NEWS: This Disney+ Announcement Has Everyone Talking About the RARE Footage We’re About To See

We’ve been getting SO many pieces of exciting news at Destination D23 this weekend, and now there’s ANOTHER one that has us jumping out of our seats in joy.

If you’ve ever wished that you could go back in time and see how Disneyland came to be, we’ve got incredible news for you. There’s a new documentary coming out THIS YEAR that shows the creation of Disneyland with rarely-seen footage from over 70 years ago!

Leslie Iwerks’s new documentary, Disneyland Handcrafted, hits Disney+ and Disney YouTube this winter! Leslie also produced The Imagineering Story back in 2019, and has family ties to the Disney family that go all the way back to Walt’s time.

This new documentary utilizes rarely seen footage from The Walt Disney Archives, showcasing the construction of Disneyland over 70 years ago. As it turns out, Walt assigned several cameramen to capture the construction of the park, leading all the way up until opening day. This footage, along with ASMR moments of construction, will give an “up-close, first-hand look at many of the artists, craftsmen, and Walt Disney Imagineers who were actually there” during the construction. Much of this footage is seeing the light of day for the first time!

From dirt to opening day, Leslie Iwerks’ brand-new documentary debuts this winter on @DisneyPlus and Disney YouTube ?✨ pic.twitter.com/HH4Djq2V38

— Disney (@Disney) August 30, 2025

Much of this footage has been safely stored in the Walt Disney Archives for decades, including many reels of film that had never been scanned before (including some raw 16mm footage that was never used for “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color”). Leslie and her team were able to produce “high-resolution scans of every reel without a timecode, helping to restore beautiful, once-forgotten shots of the early days of Disneyland onto a hard drive through” — a process never done before! And yes…it’s IN COLOR!

Disney Handcrafted will showcase handpicked rarely seen footage from the excitement around the construction of Disneyland more than 70 years ago ?✨ https://t.co/k0K7cXog7g pic.twitter.com/9lN0flJn53

— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) August 30, 2025

Check out the official trailer for this new documentary below!

We’ll be sure to keep you updated on this documentary as we continue to hear more, so stay tuned to AllEars!

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Are you looking forward to this new documentary? Tell us in the comments!

Disclosure: We were invited by Disney to attend Destination D23. This did not affect our reporting of the event — our opinions are our own.