The Walt Disney Family Museum – You Can Get There From Here
It’s been a while since I’ve been over to San Francisco for a visit to the Walt Disney Family Museum. Being almost 50 miles from my door to the Museum, I can be forgiven. Somewhat…
But plenty going on that one shouldn’t overlook. For example, some truly fascinating special exhibits coming up.
And some really special programs to go along with them. Check them out here and here.
So, usually from Livermore, I drive the freeways from the East Bay, cross the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge and make my way round the streets of the City, ending up at the Museum in the Presidio. Been coming to San Francisco for many years and I know my way around pretty well.
Most of my visits are on weekends. But public transit to the Museum? A weekday trip seemed more of a challenge.
To that end, I decided to try public transit and see for myself just how much fun or how much of a test it would be to go those 50 miles from home to the Museum and back again. With gas still over four bucks a gallon, it seemed worthy. My chariot (a 2002 Mercury Sable with about 175,000 miles on it) still manages about 25 miles per gallon. So on a good day, those 4 odd gallons of gas might cost me $20 or so. Throw in that bridge toll of $5 as well as a parking fee ( yes, it’s pretty much unavoidable, except on weekends) at the Presidio and it adds up.
Here’s the trip by transit: Start with a three block walk to catch the #14 Wheels bus from home to the Livermore Transit Center. Here I transfer to another bus (I have my choice of three routes) to the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station. From there, it is a 46-minute train ride to the Montgomery station. At Market Street and Montgomery, a transfer to the 38L bus of the San Francisco Municipal Railway. That takes me for a 17-minute ride to the corner of Geary Blvd and Presidio Avenue, where it is another transfer to the 43 bus for an 8-minute ride to the corner of Letterman Blvd and Lincoln Blvd at the Presidio. A nice 10-minute walk and I arrive at the Museum. From door to door, about 2 hours and 40 minutes with a cost of $9.65 one way.
The trip home to Livermore takes advantage of the free PresidGo shuttle from the Transit Center at the Presidio to the Embarcadero BART station. The secret to a free trip is to ride between 9:30 am and 4:30 pm weekdays. It doesn’t operate weekends or holidays. That takes the total time to roughly two hours (including walking) at a cost of only $6.65, using a transfer from BART to Wheels.
Planning your own transit trip to the Walt Disney Family Museum is easily done. On the web, give the 511 Transit Trip Planner a try. It is a multi-modal planner. You can plan a trip that includes driving, walking and public transit.
My trip above was on a weekday. Weekends and holidays may be a bit more of a challenge as usually, the PresidGo shuttle does not operate from downtown San Francisco to the Presidio. However, the SF Muni’s 43 line still makes the trip on both Saturday and Sunday. You just have the make the walk (less than 1/2 of a mile ) from Letterman Dr and Lincoln Blvd across the Presidio to the Museum. Even in the fog, it is a nice walk.
So, you can visit the Museum using public transit. If you have not been yet, and are a Disney fan, you shouldn’t miss out. Take the plunge and plan your visit soon! You’ll be glad you did.