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Building Walt’s Dream – Disneyland Construction Timelapse Video

If you’re a Disney fan, and I hope you are if you’re reading this blog, stop what you’re doing right now and set aside the next 50 minutes to flashback to the very first moments of Disneyland with Walt Disney pacing off the site and proceed through the year via timelapse video until the park is ready for opening day. This never-before-seen footage was sitting on a shelf all these years and only saved by a curious employee.

It starts off with some never before seen footage of Walt, Marvin Davis, Dick Irvine, and Roy Disney (seldom seen in photos) on the site. You really get to see how Walt already had the park in his mind and everything else was just details. Commentary is by Tony Baxter, Ed Hobleman, and Walter Magnuson.

Building Walt’s Dream – Playlist

I don’t know about you, but I’m in Disneyland heaven right now. So beautiful to watch.

Update: Apparently this footage is from a DVD released in 2007. I’d never seen it.

18 Comments »

Comment by BIll Sodeman
2009-07-27 02:08:55

Great video! This is a winner… I love the explanation of the towers.

 
Comment by John
2009-07-27 07:52:03

Thank you for this! Truly wonderful to see it all coming together like this, and with narration yet!

Cheers, JOHN :0)

 
Comment by Christine Eubanks
2009-07-27 18:19:08

Isn’t some of this on Disk Two of the “Disney Treasures” DVD called “Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic” that came out a year or two ago? I know I have seen the Gazebo moving around…. Haven’t looked at all 50 minutes, of course.

 
Comment by Amy
2009-07-27 21:13:53

Amazing! Thanks for sharing this.

 
Comment by James
2009-07-27 23:23:05

Thanks! But isn’t this from the Disneyland treasure dvd series?

 
Comment by Jim Lane
2009-07-28 11:21:34

Truly amazing footage; I add my thanks to the others’.

In 1970 I interviewed Marcel Delgado, the colleague of Willis O’Brien who built the stop-motion models for The Lost World, King Kong and Mighty Joe Young. He showed me his scrapbooks, and lo and behold, there were some shots of Mr. Delgado with some of the hippos in your fourth clip. I pointed, amazed. “Is this…Disneyland? Did you work on Disneyland?” He smiled. “Yes, just a little; not enough to do any harm.”

 
Comment by Walt Baranger
2009-08-05 17:07:07

Those paper plans at the beginning of the clip seem to include Edison Street, which was going to connect Main Street and Tomorrowland (roughly the location where they ended up building the Inn Between employee cafeteria).

 
Comment by Miranda
2009-08-15 01:33:52

I wish Disney would bring their vmk game back. it was the best game they ever had and they closed it down

 
Comment by Jacob
2009-09-10 19:01:01

That video was truly amazing! I watched it all. It’s probably the most magical footage I’ve seen of early Disneyland.

“Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”
Walt Disney, 1901-1966

 
Comment by Mandy
2009-10-07 21:13:35

That is a good video. Disney is always changing. I remember when you could see Mickey with a musket. Something you would never see now.

 
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