A free Disney attraction sounds like a fairy tale, but on the third Sunday of every month, a little slice of Brigadoon appears in Griffith Park when Walt Disney's private workshop opens up from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Built in 1950 in what was then Walt's backyard, the barn is a re-creation of one from his childhood Missouri farm, where he once dressed pets in doll's clothes and put on a circus. It's where he built trains, where Imagineering was born and where the plans for his biggest train set were hatched. Inside Walt Disney's barn is an intimate biography told through tools and workbenches crafted by his own hands. It is oddly inspiring to see the humblest creations of a man who built kingdoms: a piece of broomstick cut to become a hanger for his overalls, a Boraxo soap dispenser mounted above the sink where he washed up after doing the work that would change the way the world plays. BYO imagination and sit under a tree beside the little wooden birthplace of Disneyland, grooving to the hiss and huff of steam engines as the wheels turn in your brain. Guaranteed to inspire better ideas than a Starbucks. 5202 Zoo Drive, Griffith Park. (805) 498-2336, carolwood.com/walts-barn.

—Devin Flanigan