Walkthrough attraction at Disney parks
Swiss Family Treehouse
is a walk-through attraction featured at
Magic Kingdom
,
Disneyland Park Paris
and
Tokyo Disneyland
. It was formerly located at
Disneyland
. The attraction is centered on a large
treehouse
based on the 1960
Disney
film
Swiss Family Robinson
.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
The Swiss Family Treehouse opened November 18, 1962, in
Adventureland
at
Disneyland
,
[2]
two years after the Disney film
Swiss Family Robinson
(1960).
Imagineer
Bill Martin worked out the treehouse's design;
[3]
[a]
Disney animator
Wolfgang Reitherman
, who designed the treehouse for the movie, contributed.
[5]
At 70 feet (21 m) tall and 80 ft (24 m) wide, constructed of concrete and reinforced steel, the attraction weighed 150 short tons (140 t).
[3]
The tree species was dubbed "
Disneyodendron semperflorens grandis
-- large, everblooming Disney tree."
[6]
John Mills
, who played Father Robinson in the movie, and his daughter
Hayley
appeared at the attraction's opening.
[7]
The attraction was a walk-through rather than a ride, in which visitors walked up 68 steps in the trunk of the tree through various "rooms" designed on the theme of the movie, with items and structures made to appear salvaged from a 19th-century shipwreck and
desert island
finds.
[8]
When it opened, the attraction required a
C ticket
.
[9]
The attraction originally opened with reddish brown leaves. However, the red leaves faded very easily in the sun and were eventually switched to green leaves sometime during the early 1960s.
When the
Magic Kingdom
opened at
Walt Disney World Resort
on October 1, 1971, the Swiss Family Treehouse was one of the original attractions of Adventureland. The tree, while intended to look real, is actually made up of steel, concrete, and stucco, stretching 60 feet (18 m) tall and 90 feet (27 m) wide. Similarly, when Euro Disneyland (now
Disneyland Paris
) opened on April 12, 1992, it featured a version of the attraction located in Adventureland, named
La Cabane des Robinson
. Tokyo Disneyland also has a Swiss Family Treehouse which opened in 1993, ten years after the park's debut.
In March 1999, the original attraction at Disneyland was closed due to issues with the main tree structure and former Disneyland president, Paul Pressler wanting to replace it with a gift shop. Despite this, it reopened in June of the same year as
Tarzan's Treehouse
, based on
Disney
's 1999 film
Tarzan
. In September 2021 the attraction closed. In April 2022 it was confirmed that it would reopen with a different theme.
[10]
It reopened as Adventureland Treehouse on November 10, 2023, which is inspired by
Swiss Family Robinson
.
[11]
[12]
Note
[
edit
]
- ^
Martin was one of the original team gathered to create Disneyland, and the art director of
Fantasyland
.
[4]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Strodder, Chris (2017).
The Disneyland Encyclopedia
(3rd ed.). Santa Monica Press. pp. 466?467.
ISBN
978-1595800909
.
- ^
Glover, Erin (November 18, 2012).
"Today in Disney History: Swiss Family Tree House Opens in Disneyland Park"
.
Disney Parks Blog
. Retrieved
2015-02-28
.
- ^
a
b
Gennawey, Sam (2013).
The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney's Dream
. Keen Communications. pp. 219?220.
ISBN
978-1-62809-013-0
.
- ^
"Bill Martin"
.
D23
. Disney Legends
. Retrieved
2015-02-28
.
- ^
Mosley, Leonard (1990).
Disney's World
. Scarborough House. p. 266.
ISBN
978-1-58979-656-0
.
- ^
Gennawey, Sam (2014).
The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney's Dream
. Keen Communications. p. 178.
ISBN
978-1-62809-012-3
.
- ^
Philips, Deborah (2012).
Fairground Attractions: A Genealogy of the Pleasure Ground
. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 184.
ISBN
978-1-84966-667-1
.
- ^
Korkis, Jim; McLain, Bob (2019). "Adventureland".
Secret Stories of Extinct Disneyland: Memories of the Original Park
. Theme Park Press.
ISBN
978-1683902041
.
- ^
Weiss, Werner (January 6, 2015).
"Swiss Family Treehouse"
. Retrieved
2015-02-28
.
- ^
MacDonald, Brady (April 18, 2022).
"Disneyland to give Tarzan's Treehouse a new theme"
.
Orange County Register
. Retrieved
November 11,
2022
.
- ^
"Adventureland Treehouse at Disneyland Park Returns in Fresh, New Way in 2023"
.
thekingdominsider.com
. November 10, 2022
. Retrieved
November 11,
2022
.
- ^
Ace, Shannen (October 25, 2023).
"2023 Opening Date Announced for New Adventureland Treehouse at Disneyland Park"
.
wdwnt.com
. Retrieved
October 26,
2023
.
External links
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