There is a certain joy in entering a Disney park anywhere in the world, but it’s hard to argue that any of them carry the same weight as Disneyland. This is the original park, the one that Walt Disney himself saw open to the world.
As Disneyland celebrates its 70th anniversary (the gates first opened on July 17, 1955), Disney has released a new documentary that you can watch right now from the comfort of your home. handmade disneylandnow streaming on Disney+ and YouTube, pulls back the curtain on how the park came to life and why that hands-on, detail-obsessed approach still defines Disney today.
very similar The history of imaginationthe Disney+ series that explored the creation of iconic attractions at Disney parks around the world, handmade disneyland comes from Leslie Iwerks and her team. Fittingly, the documentary itself was made in just one year (the same time it took to build Disneyland) and offers a rare, unvarnished look at the process.
The film is based entirely on archival material discovered and restored in close collaboration with the Walt Disney Archives, including raw 16mm footage that had never been shown before.
Walt Disney’s early adoption of television meant that cameramen were on site throughout Disneyland’s construction, capturing the park as it took shape under intense pressure and tight deadlines. There was even a platform on a tall tower where Sleeping Beauty Castle would eventually be located, with cameras capturing a time lapse.
Decades later, Iwerks and his team painstakingly digitized, restored and, in some cases, recolored that footage, preserving moments that had been frozen in time.
With a duration of one hour and 18 minutes – available with a Disney+ subscription or, surprisingly, free on YouTube – handmade disneyland It’s not all fairy dust. It captures the real fear of Disneyland not being ready on time and doesn’t shy away from the chaos of opening day, when so many things went wrong. There is tension, uncertainty and risk, something that is often softened in more polished retellings.
Even after one viewing, handmade disneyland It already seems like the type of documentary that rewards a second. While no viewing statistics have been shared for Disney+, it premiered on January 22, 2026 on YouTube and already has over 87,000 views.
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Still, the film arrives at something deeply inspiring. These cast members took an orange grove in Anaheim, California, and built an entire main street inspired by the early 1900s, created one-of-a-kind attractions, multiple terrains, assembled an entire riverboat off-site and moved it piece by piece, installed an entire railroad, and, yes, even built a castle.
What are you doing? handmade disneyland Especially compelling now is how clearly it connects to the work Imagineers are still doing today. Many of the ideas that shaped Disneyland in 1955 were limited not by imagination, but by what technology (and construction equipment) could realistically support at the time. That same dynamic continues at Disney Parks and, more broadly, at Disney Experiences, where concepts can live for decades before technology finally catches up.
Take Haunted Mansion Parlor aboard Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Treasure and the upcoming Disney Destiny. The space brings to life an idea the original Imagineers once envisioned for the Haunted Mansion attraction: a ghostly aquarium filled with “ghost fish.” It was a concept way ahead of its time, waiting for the right combination of illusion, engineering and showbiz technology to finally emerge.
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Or consider the Walt Disney animatronic now on display at Disneyland, a figure that combines storytelling, movement and acting in a way that early Imagineers could only have dreamed of.
From an orange grove in Anaheim to Main Street USA, from a hand-built riverboat to an entire railroad, the original Disneyland team didn’t wait for perfect conditions — they built anyway. Today’s Imagineers are doing much the same thing: taking forward ideas that emerged decades ago and finally giving them shape. Different tools, same ambition.
I’ll have more to share soon, including a full review of handmade disneyland and a conversation with director Leslie Iwerks about the making of the documentary, what surprised her most during production, and why Disney’s early lessons still resonate today.
And with a winter storm hitting much of the Midwest and East Coast, handmade disneyland It feels like the perfect watch: a warm, nostalgic trip to the place where it all began, best enjoyed from the couch.
You can see the handmade disneyland preview above, with the full documentary streaming right now on Disney+ and available for free on YouTube.
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