Disneyland history is one of those things that we could learn about forever and ever because there are so many stories about Disneyland’s development and early days that we still haven’t completely heard.

Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks ©Disney

Sure, we know about how Walt dreamed up Disneyland when he was watching his children ride a carousel. We’ve also paid tribute to his apartment that still sits above the Main Street Fire Station on Main Street, U.S.A. (and where a light is always kept on for him). We’ve watched ALL the documentaries on Disney+, including The Imagineering Story. Well, the woman behind The Imagineering Story is giving us a brand-new Disneyland documentary, Disneyland Handcrafted.

Leslie Iwerks knows a thing or two about Disneyland history. Her family has a long history of working with Disney: both her father, Don, and grandfather, Ub, are Disney Legends. She also served as the producer of The Imagineering Story. At Destination D23, Iwerks took the stage and announced a new documentary, Disneyland Handcrafted. This new documentary takes you behind the creation of Disneyland over 70 years ago and includes ASMR rare footage she handpicked from the Walt Disney Archives. 

©Disney

During Disneyland’s construction, Walt had several cameramen capture many of the moments of the park’s creation, leading up to its opening day. That footage featured an up-close look at many of the people who were actually there during the tough times when Disneyland was being built. Most of this footage has never been seen before, but you’ll see it in the new documentary.

Don Iwerks ©Disney

Leslie toured the Walt Disney Archives to track down these historical film reels, which led to the discovery of reels that had never been scanned before. Leslie and her team worked tirelessly to produce high-resolution scans of every reel to restore this footage that shows the early days of Disneyland.

Personally, I’m obsessed with Disneyland history, and I loved learning more about the behind-the-scenes stories of the park in The Imagineering Story. I can’t wait to watch Disneyland Handcrafted and see some of this footage that’s never seen the light of day before.

Disneyland Handcrafted is coming to Disney+ and Disney YouTube this winter, so keep an eye out. In the meantime, stay tuned to DFB for more.

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Will you be adding this documentary to your watchlist? Share with us in the comments!

Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Disney to attend Destination D23. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ