When Walt oversaw the initial construction of Disneyland in the 1950’s, he wanted a place where he and his family could stay overnight in the park. So Imagineers built a small apartment over the Main Street USA fire house for the Disney family. Though quite small (about 500 square feet), the apartment was fully functional, with a kitchen, bathroom, and living/sleeping area. Walt’s Apartment also had special accommodations for his wife, Lillian, who used an adjacent private patio for afternoon tea and entertaining guests.
Here is a view of the apartment’s main living room:
And here is a photo of Walt enjoying the apartment with friends:
Walt’s Apartment is closed to the public, but it does offer one special nod to Walt, visible from Main Street USA. The central window above the firehouse has a glowing lamp, kept on to symbolize and honor Walt’s presence in the park. The lamp is only turned off when Walt’s daughters are in the park, out of respect.
So the next time you’re on Main Street USA, take a moment to stop in front of the fire house and remember the man behind the magic: Mr. Walt Disney.
As an employee of Carnation in Disneyland, our back entrance was adjacent to the alley below the Disney’s apartment. We were told that Walt had a cot that he slept on at night. Ha!
He saw a group of us take a joy ride in a workman’s motorize boat that the workman had told me it was ok to use after hours. We found out when we got back that Walt had seen us and as a result we got a chewing out from the head of Security. We had fun anyway.