Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room
Encyclopedia
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room is an attraction located in Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort
and at the Magic Kingdom
at the Walt Disney World Resort
.
, a WED Enterprises patented invention. The attraction was sponsored by United Airlines
for its first 12 years; in 1976, sponsorship passed over to Hawaii's Dole Food Company
, which remains the sponsor to the present day. Dole also provides the unique Dole Whip
soft-serve frozen dessert sold at a snack bar near the entrance.
The show was originally going to be a restaurant featuring Audio-Animatronic birds serenading guests as they ate and drank. The "magic fountain" at the room's center was originally planned as a coffee station (there is still a storage compartment within the base of the fountain) and the restaurant would have shared its kitchen with the now-defunct Tahitian Terrace in Adventureland and the Plaza Pavilion restaurant at the corner of Main Street, U.S.A.
since all three are actually part of the same building. Since ownership of the attraction was separate from the rest of the park, a nominal admission charge of $0.75 was levied. Since computers have played a central role in the attraction since its inception, Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room was also Disneyland's first fully air-conditioned building.
The attraction opened in an era when all things Polynesian
were popular and was an immediate hit. It houses a Hawaiian-themed musical show "hosted" by four lifelike macaw
s whose plumage matches their implied countries of origin. "José" is red, white and green and speaks with a Mexican accent, voiced by Wally Boag
; "Michael" is white and green with an Irish brogue, voiced by Fulton Burley
; "Pierre" is blue, white and red, and has a French accent courtesy of the voice talents of Ernie Newton
while red, black and white "Fritz" has a German accent provided by Thurl Ravenscroft
, who also voices Maori god Tangaroa
near the attraction's entrance.
The main birds have changed color over the years. In 1965, the four host birds had almost identical plumage of white, green, yellow and blue. The four macaws as well as all the other birds are plumed with real feathers with the exception of chest plumage. The chests are covered in custom-woven cashmere
which allows the figures to "breathe" in a lifelike manner. The choice came quite by accident; in a planning meeting, Harriet Burns
noticed a cashmere sweater that Walt Disney
was wearing which moved at the elbows exactly the way the engineers envisioned.
" by the Sherman Brothers
and "Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing". The finale has every Audio-Animatronic figure performing a rousing version of "Hawaiian War Chant
". The choice of exit music is somewhat unusual, namely an arrangement of "Heigh-Ho
" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
with lyrics thanking guests for watching the show and hurrying them to the exit.
So innovative was the technology by 1963 standards that an Audio-Animatronic talking "barker"
bird (Juan, cousin of José) once located near the walkway to beckon visitors inside, caused enormous traffic jams of visitors trying to catch a glimpse of it. While waiting outside in a lanai area for the show to start, visitors are serenaded by Hawaiian music which at one time included that of Martin Denny
and Bud Tutmarc. Hawaiian gods
are represented as well around the perimeter of the lanai and each has a rhyming legend to tell via Audio-Animatronics.
Some include Hina Kuluua, goddess of rain; Rongo
, god of agriculture; Maui, who roped the playful sun; and Tangaroa
, father of all gods and goddesses. A brief documentary of the history of the pineapple is presented as well. The story, filmed in the early 1960s and updated at the end with a Macromedia Flash presentation of a parade of Dole products, is shown on a screen on the rear of the roof of the Dole snack bar at the entrance to the lanai. Other than the removal of a minor musical number set to the "Barcarolle" from Jacques Offenbach
's opera
Tales of Hoffmann and the final verse of "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room", the show has remained otherwise unchanged since its 1963 inception due to a stipulation in the sponsorship contract with Dole that the attraction remain unchanged.
One chorus of "Let's All Sing Like The Birdies Sing" has José crooning like Bing Crosby
, Fritz scat-singing in a gravelly voice like that of Louis Armstrong
and Pierre singing like Maurice Chevalier
. The show reopened in March 2005, after a seven-month refurbishment, commissioned by new Disneyland management in a bid to restore the park to its former glory for its 50th birthday
. Feathers were regularly falling out of the Audio-Animatronics, the thatched roof of the building was breaking away in broad daylight, and the movements of the Audio-Animatronics were noisy and slow.
After the renovation, the original show and storyline remained but with a digitally remastered audio (remastered by Randy Thornton, who produced A Musical History of Disneyland (2005)
), a new sound system both indoors and out, and completely new Audio-Animatronics. These look the same as the previous ones, but have a completely different infrastructure. Updates in technology allowed Walt Disney Imagineering
, the descendants of WED Enterprises, to create a show to satisfy 21st century expectations while retaining its classic look and feel.
The original Tiki Room was controlled by a large room full of floor-to-ceiling computers that operated the birds with data on magnetic tapes, which was located underneath the floor of the main show room. Footage of the original control room is available on the 10th anniversary special made in 1965 featuring Walt Disney and "Miss Disneyland 1965" called "The Tencennial Special."
when that park opened in 1971. Although accompanied by a new pre-show, the main show was the same. Tropical Serenade was replaced in 1998 with The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)
, featuring Iago and Zazu from Aladdin and The Lion King
, respectively.
On January 12, 2011, a small fire broke out in the attic of the attraction. The Iago audio-animatronic figure was severely damaged in the blaze. It was announced at Disney's D23
Destination D: Walt Disney World 40th Anniversary Conference that the attraction would be refurbished and returned to the original show format.
The attraction re-opened on August 15, 2011 as Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room and was reinstated as a slightly edited version of Disneyland's original show.
, featuring Stitch from Lilo and Stitch.
According to Eugene Chadbourne writing for Allmusic - "...At the same time, his Pierre the Parrot in Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room doesn't seem to have any relation to Pierre Salinger. It is actually the voices of the birds in the Tiki Room that represented Birdbath's proudest achievement. He was fond of telling interviewers that he had done every single bird in the place."
Wally Boag is also credited as providing the voice for Jose' the parrot.
According to the book Disneyland Detective by Kendra Trahan, the "cast list" breaks down as follows:
Disneyland Resort
The Disneyland Resort is a recreational resort in Anaheim, California. The resort is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Resorts division and is home to two theme parks, three hotels and a shopping, dining, and entertainment area known as Downtown Disney.The area now...
and at the Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Park is one of four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort located near Orlando, Florida. The first park built at the resort, Magic Kingdom opened Oct. 1, 1971. Designed and built by WED Enterprises, the park's layout and attractions are similar to Disneyland in Anaheim, California...
at the Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...
.
History
The attraction opened on June 23, 1963 and was the first to feature Audio-AnimatronicsAudio-Animatronics
Audio-Animatronics is the registered trademark for a form of robotics created by Walt Disney Imagineering for shows and attractions at Disney theme parks, and subsequently expanded on and used by other companies. The robots move and make noise, generally in speech or song...
, a WED Enterprises patented invention. The attraction was sponsored by United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
for its first 12 years; in 1976, sponsorship passed over to Hawaii's Dole Food Company
Dole Food Company
Dole Food Company, Inc. is an American-based agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Westlake Village, California. The company is the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, operating with 74,300 full-time and seasonal employees who are responsible for over 300...
, which remains the sponsor to the present day. Dole also provides the unique Dole Whip
Dole Whip
Dole Whip is a soft serve frozen dessert available most notably at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, as well as at Dole Plantation in Hawaii. It is also available at mainland Lappert's Ice Cream stores.The dessert is a puree reconstituted with water and then frozen before serving....
soft-serve frozen dessert sold at a snack bar near the entrance.
The show was originally going to be a restaurant featuring Audio-Animatronic birds serenading guests as they ate and drank. The "magic fountain" at the room's center was originally planned as a coffee station (there is still a storage compartment within the base of the fountain) and the restaurant would have shared its kitchen with the now-defunct Tahitian Terrace in Adventureland and the Plaza Pavilion restaurant at the corner of Main Street, U.S.A.
Main Street, U.S.A.
Main Street, U.S.A. is the first "themed land" inside the main entrance of the many 'Magic Kingdom'-style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the world....
since all three are actually part of the same building. Since ownership of the attraction was separate from the rest of the park, a nominal admission charge of $0.75 was levied. Since computers have played a central role in the attraction since its inception, Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room was also Disneyland's first fully air-conditioned building.
The attraction opened in an era when all things Polynesian
Polynesian culture
Polynesian culture refers to the indigenous peoples' culture of Polynesia who share common traits in language, customs and society. Chronologically, the development of Polynesian culture can be divided into four different historical eras:...
were popular and was an immediate hit. It houses a Hawaiian-themed musical show "hosted" by four lifelike macaw
Macaw
Macaws are small to large, often colourful New World parrots. Of the many different Psittacidae genera, six are classified as macaws: Ara, Anodorhynchus, Cyanopsitta, Primolius, Orthopsittaca, and Diopsittaca...
s whose plumage matches their implied countries of origin. "José" is red, white and green and speaks with a Mexican accent, voiced by Wally Boag
Wally Boag
Wallace Vincent "Wally" Boag was an American performer known for his starring role in Disney's long-running stage show the Golden Horseshoe Revue. This is not a poster. It was an advertisement published in Variety....
; "Michael" is white and green with an Irish brogue, voiced by Fulton Burley
Fulton Burley
Fulton Burley was an Irish-Canadian performer, most widely known for his work in Disneyland. Born in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Fulton came to the United States in 1943 after a telephone audition landed him the singing lead in Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe Revue on...
; "Pierre" is blue, white and red, and has a French accent courtesy of the voice talents of Ernie Newton
Ernie Newton
Ernie Newton was an American actor and voice actor who has been seen and heard in several roles including that of Pierre the French Parrot in the Disneyland attraction Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.-Filmography:...
while red, black and white "Fritz" has a German accent provided by Thurl Ravenscroft
Thurl Ravenscroft
Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft was an American voice actor and singer best known as the deep voice behind Tony the Tiger's "They're grrreat!" in Frosted Flakes television commercials for more than five decades. Ravenscroft was also known, however uncredited, as the vocalist for the song "You're a Mean...
, who also voices Maori god Tangaroa
Tangaroa
In Māori mythology, Tangaroa is one of the great gods, the god of the sea. He is a son of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, Sky and Earth. After he joins his brothers Rongo, Tūmatauenga, Haumia, and Tane in the forcible separation of their parents, he is attacked by his brother Tawhirimatea, the god of...
near the attraction's entrance.
The main birds have changed color over the years. In 1965, the four host birds had almost identical plumage of white, green, yellow and blue. The four macaws as well as all the other birds are plumed with real feathers with the exception of chest plumage. The chests are covered in custom-woven cashmere
Cashmere wool
Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from Cashmere and other types of goats. The word cashmere derives from an old spelling of Kashmir. Cashmere is fine in texture, and strong, light, and soft. Garments made from it provide excellent...
which allows the figures to "breathe" in a lifelike manner. The choice came quite by accident; in a planning meeting, Harriet Burns
Harriet Burns
Harriet Burns was an American artist and designer. Burns was the first woman hired in the Walt Disney Imagineering department within the Walt Disney Company.- Early life :...
noticed a cashmere sweater that Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
was wearing which moved at the elbows exactly the way the engineers envisioned.
Attraction
The presentation features a "cast" of over 150 talking, singing and dancing birds, flowers, the aforementioned magic fountain, tiki drummers and tiki totem poles that perform the attraction's signature tunes, "The Tiki Tiki Tiki RoomThe Tiki Tiki Tiki Room
"The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room" is the official song for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. It was written in 1963 by Disney staff songwriters, Robert & Richard Sherman...
" by the Sherman Brothers
Sherman Brothers
The Sherman Brothers are an American songwriting duo that specialize in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman ....
and "Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing". The finale has every Audio-Animatronic figure performing a rousing version of "Hawaiian War Chant
Hawaiian War Chant
"Hawaiian War Chant" was an American popular song whose original melody and lyrics were written in the 1860s by Prince Leleiohoku. The original title of the song was Kaua I Ka Huahua`i or "We Two in the Spray." It was not written as a chant, and the Hawaiian lyrics describe a clandestine meeting...
". The choice of exit music is somewhat unusual, namely an arrangement of "Heigh-Ho
Heigh-Ho
"Heigh-Ho" is a song from Walt Disney's 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, written by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey...
" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full...
with lyrics thanking guests for watching the show and hurrying them to the exit.
So innovative was the technology by 1963 standards that an Audio-Animatronic talking "barker"
Barker (occupation)
A barker is a person who attempts to attract patrons to entertainment events, such as a circus or funfair, by exhorting passing public, describing attractions of show and emphasizing variety, novelty, beauty, or some other feature believed to incite listeners to attend entertainment...
bird (Juan, cousin of José) once located near the walkway to beckon visitors inside, caused enormous traffic jams of visitors trying to catch a glimpse of it. While waiting outside in a lanai area for the show to start, visitors are serenaded by Hawaiian music which at one time included that of Martin Denny
Martin Denny
Martin Denny was an American piano-player and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing well into his 80s, he toured the world popularizing his brand of lounge music which included exotic percussion, imaginative rearrangements of popular songs, and...
and Bud Tutmarc. Hawaiian gods
Hawaiian mythology
Hawaiian mythology refers to the legends, historical tales and sayings of the ancient Hawaiian people. It is considered a variant of a more general Polynesian mythology, developing its own unique character for several centuries before about 1800. It is associated with the Hawaiian religion...
are represented as well around the perimeter of the lanai and each has a rhyming legend to tell via Audio-Animatronics.
Some include Hina Kuluua, goddess of rain; Rongo
Rongo
In Māori mythology, Rongo is a major god, the god of cultivated food, especially the kūmara, a vital food crop. Other food crops cultivated by Māori in traditional times include taro, yams , cordyline , and gourds . Because of their tropical origin, most of these crops were difficult to grow except...
, god of agriculture; Maui, who roped the playful sun; and Tangaroa
Tangaroa
In Māori mythology, Tangaroa is one of the great gods, the god of the sea. He is a son of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, Sky and Earth. After he joins his brothers Rongo, Tūmatauenga, Haumia, and Tane in the forcible separation of their parents, he is attacked by his brother Tawhirimatea, the god of...
, father of all gods and goddesses. A brief documentary of the history of the pineapple is presented as well. The story, filmed in the early 1960s and updated at the end with a Macromedia Flash presentation of a parade of Dole products, is shown on a screen on the rear of the roof of the Dole snack bar at the entrance to the lanai. Other than the removal of a minor musical number set to the "Barcarolle" from Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
's opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Tales of Hoffmann and the final verse of "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room", the show has remained otherwise unchanged since its 1963 inception due to a stipulation in the sponsorship contract with Dole that the attraction remain unchanged.
One chorus of "Let's All Sing Like The Birdies Sing" has José crooning like Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Fritz scat-singing in a gravelly voice like that of Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
and Pierre singing like Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
. The show reopened in March 2005, after a seven-month refurbishment, commissioned by new Disneyland management in a bid to restore the park to its former glory for its 50th birthday
Happiest Homecoming on Earth
The Happiest Homecoming on Earth was the eighteen-month-long celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Disneyland theme park, which officially opened on July 17, 1955...
. Feathers were regularly falling out of the Audio-Animatronics, the thatched roof of the building was breaking away in broad daylight, and the movements of the Audio-Animatronics were noisy and slow.
After the renovation, the original show and storyline remained but with a digitally remastered audio (remastered by Randy Thornton, who produced A Musical History of Disneyland (2005)
A Musical History of Disneyland (2005)
A Musical History of Disneyland is a CD boxed set collection of music from Disneyland, spanning opening day to the present. Released on May 5, 2005 in honor of Disneyland's 50th Anniversary, it is the biggest release in Walt Disney Records' history....
), a new sound system both indoors and out, and completely new Audio-Animatronics. These look the same as the previous ones, but have a completely different infrastructure. Updates in technology allowed Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering is the design and development arm of the Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation and construction of Disney theme parks worldwide...
, the descendants of WED Enterprises, to create a show to satisfy 21st century expectations while retaining its classic look and feel.
The original Tiki Room was controlled by a large room full of floor-to-ceiling computers that operated the birds with data on magnetic tapes, which was located underneath the floor of the main show room. Footage of the original control room is available on the 10th anniversary special made in 1965 featuring Walt Disney and "Miss Disneyland 1965" called "The Tencennial Special."
Walt Disney World
A virtually identical copy of the show, called Tropical Serenade, was installed at Walt Disney World's Magic KingdomMagic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Park is one of four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort located near Orlando, Florida. The first park built at the resort, Magic Kingdom opened Oct. 1, 1971. Designed and built by WED Enterprises, the park's layout and attractions are similar to Disneyland in Anaheim, California...
when that park opened in 1971. Although accompanied by a new pre-show, the main show was the same. Tropical Serenade was replaced in 1998 with The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)
The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)
The Enchanted Tiki Room , was an updated version of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland, which was an attraction located in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort.-History:...
, featuring Iago and Zazu from Aladdin and The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
, respectively.
On January 12, 2011, a small fire broke out in the attic of the attraction. The Iago audio-animatronic figure was severely damaged in the blaze. It was announced at Disney's D23
D23 (Disney)
D23 is the first official Disney fan club for dedicated fans, sponsored by the Walt Disney Company. The Charter Year of D23 was in 2009.-History:...
Destination D: Walt Disney World 40th Anniversary Conference that the attraction would be refurbished and returned to the original show format.
The attraction re-opened on August 15, 2011 as Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room and was reinstated as a slightly edited version of Disneyland's original show.
Tokyo Disneyland
The attraction was once a clone of the original attraction until it closed for refurbishments in 1999, when it became The Enchanted Tiki Room: Now Playing "Get the Fever!", where the attraction was re-themed as a madcap Las Vegas-style nightclub show in the middle of the jungle. In January of 2008, it closed again and reopened on July 25, 2008 as The Enchanted Tiki Room: Stitch Presents Aloha e Komo Mai!The Enchanted Tiki Room: Stitch Presents Aloha e Komo Mai!
The Enchanted Tiki Room: Stitch Presents Aloha E Komo Mai! is an Audio Animatronics show located in Tokyo Disneyland's Adventureland. It is the fourth incarnation of the Enchanted Tiki Room show and the second to be exclusive to Tokyo Disneyland.-History:...
, featuring Stitch from Lilo and Stitch.
Original show soundtrack
Of interest to the original sound recording of the Enchanted Tiki Room for Disneyland, most of the background birds, as well as the singing voice of Pierre (which puts into question the listed acting voice as stated in the description) were created via the talented vocal cords and warbling skills of Purvis Pullen, aka Purv Pullen, aka Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath. Pullen was a comedy talent best known for his time with Spike Jones and his City Slickers.According to Eugene Chadbourne writing for Allmusic - "...At the same time, his Pierre the Parrot in Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room doesn't seem to have any relation to Pierre Salinger. It is actually the voices of the birds in the Tiki Room that represented Birdbath's proudest achievement. He was fond of telling interviewers that he had done every single bird in the place."
Wally Boag is also credited as providing the voice for Jose' the parrot.
Attraction facts and figures
- Grand opening: June 23, 1963
- Designer: WED Enterprises
- Sponsor: Dole Foods
- Show length: 15:36
- Pre-show: 3:58
- Ride system: Theater presentation with Audio-Animatronics
According to the book Disneyland Detective by Kendra Trahan, the "cast list" breaks down as follows:
- 54 singing orchids
- 4 totem poles
- 12 tiki drummers
- 24 singing masks
- 7 birds of paradise (the plant variety)
- 8 macaws
- 12 toucanToucanToucans are members of the family Ramphastidae of near passerine birds from the Neotropics. The family is most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five genera and about forty different species...
s - 9 forktail birds
- 6 cockatooCockatooA cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
s - 20 assorted tropical birds
See also
- List of current Disneyland attractions
- Magic Kingdom attraction and entertainment history
- Tokyo Disneyland attraction and entertainment history