''Disneyland Dream'' (1956) is a

home movie A home movie is a short amateur film or video typically made just to preserve a visual record of family activities, a vacation, or a special event, and intended for viewing at home by family and friends. Originally, home movies were made on ph ...

made by Robbins and Meg Barstow that documents their family's free trip to the newly opened

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

. The one-week trip was a prize they won in a contest sponsored by Scotch tape. The movie was shot with a 16 mm handheld camera.''America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry'': Essay about ''Disneyland Dream''
/ref> It lasts approximately 35 minutes. An audio track was added to the film in 1995. The Barstows lived in Wethersfield,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. They flew to California with

TWA Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

and stayed at the Huntington-Sheraton Hotel in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

. They visited other Southern California locations, including

Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park located in Buena Park, California, owned and operated by Cedar Fair. In 2015, it was the twelfth-most-visited theme park in North America and averages approximately 4 million visitors per year. It features 40 ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

Grauman's Chinese Theatre Grauman's Chinese Theatre (branded as TCL Chinese Theatre for naming rights reasons) is a movie palace on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. The original Chines ...

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, Will Rogers' home and Catalina Island on their July 1956 trip. Comedian

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...

who worked at Disneyland as a child, appears briefly at 20:20 into the film, selling programs as he walks left to right in the lower right part of the frame, dressed in top hat, dark vest, and a pink striped shirt.

National Film Registry

In 2008, ''Disneyland Dream'' was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The National Film Registry cited its "fantastical historical snapshots" of early Southern California and the budding importance of the home movies in "American cultural studies as they provide priceless and authentic record of time and place." Commenting on the selection of ''Disneyland Dream'' into the National Film Registry, Robbins Barstow stated: "I think it's because it gives a picture of a representative American middle class family that's functional".

Notes

External links

* ''Disneyland Dream'' essay by Liz Coffey on the

websit

* ''Disneyland Dream'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 518–52

* iarchive:barstow disneyland dream 1956, Download of the Home Movie *
''New York Times'' obituary of Mr. Barstow, November 13, 2010
{{Authority control 1956 films American documentary films United States National Film Registry films Disneyland Resort 1956 documentary films Amateur filmmaking Disneyland Knott's Berry Farm 1950s English-language films 1950s American films