Classic Disney Videos Fans Will Love
Sometimes, I love to look back at Disney’s greatest moments. Plus, I’m a sucker for a theme park video from yesteryear.
So, today, I’ll take you on a guided tour of Disney history through these classic Disney videos!
Disneyland Construction Footage
Time-lapse videos never grow old, but they are older than you think.
For example, here’s rare footage from the construction phase of Disneyland.
Disney Legend Tony Baxter and two other old-school Disney employees provide the narration for this video.
The footage includes several time-lapses of orange groves evolving into the Happiest Place on Earth.
Disney
You can watch Disneyland grow from dirt and Main Street, U.S.A. come into being. The most remarkable part is the timing, though.
Disney did all this in a year! Now, you can’t even get someone to sign off on the permits for a project like this in a year.
EPCOT – Where Dreams Come True
Something I adore about YouTube is that many classic Disney videos have found their way to the service.
Some technically aren’t supposed to be there. However, Disney appears to look the other way on most of this stuff.
One day, I expect a massive number of legal takedowns when Disney+ is ready to add this kind of programming.
Until then, we can learn so much about park history from Disney’s own marketing.
For example, Disney sold EPCOT – Where Dreams Come True as a DVD in 2004.
I cannot verify this on IMDb (because it doesn’t appear to have a listing), but I suspect this aired on a cable channel as a one-hour special first.
Basically, this one is just a highlight film for the best of EPCOT circa 2004. It’s fun to watch how much the park has changed since then.
Walt Disney World: A Dream Come True
Disney recently turned 50 years old, which makes this clip quite dated.
Park officials put together a celebration of Walt Disney World for its 15th birthday. Only two parks were even open at this point!
Photo:Disney
Still, this hour-long video is arguably the most informational one on the entire list. It shows behind-the-scenes footage of Disney’s theme park strategy.
In this clip, you’ll notice a lot of reverence for Walt and Roy Disney’s accomplishments.
By the way, here’s the 25th-anniversary video as well. It’s much cheesier.
The Dream Called EPCOT
Conversely, we have this offering from Disney Parks. That means it’s an officially authorized version of The Dream Called EPCOT.
This 15-minute video celebrates the achievement of EPCOT. However, what stands out to me about it is the music. It’s…dated.
Walt Disney World Resort Behind the Scenes
I have a soft spot in my heart for this video…because I still have it stored on one of my TiVos! And yes, I still have TiVos! Deal with it.
Anyway, Disney used to air a video like this approximately once per year, usually on the now-defunct Destination America.
Credit: Disney
The programming used to be hysterical. It’d be a ghost show, a different ghost show, a Disney promotional video, and then a third ghost show.
I was always vaguely disappointed that Disney didn’t do a specific Haunted Mansion video for thematic purposes.
What’s Scarier, Haunted Mansion or The Osmond Family?
During its first 25 years in the theme park industry, Disney’s marketing relied on a tried-and-true formula.
Famous celebrities would appear at the park and act like they were having the time of their lives. I guess they were the vloggers and influencers before the internet era.
Some of the clips that came from these promotional appearances are absolutely hysterical today.
This episode of “Disneyland Showtime” stars Barbara Eden, who was somewhere between I Dream of Jeannie and Harper Valley PTA in her career.
Also appearing are Kurt Russell and the Osmond Brothers. Kurt was presumably there because he was Disney’s teen star of the moment.
As for the Osmonds, I dunno? Maybe the Jackson Five wasn’t available?
Anyway, the whole thing plays out like a Monkees episode…but this isn’t satire. It’s really the Osmonds singing Creedence Clearwater Revival songs.
The next time you start to say, “Okay, Boomer,” remember that they had to suffer through stuff like this rather than watching puppy TikToks.
(Ryan Wendler, photographer)
Later, Kurt Russell sings Sugar Sugar, the Wilson Pickett song once made famous by The Archies.
Then, everyone meets at Haunted Mansion, but it’s nowhere near as scary as Kurt Russell’s singing. Nevertheless, fans of kitsch will watch this video on repeat.
For Disney fans, it’s also a way to look at the earliest footage of Haunted Mansion, which had opened less than a year before this video.
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress…As It Was
Disney archivists and historians are fiercely loyal to an attraction that’s usually a walk-on at Magic Kingdom.
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress exists today in an eerily similar form to its early days, and that’s by design.
Imagineers don’t want to mess too much with the attraction that stole the show at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.
That first video shows Walt Disney proudly displaying the show elements for Carousel of Progress before the public ever saw it.
However, the following two clips intrigue me more. First, here’s audio from the original Progressland attraction at the World’s Fair!
I presume you noticed the picture since it’s the only visual during the 27-minute clip. Isn’t it interesting how much Disney hyped the throughput?
Walt Disney himself marveled at Progressland’s ability to satisfy 40,000 daily customers and demanded this information on the marquee!
Then, there’s this:
Yes, a loyal Disney fan has pieced together as much as possible from the original World’s Fair show!
That home of the future doesn’t appear very futuristic, does it? But, seriously, if you only watch one of these videos entirely, it should be this one!
Remember Vacation Videos?
Not every Disney video comes from the distant past. Some chestnuts from only a few years ago already seem dated and quaint.
To wit, watch this upload someone made of their 2015 Walt Disney World vacation planning DVD!
Photo: Disney
Yes, Disney was still shipping these discs as recently as 2018! Of course, this is something we’ll never witness again in our lifetimes because what’s the point?
Disney can more easily post park videos across their social media channels, which they do several times a day!
Photo: Disney
However, I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for these vacation planner DVDs.
