The Walt Disney Company's much-hyped new streaming service, Disney+, launches on November 12 and as one might expect from Disney, there will be something special there for theme park fans.
One of the new original series that will debut on the service is Leslie Iwerks' The Imagineering Story, an insider's look at the artists and engineers who create Disney's theme park attractions around the world. Disney this week released its first official trailer for the series, which includes glimpses inside cast-members-only locations such as WDI's Glendale headquarters as well as the utilidor "tunnels" under the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
Iwerks is a perfect creative force for this project, as she's an accomplished film pro who grew up with Disney legends. Her grandfather was Ub Iwerks, Walt's original animation partner and the co-creator of Mickey Mouse, and her father, Don Iwerks, created Disney's first Circle-Vision films. Leslie Iwerks was nominated for an Academy Award for her documentary short Recycled Life in 2006 and for an Emmy for her 2007 documentary The Pixar Story.
She has been working on The Imagineering Story for several years, so it's great for theme park fans who want to discover the stories behind their favorite attractions that the project now has found a home on Disney+.
For more on the inner workings on WDI, check out our interview with Imagineering President Bob Weis and our trip report from the Glendale HQ, below.
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Hello Robert: Correction please! Relative to your writeup of Leslie Iwerks Imagineering documentary, mention was made of my creating the first Circle-Vision films. I want to correct the record, as I did not create the first films, but was part of the crew that photographed the first film "Tour of the West" and the second film "America the Beautiful. My dad, Ub Iwerks was the designer of the camera and projections system.
I have written a book about my dad's many inventions and processes titled "Walt Disney's Ultimate Inventor, the Genius of Ub Iwerks", published by Disney Editions to be in book stores on December 10th. Available now on Amazon and Disneybooks.com as a pre-order.
Thanks, Don Iwerks