You can see this new addition to Disney’s Golden Oak Ranch off the left side of the road as you drive along Placerita Canyon Road from Interstate 14 to Placerita Canyon State Park. It’s the new “business district” portion of the movie studio. I didn’t even realize there was a movie studio in that valley. Apparently, I don’t pay much attention. It’s been here longer than I’ve been alive.

“Walt Disney first leased The Golden Oak Ranch in the late 1950s for the Spin and Marty segments of The Mickey Mouse Club. Because of the variety of natural settings available there, the Studio purchased the property in 1959 and, over the years, acquired additional land which has brought the total to just under 900 acres,” according to the studio’s history page. Looking through their website, it’s a beautiful location. “Disney productions that have shot at the Ranch include: Old Yeller, Toby Tyler, The Parent Trap, The Shaggy Dog, Follow Me Boys and more recently, The Santa Clause, Pearl Harbor, Princess Diaries II and Pirates of the Caribbean II & III.”

I used to hike Placerita Canyon with the kids fairly often when they were younger. I had not been to Placerita in a while and this “new” addition surprised me. Of course, I had to take a photo. 🙂

Jeff Turner

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