The Walt Disney Family Museum opens very soon in the Presidio in San Francisco. Only here and there veering into uncharted terrain, and children will quickly pass by many sections that will fascinate their elders, there are more than enough thrills for everyone. Who needs Fantasyland, Caribbean pirates, when the story being told touches the experience of anyone who had contact with the 20th century.

The museum will leads you through 19,000 square feet of galleries in this new museum complex, a $110 million transformation of an Army barracks and two neighboring buildings, devoted to telling the story of Disney’s life and work.

“The motivation behind the museum did not seem to promise much more excitement. As the decades passed since Disney’s death in 1966, his daughter Diane Disney Miller discovered that fewer and fewer children had any idea that her father was more than a corporate logo.”

Jars of paint used in Disney cartoons. The museum also includes materials and a two-story-high “multiplane” animation camera that was used to create three-dimensional effects for “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia.” A 114-seat theater at the museum will host concerts and screen Disney films.

At first, the museum (Page & Turnbull are the architects) seems to be precisely what it promises to be: a family institution designed to undo anything negative and celebrate the man. But secondly the family attic on display is resisted, and as overseen by the founding executive director, Richard Benefield, the Disney Museum is far from being an air-brushed portrait.

Photos by: Noah Berger