You Can See RARE Disneyland Footage On Disney+ Starting THIS Month

If you’re a fan of Disney+ and their behind-the-scenes of the theme park world, we have some amazing news for you!

At Destination D23, Disney announced a brand new documentary that’s focused on the creation of Disneyland and will feature rarely seen footage from over 70 years ago. After months of waiting, we finally know when this new documentary is going to debut!

If you’re a fan of Disney history, Walt Disney, or Disneyland, you’re going to want to see Disneyland Handcrafted! This new feature documentary was created by Leslie Iwerks, who directed the extremely popular Imagineering Story, and it will follow the year leading up to the creation of Disneyland Park.

The new film will offer “an intimate, fly-on-the-wall look at the artistry and determination of the craftspeople and Imagineers who brought Walt Disney’s vision to life.” This description is making our hearts sing! The new film will finally start streaming on January 22nd, 2026, on Disney+ and Disney YouTube.

Disney promises a “first-hand look at the trials and tribulations” behind the fast-paced construction that led up to the park’s opening day on July 17th, 1955. Iwerks will be using the rare archival footage and soundbites from the past to give us an insight look at the early days of the theme park that started a cultural phenomenon.

Not only are we excited to see more about Disneyland’s creation, but we’re also excited to get a new film from Leslie Iwerks, who has her own interesting history with the Disney company. She is an Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker who is the granddaughter of Ub Iwerks. Ub Iwerks was one of Walt Disney’s original animators and the designer and co-creator of Mickey Mouse alongside Walt. Don Iwerks, Leslie’s father, was a Disney camera technician, inventor, and overseer of the Studio Machine Shop and the Camera Service Department.

Leslie has worked on several films, including The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story, The Pixar Story, and The Imagineering Story. While working on Disneyland Handcrafted, Leslie went through over 100 hours of raw materials, where she discovered outtakes that had been sitting in the Walt Disney Film Archives for several years. She also searched through the many binders of 16mm film that were never used in the original Disneyland television series.

Along with her team, she then produced high-resolution scans of every single reel to help restore the shots. Disney shared that this was “a revolutionary process that had never been tackled before.” The creation of Disneyland was famously considered a huge risk for Walt Disney. Even on opening day, thanks to many errors and a less-than-magical day, news outlets referred to the opening as “Black Sunday.” This film aims to detail the experience of what it took to open the park from the orange groves and beyond.

Leslie has shared that the film “encapsulates the raw DNA of Disneyland.” You can see the trailer for the new film here.

 

 

We can’t wait to watch this new film once it debuts later this month. As always, be sure to keep following AllEars for more Disney news, updates, and more!

Something NEW Is Coming to Disney+ on January 27th

 

Tell us your thoughts on the new film in the comments!