Adventureland Entrance, 1950's

The entrance to Adventureland hints at things exotic and mysterious. Colorful wooden shields carved with intricate designs, poles topped with sun-bleached skulls, elephant ivory, thatched roofs, and you can just see the strange tiki figure in the center of the first photo. There are also two trees (a jacaranda and a flame tree) covered in beautiful flowers.


Adventureland is an interesting pastiche of African, Oceanic, and Asian influenced art and architecture. Like most Americans, I grew up knowing these far-flung locales only from television and movies. Disneyland's designers managed to make this area feel both foreign and familiar at the same time.