The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)

Last updated
The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)
TikiRoom.JPG
Magic Kingdom
Area Adventureland
Coordinates 28°25′06″N81°35′02″W / 28.41835°N 81.5839°W / 28.41835; -81.5839
StatusRemoved
Opening dateApril 5, 1998
Closing dateJanuary 12, 2011
Replaced Tropical Serenade (1971–1997)
Replaced by Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room (2011–present)
Ride statistics
Attraction typeAudio-Animatronic Theater show
Designer Walt Disney Imagineering
ThemeTropical bird's musical show
Duration10:00
Host Iago (Gilbert Gottfried) and Zazu (Michael Gough)
Audio-Animatronics225
Wheelchair symbol.svg Wheelchair accessible
Assistive listening icon.svg Assistive listening available
Closed captioning symbol.svg Closed captioning available

The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) was an attraction located in the Magic Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. It was an updated version of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, which was previously known in the Florida park as Tropical Serenade, that featured the bird characters Iago and Zazu from the respective Walt Disney Animation Studios franchises Aladdin and The Lion King . The attraction ran for almost thirteen years from April 1998 until January 2011, when a small fire damaged it, leading Disney to restore the original Enchanted Tiki Room to Florida.

Contents

History

The Enchanted Tiki Room show from Disneyland opened in the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971, as Tropical Serenade. The show was an exact duplicate of the Disneyland attraction, but instead of the pre-show there was a waterfall in place of the Tiki gods, which opened and two Audio-Animatronic toucans entertained guests. The show was sponsored by Florida Citrus Growers until 1986.

The show closed on September 1, 1997, for renovations and updating. It reopened on April 5, 1998, as The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management, featuring Iago (voiced by Gilbert Gottfried) and Zazu (voiced by Michael Gough) [1] from Aladdin and The Lion King , respectively, as the new owners of the Tiki Room. The show featured all of the same audio-animatronic birds, flowers, and Tiki gods, but now included Iago and Zazu, plus a new evil Tiki goddess named Uh-Oa, who disrupts the usual Enchanted Tiki Room storyline after Iago upsets her. In total, the show used 225 Audio-Animatronics. [2]

On January 12, 2011, a small fire broke out in the attic of the attraction. It was rumored that the Iago figure that first interrupts the show was severely damaged by the small blaze, but the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage was kept quiet while under investigation. [3] Other show elements experienced minor damage when the sprinkler system went off to extinguish the flames. No guests were injured in the incident. [4]

The original attraction reopened on August 15, 2011, as "Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room", an edited and trimmed version of the original show, featuring all but one of the songs from the original 1963 version of the show. [5]

Storyline

As guests were waiting outside the Enchanted Tiki Room, a cylinder-shaped tube opened behind a waterfall to reveal two audio-animatronic toucans — William (voiced by Don Rickles) and Morris (voiced by Phil Hartman). William and Morris entertained the waiting guests by discussing their positions as agents of the new Tiki Room's new "co-owners". A cast member then told the birds that they were preparing to let the guests in. William and Morris were incensed because their clients were not yet in the theater. Morris said that he had to leave because he was about to sign Donald Duck, while William bragged that he had got the Mighty Ducks. The cylinder closed with the two birds yelling and arguing.

After the guests had entered the theater, the cast member proceeded to "wake up" José with help from the audience. The four Tiki Bird hosts- José, Michael, Pierre and Fritz (voiced by Wally Boag, Fulton Burley, Jerry Orbach and Thurl Ravenscroft, respectively) got ready as they did in the original show. They started singing "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" as they had for the last 30 years, but in the middle of their song, an audio-animatronic Iago, the parrot from Disney's Aladdin , descended from a hole in the ceiling.

Iago sat on a pillow holding a small megaphone, yelling that the Tiki Birds needed to stop the music. Iago complained that the show's outdated songs made him want to "toss his crackers." The birds said that they were in the middle of a show. From another hole in the ceiling came a perch bearing an audio-animatronic Zazu, the hornbill from Disney's The Lion King . Zazu pleaded with Iago not to toy with the Tiki Room. Pierre told Iago that "his friend" was right and that he should not anger the Room's inhabitants. Iago ignored Zazu's warnings and replied that Zazu wasn't his friend.

José, Michael, Piere and Fritz were confused — they didn't know who Iago and Zazu were because they never "flew to the movies", considering that they didn't get out much as they were rather "attached to the place". But Iago warned them not to get "too attached", as both he and Zazu were the new owners, shocking the birds, and, to give them an example of how the songs should be sung, he began singing a song to the tune of "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin. He said that since the Tiki Birds were ancient history and he was a big "cele-birdy," he was going to change the show so that a more modern audience could appreciate it, warning the birds that they'd better get hip or their audience would disappear forever.

Exterior of the attraction EnchantedTikiRoomMagicKingdom.jpg
Exterior of the attraction

Zazu told Iago to stop — the Tiki Gods could hear him. Iago then began to blatantly insult the Gods, soon after which "lightning" struck and the lights went out. The Tiki Birds began singing that the atmosphere in the theater had suddenly gotten "Hot Hot Hot" and the carved faces on the Tiki Poles began chanting "Uh-Oa!"

From the center of the fountain in the middle of the room, smoke bubbled and fumed and Uh-Oa, the green and evil audio-animatronic "Tiki Goddess of Disaster" (voiced by Armelia McQueen), emerged. Uh-Oa wanted to know who dared to defame the Tiki Gods and Zazu told her it was Iago. Uh-Oa then sang about how unwise Iago was to have messed with her. She claimed that he "could't fly away because [he was] stuck, [she] had cursed [him] for pushing [his] luck and it would't help to yell — [he was] under [her] spell!" Uh-Oa then used her magic Tiki powers and Iago shot up from his perch. In a big, dark explosion of smoke, the loud-mouthed parrot was gone. Uh-Oa laughed evilly, then, in a cloud of smoke, disappeared back into the fountain.

The Tiki Birds and Zazu felt that they should let the Tiki Gods have their say and Zazu introduced the one and only musical sensation: The Tiki Gods. The faces on the Tiki Poles began to sing "In the Still of the Night" by The Five Satins, then the flowers joined in by singing a rap song using lyrics from the original Tiki Room show and some of the birds began singing along. At this point, over the exit doors, a small compartment on the wall opened. And who else should be in the compartment but Iago. Iago was burnt, smoking, carrying a crutch, and had bandages all over his body. He told them all how the Tiki Gods were the greatest act he had ever heard and that they were going to make a gold mine on this show, no more worries.

Zazu told Iago that where he came from, no worries was referred to as "Hakuna Matata," which Iago misinterpreted as "Hunky-Tuna Tostada". However, he seemed to like it, declaring that Zazu was now his friend and that they should party. All the birds started to sing their own rendition of "Conga" as the Bird Mobile descended from the ceiling. Zazu sang about how Iago learned his lesson and would no doubt be more discreet in the future. Iago decided to show Zazu that he would't be discreet, telling everybody to get on their feet. "That's right — everybody stand up!"

As the audience prepared to leave, the Tiki Birds began singing "Get on Your Feet" by Gloria Estefan. The birds declared that they were going to do a magic trick and make the audience face the door and disappear. The exit doors opened and the guests started walking out as the Tiki Birds continued to sing "Get On Your Feet", followed by "Heigh-Ho". Zazu bid farewell to the guests, while Iago kept up a barrage of comments and insults designed to get the guests to leave as they walked under him. Once the majority of the guests had left the theater, Iago said that he was tired and planned to go take a nap in the Hall of Presidents. He then said good-bye to Zazu, turned around and entered the compartment over the exit. As Fritz cheered in German, José commented that "no one laid an egg but me."

Reception

The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management was met with mixed reception from guests, as some had called it "disrespectful" to the classic attraction. One park goer was quoted saying "they ruined it". Many found it peculiar that the once calming attraction was replaced with a "jarring and cynical" take from Iago from Aladdin. Some reviewers called the jokes dated and crass as well. Following the show's closure and return to the original, Under New Management has been considered by some as one of the worst attraction replacements to Magic Kingdom. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room</span> Attraction at Disney theme parks

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room is an attraction located in Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort and in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and previously in Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort. First opened on June 23, 1963 at the Disneyland Resort, the attraction is a pseudo-Polynesian musical Audio-Animatronic show drawing from American tiki culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audio-Animatronics</span> Trademark for a form of robotic animation

Audio-Animatronics is the registered trademark for a form of robotics animation 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, but are usually fixed to whatever supports them. They can sit and stand but usually cannot walk. An Audio-Animatronic is different from an android-type robot in that it uses prerecorded movements and sounds, rather than responding to external stimuli. In 2009, Disney debuted an interactive version of the technology called Autonomatronics, and in 2018, announced aerial stunt figures called Stuntronics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It's a Small World</span> Dark ride at Disney theme parks

"It's a Small World" is an Old Mill boat ride located in the Fantasyland area at various Disney theme parks around the world, including Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California; Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida; Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. The inaugural version of the ride premiered at the 1964 New York World's Fair before permanently moving to Disneyland in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress</span> Stage show at Walt Disney World

Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress is a rotating theater audio-animatronic stage show attraction in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida just outside of Orlando, Florida. Created by Walt Disney and WED Enterprises as the prime feature of the General Electric (GE) Pavilion for the 1964 New York World's Fair, the attraction was moved to Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California as Carousel of Progress, and remained there from 1967 until 1973. It was replaced in Disneyland by America Sings in 1974, and reopened in its present home in the Magic Kingdom in 1975.

<i>Aladdin</i> (animated TV series) Animated television series made by Walt Disney Television

Aladdin: The Series is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation that aired from February 6, 1994, to November 25, 1995, concluding exactly three years to the day from the release of the original Disney's 1992 animated feature film of the same name on which it was based. Despite the animated television series premiering four months before the first sequel, the direct-to-video film The Return of Jafar, it takes place afterward. The second and final animated film sequel was the 1996 direct-to-video film, Aladdin and the King of Thieves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln</span> Stage show currently at Disneyland

Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln is a stage show featuring an Audio-Animatronic representation of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, best known for being presented at Disneyland since 1965. It was originally showcased as the prime feature of the State of Illinois Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair. One year after its debut at the World's Fair, the show opened at Disneyland, where it has undergone several changes and periods of hiatus over the years. Today Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln is an element of the Disneyland attraction The Disneyland Story presenting Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, which opened in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adventureland (Disney)</span> Themed area in Disney theme parks

Adventureland is one of the "themed lands" at the many Disneyland-style theme parks run by the Walt Disney Company around the world. It is themed to resemble the remote jungles in Africa, Asia, South America, Oceania and the Caribbean. "To create a land that would make this dream reality", said Walt Disney, "We pictured ourselves far from civilization, in the remote jungles of Asia and Africa."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter</span> Former attraction at Walt Disney World

The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter was a "theater-in-the-round" attraction located in the Tomorrowland section of the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World Resort. A co-production between Walt Disney Imagineering and Lucasfilm, the attraction was a darkly humorous science fiction experience that used binaural sound to achieve many of its effects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Country Bear Jamboree</span> Attraction at Disney theme parks

The Country Bear Jamboree is an attraction in the Magic Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort and at Tokyo Disneyland in the Tokyo Disney Resort. The attraction also existed at Disneyland Park. All versions of the attraction are similar.

Iago (<i>Aladdin</i>) Fictional character in Disneys Aladdin franchise

Iago is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' animated film Aladdin (1992), the direct-to-video sequels The Return of Jafar (1994), Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996), and the television series. An anthropomorphic red-plumed talking parrot, he was voiced by Gilbert Gottfried in all animated appearances until his death in 2022. He was subsequently voiced by Alan Tudyk in the live-action adaptation of Aladdin, by Barrett Leddy in the 2023 Disney+ special Lego Disney Princess: The Castle Quest, and Piotr Michael in the 2023 crossover short Once Upon a Studio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams</span> Former parade at Disneyland

Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams premiered on May 5, 2005 as part of the Happiest Homecoming on Earth, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Disneyland in California. Conceived by VP Parades and Spectaculars, Steve Davison, the parade celebrates the dreams of Disney characters and includes Disney characters such as Mickey, Minnie, Tinker Bell, Cinderella, Snow White, Simba, Alice and Mad Hatter, Pinocchio, Belle and Beast, Ariel, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. The parade includes eight floats which include Getaway to Dreams, Dream of Enchantment, Dream of Laughter, Dream of Another World, Dream of Imagination, Dream of Adventure, and Dreams Come True. It closed in November 2008 before the Holidays at Disneyland without notice to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mickey Mouse Revue</span>

The Mickey Mouse Revue was an indoor audio-animatronic stage show at the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland theme parks. It was one of the three original opening day attractions in Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland in 1971. After closing at Magic Kingdom in 1980, it was moved to Tokyo Disneyland for that park's opening in 1983 where it remained for 26 years before closing permanently in 2009.

"The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room" is the official song for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, an attraction at the Disneyland theme park.

The Enchanted Tiki Room: Stitch Presents Aloha E Komo Mai! is a theatre in the round Audio-Animatronics show located in Tokyo Disneyland's Adventureland. It is the fourth incarnation of the Enchanted Tiki Room show, the second to be exclusive to Tokyo Disneyland, and the second to involve a character from a Walt Disney Animation Studios film and franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Be Our Guest Restaurant</span> Beauty and the Beast-themed restaurant

<i>Mickeys PhilharMagic</i> 3D attraction at Disney theme parks

Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 4D film attraction found at several Disney theme parks around the world, including Magic Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Park (Paris), and Disney California Adventure. The film was directed by George Scribner, who also directed Disney's 1988 animated film Oliver & Company. Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 12-minute-long show featuring 3D effects, scents, and water, as well as a number of characters from Disney movies. It is shown on the largest purpose-built 3D screen ever made, at 150 feet wide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mystic Manor</span> Hong Kong Disneyland dark ride

Mystic Manor is a dark ride attraction in the Mystic Point area of Hong Kong Disneyland. Unlike Disneyland's Haunted Mansion attraction and its counterparts in other Disney parks, Mystic Manor has a lighthearted, fantasy-based theme with no references to departed spirits or the afterlife, due to differences in traditional Chinese culture. The attraction does feature several references to the Haunted Mansion, such as a Medusa changing portrait, a conservatory, and the busts that turn to follow visitors as they move. References to other Disney attractions include several figures similar to those from The Enchanted Tiki Room in the Tribal Arts room.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar</span> Themed bar at Disneyland Hotel

Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar is a tiki bar located at the Disneyland Hotel in the Disneyland Resort of Anaheim, California, that opened in May 2011. Named one of the top five tiki bars in Los Angeles by LA Weekly, Trader Sam's is one of many tiki bars gaining popularity throughout the United States, and even the world, in what some call tiki's "third wave". It is not to be confused with the San Francisco, California tiki bar Trad'r Sam founded in 1937.

References

  1. "Magic Kingdom voice credits on burnsland.com".
  2. "Enchanted Tiki Room Adventureland Disneyland". AllEars. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  3. "Fire breaks out at Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room". Archived from the original on 2011-09-09.
  4. "Small fire doused at Disney's Magic Kingdom Tiki Room attraction".
  5. Herbst, Dave (August 15, 2011). "Dog Days? Not! In the Tiki Room, Every Bird Has Its Say" . Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  6. "Enchanted Tiki Room Under New Management". Yesterland. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  7. Krosnick, Brian (July 8, 2016). "This Attraction Was So Bad Disney Fans Cheered When it Closed Forever". Theme Park Tourist. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  8. Carroll, Luke (July 2, 2018). "History of the Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)". Review Tyme. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  9. Geryak, Cole (December 27, 2017). "Disney Extinct Attractions: The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management and Now Playing Get the Fever!)". Laughing Place. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  10. "A Disney Disaster Enchanted Tiki Room Under New Management". YouTube. Disney Fast Pass. February 21, 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved July 30, 2019.