Wednesday with Walt: Walt’s Barn

I took a road trip to my nearest Disney Outlet Store (which is an hour away) last Friday to do some much needed shopping. I ran into another Walt Disney lover. We talked for a while about our favorite person and about all the things we love at Walt Disney World and, during that conversation, I found out something very interesting. Walt’s barn has been preserved for the public to visit. Maybe you already knew this, but I was thrilled to find out about it.

As we all know, Walt Disney really loved trains. You might remember my article that talked about the train he built at his home in Holmby Hills. It was 1950 and Walt built the Carolwood Pacific Railroad right in his backyard. He named it Carolwood after the street on which he lived, Carolwood Drive. He also had a barn built on the property of his home railroad where he monitored and remotely-controlled the switches on the track.

Walt’s barn also served as his workshop, as well as a place to entertain his friends with the soda machine of which he was so proud. Many of Walt’s best ideas came to mind while working in his barn, and the barn itself has been referred to by some as “the birthplace of Imagineering.”

When the Disney family’s Holmby Hills home was sold, the new owners discovered asbestos and so they planned to demolish the home and build a new one on the property. Thank goodness Diane Disney Miller realized the importance of her father’s barn and thus wanted to preserve it. She asked the new owner if she could have it and he agreed. So, she began the process of saving it before escrow would close by contacting Michael and Sharon Broggie, the founders of The Carolwood Pacific Historical Society. They began planning what they would do with the barn.

The Broggies hired a contractor to dismantle the barn and housed it in Griffith Park, which you might remember as the park Walt used to take his daughters to on “Daddy’s Day” and watch them on the carousel — thus sparking the idea of a place where parents and children could have fun together — Disneyland!

With the help of a large number of volunteers, the barn was reconstructed and about 80% of what stands today was part of the original barn. In addition, Bill Evans (who landscaped most of the original Disneyland as well as the Disney family’s Carolwood backyard) donated his expertise to landscape the area around the barn’s new home “to match its original location in Holmby Hills.”

The barn opened in Griffith Park on July 19, 1999. Diane Disney Miller dedicated the barn as a new place to learn more about her father. At the opening ceremony Diane said, “Our heart and heritage is here, in this place.”  It has been thoughtfully located in a beautifully-landscaped area of the park where one can enjoy the view of it while having lunch at one of the available picnic tables.

The barn is said to be small but full of many interesting items, nostalgic memories and wonderful stories. Items on display include an extensive collection of Disney and steam-train-related memorabilia including: Walt’s workbenches, hand-built by Walt Disney himself; the track switchboard Walt used to control the electronic track switches throughout the Carolwood railway;one of Walt’s porkpie-style hats; and an extensive display of memorabilia relating to the Disneyland Monorail, including a working 1960s-era monorail toy.

Walt’s Barn is open to visitors on the 3rd Sunday of each month between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. While visiting you can learn some interesting facts about Walt, the railroad and Disneyland. You can also purchase some unique merchandise.

I have added this park to my Disney bucket list and I hope you will too. If you have visited the barn I would love to hear about it, so please post your personal story here and thanks!

Related articles

• Stranded at Walt Disney World and Loving It (chipandco.com)
• Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom Coming to Walt Disney World (chipandco.com)

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