Key Points
- Disneyland Handcrafted tells the startling tale of how Walt Disney constructed Disneyland in a single year.
- The movie documents everything from bringing in fully grown trees for the Jungle Cruise to choosing between functional restrooms and drinking fountains for the opening day.
- According to director Leslie Iwerks, who is the granddaughter of Mickey Mouse animator Ub Iwerks, “every day was a stressful day for him.”
There are innumerable tales about how Walt Disney transformed his vision for a ground-breaking theme park into reality in less than a year, for every ethereal turret on Sleeping Beauty Castle, every one of Mickey Mouse’s exquisitely crafted character costumes, and every fragrant puff of sweet caramelized air wafting down Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A.
Now, director Leslie Iwerks’ new Disneyland Handcrafted documentary raises a magic wand to reveal such wild, untold tales from those who assisted Disney in building his iconic theme park over a 12-month period leading up to its July 17, 1955 opening over an old orange grove in Anaheim, California, using a combination of rare and never-before-seen footage, photos, and audio clips.
“You cut to what’s happening behind the scenes at the park while he’s on TV promoting this, grinning and saying, ‘We’re going to do it.'” Iwerks recently revealed to Good Morning America what she discovered about Disney’s emotional state at the time, as Walt and countless artists, engineers, landscapers, and manual workers used up the majority of their physical and mental energy to create Disneyland. “It’s like night and day.”
The procedure showed how “every day was a stressful day” in the lead-up to Disneyland’s launch, according to Iwerks, the granddaughter of Ub Iwerks, one of Mickey Mouse’s original animators. “Walt used his home, salary, and means of subsistence as leverage. She stated, “He essentially put the company on the line to make Disneyland.
“I have a great deal of appreciation for what Walt did and what it took to make the world so happy after seeing him go through this process,” Iwerks went on. “I’m going to create the happiest place on earth,” he thought as he gazed out at that dirt lot. He did an incredible job, and I wanted to show viewers what it was actually like.”
Disneyland Handcrafted, which is currently available for streaming on Disney+ and Disney YouTube, contains a number of startling tales that Iwerks and her crew discovered. Entertainment Weekly has collated these accounts. Continue reading to learn some of the most bizarre tales from the movie about how Disney constructed Disneyland in a single year.
Construction (and chaos) begins in 1954
The future world-famous resort was just row after row of orange trees before Disneyland was Disneyland, before Indiana Jones stormed the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, before visitors climbed the slopes of the Matterhorn, and before yellow cups were a drunken mainstay at California Adventure.
Disney had, in fact, purchased a respectable piece of land in southern California, where he would start building his ideal park atop about 160 acres of isolated orange groves.
Disney contributed a significant amount of his creative energy (as well as personal funds) to the project. Disney is already a successful, multi-Oscar-winning creator of animated films and the popular Mickey Mouse character. However, not everyone had Disney’s level of confidence that his concept would succeed.
In Disneyland Handcrafted, renowned TV personality Art Linkletter remembers that Disney once took him to Anaheim to show him “some kind of a Disney affair here in Southern California,” which Disney referred to as “top-secret stuff” that was still under construction. Linkletter claims, “I didn’t bother to tell him I thought he was out of his mind.” However, less than a year later, he would assist Disney in planning a huge television show that would promote the opening of Disneyland.
Disney’s decision to invite camera crews to record the construction process for television broadcasts before to the park’s inauguration may have saved it from complete collapse because his frequent updates sparked intense national attention.
Additionally, decades later, it gave Iwerks snippets of intriguing video for Disneyland Handcrafted. While some workers are hammering railroad ties, scaling multi-story flagpoles to make last-minute repairs, and etching intricate details into rock work and Sleeping Beauty Castle walls, early scenes depict workers eating sandwiches and drinking from thermoses atop mounds of dirt inside the plot.
Full-grown trees rise like magic — and so do tensions
With mounds of earth developing into the iconic Disneyland “berm” that divides the park from the outside world and immerses visitors in the fantasy of Disney’s highly themed experience, the film depicts amazing images from the park just seven months before it opened.
The popular Jungle Cruise boat ride was described as being fully transported to “Walt’s world” by landscaper Bill Evans, who put a lot of effort into adding greenery. Many fully grown trees were brought into the area to further enhance the sense of being deep inside a tropical paradise within the boundaries of Disneyland.
He want large trees, not just small ones. “Trees have no scale,” he said. He desired a genuine performance there. Dick Irvine, the project’s chief art director, stated, “He used to ride hard on Bill Evans to get bigger and better trees.” “Walt didn’t want to wait five years to get the landscape to harmonize with the architecture,” Evans continued. Up until we ran out of money, we could accomplish it. Our budget was really small, and we were aiming for immediate maturity within its limitations.”
Evans exclaims that he “did a quick sketch of where we were going to put perms, boulders, and trees, but no dimensions or anything” and that he “planted it all by the seat of my pants” as Iwerks plays video of the crew moving large trees into the land. Iwerks then depicts him examining the land and planting trees along the shoreline wherever he saw fit while driving a car along what would eventually become the boat path for the voyage.
There is one significant tree in this location that is older than everything else on Disneyland property, but Disneyland Handcrafted doesn’t discuss it. The Dominguez Tree is a tree that Disney was required to protect as part of the conditions he set with the Dominguez family, who sold him their land so he could construct the park on it. Disney moved the tree, which was allegedly a wedding present that the Dominguez family kept, to the Jungle Cruise location, where it remains to this day.
Iwerks shows disaster nearly striking a Disneyland construction worker
Iwerks displays a startling scene of a construction worker almost being crushed by a machine he is riding at 14 minutes into the movie.
In the video, the man is driving a big car while trying to move a massive pile of dirt up a short hill. However, the car overturns an embankment, causing him to jump out and land on the ground. Just as the car is about to collapse on top of him, he glances up, but it tilts back to a safe position just inches from crushing him.
Disney states, “With so much activity and so much heavy equipment, there’s bound to be an upset now and then,” in a brief audio clip that follows the humorous scene. “But, the operators take these things in stride, and fortunately, we’ve had no serious accidents.”
Money talks. Sometimes, it screams (to the tune of $17 million over budget)
“The initial budget was $4.5 million. It was $7 million in August. It was $11 million in December. According to construction supervisor Joe Fowler, “by the springtime, it was anybody’s guess” regarding the skyrocketing expenses incurred during the constructing phase. “We ran out of money and nearly had to stop construction at $17 million,” adds accountant Milt Albright. That’s what happens when you try to create something as unique as Disneyland quickly.”
Disney became “sincerely worried about the situation” at hand, according to Fowler, because he had put his own time and money into the project and the failure of Disneyland may have destroyed the Disney brand as a whole.
“I have nothing and I haven’t made any investments in ranches. All I have is a house. Disney states in the film, “But, this thing, I put my own money in, and I borrowed on the insurance that I’ve been paying on for thirty years.” Albright then states, “They would have gone down.” Since everything was tied up in the park, the studio would have perished along with it.
In the film’s archival audio, art director Harper Goff recalls that everything “wasn’t sweetness and light and beautiful during the construction.” He also recalls Disney telling him that they had “spent a little over half the money that we have to spend on this park” and that “there isn’t one thing there or there or there or there, but holes in the ground and piles of dirt.” Nobody would pay fifteen cents to see anything. I’m afraid.”
Rivers of America sank (metaphorically) before opening
Today, visitors to Disneyland are familiar with the expansive Rivers of America as the scenic waterway where the Fantastmic! nightly spectacle takes place and where the classic Mark Twain riverboat ride floats.
However, the region didn’t always actually contain water. In the movie, former Disneyland publicist Charlie Ridgeway describes a catastrophic event involving Rivers of America: “They had a lot of problems getting the place open by that opening day.” After excavating the Rivers of America and filling it with water one evening, they returned the following morning to find it completely dry. The sandy soil was the cause. The water simply vanished.
Disney boldly valued his guests’ bladders
Park operator Dick Nunis recalls a humorous Disney comment from right before the park opened, as workers scrambled to finish preparations at the last minute.A plumbing strike occurred. So, the question was whether we should have toilets or drinking fountains.
Because, as Nunis recalls, there was just not enough time to do both.”Well, you know, we have to have restrooms,” Walt remarked. People are not allowed to urinate in the street, yet they are allowed to consume Coke and Pepsi.
Speaking of leaks, Sleeping Beauty Castle’s perimeter was surrounded by blue flames due to a pre-opening gas leak, according to Bill Martin, another art director. Fortunately, everything was corrected, and as far as we know, no one urinated in the street.
Disney pulled off the impossible when Disneyland formally opened to the public on July 17, 1955, despite the future Tomorrowland still existing in the realm of… uh… tomorrow (“We had these big buildings on both sides, but with nothing in them,” recalls park model maker Fred Joerger).
He created a lavish 90-minute opening ceremony that was shown live on TV screens across the nation, capitalizing on his concept to film the building on primetime television in the months preceding the unveiling.
The movie depicts rehearsals occurring while the park worked out last-minute construction hitches, such as melting asphalt trapping equipment and dancers rehearsing their routines while trucks and even ride vehicles—employees can be seen pushing Autopia race cars along the paths—zoom by. Disney characterizes the situation as a “frantic last-minute” scramble with three days remaining, yet it was successful.
Near the end of the film, Disney also makes his now-famous dedication to the park: “To all who come to this happy place, welcome. You are in Disneyland. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideas, hopes, and hard facts that have shaped America. With the aim that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world, this place allows youth to enjoy the challenge and promise of the future while aging relives treasured memories of the past.
Disney’s vision, perseverance, and “out of his mind” devotion to Disneyland proved to be worthwhile in the end, as evidenced by a last line that flashes on screen shortly after. To date, the park has welcomed 900 million visitors through its gates.
