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Although Adventureland
is one of the smallest lands of the whole park (not counting the
three acres that consists of the Jungle Cruise alone), it's one
of the most beloved. Guests have enjoyed looking at the backside
of water since the park first opened in 1955 and with the Indiana
Jones attraction now there, it's not hard to see why Adventureland
is also one of the most congested areas in the whole park. But,
did you know…
Adventureland was originally planned for the OTHER side of the park
(where Space Mountain now sits.)
Originally, the land was to be called True-Life Adventureland. It
was to be named after the True-Life documentaries that were being
aired on television at the same time that the park was being built.
The episodes were hugely popular at the time by Disney viewers.
However, when it came to finalizing the name of the land, they shortened
it to Adventureland.
There is a large, 10 year old canary date palm tree in the middle
of Adventureland that is also known as the Dominguez palm. It was
named so because a portion of the Disneyland land was purchased
from the Dominguez family. The tree was planted in 1896 and was
presented to the Dominguez family as a wedding gift. One of the
stipulations of the sale was that the canary date palm was stay
on the property. In 1955, when the park opened, the tree was moved
to its current location in Adventureland.
In 2004, all of the lighting was replaced at the entrance to Adventureland.
Lighting was added inside and behind the South Seas drums to provide
more effective atmosphere lighting.
Bill Evans, a landscaper who would provide the most influence for
all of the landscaping over all of the parks for 50 years began
as Walt's home landscaper. He introduced new ways to look at landscaping
that made the landscaping more of a character in the story, as the
Imagineers would say. He was credited to have come up with the fictional
Latin names given for the different patches of weeds in the unfinished
parts of the park (during those days leading up to the park's opening.)
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