Disney magic in Marceline

Most people have never heard of Marceline, Missouri. It's just a tiny farm town smack dab in the middle of the state, with little more than a Dollar General store. But this little map dot has one big thing to brag about: it is Walt Disney's hometown.
Walt once said that the happiest time of his life was spent in Marceline. Although he only spent five years there, he never forgot a moment of it. If you look hard enough, you'll see little bits of Marceline in many of Walt's films and other projects. He often looked for inspiration in his childhood memories, and gathered even more on his return visits later in life.
The first time I read about Marceline, I was intrigued. The way it was described, Walt's hometown didn't sound much different from my own. What could be so wonderful about it that made such an impact on Walt? Just two days ago, I found myself walking right in Walt's footsteps, on the very ground where his imagination began to bloom. I can't begin to explain to you how it felt. In researching the town before my trip, I found a lot of other Disney enthusiasts saying that after visiting Marceline, they felt closer to Walt than ever before. Now, I do too.

The Disney family home in Marceline. This is the house where Walt lived from the age of 5 to 10. He and his little sister Ruth once drew pictures on the side of the house with tar. Their father, Elias, wasn't thrilled.

I felt like I knew the place the moment we entered the town limits. On our way into town we passed this beautiful red farmhouse on the right, and I knew instantly that it was Walt's. The family that owns the house now, also runs the town museum dedicated to Walt and the Disney family. Inez, whose daughter lives in the house now, was our tour guide in the museum. She and her family hosted Walt when he returned to Marceline for the first time in the 1950s. It was so amazing to talk to her. She told story after story about what a wonderful person Walt was. She even had my mom and I in tears at one point.

The Walt Disney Hometown Museum is still a work in progress, but there are some wonderful stories and artifacts from the Disney family. Most of the exhibits were donated by Walt's sister, Ruth. She saved everything from letters, to report cards, to orginal Mickey Mouse dolls, and even the television Walt sent her so that she could watch the opening of Disneyland. The most interesting things to me, were the original drawings for the "Marceline Project." Walt wanted to build another (small) amusement park in his hometown. Sadly, he died before the project could get off the ground, but I think the town still holds onto the hope that one day his dream will be realized. I'm certainly with them on that!

Exhibits in the museum also highlighted the partnership of Walt and his brother Roy. These two really were peas in a pod. Neither one could have been successful without the other.

We ate lunch on Main Street, USA... the orginal Main Street, that is. Walt wanted his theme parks to have an all-American Main Street, just like the little town he grew up in. Many of the buildings in Disneyland and Disney World were inspired by real buildings in Marceline (like the Uptown Theater, where Walt watched movies as a boy). My favorite feature is the street clock. It always catches my eye in the park, and it was the first thing I noticed on Marceline's Main Street.

Our final stop was my favorite: Walt's Dreaming Tree and the Disney family barn. These were two of Walt's most favorite places. The Dreaming Tree is where he spent hours drawing and daydreaming under its shade. Even when he was older, he always made time to sit under it when he came back to Marceline. It continued to inspire him all those years later. I took a few moments to sit under it myself. Although the tree is diseased and dying (it was also struck by lightning), it was a truly beautiful and peaceful spot. In those short moments, I was inspired.

 

Although the tree is dying, Walt's grandchildren didn't want the story to die with it. Brad Lund (Walt's grandson) planted a new tree (a sapling from the original Dreaming Tree) next to the old one, allowing the storying to live on for future generations.

Just down the path from the Dreaming Tree is the Disney family barn. Walt called this his "Happy Place." He loved the barn so much that he recreated it at his home in California. As a boy he once organized a circus of farm animals in the barn and charged the neighborhood kids a nickel each to see it. After his mother, Flora, had discovered what he'd done, she made him return every cent.

The original barn rotted down, but volunteers rebuilt it for visitors to enjoy. When you visit, you can leave a message for Walt on the walls. I read many of the notes and smiled. There are more Disney lovers like me than I realized.

Of course, I had to leave one too. There was so much I wanted to say, but I decided to keep it simple.

My experience in Marceline was absolutely wonderful. It was easy for me to see why Walt loved it so much. It's not that it was really that much different than any other small town, even my own, but the people of Marceline have something that so much of the rest of the world lacks: the magic of kindness. That's really the spirit of Disney, and it is everywhere in Marceline. The people there love and respect Walt so much that they go to great lengths to keep his story alive here. And they have succeeded. I've always thought that Walt's presence would always be strongest in Disneyland or Disney World, but I was wrong. Walt is in Marceline, and so is his magic.