Disney is debuting the new Disneyland Handcrafted film from documentarian Leslie Iwerks. The film uses newly discovered footage of shockingly unregulated construction work and surprisingly candid quotes about the stress of the process to tell an enticing story.
Disneyland Handcrafted goes beyond archival footage to show how Disneyland was built through construction practices very different from today, tight timelines, and extraordinary hand-craftsmanship, giving fans a closer look at the creation of Disneyland than ever before.
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Disneyland Handcrafted Review
For the first time, Disney is letting fans see the full, human story behind Disneyland’s creation, going deeper into archival footage than ever before. Rare footage, candid quotes, and recreated audio paint a picture of the chaos and risk that made the park into the thing we know as “The Happiest Place on Earth” today.
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Disneyland Handcrafted debuts on Disney Plus and YouTube on January 22, 2026. The film is directed by Leslie Iwerks, the creative force behind other Disney documentaries, including The Imagineering Story on Disney Plus, The Pixar Story, The Hand Behind the Mouse (about her grandfather Ub Iwerks, who created Mickey Mouse), and more. You can read my full interview with Leslie Iwerks about the new film and her other Disney work.
Iwerks has consistently created the best filmed documentary storytelling about Disney that exists. She brings the right reverence for a subject while also looking for the untold truths from the stories. We hope that the success of this project leads to new projects, most specifically, The Imagineering Story Season 2.
The Disneyland Handcrafted documentary provides a new perspective on a known story. The documentary weaves together never-before-seen 16mm film footage of the year leading up to the opening of Disneyland that was discovered in the Walt Disney Archives during the creation of The Imagineering Story.
The film cuts together this found footage with some footage that fans will already know from the Disneyland television show. The movie tells the story of the year leading up to the opening of Disneyland, jumping forward in time as it counts down to the opening day of Disneyland.
I recently attended the film premiere of Disneyland Handcrafted on The Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Surrounded by Disney Legends, Imagineers, executives, and Disney-loving celebrities, we took in the new film. The entire room was engrossed.
Throughout the documentary, there is a feeling of tension and questioning of whether the team would pull off the creation of the theme park. You are watching the events unfold in real time and feeling the same excitement and worry that overtook Walt Disney during this period. Even knowing that there would be a successful opening day on July 17, 1955, the task seemed nearly impossible, and the footage from the final weeks only helped to demonstrate the anxiety that Walt Disney and his team were facing in getting the park open.
While some of the footage in the documentary will be known by passionate fans, there is a lot in here that has never been seen outside of the Disney archives. I found myself amazed and delighted by some of the small moments captured here. Each new scene humanizes the building of the park even further with strong feelings of stress, but also humor.
One of the key takeaways from the new footage was the lack of regulation around construction in those days. The cameramen captured men walking across high beams with no supports, dangling in a seat at the top of the flag pole, and standing on top of the Disneyland Railroad while it was moving. These shots were shocking, revealing, and many times funny. As Iwerks shared in my interview with her, the film is named Disneyland Handcrafted because of the reality that the place only happened because of the incredible hand-built craftsmanship of the people working on the project.
Of the audio quotes, my favorite was one from Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr, who essentially said that there was no hierarchy of approval or executive structure like a big business would have today. Everyone would just keep making decisions and executing on them and that’s the final product that Walt would get unless he intervened as they were working.
This feature on the people behind Disneyland is different than anything we have seen Disney produce in the past. We have seen Disney get more comfortable with sharing their real stories because they have realized how the realities of their history deepen an appreciation among fans.
An extreme comparison is looking at this earlier Disneyland 50th anniversary film starring Steve Martin which played in the Disneyland Opera House. That film which celebrates the history of Disneyland, spends less than 30 seconds on the building of park using a time-lapse and animated Donald Duck magician that encourages the construction team through to completion saying, “Keep going boys, faster, faster. That’s it, good work. Nothing to it.”
That telling of the history suggests that the park plans were calculated, on time, and happened at a rapid pace. While the third may be true, this documentary captures just how haphazard the plans were and how frequently things changed.
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During the Q&A at the premiere, Iwerks shared that Disney CEO Bob Iger viewed this film and encouraged them to increase the tension and even called out specific audio clips he remembered that could heighten the emotion of the film.
This movie is something to be viewed on as big a screen as you have and without distractions. The filmmakers worked hard to deliver an immersive experience.
There are no documentary-style talking heads or cutaways to relevant photos that would take you out of the first person style footage. Over the clips are recordings of audio from people who were present during the construction talking about the task at hand. All of this keeps you in the 1955 moment and time.
The filmmaking team worked with the team at Skywalker Sound to bring audio to the clips and created a new soundtrack to make the film feel more immersive. They recreated audio from construction vehicles to worksite noises. The audio created a real connection to the moments seen and the music layered on top brought humor and heart to a number of different scenes.
This documentary delivers the footage in a higher quality than I have ever seen it before. The filmmakers restored all the footage and upscaled it to 2K, which makes it feel like you are actually back in the moment compared to the black and white versions fans will be familiar with.
The combination of the higher quality footage and sound design meant that I felt closer to the construction of Disneyland than ever before.
Disneyland Handcrafted is a documentary that feels more like a feature film that successfully tells the physical origin story of Disneyland. It captures Disneyland as a human endeavor to create something special that didn’t have to succeed.
Stay tuned to Mickey Visit for more of the latest Disney news and planning resources. Now, I am ready to go rewatch Disneyland Handcrafted.
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