Rating: 
Summary: The Perfect Trip to Disneyland
Review: "Walt Disney Treasures - Disneyland USA," is the perfect trip to Disneyland. The first program takes you back in time as Walt Disney plans Disneyland. Unfortunately, the first program has very little on Disneyland itself and actually concentrates more about what the Disneyland TV show will be about and then has a tribune to Mickey Mouse. Still, the opening
minutes are appreciated. Next, you get to go LIVE way back to July 1955 on the day that Disneyland opened. This is a special treat to see Disneyland on the very first day! Then you will speed ahead to 1962 for "Disneyland at Night!" This is a colorful and musical treat of Disneyland after the sun goes down. If you don't care for the music, don't worry, the pictures are beautiful and you will enjoy seeing what Disneyland looked like at night in 1962. Finally, you are taken to January 1965 for Disneyland's Tenth year special. You'll have the behind the scenes peak at up-coming attractions like "Haunted Mansion" and "Pirates of the Caribbean." There is also some dancing and music to celebrate this very special year. Overall, this beautifully presented and limited DVD set in tin case, is perfect for anyone who is a fan of Disneyland. Pop in the DVDs and you will be taken to the "happiest place on earth." Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Great idea - wrong content
Review: Great idea but wrong shows selected for the collection.
I recently discovered some of the shows that highlight the Disneyland park in Southern California while watching the old "Wonderful World of Disney" series on the Disney Channel. They were shown several times, so I recorded them on VHS tapes.
I bought this set thinking the programs I loved so much were included. I was wrong.
So you know what I am talking about, there were three shows in particular that should be, but are not, in this DVD set:
(1) Disneyland USA - I think dated 1956 and is pre-Wonderful World of Disney television show. This featurette was in COLOR and provides a tour of the original Disneyland park after it opened. It includes each of the "lands" and is nothing but park, park, park. It even has an extended piece on the Adventureland water ride. This program was more like a travel log feature that may have been shown in theaters (probably with a Disney movie).
(2) Day at Disneyland - from the Wonderful World of Disney television show and shown in BLACK and WHITE. This show started in the studio with Walt and Tinkerbell and moves to a tent in the parking lot from a Disney company picnic. It seems to have re-used footage from the Disneyland USA featurette and covered each "land" quite extensively.
(3) Pirates of the Carribbean - from the Wonderful World of Disney television show and shown in COLOR. This incredible show provides a design view of the ride, the actual building of the sets and mannequins and then film of the press opening with a full run through of the ride (like you were really in the little boat with the first riders).
It was shows like those listed above that really captured what the part must have been like in the beginning. It is really sad that the Anniversary Show and Disneyland at Night episodes were included but these three shows listed above did not.
Rating: 
Summary: Revisionist History
Review: This dvd is indeed edited. Where are the mouseketeers? On the original program Dateline Disneyland they were shown marching in the parade and they did their own special musical number and roll call. You won't see them here.Folks, this is NOT the entire program that was shown nation wide on television in July, 1955. Disney only wants you to see what they want you to see. Could this be revisionist history? Disney,if Walt wanted them to be included in the original 1955 program,who are you to take out what your founder originally wanted? If you're going to edit out things that Walt approved or had no problems with, then don't call yourself "The Walt Disney Company" anymore. Since his name is a part of the company name, then his values should always be there and nothing should ever be edited out that he approved of. Otherwise, you're truly not "The WALT DISNEY Company"! ALWAYS do things the way Walt would have done them or no longer call yourself "The WALT DISNEY Company". In a way, to be "The Walt Disney Company" you need to be the man himself.
Rating: 
Summary: The star (Disneyland) deserves more screen time.
Review: This is perhaps the most disappointing entry in the otherwise strong Walt Disney Treasures series, mainly because there's so little about Disneyland itself in it. The two discs feature four episodes from the Disney TV series, plus a companion feature so brief (under 9 minutes!) that it's hardly worth inclusion:
"The Disneyland Story" from 1954 shows how the TV series was essentially created to help bankroll construction of the theme park, but the episode features virtually no footage of the park or its construction (which was completed, remarkably, in less than a year). Instead, we see only models, padded with a rare glimpse of "Song of the South" but only in black-and-white. (Elsewhere in the Treasures series, footage originally filmed in color but broadcast in black-and-white is shown on the DVDs in color, but not this time, probably because the Disney Company has long been embarrassed by SOS's racial content--it's never been released in the U.S. on DVD.)
"Dateline Disneyland" features almost 90 minutes of live television coverage from opening day in 1955. It's heavily padded, however, with celebrity sightings, boring dedication speeches, marching bands and staged street performances that do little to highlight the attractions of the park. (How many times does the announcer have to say, "And here's Danny Thomas with his family!" before we get the point? I found myself fast-forwarding through two-thirds of this show.)
With the exception of some priceless color footage of jazz great Louis Armstrong performing on board the Mark Twain, "Disneyland After Dark" features mostly unremarkable stage acts interspersed with precious few scenes of the park lit up at night. All Walt Disney's scenes are filmed with actors on a sound stage--and they look it.
"Disneyland 10th Anniversary" from 1965 is the only segment that truly lives up to this set's billing as a showcase for Disneyland. Disney himself gives viewers a tour around the "imagineering" department, showing off early conceptual sketches and models for such classic attractions as the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, neither of which opened until after Disney's death in 1966. We meet such ground-breaking imagineers as Mary Blair and Marc Davis. Finally, we see color footage, narrated by Disney, of attractions that have long since been retired, like the Flying Saucers and Submarine Voyage. It takes a film like this to remind us what a boneyard Tomorrowland has become since Disney's death, but this episode alone is not enough to recommend the whole package.
Rating:
Summary: An absolute must for any Disney fan
Review: This DVD interested me because I love the Disney Parks. I had no idea that I would be educated about Disney Studios operations and see so many appearances of Walt Disney himself. I enjoyed seeing the historical footage of Disneyland and the planning process that goes into creating a place like Disneyland. All in all, I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: DisneyLand, the way Walt wanted it to be
Review: We just went on a trip to Disney World and I wanted my 4 year old son to see how it all started. This DVD set, while mostly in black and white, kept his and our interest because a lot of the original designs still exist today. The DVD is for Disney Land, but Disney World was built on the successes of Disney Land, so everything is similar. It was a lot of fun to see how the concepts became reality. On the second disc there are interviews with Walt Disney where he describes things that he would like to see. These things, including EPCOT became a reality after he had passed away, but his vision is what EPCOT was designed around. I highly recommend this DVD set, even though Elvis is not mentioned at all.
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