Swiss Family Treehouse, August 1965
Visitors to Disneyland have to be of a certain age to remember that Tarzan's Treehouse once belonged to a certain Swiss family. While I don't hate Tarzan's Treehouse ("hate" is such a strong word), it lacks the charm (and dare I say it, "magic") of the Swiss Family Treehouse. Today I have three photos, taken from up in that tree's canopy.
Down below, it appears as if Father, Mother, Fritz, Ernst, and Moochie have just stepped out for a bit, perhaps to take a walk along the shore. It whets the appetite, and who knows, maybe they will see a distant sail on the horizon. Just as long as it's not a pirate's sail! All the tableware appears to be made of wood or bamboo (not counting the metal knife blades). Dinner that night would be Sloppy Joes, though they called them "Sloppy Jakobs".
Oh boy, my favorite thing, the system of waterwheels and pulleys, constructed of simple materials (some pieces retrieved from their wrecked ship), yet ingenious enough to make Rube Goldberg doff his hat. Who ever dreamed of living up in the branches of a giant tree, and actually having running water?
More waterworks. Even the professor from Gilligan's Island never managed to use bamboo like this. Luckily for the people who visit the Magic Kingdom in Florida, there is another Swiss Family Treehouse.
17 comments:
The waterworks were my favorite thing about the Swiss Family Treehouse. I hear that Tarzan has been evicted for an Encanto overlay coming soon.
Thanks, Major.
I like how the benches and chairs around the table are all made of different parts of the ship or from materials on the island. The bench closest to us appears to be a locker door from the ship.
The vents in the locker door could be handy at times. Like, if you ate some questionable seafood and suddenly felt queasy, you could turn your head to the right and 'recycle' it into the vent holes, where it would trickle down into a bamboo bucket underneath the bench. Those Robinsons thought of everything!
... Oh dear. Another barf thread. But hey, you can't argue with Mother Nature.
I assume that the waterworks depended on a hidden motor and a pump to give the illusion of the waterwheel being powered by running water, yes?
I vaguely remember seeing the water being dumped from the bamboo buckets, into a trough... I think.
Thanks for jogging my creativity, Major.
Poor Janet Munro. I guess the Robinson Family didn't let her stay in the DL version of their treehouse. Maybe they made her live in a cave over on TSI.
Even the professor from Gilligan's Island never managed to use bamboo like this.
True, but did the Robinson Family have a car or a dental office on their island? I think not.
“… Father, Mother, Fritz, Ernst, and Moochie…” Deep cuts - part of why I love this blog. Well, that and the fact that nobody seems to mind my stench and all of the fleas.
I’ve always found it odd that they didn’t have a room for Dr. Smith, considering how prominent he was on the show. And I have no idea how the Robot was supposed to negotiate those stairs.
Aside from their main pad in Florida, the Robinsons also have their own vacation Treehouse Villas at Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland.
Thanks for these views, Major. They have already brightened my day. Oh, wait…that was just the sun coming up.
As a kid I was always amazed by the waterworks and was so sad when Tarzan kicked the Robinsons to the curb (evil ape-man).
This mechanism was the work of the old school Imagineering, the like of which will not be seen again. I remember standing with my Dad and uncle about where the last photos were made and watching the water wheel go. We were just fascinated by the thing, what a show, and barely part of the story or film, conceived in the pure joy of doing cool things. Which was really the root of Disneyland to start with.
I’m not sad to see Tarzan go, that was a misbegotten heap and not well integrated into the Tree. I’m hoping the SFR will come back, since they are re-making it, undoubtedly with with plenty of pink and gold, and plush toy sales opportunities. But Ken is probably right and Encanto is more likely, sigh.
JG
When I hear "Moochie" I think of Jane Wyman: "Pollyanna...don't stare at the orphans". Speaking of Pollyanna's dad...the real one...not the one that died as a missionary...Swiss Family Robinson is one of my all time movie favorites. I understand that people would not connect the IP today...but the entire treehouse still stands up as a unique attraction despite it's connections to popular media. Let us remember that the story is from LITERATURE...as Tom Sawyer is from LITERATURE...and there is NO NEED WHATSOVER to connect it to modern IP as it already has provenance as being...literature. There is a reason why people are still performing Hamlet hundreds of years later. Peter Pan..yes...also literature....you wouldn't say "Peter Pan isn't relevant anymore, so let's change that whole pirate- theme to some Johnny Depp thing...which BY THE WAY...is Disneyland re-manufactured IP anyway...ok...I will save this all for my Podcast. I was completely enthralled by Swiss Family Robinson when I saw it for the first time. I still am. Just the right amount of everything, and a somewhat happy ending...although I did think that Tommy Kirk was selling out when he decided that he would go on to bigger and better things off the island. I was always rooting for James McArthur to win Janet Munro. So much more dashing and humble than Tommy. James McArthur, the 3rd Man on the Mountain, married to Joyce Bullifant- The Happiest Millionaire...Joyce Bullifant, wife of Bill Asher, husband of "Samantha Stevens", also director of ILL, and "Beach Party", starring Annette...that is some full circle, although Annette was also in "The Horsemasters" with Janet Munro and Tommy Kirk. Janet Munro and James McArthur got TWO endearing DL attractions: The Matterhorn, and The Swiss Family Treehouse. Annette got a couple of minor "attractions" in the Mickey Mouse Club Circus, and the Babes in Toyland Walkthrough. I'm not sure if either of those things were "TRE'd" Babes in Toyland still freaks me out. What fantastic engineering to build this treehouse...both the set and the attraction. There is a great little film of Walt taking the Mills through the attraction. The ACTUAL tree in Tobago is apparently still alive. The treehouse was left up for a while and then a storm took it out. There may possibly be little "bits and bobs" of Ebay trinkets that blew off living in the surrounding area. For my next trip to Tobago. Perhaps I will play hooky from work today and watch the Family Swiss. Side note: photos of the Treehouse are not completely complete without Earl standing at the turnstile. Thanks for the morning memories.
Chuck, thanks for pointing out that Tokyo DL still has their Swiss Family Robinson version of the treehouse. I meant to mention that in my comment. Here are a few pics of theirs. I had taken pics of all the various scenes/rooms, but it looks like I never got around to posting them.
https://meettheworldinprogressland.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-tokyo-adventureland.html
K. Martinez, I often wonder if the guys who removed those waterworks had any idea how much people loved them? I appreciated that they “expanded” Tarzan’s Treehouse so that you crossed that bridge, but otherwise there was not a lot to love about the ape-man’s abode.
JB, you’d think that “a treehouse” would be a relatively simple attraction, but the attention to detail (like the different benches and chairs) was truly amazing. I wonder how much of that came from the movie? Maybe some of the props were actually used in Tobago (although I suspect that the ones at the park were made just for that purpose). More barf, sorry to everyone reading this first thing in the morning! I argue with Mother Nature all the time. “Why won’t you rain??” I yell at the sky (shaking my fist, of course). I’ve always wondered if water actually powered all those do-dads… probably not, but a guy can dream.
TokyoMagic!, Janet Munro was originally welcome into the treehouse, but everyone got tired of her burping the alphabet at dinner. Can you blame them? I remember the Gilligan’s Island car (more of a golf cart, if I recall), but not a dental office. That professor could build anything!
Chuck, I’ve seen “Moochie of Pop Warner Football” (back when I was in grade school) and have wondered why it hasn’t gotten the big screen treatment. Throw in a few CGI robots and a blue beam blasting up into space, and you’ve got yourself a hit. By the way, Alan Hale Jr. was in “MoPWF”, it was like watching early De Niro. The lovable Robot from “Lost in Space” had to cool his jets at the base of the tree, but he didn’t mind. Sometimes those Robinsons could be a little rambunctious for his taste. I am not extra-jealous that there are Swiss Family treehouses in practically every park BUT Disneyland.
MRaymond, I’ve heard that they were going to tear the treehouse out completely until someone (Tony B?) came up with the Tarzan theme, so I’m glad it wasn’t removed, but gosh, how much could it have cost to run that attraction? Minimal maintenance and maybe one cast member… just leave it alone!
JG, I have a memory of my dad getting impatient with me, because all I wanted to do was watch the waterwheels and pulleys with bamboo spilling the water into troughs. So cool! Much more fun than boring pipes. It’s been so long since I’ve seen the old Disney movie that I wasn’t sure if the plumbing was a feature of that treehouse. I’m not very sad to see Tarzan go either, but I wonder how many people are aware of “Encanto”? It was a nice movie, and looked beautiful, but it doesn’t feel like it had much cultural impact.
Bu, I have never seen “Pollyanna”, sad to say. It’s probably on Disney+, but who has time? The Kardashians have new episodes! I remember loving Swiss Family Robinson when I was a kid, but wonder if it holds up now that I am an adult. The fantasy of living on a beautiful tropical island full of everything a person could need to live was pretty wonderful. And of course the ingenuity of the Robinsons made it so much more fun. I agree with you wholeheartedly regarding IP and classic literature. The excuse that “nobody knows who the Swiss Family Robinson was” is a pretty hollow argument. Maybe the attraction would inspire a kid to want to learn more? If not, it was STILL a fun and cool attraction. I didn’t even think of Annette as having ANY Disneyland attractions associated with her, but you’re right about the two you mentioned. Who’s Earl?
There is still hope that the Robinsons will return to the treehouse. In late 2020, it was announced that Disney+ was developing a series based on the movie, so the synergistic possibilities are there for a green light. Security has been pretty tight on what’s coming next for the tree, and anybody we know who might have inside information is wisely (and, presumably, contractually) keeping quiet. Crossing my fingers. Whatever it is, I hope it includes a giant, blue beam bursting into space.
Although I would have rather seen it stay under the Robinsons’ management, the only reason the structure survived the Pressler regime at all was the conversion into Tarzan’s Treehouse. Otherwise, it would have been torn out and the space used for a gift shop. See the Yesterland article for more details.
I remember my grandfather loved the treehouse! Before he became a preacher, he ran a sheet metal shop. He had a brilliant mechanical engineering mind. We stood and watched it for quite a while as he explained how, due to water not compressing, hydrolics were plenty strong enough to power everything.
Yes, WDW had the treehouse too (and I hope they never change that- but the current set of morons have polished TRE into an art form), but WDW will never have the memory of my grandfather and me staring at that waterwheel and chatting.
We all loved the treehouse back then. The water wheel was obviously everyone's favorite. It was a real, moving piece of ancient engineering that was captivating. I agree with JG completely.
Thanks Major, a really nice treat.
Chuck, I just saw a headline about how the Tarzan’s Treehouse “stump” (I assume that means the second tree trunk) has been totally removed now. Like you, I’d love for the Swiss Family to return, it makes more sense than “Encanto”, even though I did enjoy that movie. I pretty much forgot about it two days after watching it. Maybe instead of a BLUE beam blasting up into space, they could make it a GREEN beam. That’s right folks, I thought of that just now, and it’s a twenty-million dollar idea. Even after living through the Pressler era it’s still hard to believe that they would just tear out the treehouse to make way for a gift shop. “There aren’t enough places for guests to spend their money!”.
Stu29573, I wish I had memories of going up the treehouse with my grandpa! He was game for anything, he’d go on the Matterhorn when the other adults declined. I can only imagine that we did go up those steps together, but (darn it) I don’t have any recollection of it if it happened. If I ever do go to the Magic Kingdom, the SFT would be one of the things I would definitely have to do.
DrGoat, “ancient engineering”… are you saying that it was built by ALIENS? It’s the only explanation!
Well, when you're on a break from building the pyramids and Stonehenge, you've got to do something relaxing, right?
Puke, stench, fleas, and the deepest cuts on the Internet!
Tarzan had already moved in by the time I made it to Disneyland, so sadly I gave the treehouse a miss. But the angles on today’s pictures give them 100% RDA of You Are There. I love how the furnishings in WDW’s version and in today’s pictures are just wee enough to make you feel like you’ve stepped into a dollhouse.
Almost disillusioning to point out that MGM was there first. Their Tarzan and Jane had a treehouse equipped with similar water-moving technology plus a ceiling fan powered by a crank. This was after the series had moved away from pre-code sex and violence to family fare (Jane always introduced Tarzan as her husband, implying benefit of clergy, and Boy completed the respectable nuclear family).
The waterworks were brilliantly designed in that the mechanism was revealed piece by piece as you toured the treehouse. The Florida version spoils the idea up front. The Tarzan version is the worst, dull and lifeless.
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