Disney Parks fans are in for a treat when they get the first look of The Imagineering Story coming to Disney+. The Walt Disney Archives opened up the floodgates of archival footage from artists and engineers that made Walt Disney’s dreams a reality. Some fans wait their whole lives for the look they are about to get into the world of Imagineering.
Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks transports us on a journey through time to take a peek behind the cast member-only areas of Walt Disney Imagineering department. The series gives us a look at what it takes to create, design, and build twelve Disney theme parks around the world.
If you appreciate the Disney Parks, you’ll see them in a new light after watching the behind the scenes of planning and construction. The first episode gives us Walt Disney and his team, building the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland.
As someone who has toured The Walt Disney Family Museum and taken a tour of Walt Disney’s office in Burbank, The Imagineering Story takes my love for Walt Disney and the imagination that radiates from everyone that works at Disney even further.
Watching Bob Gurr, the designer of the Matterhorn, give us a look at the famed basketball hoop inside the mountain is a fun way to bring on the tears for mega fans.
Through thick and thin, we get to see Disneyland come to life in the first episode. In true Walt fashion, when the media commented on how Disneyland was not completed, he replied with his now-iconic quote.
Disneyland will never be completed as long as there is imagination in the world.
Walt Disney
One of my favorite aspects of the show so far is the story about one of my favorite rides, The Haunted Mansion and the woman that plays Madame Leota. Leota “Lee” Thoombs Thomas, who is now a Disney Legend, worked in the Ink and Paint department. Her daughter Kim Irvine, a Disney Imagineer, shares her story and how she got to hear her mother’s voice for years to come in the Haunted Mansion.
Each episode gives the viewer a look into the expansion of the Disney parks and the goal of bringing families together. After Walt died, the Imagineers wanted to bring one of his final dreams to life with EPCOT, the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow.
Be prepared to sit down and watch six hours worth of Disney Imagineering from the start of Disneyland to the current construction and launches of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge.
Narrated by Angela Bassett, “The Imagineering Story” is executive produced by Leslie Iwerks and produced by Michael E. Tang for Iwerks & Co.
“The Imagineering Story” premieres November 12, 2019, streaming only on Disney+.