The Adventureland Treehouse Inspired by Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson is shedding scaffolding and receiving new details, including a saqiyah, one of the water features, ahead of its fall reopening.

Scaffolding Removed, Saqiyah Installed

As The Adventureland Treehouse Inspired by Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson approaches its reopening, more exterior details are being added and scaffolding is being removed. Let’s see what’s changed since the last time we checked in on the progress.

Most of the scaffolding has been removed around this section of the treehouse.

Some water features look complete to the right of the lookout.

Above the crow’s nest, the functional water pipes that were previously blue have been painted or covered so they resemble bamboo. A saqiyah, a historic mechanical water lifting device, has been added to the water feature area of the treehouse.

The saquiyah runs up to a small wheel at the top.

Each of the buckets for the saqiyah are attached to the rope mechanism with sticks. As the saqiyah turns, water will lift and spill in this area.

Foliage, Weathering Details, More Bamboo Piping Added To Treehouse

The saqiyah isn’t the only new detail. Here, more real and false foliage have been added to the treehouse and the surrounding area to help create the effect of the living treehouse. We can also see more piping has been added up above the treehouse; most of this piping, as seen in the concept art below, is functional and carries water to different parts of the attraction.

Smaller details, like the gourd-shaped fixture to the right, are now also unwrapped. Themed hanging string lights and lanterns have been added throughtout the area as well.

The weathering to the underside of the ship now looks complete.

On our last visit, this space around the window frames also needed to have details painting; it looks complete.

Though some scaffolding still remains, sections of the guest walkways are finished as well, such as this one to the left.

The bamboo detailing and the fabric ties that look to affix together this post are new and appear complete.

Small details in the treehouse and crow’s nest are visible, like a barrel with the rainwater pipe running down and tied together with rope. Some of these details from our previous trip have been painted or covered (like blue water pipes now resembling bamboo pipes). We noticed another pipe running along the length of the roof as well, jointed with canvas elbows to direct water away from the natural fiber roof and down to the still-hidden (or not yet installed) waterwheel we can see in the concept art for the Adventureland Treehouse below.

Adventure Treehouse Reopening This Fall

In a press release shared September 7, Disneyland Resort offered details on the return of this iconic attraction:

Opening this fall, the Adventureland Treehouse inspired by Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson will invite guests to journey up wood rope stairways and traverse the branches of the giant tree to explore fascinating rooms representing members of a family from a new story. Capturing the spirit of the original treehouse that Walt Disney and his Imagineers built in 1962, explorers roaming among the Adventureland Treehouse will encounter the mother’s music den, the father’s art studio, the young sons’ nature room and the teenage daughter’s astronomer’s loft, with most items crafted from found objects and natural resources gathered during the family’s adventures.  

Are you looking forward to seeing the saqiyah in action at this iconic Disneyland attraction on a visit this fall? Let us know in the comments.

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