The gateway to Adventureland at Disneyland leads to an exotic realm of mystery and romance. Adventureland represents a 1930s riverside port town in some far-off corner of the world. Here, the jungle dominates the skyline, and exciting discoveries are around every corner.
Adventureland wasn't always so spectacular, though. When Disneyland opened, it was by far the smallest land, with only a single attraction: The Jungle Cruise. Even the landscape was a work in progress. Imagineering Landscape Architect Bill Evans had begun turning orange grove into jungle almost a year before the park opened, but everything was still fairly small in 1955. Today, the natural canopy over the attraction extends more than 100 feet into the air, creating a complete sense of being thousands of miles from the streets of Anaheim.
According to the story, the Jungle Navigation Company carries freight and passengers along the rivers of the region. Many of the goods they bring are taken straight from the docks and sold by vendors on the street (although, apparently the most rare and exotic items are available elsewhere).
Walking through Adventureland, it looks like Disney simply carved into an existing rainforest. It's hard to imagine that everything you see was put here by the Imagineers... almost everything, that is. A handful of specimens remain from the days before the park was built. There's the stand of eucalyptus trees (once a wind break for the orange grove) that forms a visual barrier between the back side of Main Street and the Jungle Cruise. Then, there's the Dominguez Palm.
The Dominguez family once lived on part of the property that became Disneyland, and this Canary Island date palm was planted here in 1896 as a gift to the family. To find the tree, head to the far right of the Jungle Cruise queue building, near the Indiana Jones Adventure Fastpass Distribution. It's the largest tree in the area, extending well above its neighbors. If you look closely, you'll even see that the two-story Jungle Cruise boathouse (added in 1994) was built around the tree to preserve it.
The Dominguez home was moved from this site to an area behind the Main Street Opera House and served as offices for many years. A member of the Dominguez family even stuck around. Ron Dominguez got a job at Disneyland as a ticket taker and stayed for nearly 40 years, retiring as Executive Vice President of the park. The window dedicated to him on Main Street, U.S.A. pays tribute to his unique place in Disneyland history:
Orange Grove Property Mgt.
"We'll Care for Your Property
As If It Were Our Own"
Ron Dominguez - Owner
According to a tour I took a couple years ago, one of the orange trees from the Dominguez groves was left standing and is on one of the islands in the Jungle Cruise ride.
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