Bare Facts:
*First attraction to feature Audio-Animatronics, originally sponsored by United Airlines as commercial for flights to the new state of Hawaii, taken over by the Dole Food Company in 1976.
*The magic fountain in center of room was once going to be a coffee station when plan was for the place to be a restaurant featuring a bird show.
*The attraction was the first in the park to feature full air-conditioning (due to the excessive heat generated by all primitive computers powering the show's animatronics.
*Originally not part of the Disneyland ticket system (A to E), admission at first was and extra charge of 75 cents.
*Four robotic Macaws were in charge of the festivities (red, white, and green Jose, white and green Michael, blue, white, and red Pierre, and white, black, and red Fritz), with the chests of the four main characters all covered in custom-woven cashmere that allowed the creatures to appear to breathe.
*The cast for the show consisted of over 150 characters (among them were 54 singing orchids, 4 totem poles, 12 tiki drummers, 24 singing masks, 7 bird of paradise plants, 8 macaws, 12 toucans, 9 fork-tail birds, 6 cockatoos, and 20 assorted tropical birds).
*The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room was written by the Sherman Brothers (the same aces that gave the world the soundtrack to Mary Poppins), Robert and Richard, and was recorded for posterity by The Mellomen ... Thurl Ravenscroft, Bill Lee, Bill Cole, and Max Smith (when not working on Disney productions, the group worked as backup singers for Elvis Presley, Rosemary Clooney, Big Crosby, Arlo Guthrie, Judy Garland, Frankie Laine, Peggy Lee, Jo Stafford, and Doris Day).
*Lyrics for The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room ...
"Ole! Ole! It's Showtime!
In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, All the birds sing words and the flowers croon, In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, Welcome to our tropical hideaway, you lucky people you! If we weren't in the show starting right away, We'd be in the audience too.
All together!
In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, All the birds sing words and the flowers croon, In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, Welcome to our tropical hideaway, you lucky people you!
The boys in the back are called macaws, Because of their claws? No, because they're macaws, And our fine feathered friend is a jolly toucan, And two can sound better than one toucan can, The bird of paradise is an elegant bird, It likes to be seen and it loves to be heard, Most little birdies will fly away, But the Tiki Room birds are here every day, Our show is delightful we hope you'll agree, We hope that it fills you with pleasure and glee, Because if we don't make you feel like that, We're gonna wind up on the lady's hat
In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, All the birds sing words and the flowers croon, In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, Welcome to our tropical hideaway, you lucky people you!
Our magnificent production is yet to come, So strum the guitar and beat the drum, We've been hit and we know you adore us, So come on and join us in another chorus
In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, All the birds sing words and the flowers croon, In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, Welcome to our tropical hideaway, you lucky people you!
In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, All the birds sing words and the flowers croon, In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, Welcome to our tropical hideaway, you lucky people you!"
*The show originally lasted a big 17 minutes and 23 seconds (later trimmed, the revamped show times out at 12 minutes and 33 seconds).
Not my favorite attraction growing up, but nonetheless, a site that brings back many happy outings to the park, Dad, being Coach Jack, would of course have all our funs planned out, and the Tiki Room was always visited in the late afternoon when the family would be hot and tired ... we recharged our batteries (though not much was really needed, Disneyland meant we were there when the place opened, and didn't leave until it closed at Midnight, with last ride always being on the train that circled the park and took you past dinosaurs and over the Grand Canyon ... "Last Stop ... Main Street Station!") in the shade of the waiting area, drinking or eating fruity cold stuff (I think I might have had my first Hawaiian Punch there), and then in the air conditioned darkness. The Enchanted Tiki Room for the family was the stop that got everybody ready for the evening and merriments like finding out that hippos don't charge unless they wiggle their ears first ... HA!
Happy Anniversary Enchanted Tiki Room ... the child in my heart still remembers you well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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