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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2006 |
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Walking up to King Triton’s Garden, you might recall some dialog from the 1989 animated feature, The Little Mermaid:
Triton: “Oh, Ariel.
How many times must we go through this?
You could’ve been seen by one of those barbarians!
By… by one of those humans!” |
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Even though you’re human, King Triton invites you to visit his garden. You may even have a chance to snap a photo with his daughter and to get her autograph. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2008 Triton’s trident fountain |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2003 A clean, clear pond |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2003 Leaping laminar streams! |
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Triton’s Garden isn’t just a beautiful patch of pools, plants, and paths. It’s also a playful water garden where “leaping laminar streams”— also known as “rod of glass” streams of water—jump over the walkways and reenter the ground without a splash. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2003 Bronze sculpture of Ariel, resting on a waterfall fountain |
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King Triton has seven daughters, but only his youngest is honored with a sculpture in Triton’s Garden. (I thought parents aren’t supposed to favor one of their children.) |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2008 A closer look at Ariel |
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For an autograph, you’ll need to find the real Ariel, not the bronze Ariel. Head over to Ariel’s Grotto within Triton’s Garden. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2008 King Triton’s Garden, home of Ariel’s Grotto |
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Don’t confuse this Ariel’s Grotto with the one at Disney’s California Adventure. That Ariel’s Grotto was a restaurant—the home of “Ariel’s Disney Princess Celebration.” It closed January 8, 2018, to be transformed into the Lamplight Lounge at Pixar Pier. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2008 Ariel’s throne, closed |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2003 Ariel emerges |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2003 Ready to sign autographs and pose for photos |
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Ask Ariel to show you her dinglehopper. |
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Triton’s Garden—also known as Triton Gardens—opened at Disneyland in early 1996, replacing Tomorrowland’s Alpine Gardens. Before it was Alpine Gardens, it was the site of the Monsanto House of the Future. With the changeover to Triton’s Garden, this plot of Tomorrowland officially became part of Fantasyland. According to Disneyland Entertainment Times Guide pamphlets, Triton’s Garden was in Fantasyland, “next to Sleeping Beauty Castle.” In reality, it was still on the Tomorrowland side of the Matterhorn walkway, right next to Astro Orbitor and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. The last day of operations for Triton’s Garden was August 17, 2008. Before the end of October 2008, the gardens were transformed into Pixie Hollow. The idea is that as guests wind down the path, past the “enchanted pond,” they’ll feel that they’ve shrunk to fairy-size—magically! |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2010 Welcome to Pixie Hollow |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2010 Pond without bronze King Triton |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2008 Tinker Bell and her friends |
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Ariel’s throne is now a teapot. Depending on how you look at it, it’s either a giant teapot, or if you buy into the fantasy that you’ve shrunk down to fairy-size, it’s a normal-sized teapot and you’re really small. There, you can meet venerable Disney star Tinker Bell and her four co-stars from the 2008 Tinker Bell movie—Silvermist, Iridessa, Fawn and Rosetta. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 King Triton at Disney California Adventure |
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The bronze upper half of King Triton is still at the Disneyland Resort. He’s the highest point on the building that houses The Little Mermaid - Ariel’s Undersea Adventure at Disney California Adventure. Triton’s trident no longer squirts water. That’s good. Otherwise, guests walking past the attraction would get rather wet. |
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© 2009-2018 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated April 13, 2018. |
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