I was provided with a trip to learn about Saving Mr. Banks from Disney. All opinions are my own!
I hope by now all of you have seen Saving Mr. Banks. If you’ve seen Marry Poppins then this is a must watch movie since it gives the background story to how Mary Poppins was created. It’s a great movie from start to finish and will pull at your heartstrings from laughing to crying. It really shows the magic behind Mary Poppins.
During my trip to LA one of the things we got to do was visit the Disney Archives and their exhibit for Saving Mr. Banks. It was surreal being in the same building where Walt Disney’s office is and where he worked. Down the hall from his actual office was the exhibit for Saving Mr. Banks where they showed old products from when Mary Poppins came out. Also in the exhibit they talked about the making of Mary Poppins and showed sketches from the making of the movie.
In Saving Mr. Banks the items in the movie are replica’s of items Walt Disney had in his office. They remade EVERYTHING on his desk perfectly and arranged it to look just like Walt Disney’s original desk. I still can’t believe that they did all of that, but it’s very impressive.
After we finished exploring the exhibit we went on a walking tour of the Disney Lot with Jeffery Epstein, Marketing Manager for D23. D23 is the official Disney Fan Club, which I had no idea even existed. It was amazing to learn about the original Disney Animation building and lots. Each office has a window so that the animators would have good light and there is an underground tunnel connecting two of the buildings so they wouldn’t have to risk getting animations wet when moving them. It was totally surreal walking the same streets as Walt Disney, Tom Hanks, and Emma Thompson and those streets and buildings they were in during the movie are the same ones we went on during the tour.
If you’re a Disney fan you should check out D23! D23 members can get invited to special events and sneak peeks exhibits and other things as part of their membership!
Maralea
Monday 16th of June 2014
How exciting this must have been to visit the Disney archives!
Cynthia R
Thursday 27th of March 2014
That's so neat to see all the drawings, when I was little I used to want to be a Disney studio artist.
Karen K.
Thursday 27th of March 2014
I knew about D23, but I haven't seen Saving Mr. Banks yet. I know that Disney could sometimes be a ruthless businessman, so I'm curious to check out this other side of him! Thanks for the insiders' look at Disney. That will be a trip that you remember for the rest of your life!
jr frugalmom
Tuesday 25th of March 2014
What a great opportunity, I'd definitely have to look into that fan club.
June S.
Tuesday 25th of March 2014
(My Experience at the Disney Archives for Saving Mr. Banks!) Wow! This is really neat, after reading about the making of the movie Mary Poppins I was surprised that it ever made completion. From the sounds of it, it almost wasn't because of that lady that the story was based on.