‘Disneyland Handcrafted’ documentary combines vintage footage with tech | Review
The “Disneyland Handcrafted” documentary is new on Disney+ in 2026. While all will find it interesting, Disney fans will love it.
Images courtesy of Disney
“Disneyland Handcrafted” streams on Disney+ and the Disney YouTube channel starting Jan. 22, 2026, and it features some amazing new footage from the unbelievable one-year construction of Disneyland in the mid-1950s that you’ve never seen before.
Director Leslie Iwerks directed “Disneyland Handcrafted.” She is also behind the much-loved “The Imagineering Story” docuseries on Disney+, as well documentaries on other subjects such as Warner Bros. and DC Comics. She’s also the granddaughter of Ub Iwerks, who worked with Walt Disney directly, and her father Don was a Disney Imagineer too.
The “found” footage in “Disneyland Handcrafted” was not really lost at all, but was in the Walt Disney Archives. It was all silent and out of sequence. It was interesting, but it would’ve been difficult as a moviegoer to watch over an hour of silent, unorganized footage. With the help of Skywalker Sound, filmmaker’s color graded the footage, increased the resolution, and added sound — not AI voices, but real construction backgrounds and sound effects. Then Leslie and her team organized the footage and found and added relevant audio clips from Disney cast members, Imagineers, and others talking about what they experienced firsthand back then.
It’s amazing to actually see Disneyland built in a year. Leslie and her team did an amazing job putting together the documentary, starting a year before Disneyland opened, when it was just an empty lot, and ending with opening day on July 17, 1955. Nothing from the footage seems to be censored. You’ll see just how things were done on a construction site in the mid-1950s, including things that will make you cringe and gasp. I noticed workers standing on the unfinished wooden Mark Twain ship with cigarettes hanging from their mouths, and guys climbing poles and beams with no safety harnesses. Iwerks even highlights some of these things that would be considered unbelievable by today’s standards in a section of the film set to the soundtrack of a 1953 song by Bill Haley called “Crazy Man, Crazy.”
Some of the fixed-up footage looks and sounds so good, you would have thought it was shot yesterday. The cameramen Walt hired to document the construction are introduced at the start of “Disneyland Handcrafted.” They did a really great job. They captured funny moments, serious moments, some great close-ups of the artists, and some unique angles.
Skywalker Sound’s sound effects were perfect and I would have thought all the footage had sound from the beginning if I didn’t know better. The clips shown from the old “Disneyland” TV show and the live broadcast from the opening are in black and white, which works perfectly with the new fixed-up old color footage.
While there are some clips of Walt and others on-screen talking, it’s from old TV footage, not the new footage. Most of the voices in the documentary are heard without seeing who is talking. Their names and titles are in the corner, but we don’t actually see them on screen like we did in “The Imagineering Story.” Iwerks said she wanted viewers to “live in the moment,” so she didn’t want to cut away to interviews or photos. Instead, the audience stays immersed in the footage. While I understand the reasoning, I feel like this makes it a bit harder to keep the attention of those who aren’t big Disney fans. They may want to break the hour-plus movie into two viewings.
Handcrafted is a great name for the building of Disneyland. Sure, the builders had machinery, but compared to the construction equipment available today, the park was truly built by hand. It’s amazing to see areas of the park that you can say “I’ve been right there”, while watching artisans build it more than 70 years ago.
Thanks to Leslie Iwerks and Co, Skywalker Sound, and everyone at Disney who helped get this documentary made. “Disneyland Handcrafted” is not only great for audiences to enjoy now on Disney+, but it’s a great archive synopsis of the building of Disneyland for years to come.
Look for “Disneyland Handcrafted” streaming on Disney+ and the Disney YouTube channel starting Jan. 22, 2026.
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