Change is a fact of life at Disney theme parks. For better or worse, older attractions being replaced with newer ones has been part of the fabric of the parks since the first opening day Disneyland attractions closed less than a year into the park’s existence.
Swiss Family Treehouse
This kind of evolution is, once again for better or worse, is currently heavy in the air at the Magic Kingdom as Disney prepares to close the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island in order to replace them with a Cars-themed expansion. With that news in mind, we decided to poll our readers on the potential fate of another Magic Kingdom attraction: the Swiss Family Treehouse.
Located in Adventureland, this opening day Magic Kingdom attraction is described by Disney as “the island abode the Swiss Family Robinson built after they were shipwrecked on a deserted island” where guests can “cross a bridge at the foot of a large leafy tree and climb handcrafted wooden stairs. Explore the living quarters of the famous adventurers and discover open-air rooms brimming with a bevy of 19th-century articles salvaged from the wreck.”
While the Swiss Family Treehouse has been part of the Magic Kingdom since the park opened, the large footprint it occupies in the middle of Adventureland have long made its potential replacement a topic of discussion amongst fans.
We decided to poll our readers across several platforms to see what they thought of the treehouse potentially being replaced, and the majority was a NO. Over 60% of our readers were against the walkthrough attraction going anywhere.
Swiss Family Treehouse
Many of those opposed to the change brought up their feelings of nostalgia for the attraction, as well as its connection to a time when Walt Disney was still alive and in control of the parks (While Walt did not live long enough to see any of Walt Disney World including the treehouse, he was heavily involved in the Disneyland version, which was just refurbished back into a Swiss Family Robinson attraction after spending about a quarter century themed to Tarzan).
Reader Judy seemed to sum up these opinions writing,“All this change, merely for the sake of change, reminds me of what my teacher wrote in my autograph book many years ago—-“Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver, the other gold.”
Swiss Family Treehouse
Others, like reader Nicole pointed out that Disney should have enough room to expand in Florida without closing older attractions. They wrote, “No stop replacing things with new stuff. Disney has so much land. Just build new stuff and keep the old stuff. More attractions spread people out.”
However, there was a vocal minty (a shade under 40%) who felt that it was time to do away with the treehouse. Some of these readers pointed to Walt Disney’s own philosophies for their justification, with reader Shawn summing up that thought process with “Walt Disney said, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world”. This quote inspired the idea for a collection about the constant change and evolution of Disney Parks. Disney Parks are always changing and evolving. Disney also said, “Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things.”
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Others sidestepped Walt entirely, instead focusing on the fact that they felt the Swiss Family Robinson theme held no relevance for younger visitors, and instead called for it to be replaced by something more modern, such as Encanto. As reader Bryan put it, “YES. Young people have no interest in it at all. And people old enough to have nostalgia for it won’t use all those stairs.”
There was also a third group of readers, a bit under 5%, who didn’t answer decisively either way, instead saying that their opinion would depend on what the potential retheme or replacement for the ride was. As one reader put it, “Care would need to be taken to choose the right thing to replace and not doing it just for the sake of change or the latest hype sensation.”
Swiss Family Treehouse
The majority of readers did NOT want to see the Swiss Family Treehouse disappear from the Magic Kingdom like so many other Disney attractions of the past. Stay tuned to DFB as we further examine hoe Disney’s theme parks will march into the future.
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The children and slightly older than children in our group love the Treehouse. If I’m honest, I still love it too lol! It is one of the only places, and after the island is gone, it will be the only place, kids can blow off any steam in MK. Children still need to be able to run and play. Just because people are young doesn’t mean they only love the new, or even like it. There are classic and long-term attracations that have already gone or are targeted to go that the youngest in our group are the most upset about, and new atatractions they couldn’t care less about. This is why Disney is losing ground with younger people, not the lack of thrill rides. If people want Universal, they will go to Universal. From what I’ve observed, most people who are deliberately choosing Universal wouldn’t go to Disney instead regardless (and in a lot of cases, that’s a good thing). I used to lament Disney not getting Harry Potter, but who knows how much Disney would have torn down for that, so it’s good that it went to Universal. People are looking for Disney at Disney, and the classics are a huge part of that. They want what we have been able to do, to bring their kids to the place they came as kids, and celebrate generational memories. Not visit somewhere they don’t recognize and don’t care about. Disney needs to do better with their market research. I would have thought that would be one thing that Disney had perfected by now.
The Swiss Family treehouse would be sore;y missed , should they decide to close it ….there s a logic of updating it but removing it would be so sad . It is important to keep some of the original parts of the parks , not only for the benefit of those of us that have be visiting for nearly 40 years but, there is a part that connects to Walt himself and the historical importance of some of these attractions.
ANYTHING BUT GOD AWFUL ENCANTO! Bad enough to have it coming to Animal Kingdom – stop shoving it down our throats. It is NOT up to par with Disney Classics like the Little Mermaid or Pirates and no one will even remember it in 10 years.
I love how people try to answer and talk for others. lol Children especially. I can only talk about mine and my grandchild and my daughters loved it and my granddaughter (8 yr old) loves it. I still love it myself, first going through it when I was 9. So there’s that. I’m broken hearted about the River Boat and Tom Sawyer Island. I personally feel there is undeveloped land they could use for Cars Land. But that’s just my opinion.
“Walt Disney said, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world”. Great. Now tell me what Walt would say about removing the trains.
Excellent responses above and I agree. What outrages me is how you take away any form of exercise and play when we visit WDW. EAT, EAT, EAT. That’s all people seem to do. Gross! My family thoroughly enjoyed the tree house during our last visit. It encourages the imagination of children to see how Swiss Family lived. Better than just spinning around on rides.
I’m in the camp that says the time is overdue for this attraction to be replaced. It only appeals to a small percentage of guests. Replace it with something that appeals to a broader audience so that it helps to alleviate the crowds at other attractions.
Please DO NOT remove Swiss Fam. Our 3 yr old grand child who is now was enchanted back then and is still amazed by the treehouse. The details, the imagination….loved by all of us. It is MUST stop every time we do Disney. If it is choice between meeting a character or visiting the treehouse then the tree Always wins.
” As reader Bryan put it, “YES. Young people have no interest in it at all. And people old enough to have nostalgia for it won’t use all those stairs.” ”
If a giant tree house, complete with bedrooms, a kitchen, and indoor plumbing, is of no interest to young children in the 21st century we are far worse off as a society than I feared.
Little kids (and even big “kids”) love to climb and explore, and dig stuff up and discover. The Boneyard is already on the chopping block, and now the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse might fall to the ax. Could it be that attractions which don’t generate movie ticket sales or result in impulse buys of expensive plush toys, action figures or board games, have a short shelf life?
Walt Disney. Himself, stated in a TV broadcast, that Disney World had enough land for future attractions, for years to come. So, why the need to “fill in” Rivers of America. Perhaps stop the building of additional DVC towers and concentrate on the thousands of regular individuals that go in to debt just for that one special vacation. I think Walt Disney would be devastating if he were alive. The fundamentals he built his dream on are long gone