Behind the Scenes at Disney: Inside a Private Walt Disney Office

Updated January 24, 2026

Team Disney Building with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Insider Tour of Walt Disney's Restored Office Suite at Walt Disney Studios - Los Angeles, CA

Most Disney fans will never step foot inside this space — and I didn’t even know it existed until I was there.

Tucked away from the parks and crowds is a private Walt Disney office in Burbank, California. It’s filled with history, creativity, and details that feel frozen in time. This is a rare behind-the-scenes Disney experience few people ever get to see — and one I’ll never forget.

As a kid, my Mom would take us to the Disney lot to see Snow White’s Seven Dwarfs (that were 19 feet tall) hold up the now Team Disney building. Years later, who knew I’d be working for the company?! As an employee, I was selected in a lottery to tour Walt Disney’s office suite. Unlike other lots like Warner Bros, Universal, or Paramount, Walt Disney Studios doesn’t offer lot tours often, only D23 Members receive offers now and again. Well friends, I’ll give you the tour for free!

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Who Will Love This Experience

• Disney history fans

• Creative professionals & designers

• Disney adults who love behind-the-scenes stories

• Anyone obsessed with rare, invite-only experiences

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Hyperion Bungalow

What It’s Like to Experience a Private Disney Space

I thought I’d give you a tour of Walt Disney’s office set up just as he had it when he worked on the Disney Studios lot from 1940-1966. Disney’s first office was over at Hyperion Studios in Silverlake. The original home of the Disney Publicity and Comic Strip Departments was moved from Hyperion Studios to the Burbank lot and is now known as Hyperion Bungalow.

Walt’s office was in the top left corner - Suite 3H

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Unique Disney History

After the success of Snow White, Disney was able to purchase the land in Burbank to build a new campus. Disney moved into Suite 3H in the Animation building until his death in 1966. There were a few occupants in the office including Roy Disney, and even television producer, Marc Cherry. The office was restored in 2016 and now looks just as if Disney had walked away for the day thanks to Disney Legend and archivist, David Smith, who carefully catalogued and documented every inch of the suite after Walt had passed.

Walt Disney’s Office Desk

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What It Felt Like to Step Inside a Private Disney Space

Trophy Cabinet and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Oscar

When you enter the lobby and secretary area of Suite 3H, there is a trophy case including a replica of the Oscar for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This special Oscar was presented by Shirley Temple to Walt Disney and was a special statue made with the 7 little Oscars behind the main one! Walt Disney won 32 Academy Awards between 1931 and 1968, and still holds the record for most individual Academy Awards won (per Google). This replica was used in Saving Mr. Banks, the real Oscar is up on display at The Walt Disney Family Museum near San Francisco.

Walt Disney’s Secretary Desk

Walt had two secretaries to maintain his busy schedule!

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Hidden Disney History Inside the Formal Office of Walt Disney

Walt Disney’s Formal Office Desk

Walt’s suite essentially had 2 offices, a formal office, and a working office (pics to come). This desk is part of his formal office which initially was his only office in 1940.

Here are 5 fun facts about his formal desk area:

1. MINIATURES - Walt loved to collect miniatures and had a collection from his travels as well as gifts from family and friends.

2. NORMAN ROCKWELL - Pictures of his daughters, Sharon and Diane, hang on the wall to complete his corner. Oh, and the pencil drawings were originals, drawn by Norman Rockwell. Most Dad’s have that in their office, right? Walt had his daughter’s shoes bronzed and made them into bookends.

3. GIANT BELL - The giant bell on his desk was presented to Walt by the United States Coast Guard, in recognition of a film Walt produced showing how icebreakers make their way through heavy Arctic icepacks. One day in the office, Walt’s secretary rang the bell to get his attention to remind him about lunchtime. He loved it so much, he asked her to do it every day at 12:30, so he would remember that it was time to go to lunch.

4. FURNITURE - Most of the furniture in the office was designed in a Streamline Moderne style by industrial designer and architect, Kem Weber. Disney loved the style so much, he made Weber the supervising designer of the original animation building, along with several of the original studio lot buildings.

5. CURTAINS - Those are the original curtains and blinds in the windows! What stories they could tell.

Walt Disney’s Piano

Many songwriters auditioned songs and score for features on this piano. Famous singers would also audition for Walt, accompanied by this piano. Disney songwriter Richard Sherman frequently played Walt’s favorite song from Mary Poppins (1964), “Feed the Birds,” on this 1914 Knabe grand piano. The piano was customized just for Walt by Kem Weber in 1940 to match the other Weber designed furniture.

The books on the shelves behind the piano were meticulously returned as Walt had them. Disney archive historians looked through many photographs to replicate the shelves as Walt once had them.

Guest seating and treasured trinkets

The birds in the cage were found on one of Disney’s travels and inspiration for audio-animatronics in Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted House. Do they remind you of the Enchanted Tiki Room? There’s a reason for that. ;-) There is also a Lady plush in the cubby under the table.

Panoramic View of Walt’s Formal Office

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Inside Walt Disney’s Working Office: A Space Frozen in Time

Walt Disney’s Working Office Desk

Here are 5 Fun Facts about Walt’s working desk:

1. SCRIPTS - On the right side, it looks ordinary stacks of paperwork. Those are actually original scripts that Walt read and would take home in his briefcase that you can see on the right behind his desk.

2. BAMBI - Up in the corner, below what looks like a figurine of a head, there is a little Bambi miniature figurine that Walt Disney made himself!

3. PLANES - There is a model of a Grumman Gulfstream which was the type of plane Walt would fly over Central Florida in to view the property that would become the Walt Disney World Resort!

4. SPACE - The desk here was lower and larger than the formal office as it was often used to layout large blueprints.

5. BROTHERLY LOVE - The window on the right looked across to Roy O. Disney’s office. He wanted to keep a close eye on his brother.

Aerial View of Disneyland

Walt had an aerial view of Disneyland in his office. The red markers represented completed projects and yellow markers were in progress. The in-progress markers included a New Tomorrowland and It’s a Small World!

There was even a full kitchenette! Meals were made here using famous products like V-8 and Spam. There are also engraved personalized glasses with WED - Walter Elias Disney.

Walt Disney’s Working Office

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Original Disney Animators Desks

Disney Animator Desk

Here is another Kem Weber furniture design specific for animators so they would be comfortable while working long hours.

Disney Animator Desk Drawer

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Walt Disney and the Olympic Games

 There was even an Olympic torch in the office! Why? For the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympics, Walt Disney served as the Chairman of the Pageantry Committee.

Here are fun facts from WaltDisney.org:

1. As Chairman, Walt’s duties included staging the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, scheduling nightly entertainment for the athletes, providing decorations to enliven the valley, and taking care of a number of logistical details including parking concerns, security, and ticketing systems. He enlisted the help of a number of seasoned employees of WED, design and development of Disneyland, (and forerunner to Walt Disney Imagineering).

2. Veteran Disney artist John Hench designed the 1960 Winter Olympic torch. Though the design was modeled after the torches for the 1948 and 1956 Olympiads, Hench decided on a slightly smaller version that would be easier for torchbearers to carry. The earlier, taller models proved to be difficult to manipulate as they were top-heavy when filled with fuel. Hench also added black tape to the top part of the shaft to enable runners to pass the torch easily and ensure a stable grip. 

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Walt Disney Studios

And that’s our tour! For more fun Disney history, check out The Imagineering Story on Disney+! If you’re a die-hard Disney fan, you’ve probably already seen it!

5 Great Walt Disney Quotes:

1. “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”

2. “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”

3. “Why worry? If you’ve done the best you can, worrying won’t make it any better.”

4. “That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget.”

5. “A man should never neglect his family for business.”

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Read more about our Disney Adventures:

15 Things to do when you're bored or stuck at home!

First off, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well during this crazy time. I’ve heard the good, bad, and the ugly, I’m doing my part and staying home. That said, it’s been a full 2 weeks now since I’ve been at home, I need forms of entertainment and things to read and do!

I’m making the most of my time at home and after I’m done working for the day for my full-time job, I start new projects! Some are cleaning and organizing, others are blog related like making videos, new itinerary products and setting up posts for when the boom of travel comes back. It’s hard having a travel blog during this time.

Make Quarantine Cocoa

Here are 15 things that will keep you busy right now, which I divided into 3 categories:

5 Things to Clean and Organize

1. Clean out your closet. Shoes, sweaters, t-shirts, gym clothes are now in donation bags and my closet has never looked better. Let’s be real though, my main motivation is to get rid of things I don’t wear so I can go shopping online. 🤣

2. Go through your kitchen cabinets and cupboards. I got rid of some pint glasses, some vases that came with flowers delivered, jars that I had been holding onto and I now have so much more room!

3. Go through your cleaning supplies. Especially with the virus, I’ve been cleaning more than ever. I had some supplies in the kitchen and bathroom finding 6 bottles of certain products. I combined some that I could and made sure they were spread evenly under both sinks.

4. Clean off your patio or make a new space. Josh and I are both working in a one-bedroom apartment right now and space is limited at times. We cleaned off the patio, which also meant cleaning the barbeque, but now I have my own space where I am sitting in the sun typing to you.

5. Clean out your electronics and computer files. We have quite a few drives and some are so old we couldn’t remember what was on them. After that, going through old camera equipment and walkman, we decided we didn’t need some of these things anymore.

5 Catching-up type things to do:

1. Set FaceTime/Zoom/ Video Conference calls with friends and family! It’s been a lifesaver and something to look forward to! Download the Houseparty app and you can play games like Pictionary!

2. Make a new recipe! There are MILLIONS of recipes online, find something new to try. I’ve also started to organize my recipes. My Dad suggested using Recipe Keeper. Make quarantine cocoa, just try not to make a mess like I did.

3. Plan your next vacation! We have our annual Maui trip in October and I’m already checking out new things to do and restaurants to try! Make a bucket list Pinterest Board, it will give you something to look forward to.

4. Play a game! Cooped up with others? Make it fun and play a card game or board game.

5. Workout at home or go for a walk in your neighborhood! Just keep 6 feet away from others. I love the 7 Minute Workout app on my Apple Watch or any Fitness Blender workout on YouTube.

5 Things to Read and Watch

1. Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ - lots to watch! I hear Tiger King on Netflix is amazing. According to Vulture, here are The 40 Best Movies on Netflix You Probably Haven’t Seen. Try the Netflix party feature so you can watch with a friend.

2. Go on a Virtual Tour. Can’t go outside? Take a virtual tour to a far off place or an art exhibit, like somewhere in Paris. Check out this Lonely Planet article for great links! OR go on a Disney Ride!

3. WATCH MY NEW VIDEOS! Yup, putting in a selfish plug right here. I have had time to make videos from our travels so I started with Africa and I think I’ll move under the sea next! Check them out on our YouTube Channel

4. Learn a new language. Apps like Babbel or Duo lingo, or try the Learning Language with Netflix (LLN) tool. Yeah, I didn’t know that was a thing! Again, prepare for that next trip!

5. Read a book. I’m still working on Where the Crawdads Sing, but also try these great travel book suggestions from Lonely Planet or anything that Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club recommends.

If you want to spend time at home and get paid for it, then check online work-from-home vacancies on Jooble: https://jooble.org/jobs-online-work-from-home

^ Here’s one of the videos I’ve done in the past 2 weeks! :)

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What have you been doing this time? Any suggestions for me?! Let me know in the comments below!

If you liked this post please share it on your favorite social media site using the Share button below because we’d love to get the word out! Feel free to pin this to your favorite Pinterest board:

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