Changes

Jump to: navigation, search

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

106 bytes added, 16:36, 1 December 2015
/* Attraction History */
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room is an attraction located in [[Adventureland]].
==Attraction History== ===Creation for Disneyland===
The genesis of what would one day become Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room began in 1950s, with Walt Disney himself. At the time, Walt and his Imagineers had been working on a way to animate three dimensional figures for use in Disneyland. So far, they had found minimal success as the technology that they developed (Audio Animatronics) was still very crude and unreliable. Although they had been able to animate some of the creatures on Disneyland’s [[Jungle Cruise]], attempts at more complex Animatronics had proven unsuccessful. While on vacation in New Orleans, Walt came upon and bought a mechanical toy bird that could sing (as well as move its beak and wings) <ref name= "org"> http://www.waltdisney.org/blog/disneyland-classics-walt-disneys-enchanted-tiki-room </ref>. Inspired by the technology, Walt decided that if toy makers could animate 3D objects, his Imagineers could too. After dissecting the bird and understanding the technology that made it work, Disney Imagineers were able to produce fluid, Audio Animatronic tropical birds (including toucans and macaws) <ref name="D23">https://d23.com/tiki-room-50th-anniversary-archives/ </ref>.
[[Image:Walttiki.jpg|thumb|350px|Walt Disney in Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room]]
With this new technology in hand, Walt decided to revisit an old idea. Earlier in the 1950s, Disney had planned on building a Chinese restaurant (complete with an Audio Animatronic Confucius) for Disneyland's Main Street USA <ref name="D23"/>. Also included in the show was to be a number of real and imaginary animals, including birds. Although the human Audio Animatronic proved too difficult, Walt decided to retheme the restaurant as a Polynesian musical revue, featuring singing tropical birds. The restaurant was going to be called “The Enchanted Tiki Room” (although some sources use the name "Tiki Hut"), and it was to be located in Disneyland’s Adventureland <ref name= "org"/> <ref name= "spence"> http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/walt_disney_world/theme_parks/magic_kingdom/adventureland/the_enchanted_tiki_room/ </ref>. Although Disney announced plans for the restaurant to the public, logistical concerns eventually derailed the idea. It was determined that a full course meal would take between 45 and 60 minutes on average, and thus a very limited number of guests would be able to see the musical show <ref name= "spence"/>. On October 9, 1963, Walt decided that instead of creating a dinner show, Disney would create a 17 minute attraction.
With the design of the show now in place, Walt turned to the Sherman Brothers to create a new song for the attraction <ref name= "Spence"/>. According to the Shermans, " “we suggested that the song could be done in a calypso beat: ‘the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room.’ It had a sound you could remember. And Walt bought the idea, just like that." <ref name= "D23"/> As they were working on the attraction, the Sherman brothers suggested that a specific parrot be the emcee of the entire show. Walt liked this idea, but took it one step further. Instead of relying on a single host, the attraction would be hosted by four parrots that had French, Spanish, German. and Irish accents. Besides just providing the Legends of the Enchanted Tiki (as the attraction was called during development) with a catchy song, the Sherman brothers also previewed what would be coming in the rest of the attraction with their opening number [[The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room]] <ref> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trtJMX90Etw </ref>.
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room (as it was finally called) opened to guests on June 23, 1963. In total the attraction featured a stunning 225 Audio Animatronic characters performing a 17 minute tropical revue. ===Walt Diseny World===
Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room proved to be a smash hit for Disneyland, and thus it was an obvious choice for inclusion in Walt Disney World. The Magic Kingdom’s version of the Tiki Room was renamed the “Tropical Serenade”, and the attraction opened with the rest of the park on October 1, 1971. Although the show itself was essentially a carbon copy of the Disneyland version, the queue and attraction building were quite different. Instead of having a large waiting lobby (as Disneyland did) the Tropical Serenade featured three separate covered lines, giving the queue more order. Also unlike Disneyland (which had limited space) Walt Disney World’s version of the Tiki Room was shown in a large theater topped with a pagoda, making it much more noticeable.
[[Image:Walttiki.jpg|thumb|Walt Disney in the Enchanted Tiki Room]]
The Tropical Serenade remained unchanged until 1997, when the show closed for renovations. Due to lack of popularity, Disney decided to retheme the show, adding popular the characters Zazu (from Disney’s The Lion King) and Iago (from Disney’s Aladdin). The attraction reopened as the “Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) on April 5, 1998. The premise of the new show featured Zazu and Iago as the new owners of the Tiki Room, and although the show briefly included the original show’s theme song, “The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room”, Under New Management featured an all new soundtrack. Under New Management quickly proved to be unpopular with guests however, and attendance problems once again plagued the attraction. In 2011 a small fire broke out in the attic of the theater, causing the sprinkler system to be activated. Although no one was injured in the fire, the Audio Animatronic Iago was badly damaged and the attraction suffered some water damage. Due to both the fire, and the increased popularity of a refurbished Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room in Disneyland, Disney decided to restore the attraction to a version of the original show. The attraction reopened as “Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room” on August 15 2011, in time for the Magic Kingdom’s 40th anniversary. The “new” show is six minutes shorter than the original 17 minute version, as the Offenbach number and some dialogue were removed.