Disneyland Handcrafted, a new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Leslie Iwerks, showcases the trials and tribulations of the year leading up to the opening day of Walt Disney’s original magic kingdom in 1955. This post shares new details and the release date of the next major project from the creative behind The Imagineering Story.
Disneyland Handcrafted reveals the extraordinary artistry and grit it took hundreds of craftspeople to bring Walt Disney’s impossible dream project of Disneyland to fruition, from groundbreaking to Opening Day on July 17, 1955. The documentary captures both the legacy and nostalgia of the year leading up to the creation of Disneyland.
Capturing the construction of Disneyland more than 70 years ago, you’ll get a chance to peek through the orange groves and experience the making of the park like never before. This archival footage provides an unpolished perspective for viewers to see and hear what was actually happening during Disneyland’s construction via first-hand accounts of the real artists, craftsmen and Imagineers on site.
For this unique documentary, Iwerks and her team unearthed never-before-seen footage from the Walt Disney Film Archives combing through binders of 16mm film reels that were unused from the making of “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” and sitting in various vaults for years.
Disneyland Handcrafted begins streaming on Disney+ and the Disney YouTube channel on January 22, 2026.
Iwerks comes from a family steeped in Disney legacy. Her grandfather, Ub Iwerks, was Walt Disney’s original animator, designer, and co-creator of Mickey Mouse; her father, Don Iwerks, was a camera technician and inventor; both were Oscar winners and Disney Legends.
Two film pioneers, Ub and Don Iwerks made their mark on the pre-Disneyland decades of the company. Ub worked at Disney in the early days of the company as an animator and special effects wizard. Don worked at Disney in the 1950s, ultimately overseeing the Studio Machine Shop and the Camera Service Department.
In fact, Leslie’s grandfather and father were particularly instrumental in a large portion of the creativity that has helped take The Walt Disney Company to revolutionary heights over the years. From the landmark creation of Mickey Mouse to the invention of the multiplane camera and the development of 360-degree camera that led to the first Circle-Vision 360° film format, the two played significant roles in the company’s advancement.
Leslie grew up surrounded by these stunning technological feats that helped pave the way for her to become an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker herself.
Frequently having the freedom to explore the Disney studio lot, Leslie launched her early career with an especially personal touch in 1999, sharing her grandfather’s story with Walt and more in The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story. With a desire to tell her grandfather’s story to an audience and championed by the support of Roy E. Disney at the time, Leslie was able to share her family legacy with the world through her own filmmaking.
Following the passion and expertise set by her grandfather and father, Leslie continues to leave a legacy with a Disney-filled filmography including The Pixar Story and The Imagineering Story. Her family story lives in her filmmaking to this day, inspired by her past with an innovative search for new ways to connect with passionate audiences around the world.
You can watch the Leslie Iwerks’ Disneyland Handcrafted trailer here:
During the creation of Disneyland Handcrafted, Leslie searched through over 100 hours of raw material showcasing Disneyland in its earliest days, discovering authentic outtakes that had previously been sitting in the vaults at the Walt Disney Film Archives for years.
Combing through binders of unused 16mm film reels from the making of “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color,” Leslie and her team produced high-resolution scans of every reel without a timecode, restoring once-forgotten shots of the early days of Disneyland onto a hard drive of beautiful footage through a revolutionary process.
Taking on such a massive challenge of searching through all this footage and discovering new pieces of recorded Disneyland history was a tough task for Leslie and her team, but the film encapsulates the raw DNA of Disneyland. The archival footage provides a distinctive fly-on-the-wall perspective for viewers to hear and see what was actually happening during construction of The Happiest Place on Earth.
Whether you’ve dreamed of what Adventureland looked like in the third month of construction or how Tomorrowland started to take form with the pressure of opening day looming in the distance, you’ll be surrounded by sights, sounds, and first-hand accounts of real artists, craftsmen, and Imagineers on-site in Anaheim in 1955.
As mentioned above, the full Disneyland Handcrafted documentary will be released later on January 22, 2026 on Disney+ and Disney YouTube.
If you’re newer to the fandom or somehow haven’t seen it, we want to highly recommend checking out The Imagineering Story. That six-part docu-series premiered on Disney+ back in 2019, and was produced via unprecedented access to archival documents, firsthand insights, and never-before-shared Imagineering projects.
The Imagineering Story is the must-watch documentary on Disney+ for anyone reading this blog. The series chronicles key moments in the design of the parks, from the opening of Disneyland through Shanghai Disneyland and beyond. It’s really well done, and not just a puff piece.
The best episode is unquestionably “Hit or Miss,” which is far more candid and honest than you’d ever expect–and will disabuse diehard fans of the notion that Disney is infallible. The final two episodes teeter into present-day marketing territory, but it’s still an exceptional docu-series.
We’re equally excited for Disneyland Handcrafted.
Iwerks originally announced this documentary in a panel at Destination D23 alongside Don Hahn, one of the the authors of The Happiest Place on Earth: The Incredible Story of Walt Disney’s Disneyland. In our review of that new Disneyland 70th Anniversary book, we praised it for not simply going along with the myth and mystique of some tall tales about the creation of Walt Disney’s original magic kingdom, and instead presenting the true story.
As a general matter, Disney has actually been better about revealing its own real history, presenting less of a sanitized version of events and not necessarily sticking to the script. They’ve also recruited more interesting authors and documentarians, who share fascinating and fresh stories as opposed to remixes of the same subjects they’ve covered in countless other titles.
Disneyland Handcrafted should offer more of that, especially as it allows archival footage to speak for itself, rather than relying on talking heads. This should provide an unvarnished view into the creation of Disneyland and, like that new book, we’re optimistic that it’ll provide a fresh perspective into a topic that’s otherwise been covered repeatedly. Just from the trailer and Iswerks’ presentation, there’s already reason to believe this will be another winner.
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many other SoCal cities!
Your Thoughts
What do you think of the Disneyland Handcrafted documentary? Excited that Iwerks is following up The Imagineering Story with this? Optimistic about this documentary? Thoughts on the trailer? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!