Disneyland Handcrafted
- 2 minutes ago
- 3 min read
It's incomprehensible that Disneyland could have built in one year. Yet that's exactly what Walt Disney and his team did, as seen in the fascinating documentary, DISNEYLAND HANDCRAFTED.
The film is created solely out of rare archival footage, personal home movies and Walt's weekly TV series, documenting everything from the first bulldozer running through an orange grove to opening day in 1955.
Walt Disney's labor of love overcomes seemingly impossible odds to hit the opening day deadline.
Can you even imagine trying to get anything done in that time frame with all the ridiculous layers of bureaucracy and California state government waste in place today!?!
Emmy & Oscar nominated Director Leslie Iwerks (100 Years of Warner Bros, The Imagineering Story) is the granddaughter of famed Disney animation legend and designer of Mickey Mouse, Ub Iwerks. Her Disney cred runs deep.
The film is fast paced and exciting, dropping you directly onto the site.
Seeing 1955 sedans drive through what would become the river of the Jungle Cruise to decide where to plant exotic trees is an unexpected peek into the past.
The construction of the Disneyland Railroad, the authentic steam engines that navigate it and the pure Americana that is Main Street USA is a hugely enjoyable blast from the past.
We see Walt himself on TV every Sunday evening, where he offers updates about the construction. While he may admit it's a challenge on his show, the behind-the-scenes paints a clear portrait of his quest and a man making the biggest bet of all time on himself and his ability to bring his vision of a family theme park to life.
The world had never seen anything like Disneyland.
It's also fun hearing just how far the Anaheim location was from the city in 1955. "Who's going to drive THAT far?" is a common refrain.
Credit Walt for being smart enough to know the public would tune in to see his dream come to life and for hiring some great cameramen to document every day of the construction.
All that film is reassembled into a fast paced, chronological tale that dives into key timelines while serving up some fantastic sped-up visuals of how that orange grove became the Happiest Place on Earth.
It's an incredibly immersive 79 minute dive into what true vision and teamwork can accomplish on a grand scale.
The final portion features extensive, terrific footage from the LIVE TV Special detailing the opening day, exactly one year after breaking ground. Amazing.
Bob Cummings and Art Linkletter host the TV special, with cameras all over the park showing the massive crowds that arrived on opening day. We're not talking the handheld TV cameras of today, either! That's a LOT of cable.
Hollywood predicted that the park would be a flop.
Park visitors proved them very wrong that day, and every year since.
It's a lot of fun seeing just what rides were in the park opening day that are still in place today. And watching crews hose down streets, paint and try to get bathrooms working as the sun comes up opening day is wild.
It also takes me back to see how all the customers are dressed in their Sunday best, dresses, shirt and ties. Another time, well captured.
One of the best documentaries of the many good ones on Disney+, DISNEYLAND HANDCRAFTED is jaw dropping.
One year from construction start to opening day.
HOW! WHAT???
Check it out. It gets an A.
And you can watch the entire documentary here:
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