Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, which is located just inside the entrance to Adventureland in Disneyland, opened on June 23, 1963 and was the first attraction to feature Audio-Animatronics, a Walt Disney Studios invention. The attraction's first commercial sponsor was United Airlines but sponsorship soon passed over to Hawaii's Dole Food Company who remains the sponsor to the present day.
Originally owned by WED Enterprises and requiring an additional admission charge of 75 cents, The Enchanted Tiki Room was originally planned as a restaurant. In fact, the fountain in the center of the room would have been the coffee station and even today looks the part. Since computers have played a central role in the attraction since its inception, the 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 macaws 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 red, white, blue and has a French accent courtesy of the voice talents of Ernie Newton while red, black and white "Fritz" has a German accent courtesy of the voice talents of Thurl Ravenscroft. The presentation features a "cast" of over 150 talking, singing and dancing birds, flowers, a "magic" fountain, tiki drummers and tiki totem poles that perform the attraction's signature tunes, "In The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room" and "Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing." The finale has every Audio-Animatronic figure performing a rousing version of "Hawaiian War Chant." So innovative was the technology by 1963 standards that an Audio-Animatronic talking bird once located near the walkway to beckon visitors inside caused enormous traffic jams of visitors trying to catch a glimpse of it.
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 toucans
- 9 forktail birds
- 6 cockatoos
- 20 assorted tropical birds
While waiting outside in a lanai area for the show to start, visitors are serenaded by Martin Denny songs including his most famous, "Quiet Village." Hawaiian gods are represented as well around the perimeter of the lanai and each have a story to tell via Audio-Animatronics. A brief documentary of the history of the pineapple is presented as well. The story, filmed in the early 1960's 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, the show has remained the same since its 1963 inception and as such is arguably dated. 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. Still, the attraction remains among the park's most popular. The Disneyland original reopened in March 2005 to standing-room-only crowds after a seven-month refurbishment. The original show remains still less the Offenbach number but with digitally remastered audio, a new sound system both indoors and out and totally overhauled and detailed "performers." Movements of the performers is now smoother and less noisy than in years past thanks to advances in technology and more sophisticated audience expectations. The return of the "barker bird" after a forty-year absence was a topic on several Disneyland-related discussion boards, but it appears unlikely at present that the bird will return.
Attraction facts
- Grand Opening: June 23, 1963
- Designer: WED Enterprises
- Total Birds: 225
- Singing Birds: 120
- Sponsor: Dole Pineapple
- Show Length: 16:08
- Pre-Show: 10:00
- Ride System: Theater presentation with Audio-Animatronics