The Disney Gallery is an attraction and merchandise location at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, United States. It opened at its current location on Main Street, U.S.A. on October 2, 2009. From 1987-2007 it was located in New Orleans Square above the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. The Gallery is a changing exhibition area focused primarily on artwork from Walt Disney Imagineering created in the designing of the Disneyland theme park. Merchandise relating to the current exhibition is usually available for purchase as well.
History
The Royal Suite
In the early 1960s, as construction of New Orleans Square was proceeding, Walt Disney decided he needed a bigger entertaining facility for various VIPs that came to the Park. He already had an apartment above the Fire Station on Main Street, U.S.A., but it was too small to host extensive events. Walt decided to place the suite in New Orleans Square, away from the hustle and bustle of the park.
Walt brought in set designer Dorothea Redmond, famous for the sets in Gone with the Wind, to help him with the apartment layout. To furnish and decorate the area, Walt left his wife Lilly and Walt Disney Studio set decorator Emile Kuri to collaborate, as they had on other projects (Club 33, the Firehouse Apartment, etc.). The project was christened The Royal Suite, after the street in New Orleans Square (Royal Street) the apartment's entrance is on.
Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966. As a consequence, many projects at Walt Disney Productions were either put on hold or abandoned. The Royal Suite was abandoned at the request of the surviving brother, Roy. He felt that the family could not really enjoy The Royal Suite with Walt gone. The Suite was fairly close to completion at the time of Walt's death, including infrastructure and plumbing.
New tenants
The Insurance Company of North America (INA) took over the location after the Disney apartment was abandoned. They retained Emile Kuri to decorate the space to approximate the look of the Disney apartment. INA renamed the apartment 21 Royal Street, after the apartment's numerical address. It served as a hospitality suite for INA employees and clients during their day at the park.
INA moved out of the suite in 1974 and Disneyland International moved in, using the space as executive offices. DLI helped plan Tokyo Disneyland with the Oriental Land Company. There was even a large scale model of the park placed in one of the rooms so the Japanese executives could physically see the layout of their new park.
The Gallery
DLI moved out in the mid-1980s when they outgrew their headquarters. The space was left with an uncertain future. At the same time, Imagineer Tony Baxter was put on a project to improve guest traffic around the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. The queue for Pirates would get so long at times that it would block the walkway into New Orleans Square and Bear Country.
Baxter finally decided on the current configuration, with the queue going underneath a themed footbridge, thereby freeing the walkway. He then set his sights on Walt's old Royal Suite, just above the queue. Baxter designed a pair of ornamental staircases that would hug the footbridge and create a unique frame for the building exterior. Baxter had thought that a beautiful place like Walt's suite was going to waste not being seen by park guests.
Baxter asked recently elected Walt Disney Company President and COO Frank Wells what the plans were for the upstairs area. Wells said that Club 33 was vying for the space in order to add more membership slots. Baxter came to Wells with an idea for an art gallery open to park guests. The Imagineers had always wanted a place to display their artwork for the theme parks, which went largely unseen by the public. The Disney Gallery was born.
The gallery is unique in all of Disneyland because it is the only location in the entire park that is listed as both an attraction and a merchandise location on the park's map. The cast members who work the location are from the Disneyland Merchandise division, but are specially trained to run the gallery as a museum. Cast Members are encouraged to give guests free tours of the gallery, informing visitors of the facility's rich history and the current exhibition.