Museums, Galleries, and Disneyana

Beetle House is a restaurant and bar themed in honor of Tim Burton. Burton worked as an animator for Disney in the 1980s before moving on to his own feature films, including many for Disney and Fox including Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach (1996), and Alice In Wonderland (2010). Though the restaurant isn’t officially sanctioned by Burton or Disney, the decor and staff are dressed as references to his films and characters and the menu makes reference to these films including items like Edward’s Lemonade, Coco Skellington, and Giant Peach Salad. The restaurant also has a sister location in New York City. This location was featured in The Nightmare Before Christmas episode of the Disney+ series, Prop Culture. In the episode, host Dan Lanigan brought key members from the film’s production to the restaurant to review props and sets from the Tim Burton cult classic. Read more about the real-life locations featured on the show in our blog post: 7 Real-Life Locations From The Disney+ Series Prop Culture. Address: 1714 N Las Palmas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028 Visitor Information: Beetle House LA

Beetle House is a restaurant and bar themed in honor of Tim Burton. Burton worked as an animator for Disney in the 1980s before moving on to his own feature films, including many for Disney and Fox including Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach (1996), and Alice In Wonderland (2010). Though the restaurant isn’t officially sanctioned by Burton or Disney, the decor and staff are dressed as references to his films and characters and the menu makes reference to these films including items like Edward’s Lemonade, Coco Skellington, and Giant Peach Salad. The restaurant also has a sister location in Los Angeles where a scene from the Disney+ series, Prop Culture was filmed. Address: 308 E 6th St, New York, NY 10003 Visitor Information: Beetle House NYC

The Birthplace of Kermit The Frog Museum is a museum in Jim Henson’s boyhood town of Leland, Mississippi, just down the street from the Rainbow Connection Bridge. Henson was the mastermind behind The Muppets franchise (now owned by The Walt Disney Company) as well as Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, and, of course, Muppet*Vision 3D. The permanent exhibition opened in August, 1991 and is presented by the city in cooperation with the Jim Henson Legacy and with the support of The Jim Henson Family. The museum is located over Deer Creek, where Jim would play while living in the area during his formative years, from 1936 to 1948. The exhibition is named after his most famous creation but is devoted to all aspects of Henson’s career, featuring family photographs lining the walls, an original Kermit on display, puppets and props from The Song of the Cloud Forest, and an impressive display of vintage Muppet merchandise. The building also serves as Leland’s tourist welcome center and host of the annual FrogFest each Fall. The museum is free to visit, with a $1 suggested donation. Address: 415 S Deer Creek Dr E, Leland, MS 38756 Visitor Information: Jim Henson’s Delta Boyhood Exhibit

Cars on the Route is an old gas station, converted into a cafe and gift shop, just off of historic Route 66 in Galena, Kansas. A 1951 International Company boom truck, affectionately named “Tow Tater”, sits outside the cafe and serves as the inspiration for the look of the character of Mater in Pixar’s Cars franchise. As the story goes, Cars screenwriter Joe Ranft became inspired by the rusty old truck he saw in a junkyard near Galena when the Pixar team was there in 2001 on a research trip for the film. The cafe’s owner happened to purchase the truck afterward and upon finding out about the Mater-connection, moved the truck next to the building, where it lives today. Address: 119 N Main St, Galena, KS 66739 Visitor Information: Facebook: Cars on the Route

Atlanta’s Center For Puppetry Arts is the United States’ largest non-profit organization dedicated to the art of puppetry. Inside the building lives a museum, research library, and theater which screens films and performs fully-staged puppet shows. The museum houses a massive collection of puppet artifacts including items from The Lion King on Broadway as well as a Jim Henson collection where a number of Muppets (an entity of Henson’s creations that has been owned by Disney since 2004) are on permanent display. For more information about the museum here, including tons of photos, check out our blog post: Highlights from the “Worlds of Puppetry” Museum in Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts Address: 1404 Spring St NW, Atlanta, GA 30309 Visitor Information: Center for Puppetry Arts

Fentons Creamery is an ice cream shop and cafe. Their Oakland location is near Pixar’s Emeryville Studio and a favorite of their animators – a usual spot to gather after meeting a deadline. Pete Docter, director of Pixar’s Up (2009), lives in Oakland and is a frequent visitor to Fentons with his children. He is such a fan that he incorporated a likeness of the local shop, logo and all, into the final version of the film as Russell, Carl, and Dug enjoy a cone on the sidewalk in front of the store. If you visit this shop, look for a framed photo of the above scene as well as a plaque with the following quote: To Fentons: “Thanks for all the ice cream! And for a great place to meet friends.” Pete Docter Disney•Pixar “UP” 2009 Address: 4226 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611 Visitor Information: Fentons Creamery

Named for its location 1,222 meters above sea level, the Finse 1222 is a full service hotel in the remote and tiny village of Finse, Norway. The town, only reachable by train or on foot, is the gateway to the spectacular Hardangerjøkulen glacier, known to locals as Hoth as it was the primary filming location for the 1980 classic, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. In 1979, cast and crew stayed at this hotel while filming scenes on the glacier, in the nearby valley, and in the immediate area on the back side of the hotel when snowfall was too intense to shoot further away. “If you turn the cameras around from that scene, there’s people out on their balcony sipping cocoa watching us” – Mark Hamill The hotel’s lobby has a display of Star Wars related memorabilia including a screen-used Rebel Trooper hat and a copy of The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. A room on the second floor houses a small museum displaying production photos and local news-clippings related to the filming of The Empire Strikes Back in Finse. A full-sized replica Snowtrooper costume is also on display and makes for a great […]

Fløyen or Fløyfjellet is a mountain in the Norwegian city of Bergen, offering great hiking, dining, and other activities. You can reach a viewpoint over 1,000 feet up (320 meters) the mountain by taking a funicular system called Fløibanen or by hiking up the designated path. Just behind the upper Fløibanen station, find a giant troll statue near the playground. This troll is a duplicate of the one found in Epcot’s The Fjording shop. This location is mentioned in our blog post: A Perfect Disney Day In Bergen, Norway Address: Fløyfjellet, 5014 Bergen, Norway Visitor Information: Fløibanen AS

This public park in Queens, NY is most well known as being the site of the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair. It was at this World’s Fair where Walt Disney saw an opportunity to not only experiment with new theme park technology but to also test the east coast audience, in preparation for his Florida Project. The centerpiece of the World’s Fair and one of the only surviving structures today (along with the Queens Museum) is the iconic Unisphere. Imagineer Harper Goff had a hand in designing the famed armillary sphere which has been featured in major films including the epic opening to Iron Man 2 (2010) and plays a major role in Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland (2015) which recreated the fair for the big screen. You may also recognize the Unisphere as Peter Parker captures a glimpse of it from the highway while being driven around by Happy during Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). Read more about our visit to this park in our blog post: Re-Living Walt Disney’s Past: Exploring the Grounds of the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair. This location is mentioned in our blog post: Re-Living Walt Disney’s Past: Exploring the Grounds of the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair. Address: […]

Hôtel Sidi Driss was a filming location in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) starring as Luke’s sunken home (the Lars family homestead) on Tatooine. It was again a filming location in 2002’s Episode II – Attack of the Clones. The interior courtyards of this traditional Berber style home still feature some remnants from filming including murals and set dressing as it seems the current owners embrace the Star Wars lore. While interiors were filmed here, the exterior shots of the home took place about 150 miles away at an unnamed structure on the Chott el Jerid salt flats. This location made our list of the 10 Most Unique And Coolest Disney Related Locations Where You Can Spend The Night Address: Matmatat-Al-Qadimal, Tunisia Visitor Information: Hôtel Sidi Driss (only available in French)

Indiana Jones Bed & Breakfast is a full-service bed and breakfast in Antonio, Colorado – halfway between Albuquerque and Colorado Springs. The house, built in 1888, was used as the filming location for 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Both interior and exterior scenes were shot here, as the home of Henry Jones and his son, a young Indiana Jones (played by the late River Phoenix). Today, you can stay in one of four rooms at the B&B and admire the Indiana Jones decor, the “Jones” mailbox standing outside, and the nearby Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad which was also used in the beginning sequence of the film. This location made our list of the 10 Most Unique And Coolest Disney Related Locations Where You Can Spend The Night Address: 502 Front St, Antonito, CO 81120 Visitor Information: Indiana Jones Bed & Breakfast

The Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) is a museum in Queens, New York devoted to the history of film and television and educating its visitors on the process of filmmaking from its earliest form to the latest technological advancements. A number of Disney related items can be found on display in this museum including screen-used memorabilia from Star Wars and a permanent Jim Henson Exhibition with a variety of items from Muppet TV shows and movies. The Jim Henson Exhibition is a multi-media exhibit featuring nearly 300 objects on display including 47 puppets from Muppet movies and TV shows, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal (1982), Labyrinth (1986) and more. A traveling version of this exhibit, curated by the museum, is currently touring the US. Check out our blog post, A Tour of The Jim Henson Exhibit: Imagination Unlimited, for more info on its current location. The exhibit also features a “Waldo” puppet control mechanism that was developed in order to let puppeteers remotely operate mechanical puppets like those found in Fraggle Rock and Dinosaurs. A later version of this was used to perform Waldo C. Graphic, the “spirit of 3D” who stars in Walt Disney World’s Muppet*Vision 3D. The Henson exhibit is also featured […]