The Adventureland Treehouse at Disneyland is scheduled to open this fall, which means construction is nearing completion. The new version of the treehouse attraction is inspired by “Swiss Family Robinson” but features a different, original family.
Adventureland Treehouse Construction
The Adventureland Treehouse family have constructed their treehouse out of natural elements and pieces of their crashed ship.
To the left is a room with a thatched roof and bamboo railings.
This room with of 360-degree view of the outside may be the daughter’s astrological room. (Read more details about each of the family members at the end of this article.)
The front of the treehouse’s central building is made of the bow of a ship. And to the side is a ship’s crow’s nest.
A lantern sits on the ship’s bow, in front of rounded windows. Some of the railings resemble those from a ship, while others are made of bamboo poles.
Various types of lights on strings run over and around the central staircase.
A pipe running down the crow’s nest support is also made to look like bamboo. As we noted in our last construction update, a saqiyah has been installed. This is a mechanical water-lifting device, also seemingly made of bamboo pieces and string.
Plastic has been removed from the water wheel, which is just barely visible over the construction walls. It appears to be made of bamboo pieces cut in half.
A barrel sits on the top of the crow’s nest.
There are still some signs of construction. Scaffolding is across the right side of the treehouse and materials sit behind one railing.
There looks to be a black mat, a roll of plastic wrap, and a cardboard box. The top of this section of railing is also still wrapped in plastic.
Some black scrim is also still visible through the scaffolding and tree branches.
Scaffolding has been moved around slightly as work wraps up, but the treehouse appears nearly complete.
Adventureland Treehouse Story
Opening this fall, the Adventureland Treehouse inspired by Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson will invite guests to journey up wood rope stairways and traverse the branches of the giant tree to explore fascinating rooms representing members of a family from a new story. Capturing the spirit of the original treehouse that Walt Disney and his Imagineers built in 1962, explorers roaming among the Adventureland Treehouse will encounter the mother’s music den, the father’s art studio, the young sons’ nature room and the teenage daughter’s astronomer’s loft, with most items crafted from found objects and natural resources gathered during the family’s adventures.
Disneyland Resort
The treehouse attraction at Disneyland was originally the Swiss Family Treehouse, based on the 1960 film “Swiss Family Robinson.” It opened at Disneyland on November 18, 1962, and was an opening day attraction at Magic Kingdom and Disneyland Paris. It opened at Tokyo Disneyland in 1993 and remains the Swiss Family Treehouse at Magic Kingdom, Disneyland Paris, and Tokyo Disneyland.
Swiss Family Treehouse closed at Disneyland Park in 1999 and reopened as Tarzan’s Treehouse later that year. After another 22 years of operation, it suddenly closed in September 2021. Disney eventually announced in April 2022 that it would be rethemed. There were rumors of an “Encanto” takeover or S.E.A. theming, but Disney finally announced in November 2022 that the treehouse would have its own story, partially inspired by “Swiss Family Robinson.”
While Adventureland Treehouse may not be a fully S.E.A. attraction, there is a Society of Explorers and Adventurers banner in the concept art.
The new attraction’s story revolves around a family living in a treehouse on Jungle River. Each member of the family has their own unique gift and a themed room, featuring found objects and natural resources that they have repurposed for home use, not unlike previous iterations of the treehouse.
Guests experiencing Adventures By Disney’s nearly $115,000 private jet tour to Disney Parks around the world were the first to hear new details about the family members.
The father has created a kitchen where the meals his family enjoys can cook themselves on the stove. He has also managed to build an icebox in the jungle, which is a feat in and of itself. All of this is possible thanks to the water wheel that brings the “magical” water out of the creek below and into the tree. The water wheel is a returning element of the original attraction.
The mother is a musician and her room will see the return of the player organ from the Swiss Family Treehouse that will play the Swisskapolka.
The children of this new family are a teenage daughter and two twin boys. The daughter is a gifted astronomer and astrologer, who studies the moon and stars out of the windows of the treehouse and in the treehouse’s loft. Her room will feature graphs and models of the universe that she has put together during her studies.
The twin boys are naturalists, with one loving plants and the other loving animals. Their room will be filled with monkeys, toucans, and other kinds of plants, both man-eating and otherwise.
To make the attraction more accessible for guests unable to climb stairs, or who simply don’t want to go up high, the bottom floor is being expanded and will include the kitchen and dining room. It will also have an art studio displaying sketches and paintings of each of the rooms.
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