The pictures you will see today in this article are very rare pictures of what was most probably Walt Disney's last family trip in July 1966 up the British Columbia coast. Six months later Walt will die and you can feel on the pictures that he didn't feel already well and that his vital energy was low. This picture of Walt holding his hat looks like a last goodbye to his family and the world.
Not a lot of infos are available about this July 1966 trip but we can find a bit more in Michael Barriers' book "Animated Man":
On June 23, 1966, Disney wrote to his friend Eisenhower: “Grandma and Grandpa Disney and all of the Disney clan (including our seven grandchildren) have chartered a yacht out of Vancouver for two weeks to cruise the inlets of British Columbia. Our trip will end on the 13th of July which happens to be the 41st anniversary for Grandma and Grandpa.” As always, Disney took work along. “I don’t know how many things he took on the boat to Vancouver, read ’em all,” Ron Miller told Richard Hubler. “He even took one book on how to select faculty for colleges, because he had CalArts, which was of great interest to him.” At that time, Miller said, Disney was already scheduled to “go into the hospital and have his back looked into. I noticed he was having a helluva time with his leg. [The pain] came down and it bothered his hip. Whenever he would get in a rowboat or anything, he would have to literally do this to his leg [indicating “lifting” his leg, as though stepping over a low fence]. It was the damnedest thing. And that’s as far as the whole family, or anyone, knew was the extent of his illness.”
The boat in the background on the picture above was most probably the one chartered by Walt for this trip with his family in British Columbia. Walt is on the left, near the man with a yellow cap.
On the picture below, Walt and familly in a coastal village.
On the next picture, Walt Disney's grand children. Six months later their grand father will passed away.
Just two months after Walt came back from British Columbia, on September 18, 1966 atop the Northern Californian Mountains Walt Disney, in his last ever public appearance, would officially announce the Disney's Mineral King Resort, a Disney owned and operated Ski Resort.
The Mineral King ski Resort sadly never saw the light of day, leaving Walt Disney's Final Project never completed, but Review Tyme just posted a great video telling all the story about it, including the original renderings for Mineral King!
Pictures : copyright WDFM
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