Adventureland at Disneyland is a dense green area for true adventurers, featuring animatronic animals, the Jungle River Cruise, The Enchanted Tiki Room, Tarzan’s Treehouse, and Indiana Jones: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. Disneyland founder Walt Disney originally envisioned live safari animals as attractions, but opted for animatronics instead. Visitors shouldn’t miss Tarzan’s Treehouse at night for a great view of the park’s evening lights.
At Disneyland, you can visit the world of tomorrow and stroll through America’s fascinating past, but true adventurers head straight to the dangerous jungle of Adventureland. Whether you’re fending off dangerous hippos, scaling impossible treetops, or singing along to tiki birds, this dense green area of the park isn’t for shy travelers. Adventureland is one of the smaller sections of the park, but it packs enough adventure for the whole family.
Disneyland founder Walt Disney originally envisioned live safari animals as attractions for this area of his new park. After consulting with some somewhat more practical advisers, he came to the conclusion that live animals are unpredictable and cannot be relied upon to perform at the right moment or provide an experience. Instead, Walt ordered the construction of animatronic animals to populate the Lost River Delta that was the main component of the original Adventureland.
When the park opened in 1955, the Jungle River Cruise was a star attraction, taking visitors from Asian to African jungle attractions, all from the comfort of a large touring boat. The adventurers are subjected to the guidance of a live river guide, notable for a huge repertoire of impossibly bad puns. The ride was built on a budget and the designers were forced to employ interesting techniques to achieve an exotic look with many local plants. Famously, nearby orange trees have been torn out of the ground, replanted upside down and covered with vines to achieve an authentic jungle look.
In 1963, Walt Disney debuted the use of audio-animatronics with the singing birds of The Enchanted Tiki Room. This live show invites audience members to sing along with a chorus of fully animatronic birds, tikis, and flowers. Since opening, the attraction has provided guests with a welcome respite from the lines and Southern California heat, and is home to one of the park’s best treats. If you see a huge line in front of the building, they are most likely overheated visitors lining up for the whipped pineapple dessert served at the exhibit booth. Regular visitors to the park are likely to get a little poetic about the values of the sherbet-like snack.
Adventureland once housed a replica of the ingenious tree house built in the Disney film The Swiss Family Robinson for visitors to explore. In 1999, the Robinsons were thrown out by the arrival of a far less civilized group of characters from the hit animated film Tarzan. Tarzan’s Treehouse takes guests through a walk through the plot’s trees and contains a playground-like area with inventions to play with.
Snuggled between the treehouse and jungle river is Adventureland’s most thrilling attraction, Indiana Jones: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. Cautious visitors are led through an elaborate queue until they reach a loading station where they board a vehicle designed to resemble a WWII-era troop vehicle. Cars hurtle through a bumpy and exciting track full of fiery explosions, flying darts and even an encounter with a huge rolling boulder. Running is known for its high level of intensity, and those with back or neck injuries should exercise caution before riding.
Whether it’s avoiding deadly river piranhas, crossing suspension bridges or enjoying a tropical treat, Adventureland is a wonderful oasis in Disneyland. Visitors shouldn’t miss Tarzan’s Treehouse at night, which offers a great view of the evening lights throughout the park. Just remember that, according to Jungle Cruise’s top experts, tigers can jump over twenty feet, so since the boat is only fifteen feet away, they’ll leap all over you.
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