Treehouse Swings Open Again

Doing its part to promote Walt Disney Co.’s latest animated feature, Tarzan’s Treehouse opened Wednesday at Disneyland--a remake of the attraction originally based on the 1960 Disney shipwreck saga “Swiss Family Robinson.”

Unlike the film--and unlike such big-bucks rides as the nearby Indiana Jones Adventure--the treehouse is modest in ambition, a walk-through series of rooms and statues in the branches above Adventureland.

The tableaux illustrate stages in the saga of the tree-surfing jungle lord, who swung into action with Jane at the dedication Wednesday. Disneyland boss Cynthia Harriss was on hand to preside over the “vine-cutting” ceremony.

Rather than add major attractions, Disneyland this summer opted for a general sprucing up, ranging from a $7-million remodeling of the Plaza Inn restaurant on Main Street to a new paint job for Monstro, the whale who swallows riders on the Storybookland ride.

Lupe Vega, on vacation from Chicago, found the treehouse more startling than expected. Reaching to touch an exhibit, she triggered a roar complete with an air blast of breath from Sabor, a vicious leopard character in “Tarzan.”

“It was pretty scary,” Vega said.