Walt Disney's Woking Way House Tour #DisneyInHome #Maleficent #SleepingBeauty

Disclosure: I  attended the #VeryBadDayEvent #Disneyinhomeevent #maleficent #sleepingbeauty #halloweentime and #fireandrescue events and my expenses: flight, accommodations, transportation and some meals were be covered by Disney. All opinions, however, are always 100% mine.

My love of anything Disney was fostered at a very young age. I remember that at the age of 5 I saw my first Disney movie double feature: Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio. By the age of 6, I had been to Disneyland several times. I was fascinated, as were millions of others, with Disney and Disneyland. And, if you are of a certain age, you invited Walt Disney into your home every week through the The Wonderful World of Disney.

I loved Walt Disney. He was this brilliant genius that had created this magical land in Anaheim. For our family, it was a weekly ritual to sit in front of the TV and watch The Wonderful World of Disney. He was, and is, my hero because his imagination has brought me a lifetime of happiness when I visit the theme parks, watch the movies and experience anything Disney.

So imagine my excitement when we were told we were going to visit Walt Disney's home in Loz Feliz in honor of the upcoming release of SLEEPING BEAUTY on October 7th. Well, it is no longer his home but he built it in 1932 for his family and lived there until 1950! Now it is privately owned by Russian filmmaker, Timur Bekmambetov, who was so gracious to open up the doors to the home and allow us a peek inside. I loved everything on this trip but, most thrilling, was this little look into history.

Mr. Bekmambetov is the first owner of the residence to open up the house citing that the house should be treated as a museum.  The owners do not have the original furnishings but have been wonderful about keeping the house as intact as possible. The owners are limiting remodeling work and filling it with assorted memorabilia celebrating Disney’s life and work. This memorabilia includes original Disney Studios artwork and historic photos of Walt Disney at home and at work.

Walt Disney built the house for $50,000. The home has twelve-rooms and is built in the Tudor and French Normandy styles. There are four bedrooms, four and a half baths, a circular rotunda with painted ceilings, a formal double-story living room with vaulted beamed ceilings, rod iron spandrels, original stained leaded glass , Juliet balcony, a dining room, a screening room, a gym room with sleeping porch, a pool and pool house, and a badminton court.

From the street, you hardly notice the house and have to go up a steep driveway. Once up at the top, you are immediately met with a beautifully charming home with great views of downtown Los Angeles. We arrived at night so the view was amazing. We split into three groups. One toured the house first. We met Sarah Hyland from Modern Family and discussed her bonus content on the Diamond Edition of the Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray/DVD available October 3rd. And the group I was in met with Don Hahn, producer of Maleficent. I will have a post later on with his interview! So stay tuned.

After our interview, we were escorted to the screening room where we saw a little of the bonus content on the Diamond Edition of Sleeping Beauty. David Jessen, vice-president of content enhancement, and Sarah Hyland who spoke with us about filming "Once Upon A Parade" for the release of the Blu-ray/DVD. After meeting Sarah, we toured the house.

While not all the rooms were open, what we saw was amazing. The foyer is a circular rotunda with a grand staircase leading upstairs. There are many design elements recognizable in Sleeping Beauty. There were many beautiful stained glass windows with fantastic details. From the outside and inside, it looks like a fairytale cottage.

The living room had an amazing view of the backyard that featured a pool and the girls' playhouse. The dining room had incredible murals on the ceiling as did the foyer. Once up the stairs, we were allowed into one of the bedrooms where the Walt's daughters slept.

We also toured the playroom/exercise room. It was large and airy and also had amazing views of the city. The Disney folks surprised us by having the original costumes worn by Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning in the movie, Maleficent! It was great. The costumes were so beautiful and it was so cool to know they were worn by the stars.

I was surprised at how modest and cozy the home was. This was Walt Disney! Yet, the home was small and charming. What a thrill it was to be able to take the tour of the house. For someone like me who loves history and Walt Disney, it was definitely one of the highlights of this trip!

Sleeping Beauty Diamond Edition releases October 7, 2014
Maleficent Blu-ray releases November 4, 2014

All photos except those watermarked by me were provided by Disney!