could have even sold me something.

One of the first quotes on the wall was of Walt talking about bringing the stories of his films to DL, which is good example of why it drives me nuts when people complain about movie tie-ins. The displays also really drove home how fluid plans can be until something is actually built, a fact often ignored by some that read the various Disney rumour sites. There were several drawings of different ideas for accomplishing the rolling ball on Indy, none of which were actually used. One of the fun aspects of this exhibit was seeing how the final product veered away from early drawings, like the JC being in the southeast corner, or the train travelling counter-clockwise.

I debated with myself, but ultimately left the boy at home so I could linger, and spent just under 2 hours seeing everything. He would have liked it I'm sure, but being alone was more relaxing for me. The normal price will be $14 for adults as opposed to the $9 I paid, which is fair if you see the rest of the museum (which already has a stuffed Mickey and some MMClub ears on display). I didn't look around much since I recently chaparoned a school field trip there, but the Disney stuff is in three different galleries, and you have to go through other ones to get to them all, so may as well check it out. There are some excellent displays there.

http://www.museumca.org/
http://www.museumca.org/cal-public/calendar.cgi?month=05

Cheers.

Squeaky
05-07-2006, 10:32 AM
I was supposed to go yesterday :( I live in San Leandro (like 20 minutes from Oakland) but I'm really sick and can't go... wouldn't want to be sick on all the priceless art! lol I can't wait to go when I'm better!

leota's necklace
05-07-2006, 10:56 AM
Nice review...thanks!

Mark Mywords
05-07-2006, 11:13 AM
We went yesterday, also. It was awesome! The kids really liked it, too.

I'll try to put up some video from it later. There's not much, though (had to put it away, I missed the notice that no cameras were allowed :( )

ralfrick
05-07-2006, 01:39 PM
The phrase I heard was "there is absolutely no photography of any kind", so other than one shot of a Cheshire Cat prop, it's memory only for this one.

Cheers.

Wendi
05-07-2006, 01:55 PM
I want to go... too bad I couldn't make it for cheap day, but I work weekends. Thanks for the report, sounds like something I'd enjoy.

ktrm
06-11-2006, 09:11 PM
Ok I didn't exactly go to Disneyland today. I went to the "Behind the Magic 50 years of Disneyland" at the Oakland Museum. First of all, I would like to thank Mouseplanet for reviewing this exhibit. I literally live only 1-1/2 hours from Oakland and I would never have even known that this exhibit was there if not for Mouseplanet. If you are a Disneyland fan and can get to this exhibit before it closes on August 20th, I highly, highly recommend it. It was fantastic. The exhibit takes you through Disneyland from its originial conception through actual development and implementation. It has original drawings, sculptures, memorabilia, and film clips. It took me 2-1/2 hours to go through the whole exhibit and I feel I could go again and find things I missed.

The most fantastic thing I saw was the original Disneyland concept drawing from Herb Ryman. This drawing is huge and fantastically detailed. Pictures and reproductions of it definitely do not do it justice. Its hard to believe Herb drew it in one weekend. It looks amazingly like the Disneyland of today. I stood staring at it noticing little things that were different. The Jungle Cruise was on the opposite side of its existing location. The Opera House was also drawn on the opposite side. Herb Ryman is one of the most talented artist I have ever seen...honestly. All the artwork in the exhibit was just that...art. It takes on much more life than just concept drawings.

It was really fascinating for me to understand how Walt Disney came up with the concept of Disneyland. The exhibit really helps you understand all the things in Walts life that might have helped contribute to his idea.

Another cool thing was the exhibit had the original Great Moments with Lincoln robot that was displayed at the Worlds Fair. It helped me appreciate what it takes to make an animitronic person. The task of making the Haunted Mansion and Pirates must have been daunting.

Walt surrounded himself was some truly amazing and talented people in the making of Disneyland. This exhibit was a great tribute to all of them.

PBKokiri
06-12-2006, 08:06 AM
I only live 30 min from Oakland, and I didn't know this was there, either! Thanks for the heads-up! :)

ktrm
06-12-2006, 09:27 AM
The normal cost to get into the exhibit is $14.00. It is $8.00 to get into the museum itself and $6.00 to get into the Disney exhibit (this price includes the audio tour). On the second Sunday of every month, it is free to get into the museum so it only cost me $6.00 to see the Disney exhibit. I didn't plan this savings but was happy when I discovered I just happened to pick the free Sunday day. The museum is only open 12:00pm-5:00pm on Sunday,however, and I did not have time to see the rest of the museum because I did not arrive until 1:30pm. The rest of the museum seemed very nice though and I would not mind going back to see it. $6.00 is a great deal for this exhibit (its also worth $14.00) especially considering it was $24.00 when it was showing in Dearborn, Michigan. Oh and by the way, the cafe at the museum has awesome food that is very reasonably priced. I was pleasantly surprised. They even had a 3 piece band that played music while I ate. Very cool.

Andrew
06-12-2006, 09:54 AM
We went to that exhibit a few weeks ago (and ran into a MouseAdventure team!) and enjoyed it quite a bit. Highly recommended.

vmjess
06-12-2006, 01:39 PM
I am going to have to go this summer before it is gone. I live only 20 min away from Oakland.

I knew about it, but was not sure if it was worth it to go. I thought it might only make me want to go to Disneyland mor ethan I already do and my next trip is 6 months away!

ktrm
06-12-2006, 03:15 PM
I think this exhibit might enhance your trip to Disneyland. I think it gives you a better appreciation of all the work that went into the rides and attractions. For example, there is an exhibit about a vending machine called "Fortune Red". Its a pirate machine that gives fortunes or trickets of some kind. The exhibit talked all about the man who developed it and all the work he did. He even spent $50 on a real Spanish dubloon so the souvenior dubloons would look realistic. The exhibit mentioned that it is still somewhere in Disneyland. I am assuming it is in New Orleans Square. I am going to Disneyland in July and I am going to try to find it.

The only thing is that I am glad I did not bring my 4 and 6 year old kids to the museum. I don't think they could handle looking at only pictures and small scale models of rides. Besides I wanted to really study the pictures and I know they could not handle that.

stan4d_steph
06-15-2006, 06:06 AM
Frank Anzalone did a great photo tour and article on this exhibit recently. Here's a link to the MousePlanet article (http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=mm060509fa). :)

ghoofie
06-15-2006, 07:44 AM
We'll be seeing it in the next couple of weeks...maybe this weekend.

mad4mky
06-15-2006, 08:20 AM
We had planned to go next Saturday. Until I was asked to babysit my friend's new son.:)

We haven't picked another date...but this thread reminds me that August 20th will be coming soon if I don't get busy and get across the bay...:)

Andrew
06-21-2006, 11:58 AM
Jon Carroll on Oakland Museum's Disneyland exhibit (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/21/DDGS0INHEN1.DTL&feed=rss.jcarroll) -- SFGate (Opinion), 2006-06-21

There's a show at the Oakland Museum about the creation and refinement of Disneyland. It's a love letter to kindly Walt Disney, king of product placement and cross promotion, never mentioning his union-busting activities or other right-wing projects, and certainly skipping over the odd pervasiveness of shaking rodent butts in his cartoons, but it's still interesting if you can discount the hagiography.

Interesting to me, anyway. I was growing up in Southern California when Disneyland was being built, and I followed its progress avidly. I examined the schematics; I tried to envision the rides. (Particularly Tomorrowland, because I was a reader of science fiction and tomorrow was my destination. Tomorrow is all of our destinations; it just took wise little Asimoviacs like me to realize it.) I went within a month of its opening.

Andrew
06-21-2006, 12:01 PM
Jennifer and I went to this exhibit with Alex and Lani a few weeks ago and enjoyed it quite a bit. I give it a strong recommendation if you're in the area.

ktrm
06-21-2006, 01:31 PM
Hagiography....Call me a uninformed country bumpkin, but I had to look this one up. Hagiography 1: biograpahy of saints or venerated persons. 2: idealizing or idolizing biography.

Ok.....

Seriously, I saw this exhibit and it was not a hagiography of Walt Disney or an infomercial to go to Disneyland as someone else told me it was. I personally thought it was just as much about the people who worked for Walt Disney as it was about Walt himself. Walt was the visionary but it took more than a visionary to put Disneyland together. He worked with some incredibly talented people who all worked together to create Disneyland. Was it all one of Walt's evil right wing projects? Good grief, all I know is that it has brought smiles to millions and millions of childrens faces for 50 years.