EXCLUSIVE: The Surprising “Emotional Journey” Behind the NEW ‘Disneyland Handcrafted’ Documentary

A BRAND-NEW Disneyland documentary with never-before-seen footage is coming to Disney+, and we were able to interview the director/producer!

Disneyland Handcrafted is a feature documentary debuting on Disney+ and Disney YouTube on January 22nd, 2026, that tells the story of the building of Disneyland via rare footage from the Walt Disney Film Archives. Directed and produced by the acclaimed Leslie Iwerks, this film will give viewers a unique look at what it took to build “The Happiest Place On Earth.” We were fortunate enough to speak to Iwerks, and she shared with us some interesting tidbits about the process of making this movie, what viewers can expect, and some surprises she encountered along the way!

Disneyland Handcrafted’s director and executive producer, Leslie Iwerks, is an Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker with several credits in the documentary genre. A graduate of USC film school, Iwerks has tackled subjects from Disney history to the Keystone XL pipeline to the lives of Guatemalans who live and work in the largest landfill in Central America.

A literal part of Disney history, Leslie is the daughter of Don Iwerks (a Disney camera technician, inventor, overseer of the Studio Machine Shop, and the Camera Service Department) and the granddaughter of Disney Legend Ub Iwerks (Walt Disney’s original animator and the designer and co-creator of Mickey Mouse).

With her rich Disney background, Leslie Iwerks has often made films about the company’s history. She started her career in 1999 by sharing her grandfather’s story with The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story, dove into important Disney animation history with The Pixar Story, and captivated audiences with The Imagineering Story.

With Disneyland Handcrafted, Iwerks went through over 100 hours of raw material depicting Disneyland’s creation, finding interesting outtakes that were stored away in the Walt Disney Film Archives. Together with her team, Iwerks was able to produce high-resolution scans and restore the footage to provide a different look at the creation of Walt’s first theme park.

I was able to speak with Iwerks about the movie, and I asked her how she chose this story, what the creative process was like, and what we can expect to see when the film premieres at the end of the month.

To start off, it was obvious that her background draws her to Disney-themed stories, but I wanted to know what inspires her to invest time, energy, and money in a project and its story. Iwerks told me that, “It’s really a matter of what interests me and what feels like is going to be a compelling story and actually has drama to it — an emotional journey I can take the audience on. There are some enlightening moments, and there are some lessons to be learned, and — hopefully — a tear or two.”

The narrative around this particular film deals with the themes of guts, ingenuity, and persistence. The idea of a Disney theme park was not easily realized.

When asked if there were any surprises she discovered when doing research for the film, Iwerks laughed and said, “Yeah, how they actually did it in one year!”

“How this whole thing happened in one year is mind-boggling to me, and then to watch the footage as it unfolds over the course of the year and see how unfinished it was still leading up to opening day…The pressure must have been enormous on everybody.”

Disneyland opened on July 17th, 1955, but it had its fair share of complications. Ticket fraud, major budgetary issues, dry drinking fountains, ride breakdowns, and wet asphalt that sank in heels all plagued the park on opening day, and it probably didn’t ease the stress Walt and his team were facing.

It’s truly wild to look back on that disaster and see how much of a success Disneyland is today.

In the film, there will be several emotional moments that resonate with fans. Iwerks joked that no construction project in history has a fanbase quite like Disneyland. “Because Disneyland has such a big fanbase, I think this will give people renewed appreciation for how it was built, why it was built, the passion behind it, and the risk that it took to get it done.”

But it will also feature plenty of laughs. Iwerks was really fond of the construction crew’s gags, saying, “They just had funny ways of having fun with this construction footage. Just a lot of cute things that I think they thought would be fun for the ABC television show.”

The footage works as a time capsule that takes you back to 1954 Anaheim, providing a nostalgic look back in time to the way things were.

I was especially curious how the film would cover Walt’s personal feelings during the chaotic construction process. Iwerks told me, “We are able to find some soundbites directly from Walt that explain his point of view and what he was thinking at that time. The majority of the audio bites are from people he was surrounded by that can speak about him.” 

Her film provides “an outside-in point of view about Walt, but also Walt himself, almost explaining his own point of view as a counter to what they’re saying.”

Just finding footage and audio of Walt was really special for Iwerks and the film crew. It gave them an opportunity to provide a truly unique perspective regarding this incredible Disneyland story.

Iwerks said, “What I think is nice about this is that he is promoting the film on ABC as a showman, and he’s excited, but once you cut from that, you’re in the dirt and you’re in the pressure and it’s real life. It’s this counterbalance between show and reality that makes this film unique.”

Disneyland Handcrafted debuts on Disney+ and Disney YouTube on January 22nd, and will, according to Disney, “detail the ultimate story of risk and capture the excitement of Disneyland as it was being built more than 70 years ago.”

We can’t wait to watch this film once it premieres! Until then, stay tuned to AllEars for the latest on all things Disney!

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

Are you planning on checking out this new documentary? Let us know in the comments!

Disclosure: We were invited by The Walt Disney Company to attend a press event for “Disneyland Handcrafted”. This did not affect our reporting of the event — our opinions are our own.

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