Sunshine Tree Terrace
Sunshine Tree Terrace is a quick-service refreshment stand in Adventureland at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Florida. Opened with the park on October 1, 1971, as part of the Sunshine Pavilion, it was for fifteen years the in-park home of the Florida citrus industry and of its mascot, the Orange Bird. It is known for the Citrus Swirl, a combination of frozen orange juice and vanilla soft serve, and since 2015 it has occupied the former site of Aloha Isle, the two stands having exchanged locations.
History
The Terrace grew out of an agreement between Walt Disney Productions and the Florida Citrus Commission, signed on October 22, 1969, under which the Commission sponsored a three-million-dollar Adventureland pavilion. The Sunshine Pavilion combined the Tropical Serenade bird show — the Florida version of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room — with the Sunshine Tree Terrace snack stand beside it, which guests passed as they left the show. The Terrace opened with Magic Kingdom in 1971 and was sponsored by the Florida Citrus Growers until 1986.
To front the sponsorship, WED Enterprises created the Orange Bird in 1970, a small round bird with an orange for a head and leaves for wings, given a final design by C. Robert Moore. The Sherman Brothers wrote songs for the character, and singer Anita Bryant fronted the wider citrus campaign of which he was part. At the Terrace itself, a figure of the bird perched in the Sunshine Tree, a large artificial citrus tree behind the counter, with his cheerful "orange thoughts" projected on a small screen above his head. The signature drink of those years, the Citrus Swirl, mixed frozen orange juice — the stand notably used frozen rather than fresh juice — with vanilla soft serve.
When the citrus sponsorship ended in 1986, the Orange Bird figure was removed and the stand drifted away from its orange identity; the Sunshine Tree itself was later taken out, and in 2009 the Citrus Swirl was removed from the menu. The revival came in 2012. The Citrus Swirl returned to sale on March 1, 2012, and on April 17, 2012, Disney formally welcomed the Orange Bird back: an original 1970s figure of the character, rediscovered in a drawer in the Walt Disney Archives, was restored and installed at the Terrace, and the bird returned to its signage and to a new line of merchandise.
On March 12, 2015, the Terrace swapped sites with Aloha Isle, moving to that stand's former position nearer the Jungle Cruise side of Adventureland while keeping its own menu. The Orange Bird figure was transferred to the new counter that May.
The present Terrace is an open-air counter in Adventureland's Polynesian-styled section, decorated in orange and green with the Orange Bird appearing on its signs and on the figure behind the counter. There is no indoor seating, and guests use the shared outdoor tables nearby.
The menu is built on citrus soft serve. The Citrus Swirl remains the signature item, joined by orange soft serve, citrus and vanilla swirls, and floats that pair the soft serve with soda, including specialty floats introduced for limited runs. Slushes and standard drinks round out the list, making the Terrace the citrus counterpart to Aloha Isle's pineapple menu a short walk away.