Swiss Family Treehouse
[Disney Vacation Planner]
| At A Glance |
Housed in the Disneyodendron
eximus the Treehouse is a representation from the Disney
Swiss Family Robinson film. |
Nestling in the branches of a Banyan tree, the Swiss Family Treehouse
almost fills the entire tree. You climb into the upper reaches
of the tree along winding stairways, passing through the home
of the shipwrecked family on the way.
Because of the weight of the walkways, and the number of people
visiting the attraction, Disney had a (larger than life) complete
tree made out of steel and concrete to provide the attraction
support structure, for what would probably be most peoples idea
of an ideal tree-house (assuming one exists).
The "roots" of the tree poke 42 feet into the ground
to support the structure, and the 1,400 branches which stretch
out to make up a 90 foot diameter canopy are decorated with 300,000
lifelike polythene "leaves", and the tree is draped
with a real variety of Spanish moss for added "realism".
The various "rooms" are fully furnished, and each has
a supply of running water, which is brought up to the top of the
tree by a fascinating waterwheel and pully system.
Incidentally, a similar tree building method has been employed,
though on a larger scale, to build the "Tree of Life"
in the new Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park.
For those interested in the species of tree represented, it is
the Disneyodendron eximus which roughly translates to "out
of the ordinary Disney tree".
The ideas behind the tree and treehouse are derived from the
Disney film "Swiss Family Robinson" which was released
in 1960, though of course as with everything at Walt Disney World,
the imagineers have added more than a handfull of their own ideas,
mixed in with just a hint of pixie dust.
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