Swiss-Tarzan Tree House

I LOVE the movie 'The Swiss Family Robinson'. I've already mentioned how much I enjoy jungles and such, so the concept of people actually setting up house and living there is just about the coolest thing ever. I made several attempts at making tree houses when I was younger, none of which were very impressive, but the things this family made where amazing.

 

The movie is based on the book by Johann David Wyss, and what I found fun about the script was that a group listed the things they would want in an island adventure movie, then turned it over to the screen writer. The water system that supplies the ice box and rooms with water was always one of my favorite parts of their tree, and the staircase that was manipulated by the ships wheel. Sure the movie has it's corny parts, but I think the overall effect is an exciting adventure with an interesting family. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.



A quick doodle of my brothers and I during the race depicted in the movie.

 

 While I LIKED Tarzan as a movie, I was definitely sad when they altered the Swiss Family Tree house in Disneyland to make room for the Tarzan motif. The general ambiance is still there, but there is something jolting about walking through the Swiss Family Robinson's house and running into stuff like this;

 

 Sabor, the jaguar that killed both Tarzan's parents and the child of a gorilla family

 

Jane Porter, doodling. (I love her line; "And Daddy, they took my boot!")

Baby Tarzan and his adopted mother, Kala

The wild man himself.

 

Like I said, no beef with Tarzan, but I LOVED the Robinsons. This was one of the first times I remember being really effected by an attraction changing/closing, something that many Disney parks lovers have had to learn to deal with. I just wish enough people would have shown this film to their kids so we could have kept it the way it was.

 

A Glimpse Behind the Scenes

When you walk past the room with the music playing on an old gramophone, you can hear the Swiss Polka playing, its like Mother Robinson is haunting the tree house!

 

To be fair, the Swiss Family Robinson still have residences in every other Disney park, but I still feel the need to point grumpily at Tarzan as I walk past.

 

Lesson Learned;

It's important to appreciate things all the time, you never know when it might be gone.