Walt Disney had already constructed a wildly profitable firm when he made his boldest wager but: bringing a singular, deeply private imaginative and prescient to life on a scale nobody had ever tried.
In his mid-50s, he set his sights on a 160-acre plot of land in Anaheim—then largely orange groves—and promised it will grow to be “the happiest place on earth.” That concept now feels inevitable, the way in which iconic issues all the time do in hindsight. However Leslie Iwerks, the Emmy- and Oscar-nominated documentarian and the granddaughter of Ub Iwerks (Walt’s key collaborator and the co-creator of Mickey Mouse), desires folks to recollect the reality: it very practically didn’t occur.
Her new documentary, Disneyland Handcrafted, arrives January 22 on Disney+ and Disney’s YouTube channel, and it’s constructed round uncommon behind-the-scenes footage of Disneyland’s development—a lot of it silent, private and startlingly unfinished even weeks earlier than opening day in July 1955. “For brand new generations of youngsters and other people rising up who do not know the historical past of Disneyland, they suppose, oh, Disneyland’s inevitable… However the truth of the matter is, it wasn’t inevitable. It was an unimaginable feat that was willed into existence by Walt Disney,” says Iwerks.
Iwerks first uncovered a lot of the footage whereas making The Imagineering Story. She stated the venture started as a form of proof of idea, then sat for some time—till Disney Experiences govt Jason Recher helped deliver it again, at a second when the timing felt proper. “It was an ideal time as a result of it occurred to be the seventieth anniversary at Disneyland,” she stated, however the larger motive was emotional. “Within the time by which we’re in… within the politics and all of the stuff that’s happening on the planet… that is like this time capsule and kind of this beacon of hope… a narrative of how one man risked the whole lot to deliver a lot pleasure to the world.”
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The footage that modifications the way you suppose Disneyland was constructed
Essentially the most shocking factor about Disneyland Handcrafted is how bodily it’s. Not simply the story—actually the movie itself. A lot of the development footage was initially shot with out sound, which meant Iwerks and her group needed to rebuild the world from scratch. “Each single factor you hear… they created,” she stated, describing the meticulous work with Skywalker Sound: “From the chains on the drawbridge… to the trains… all of the grime and the slopping of the cement and the whole lot.”
That call is a part of the purpose. The documentary lingers on welders, painters, carpenters and crews working at a tempo that now feels unimaginable. “On this age of AI and the whole lot that we now have at our fingertips… this was a refreshing look again at simply the hand craftsmanship and artistry that went into this park,” she stated. The movie isn’t a shiny historical past lesson; it’s designed to allow you to dwell within the footage lengthy sufficient to really feel the strain of the countdown. “You’re going to be most likely fairly amazed at how unfinished it was even three months previous to opening… even one month previous to opening,” she stated. “You’re nonetheless seeing numerous grime.”
Tomorrowland, she famous, was primarily constructed final—and constructed quick. “Tomorrowland was the very last thing that they constructed… and also you’re considering they constructed that whole land… in like a month. And I couldn’t even imagine it.”
That “how did they pull this off?” rigidity is precisely what Iwerks needed to revive. She described Disneyland’s development as “some of the harmful propositions Walt may have ever completed,” as a result of it wasn’t simply company danger—it was private. “Risking his personal life insurance coverage, his personal private properties and funds… confirmed his dedication to doing one thing that had by no means been completed earlier than.”
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Why Handcrafted hits tougher proper now
Iwerks has made a profession out of documenting the individuals who construct the magic—The Imagineering Story was a six-part deep dive into the creators behind Disney parks—and Handcrafted continues that thread, solely this time the stakes are existential. “There have been 10,000 issues that might have gone fallacious,” she stated of opening day, which was televised to the most important TV viewers at that time. “Are you able to think about if… it was the most important catastrophe?”
One of many movie’s smartest selections is that it doesn’t depend on trendy historians narrating from a secure distance. “We by no means used any sound bites from anybody that was not on the bottom working with Walt on that park,” she stated. The voices are firsthand, on-site and sometimes skeptical—as a result of loads of folks didn’t imagine Disneyland could be completed on time, or that it ought to be tried in any respect.
That skepticism is a part of what makes the story really feel newly alive. Iwerks talked about resisting the temptation to chop away to speaking heads or unrelated archival clips. “What in case you simply dwell within the footage?” she stated. The movie invitations viewers to cease scrolling, sit with the photographs and watch an American moonshot take form one beam, one brushstroke, one slab of concrete at a time.
For Iwerks, the emotional core retains coming again to what Walt was prepared to danger. “He may have misplaced all of it… He believed in one thing so strongly,” she stated. “And to now be… mainly the identical age as he was when he created Disneyland… it’s wish to suppose that he has generationally impacted lives.”
And perhaps that’s the quiet shock of Disneyland Handcrafted: the reminder that the world you grew up with—theme parks, immersive lands, the concept tales can grow to be locations—was by no means assured. It occurred as a result of one particular person determined {that a} grime lot in Anaheim may maintain a dream, after which satisfied sufficient folks to construct it earlier than the clock ran out.
Disneyland Handcrafted debuts January 22 on Disney+ and Disney YouTube.
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