Oakland Museum Behind the Magic Exhibit

[maconMouse]

I have an upcoming trip next month to Disneyland, and was wondering if anyone had visited the current "Behind the Magic - 50 Years at Disneyland" exhibit that is on display at the Oakland Museum of California.

http://www.museumca.org/exhibit/exhi_disney1.html

I was going to try to work this into the itinerary if others thought it was a great thing to see & do on the trip. Does anyone have any pictures or information on this exhibit? How hard is it to get to from the parks? Thanks so much for any information or help.

 

[ScrapIron]

I saw it opening weekend when there was a special price of around $7-8; the regular admission is $14, which includes acces to the rest of the museum, which focusses on Cal history. I spent about 2 hours with the DL exhibit, and thought it well done. There are some early park drawings, including the painting that hung behind Walt on the first DL TV show. That should have been in a room alternating between white and blacklight, since it's painted with flourescent paint to give a nighttime view of the park. A snake from Indy with this type of paint was displayed that way.

Other items of interest are a few models, and a Lincoln AA with the "works" visible. There are many video terminals with various clips, and a couple of ride vehicles for photo ops.

It's worth it if you like the historical and creative aspects of theme park creation, although kids may get bored if you spend the amount of time needed at each exhibit to really see what's there. The rest of the museum is interesting as well. If you only see the DL stuff, then $14 would be a little steep. No photos are allowed, although mouseplanet had a review, and I think some pics, from the press event.

To get there from the parks, you just get on the freeway and drive. With good traffic and by not adhering strictly to the speed limit you shoud be able to get there within in about 6 1/2 hours.

Cheers.