Fifty years ago today, on November 18, 1962, the Swiss Family Tree House opened in Adventureland at Disneyland park, taking guests into the world of the 1960 Disney film “Swiss Family Robinson.” The tale of a shipwrecked family who built themselves an island home was brought to life in this Disneyland attraction where guests walked – or rather, climbed – through a treehouse filled with European furniture, ship parts saved from the wreck and items found around the island.
The Disneyodendron semperflorens grandis (large ever-blooming Disney tree) was man-made, with concrete roots, steel limbs and 300,000 plastic leaves.
A new family moved into the treehouse on March 8, 1999, when it became Tarzan’s Treehouse but the familiar “Swisskapolka” still plays from the phonograph.
See more of Disneyland Resort history in the posts below:
Comments
I agree with Eric, it’s time to get rid of Tarzan, even though I still wouldn’t be able to go up the treehouse as I can no longer handle stairs.
They fixed the Tiki Birds back to the original at WDW, isn’t it time to fix Tarzan’s Treehouse back to the original at DLR? Both changes happened at the same time for the same reason, and now it’s time they both got a little appreciation again.
I recently watched bonus material on one of my Disney dvds – I think it was Swiss Family Robinson – film footage of Walt Disney at the opening of this attraction with Hayley Mills and her father John Mills. It was really wonderful to see Walt Disney pretending to eat at the table and and lying on one of the Swiss Family Robinson beds! He looked like he was in a great mood. I wish they had left the original attraction at Disneyland intact, as I am sure it is missed. It is great to see these photos. Thank you for this post Erin!
Quite a Day for Anniversaries! Thanks for sharing
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