Tiki Room: Under new management

[aaronowlzbaseball]

We just returned from our first visit to WDW and had a wonderful time. We are Disneyland regulars and greatly enjoyed and embraced the differences. However, WHAT IS WITH THE TIKI ROOM??? I realize this thread is 7 years late, but I honestly can't think of a worse attraction. I realize people dislike Stitch's Great Escape but when you think of the origin of the Tiki Room and what it was trying to convey, this new version is the single worst attraction I have ever been to. Even the intro in line talking about "money and paying customers" was a major turn off. I don't want to be thought of as a paying customer. Again, it may be pathetic that I have such strong feelings but I can't tell you how horrible I thought that ride had become. Am I alone on this?

 

[Robo]

We just returned from our first visit to WDW and had a wonderful time. We are Disneyland regulars and greatly enjoyed and embraced the differences. However, WHAT IS WITH THE TIKI ROOM???

I like it just fine for a number of reasons...

The Enchanted Tiki Room was the very first AudioAnimatronics attraction ever built.

Walt Disney himself had earlier designed and crafted a small mechanical dancing man puppet theater, but it was too complex to build full-scale.

So, Walt and his Imagineeers came up with the idea of building mechanical BIRDS as they are simpler to design and operate.
Mechanical birds had been built for many generations by European and Asian craftsmen with "clock-work" mechanisms, but the new AudioAnimatronic Disney design was truly "cutting-edge technology" at that time (early 1960's).

Disney's staff wrote a whole musical show around their new bird designs, and the Tiki Room presentation was born.

They set it all up in one of the Disney (movie) Studios and (after adding a lot of additional special effects that rounded-out simple bird-stars) they built the final showcase for the attraction at Disneyland, set everything up inside it and the show debuted in 1963 (wow!)
The Enchanted Tiki Room was a HUGE success with guests for many years.
And, naturally, when WDW's MK was built, another Tiki Room was included in the plans.

But, as with anything based on "cutting-edge technology"... the Tiki Room was soon upstaged by newer, more complex and amazing animatronic attractions.
The songs chosen for the show were becoming too out-dated ("Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing", even in 1963, was not exactly the "pop anthem of a new generation").

The simple ideas of "birds twittering" and audience "sing-along" songs became "quaint" and SLOW as audiences became more accustomed to bigger "thrills" at other newer attractions.

The Tiki Room inhabitants were playing to fewer and fewer folks in the seats below.
And many times I was witness to a "mass exodus" of folks just getting up mid-show and finding the exit.

So the Imagineers decided it might help matters to "update" the show by adding "name" characters (from recent films) and by making music choices that had an appeal to the audiences that were currently Disney's guests.

And I personally applaud this "new" version of the show.
The writers clearly had a love and respect for the original version (as there many references to it, and actual RECORDINGS from the original still included.)

I will also say that since the new "Under New Management" show began, I have seen far fewer guests get up and "walk out" during the show than I had been seeing for many years prior to the update.

There are some who don't like the new version of the show and want it restored to the original version.
And I do think that old show was like a "peek into the past" (with Walt and his crew), but I think the way it was headed... playing to fewer and fewer guests... it would simply have been REMOVED... and that would have been a far worse crime, IMHO.

 

[aaronowlzbaseball]

Perhaps my feelings are also influenced by the fact that we have always loved the Tiki Room.

 

[savannahcat]

I can take it or leave it, but my DDs love the Tiki Room. The worst part for me is singing "in the tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room..." for the rest of the day. Might even be worse that IASW.

 

[Alphabetsoup]

Granted, I'm not too keen on the 'new management' aspect....I loved the original Tiki Room *wistful sigh* But it is still on my 'must do' list every trip! 1 month from tomorrow and I'll be there...WHOHOO!!

 

[vicki_c]

I liked the old version, but the new one has grown on me over the years as well. I would hardly call it the worst attraction at WDW - or whatever was said above.

 

[Missus Toad]

Original Tiki Room is at the very top of my favorite attractions list. My love for it is epic and unchanging. The New Management, however, can bite me. I've no use for the loud, obnoxious and distinctly unhilarious new version of this attraction. It's right down there with Stitch in my book.

 

[kmk1180]

I agree with Robo, had to be updated.
I think the new version is nice but it's a personaly taste kind of ride.
Kind of like Country Bears is.

I wish they would update Jungle Cruise. Put in some more lifelike animals.
Only ones that still work well are the elephants at the end.
The apes, savannah scene and rhino pole really needs updating.

 

[maj42169]

I can take it or leave it, but my DDs love the Tiki Room. The worst part for me is singing "in the tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room..." for the rest of the day. Might even be worse that IASW.

Great...................now you've got me singing that song in my head!

Seriously,.......we LOVE the Tiki Room. It is a must do every year. Also, have you been to the Drew Carey Sounds Dangerous (or whatever it's called) attraction? Now, that is about the worst attraction in WDW!

 

[Saturn23]

After seeing the DL version regularly (used to have APs), we saw the new WDW version in 2005. That was the first and last time. We felt like leaving halfway through. We thought the songs were annoying and awful.

 

[S. S. Columbia]

... Am I alone on this?

You are not alone.

The Enchanted Tiki Room - Held Hostage by Iago was awful (compared to DL's version).

 

[GAMC369]

I'm a fan of the original tiki room and don't care for the new management version. I find Diago and his lame jokes really annoying.

 

[Micca]

Original Tiki Room is at the very top of my favorite attractions list. My love for it is epic and unchanging. The New Management, however, can bite me. I've no use for the loud, obnoxious and distinctly unhilarious new version of this attraction. It's right down there with Stitch in my book.

+1

 

[Pjimmeyer]

This is one of the reasons I like visiting both parks. I greatly prefer the DL version over the MK under new management version. But I tend to favor the traditional version of rides. For instance I can't stand the holiday overlay for HM at DL so we make our visit to DL early in the year and WDW late in the year to skip an overlay on my favorite attraction. We still visit both tiki rooms but I always feel disappointed after under new management. Just our preference.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I only saw the New management version once, so we just skip it at WDW and see it at DLR. One point of clarification is there is a "new" version at DL also.....they tightened up the old show by eliminating the least popular number(offenbach).

 

[The Iron Giant]

Hands down... the worst attraction in WDW

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I love the Tiki Room, but its b/c the birds were one of Walt's original ideas, it has a nostolgic feel w/ updates for the new generations. It is a must do for us ever trip.

 

[saraheliz]

i love the tiki room...just the mere mention gets the song stuck in my head for days. i do prefer the original, though.

it does not, however, top the carousel of progress. aaahhhh, i can't wait until april...

 

[GoHerbie]

A year ago we did the Tiki room and like many I thought it was pretty bad.

On our trip last week we did Country Bear Jamboree the first day which I think falls into that category. We did the Tiki room later in the week and I actually enjoyed it, to the point where we'll do it again on our next trip. But we'll definitely be skipping the bear show in the future.

So no matter how bad something is you might actually enjoy it on a future trip!

 

[DizzDoll]

I saw the original Tiki Birds only once when we used to go to FL for our Easter vacations when I was a kid. Fast forward to this year, and my kids and I went to the updated version. While I can't lay claim to remembering the original, we didn't think the updated version was that bad. My daughter actually enjoyed it (my son's a hard sell on anything that has a repetitively annoying song, a la tiki birds and it's a small world), so in 2011 when we go back she's already got that on her to-do list. It's a world of laughter a world of tears in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room!!!!!