Walt Disney Hometown Museum Presents 2023 Dreaming Tree Gala Event

Next month the Walt Disney Hometown Museum is hosting the 2023 Dreaming Tree Gala event! It’s time to go back to where this all started in Walt Disney’s hometown of Marceline, Missouri, and party like it’s 1923!

In 1923, Walt Disney signed a contract that effectively began what we know today as, The Walt Disney Company. For the past 100 years, audiences across the globe have been inspired by the movies, characters, and theme parks that the Disney brand holds. It’s hard to find someone who is unaware of the name Disney.

Thursday – September 14

1:00 PM & 2:30 PM-Walk Around Marceline: The Original Main Street USA Tour

This guided walking tour is complimentary to any guest with valid Dreaming Tree Gala Admission and will last approximately 1 hour. Tours will be available for guests coming into Marceline early on Thursday, September 14 and Friday, September 15; as well as Saturday, September 16. All walking tours will meet at the Walt Disney Hometown Museum Garden. Each guided tour will include a free Dusty Miller from the iconic Marceline restaurant Ma Vic’s Corner Cafe.

4:00 PM & 7:00 PM-Drink Around Marceline: The Original Main Street USA Tour

This guided walking tour is available to any guest with valid Dreaming Tree Gala Admission, plus an additional $25 upcharge, and will last approximately 2 hours. This tour will be the same as the standard walking tour, however, with some additional flair.

These tours will be available only for guests coming into Marceline early on Thursday, September 14, and Friday, September 15. This tour is only available for guests ages 21 and up. All walking tours will meet at the Walt Disney Hometown Museum Garden. Each guided tour will include four Marceline-inspired cocktails.

Friday – September 15

10:00 AM / 11:30 AM / 1:00 PM / 2:30 PM-Walk Around Marceline: The Original Main Street USA Tour

This guided walking tour is complimentary to any guest with valid Dreaming Tree Gala Admission and will last approximately 1 hour.

Tours will be available for guests coming into Marceline early on Thursday, September 14 and Friday, September 15; as well as Saturday, September 16. All walking tours will meet at the Walt Disney Hometown Museum Garden. Each guided tour will include a free Dusty Miller from the iconic Marceline restaurant Ma Vic’s Corner Cafe.

4:00 PM & 7:00 PM-Drink Around Marceline: The Original Main Street USA Tour

5:00 PM-Marcy Carriker Smothers (VIP Experience)

100 Disney Adventures of a Lifetime

Disney author and historian, Marcy Carriker Smothers, will be in Marceline to give a presentation on her newest book 100 Disney Adventures of a Lifetime. Marcy has also written Eat Like Walt and Walt’s Disneyland. After the presentation, a book signing will commence. Books will be available prior to the event in Walt Disney Hometown Museum.

VIP Experience Admission Required for This Event

Saturday – September 16

10:00 AM / 11:30 AM / 1:00 PM / 2:30 PM-Walk Around Marceline: The Original Main Street USA Tour

This guided walking tour is complimentary to any guest with valid Dreaming Tree Gala Admission and will last approximately 1 hour.

10:00 AM-Sandi Baldwin (VIP Experience)

A Journey Through Time: A Historical Presentation of Disneyland’s VIP Host and Hostess Costumes: 1955 – Present

Sandi Baldwin has been a Disneyland VIP Tour Guide since the 1960s. Married to Bob Baldwin, a Disney marketing executive, she also lived in Japan and France for the opening of Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. Currently, she gives tours of Walt’s Apartment and has curated two heritage walls at Disneyland about the history of the VIP Tour Guide Costumes.

VIP Experience Admission Required for This Event

11:30 AM-Tania McKnight Norris (VIP Experience)

Decorator to the Disneys

Tania McKnight Norris worked for WED Enterprises in the 1960s. Tania traveled with Walt Disney to New Orleans to find antique decorations for New Orleans Square and Club 33, to New York for the 1964-65 World’s Fair, and designed the famous purple wallpaper seen in the Haunted Mansion. She also became an interior decorator for the Disney family.

VIP Experience Admission Required for This Event

2:30 PM-The Women of Walt Disney Imagineering (VIP Experience)

Imagineers Peggie Fariss, Eli Erlandson, and Paula Dinkel will be sharing their personal experiences working for Walt Disney Imagineering. Their stories coincide with their collaborative book The Women of Disney Imagineering. A book signing will be available following the presentation and books will be available for purchase in the Walt Disney Hometown Museum Gift Shop.

VIP Experience Admission Required for This Event

5:00 PM-Disney Family Farm & Speakeasy Open

Guests can begin entering the Disney Family Farm, complete with full access to the Speakeasy. The Disney Farm will also have special storytellers at both the Dreaming Tree Site and the Disney Barn. All Guests, regardless of admission type, will have access to these features.

Parking will not be available at the Disney Family Farm until 5:00 PM. There will be barricades preventing parking prior to 5:00 PM.

6:30 PM-“Eat Like Walt” Dinner

Marcy Carriker Smothers will be back on hand to curate a special menu designed after Walt Disney’s favorite comfort foods. Marcy will be providing historical context for each course, along with some authentic audio recordings of Walt Disney, himself.

8:00 PM-Floyd Norman

Disney Legend Floyd Norman has a Disney story unlike anyone else. Having served as the first African-American animator at the Walt Disney Studios, he was chosen by Walt Disney to make the transition from animation to storyman. Floyd has one of the longest careers of any Disney employee, consulting on projects even to this day. Join him, as he recounts his stories of working alongside Walt to celebrate 100 Years of Disney.

9:00 PM-“A Kiss Goodnight” Fireworks

The first time Walt Disney saw fireworks was on his farm in Marceline; he called it the perfect Kiss Goodnight. Disney Legends Floyd Norman and Richard Sherman wrote a children’s book called “A Kiss Goodnight” that retold this story. We will end our evening with our own Kiss Goodnight Fireworks on the Disney Farm, the same place Walt first saw them.

All tickets to the Dreaming Tree Gala will include access to the Disney Family Farm, complete with a period-appropriate speakeasy, followed by an “Eat Like Walt” inspired dinner, our featured presentation and end the night with a “Kiss Goodnight Fireworks.” All tickets will also include valid museum admission and admission to a walking tour of Marceline.

If you’d like to get tickets for this gala you can do so here.

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