Tarzan's Treehouse

**Tarzan's Treehouse** is a location and attraction in Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland's Adventureland. It is also a location from the Tarzan stories.

## History

### Background

Tarzan's Treehouse is the name given to a treehouse in the Congo, built in a giant*Disneyodendron semperflorens grandis* (Latin: *Large, always blooming Disney tree*). The tree itself was giant and ancient with several petroglyphs embedded within its trunks that remained a mystery for ages.

The treehouse itself was built at some point around 1870 when a British vessel crashed in the Congo and stranded a wealthy couple (possibly named John and Alice Clayton). Using the wood from the shipwreck they built the treehouse to raise their infant son until the parents were killed by a leopard called, "Sabor".

The infant boy would be raised by a troop of gorillas who gave him the name of Tarzan and as a young-adult he would come to find the treehouse and learn of his origins. The treehouse would later be used as a home for Tarzan, his gorilla family, his wife Jane Porter and his father-in-law Prof. Archimedes Q. Porter.

## Tarzan's Treehouse

### Appearances

Tarzan of the Apes
Tarzan
Tarzan's Treehouse
Jungle Cruise (Hong Kong Disneyland)
Tales from Adventureland

### Other names

Disneyodendron semperflorens grandis (tree-name)
Yesniddendron semperflorens grandis (Tales from Adventureland)

### Inhabitants

John Clayton (formerly; deceased)
Alice Clayton (formerly; deceased)
Tarzan
Jane Porter
Prof. Archimedes Q. Porter

### Development History

Tarzan's Treehouse was a replacement to the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse attraction in Disneyland which was themed to the film Tarzan. It was modelled after the treehouse from the film which was created by his parents and later used as a home by him and Jane.

## Connections

### Adventure Trading Company

In this game, the Treehouse Juju is earned by finding petroglyphs in the tree's trunk.

#### The Daily Gnus

An article in this newspaper by "Tallahassee” Glover reports on how the Adventure Trading Company's newly found, "Treehouse Juju" can be used to decode the ancient petroglyphs of the treehouse. In this article, José from *Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room* was consulted to little avail with Shrunken Ned also being consulted and responding, "Ah yes, I’ve seen this Juju before, I used to have one. I would wear it around my neck. Bus as you can see, that has become rather hard these days!".

### Disney films

* **Beauty and the Beast**: An inanimate teapot and teacup modelled after Mrs. Potts and Chip from this film. This references how the same pieces of cutlery appeared at the camp in the film Tarzan.

### Tales from Adventureland

In the non-cannon *Tales from Adventureland: The Golden Paw*, the treehouse is found abandoned in the Congo where it is being used by the Collective, the books' main antagonist group. In this book the tree's species is referred to as the, "*Yesniddendron semperflorens grandis"* with Yesnid being an anagram of Disney.

### The Jungle Cruise

In Hong Kong Disneyland's Jungle Cruise, Tarzan's Treehouse is passed by near the beginning of the ride and has skippers interacting with it.

The gorillas from Tarzan hold some connections to those from the Jungle Cruise and might be of the same troop as both presumably live in the same region of the Congo. In Hong Kong Disneyland's version of the Jungle Cruise, a nearby radio plays the song, "Trashin' the camp" which comes from the film Tarzan from a scene where the film's gorillas performed a similar act. One of the gorillas in Tarzan homages the Jungle Cruise when it examines a rifle by holding its barrel to their face, an action taken from the gorillas of the ride.

Tarzan is referenced twice by Albert Awol in the loop for the Jungle Cruise. He is mentioned as being subject of a film called, "Tarzan and Me" (likely a counterpart to the real-world film Tarzan and his Mate ( 1934)) and Awol also imitates his distinctive call while clearing his throat.

### Tahitian Terrace

The *Disneyodendron semperflorens grandis* was referenced in the original menus for this restaurant where the Tahitian Terrace's own tree was referenced as a member of the same species.

## Trivia

* The Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris versions of the attraction is still the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. In the Magic Kingdom, the tree is called *Disneyodendron eximus* ( Out of the Ordinary Disney tree). In Disneyland Paris it is located on Adventure Isle (not to be confused with the Shanghai Disney, "Land" of the same name) which also contains theming to Pirates of the Caribbean, Treasure Island and Peter Pan while in Tokyo Disneyland it is featured in the Typhoon Lagoon inspired, "Coral Landing".
	+ The Swiss Family Robinson is homaged in Tarzan's Treehouse with a victrola that plays the, "Swiss Polka" from the film which was played on the pipe-organ in the original attraction.
* Part of the tree-trunk bares the likeness of Jabba the Hutt from the film Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

## References

1. ↑ http://findingmickey.squarespace.com/other-hidden-dl/adventureland/1676675