Disneyland Handcrafted Trailer – Inside the Year Disneyland Was Built
Disneyland Handcrafted explores the intense year leading up to Disneyland's 1955 opening, using rare archival footage and original audio from the Walt Disney Archives to document the park’s creation.
Directed by Leslie Iwerks, the documentary captures the craftsmanship, pressure, and determination behind Walt Disney’s vision, offering an intimate look at how the Happiest Place on Earth was built against impossible odds.
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ABOUT DISNEYLAND HANDCRAFTED
In 1954–1955, Walt Disney attempted something no one thought could be done: build an entirely new kind of amusement park from the ground up in barely a year. Disneyland Handcrafted drops you into that countdown, orange groves turning into streets, castles, rivers, and rides, where every day is a race against deadlines, budgets, and the reality that Opening Day isn't moving.
Assembled from rare archival film and original audio pulled from the Walt Disney Archives, the documentary lets the people on site tell the story through what they captured at the time, craftspeople, builders, and early Imagineers pushing through setbacks to deliver Walt's “impossible” dream. The result is an unvarnished, fly-on-the-wall look at the grit and ingenuity behind what became the blueprint for modern theme parks worldwide.
Directed By: Leslie Iwerks
MPAA Rating: G
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 79 minutes
Distributed By: Iwerks & Co.
Disneyland Handcrafted is © Iwerks & Co.. All Rights Reserved.