Disney in Dearborn,Mich

[Kimmie5870]

I saw in the paper this morning where Disney has an exhibit in The Henry Fords Museum in Dearborn,Mich.Below is information from the article.

"Behind the Magic-50 Years of Disneyland"
Disney's magic is heading for the road
Disney and Florida? That works. Disney and California? A match. But Disney and Dearborn, Mich.?
That works, too, through Jan. 1, when the "Behind the Magic -- 50 Years of Disneyland" exhibit at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn closes and the exhibit begins a yearlong national tour. The exhibit is the first exhibition of Walt Disney TV Imagineering art and artifacts focusing on Disneyland, the original Disney theme park in Anaheim, Calif.


Two questions:
First, why is "Behind the Magic" debuting at The Henry Ford Museum? Answer: In 1940 and 1948, Disney visited Greenfield Village in Dearborn and picked up ideas for animated figures and other attractions for the park he'd open in 1955 in Anaheim.
Second question: What is there to see in "Behind the Magic"? Answer:
The Audio-Animatronics "human" figure of Abraham Lincoln developed for the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. Lincoln stood up from a chair and spoke in the Illinois Pavilion. It's been in storage since.

The park drawings used to convince ABC to invest money in the park. (In exchange, ABC got the long-running "Wonderful World of Disney" TV show.

Original vehicles from the monorail system, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Toontown Jolley Trolley and Peter Pan's Flight.

Mickey Mouse's bass drum used in the Electric Light Parade.

A coonskin cap and stagecoach from Frontierland.

TV footage from Disneyland's opening day.

Three-dimensional models used to develop the Jungle Cruise, Mickey Mouse's Toontown house and the Grand Canyon Diorama.

The 7,500-square-foot exhibit has 250 pieces of original Imagineering artwork, models, construction drawings and marketing materials.
henryford.org

 

[720L]

We saw it this weekend. Don't waste your money!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Can you elaborate on why not? We were seriously considering going up to Detroit for this.
Robin M.

 

[720L]

It is mainly drawings. The "original vehicles" didn't thrill me because we see them every time we go to Disney. There are a lot of little TV's showing footage of Walt Disney doing various things. Kind of interesting to watch, if you can get a good enough spot to see the little tv. (there were quite a few people there) The 3 dimensional models didn't interest me at all. The audio-animatronic Abraham Lincoln was very interesting to see (the only thing I liked), but that took maybe 3 minutes to look at. I guess if you enjoy looking at original drawings of cartoons, etc you would like this.

 

[rockin_rep]

Can you elaborate on why not? We were seriously considering going up to Detroit for this.
Robin M.

Hi Rock'n Robin! (love your screen name! )

Just wondered if you went and what you thought?

 

[Randomeve15]

*Confused*

 

[DiznEeyore]

Dh, ds and I went a week or so ago ... we loved it!! Granted, a lot of it was drawings, paperwork, etc., but there was some incredible history there! We went in the morning on a Friday so it wasn't crowded at all, and spent probably 30-40 minutes going through it.

My best friend and her mom went this past weekend and they liked it, too, but not as much as we did. They said they'd been expecting more memorabilia.

Anyway, we're members, so we only had to pay the member fee for the tour, and to us it was definitely worth it. The only bummer was you can't take pictures inside the exhibit.