The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)

From The Mickey Wiki: Your Walt Disney World Encyclopedia!
Revision as of 19:00, 8 September 2020 by Mmouse (Talk | contribs) (Attraction History)

Jump to: navigation, search

Attraction History

When the original Enchanted Tiki Room opened in Disneyland on June 23, 1969, it was a technological marvel. Introducing the Audio Animatronic technology to audiences, Disney's newest technological breakthrough proved to be a smash hit. Riding the wave of the post-war tiki craze, the Enchanted Tiki Room thrilled guests with its 17 minute tropical revue. Based on its success in Disneyland, the Enchanted Tiki Room was chosen for inclusion in Disney's second park The Magic Kingdom. The attraction opened on the park's opening day October 1, 1971, under the name Tropical Serenade.

Like its Disneyland counterpart, the Tropical Serenade proved to be extremely popular upon its opening. By the 1990s however, the attraction's popularity had begun to wane. With the luster of the early Audio Animatronic technology gone, and the genre of the attraction from a long gone era, the Tiki Room played to low audiences, who were known to walk out during the show. With this in mind, Disney began to look for a way to update the show.

The new attraction that Imagineering came up with was titled The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) was spearheaded by senior concept designer Jeff Burke and senior concept writer Kevin Rafferty. Talking about the waning popularity of the original show, Burke noted:

It was kind of demoralizing to see guests leave in the middle of the (original) show,” said Burke. “So we wanted to infuse new life into it. We wanted to bring out the Disney magic that current audiences would relate to. People who have seen the show before will wonder ‘What is going on around here?”

In order to draw new audiences into the attraction, Imagineers decided to add the popular characters Zazu (from the Lion King) and Iago (from Aladdin), as the new owners of the Tiki Room. When discussing the premise of the new attraction, Rafferty explained that they wanted:

"A Hollywood style look and feel to it. With Iago and Zazu being the new owners of the Tiki Room. They're vying for position and power"

For the Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) the original voice actors for Jose (Wally Boag), Michael (Fulton Burley) and Thurl Ravenscroft (Fritz) were brought back, while Pierre's voice (which had originally performed by Ernie Newton) was rerecorded by Jerry Orbach.

Besides the attraction's two famous new owners, The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management), the Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) featured three other new characters. The attraction's preshow as now hosted by two toucan talent agents named Morris (voiced by Phil Hartman) and William (voiced by Don Rickles), who bickered over who had the better clients.

Inside the attraction's main show, in addition to the attraction's familiar cast, Iago and Zazu were joined by Uh-Oa, the Tiki Goddess of Disaster who eventually would put Iago in his place. Finally, at the 2011 D23 Expo, Disney announced that a slightly modified version of the original Tropical Serenade show would be retiring.

Attraction Plot

Cast

Fun Facts and Trivia

References

Fun Facts and Trivia

The new Audio Animatronic owners were created by Imagineering in California with the idea that the figures would look more cartoon like.