Enchanted Tiki Room

June 1963 – present

LOCATION

Adventureland – The Tiki Room sits just beyond the entrance to Adventureland, on the left-hand side. If you arrive in Adventureland from New Orleans Square, follow the main path and you’ll see the entrance to the Tiki Room on your right, just beyond Aladdin’s Oasis.

BACKGROUND

When the Enchanted Tiki Room opened in 1963, the show was revolutionary; it was the first attraction to feature animatronics in the world. The Tiki Room was originally conceptualized as a restaurant with an overhead show, but the idea eventually gave way to an arena-style seating show. Instead, Imagineers constructed an outdoor patio, and later installed the Tiki Juice Bar, making the patio a dining area and leaving the interior as a show space.

For nearly thirty years, the Tiki Room saw little in the way of changes. But in preparation for the park’s 50^th anniversary, the Tiki Room closed for a major upgrade and refurbishment. The “new” show is almost four minutes shorter, and features digitally re-mastered sound, more lifelike animatronics, and upgraded special effects during the storms in the show. Today, the Tiki Room maintains its classic charm, combined with the latest in animatronic technology.

EXPERIENCE

Details:

• Single Rider Line – no
• Fast Pass – no
• Height Requirement – none
• Duration – 15:40

The show begins about five minutes before the theater doors even open. With a roar of drums, the different Hawaiian gods encircling the Tiki Room entrance share rhyming legends of their origins. The gods featured are Hina Kuluua (goddess of rain), Rongo (god of agriculture), Maui (god of sun), and Tangaroa (father of all gods and goddesses). After each god or goddess has chatted with guests, the theater doors open and guests take their seats.

Once inside, guests meet the MCs of the Tiki Room: Jose, Michael, Pierre, and Fritz. The macaws welcome their visitors and officially start the show. The Tiki Room has a cast of over 150 different birds, eight living totem poles, and tiki drummers. Toward the end of the show, a thunderstorm arrives over the Tiki Room, and after some dramatic drumming and chanting, the skies clear just in time for the finale. Jose, Michael, Pierre, and Fritz sing the “Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room” in a huge finale with their feathered friends, and then fly off into the rafters as guests leave the theater.

MY RATING: ★★★☆☆

The Tiki Room is fun to visit once, especially if you are new to Disneyland and really want to appreciate its originality. The show is a little cheesy, but the animatronics are cool, and the room itself is really beautiful. You don’t have to visit the Tiki Room more than once to get the full experience, but it’s still worth seeing at some point along your Disneyland travels!

VISITING TIPS

Generally speaking, the Enchanted Tiki Room is never too crowded. If you visit on a weekend or during the busy summer months, you may have to wait in longer lines, but the shows typically run every 20 minutes or so. The patio is the full waiting area for the Tiki Room, so check crowds to assess wait times. If the patio is jammed, try visiting after dark. If there’s plenty of room, you should have no trouble seeing the show.

Note: You do not have to see the show to buy Dole Whip. The Tiki Juice Bar line winds toward Aladdin’s Oasis, in the opposite direction of the doors.

TRIVIA

Though Dole has been the attraction’s main sponsor since 1976, the Tiki Room originally partnered with United Airlines, from 1963-1976.

The Tiki Room is the only attraction in either park with its own bathrooms, thanks to its initial design as a restaurant.

When the Tiki Room first opened, a “barker bird” sat right at the front of Adventureland. His name was Juan (Jose’s cousin), and he told arriving guests all about the show and encouraged them to watch. Juan was massively popular, to the point where he caused huge traffic jams at Adventureland’s entrance, and he had to be removed.

The Enchanted Tiki Room, Jolly Holiday Bakery Café, and Aladdin’s Oasis are all one large building with three different facades.

This trivia point doesn’t have much to do with the attraction itself, but the strangest experience I’ve ever had at Disneyland took place in the Enchanted Tiki Room. I visited the park with my mom, but after coming down with a fever, she left to rest and I continued on alone. Since it was a Thursday in January, the park was a ghost town, and I ended up being the only person in the audience for a Tiki Room show. The cast member did his whole dramatic “ladies and gentlemen” speech, even though it was just the two of us. We were both laughing so hard; it was funny, weird, and definitely a unique park experience.