Disney fully embraced Tiki wonderfulness in creating the Polynesian Resort and The Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland and at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.
Let’s take advantage of today’s celebration to learn some fun facts about The Enchanted Tiki Room, one of my all-time favorite attractions …
The first Enchanted Tiki Room opened in Disneyland in 1963.
The Walt Disney World Enchanted Tiki Room was an Opening Day attraction in Adventureland when Disney World opened to the public in 1971, but back then it was called “Tropical Serenade,” a name that stuck until 1993.
Disney Imagineer Harriet Burns designed the birds. She was the first woman imagineer hired by Walt Disney. She had an illustrious career with Disney for more than 30 years, including designing Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle, the Haunted Mansion and the Matterhorn ride and working on the Carousel of Progress. She also created the animatronic birds appearing in Mary Poppins. She stated the Enchanted Tiki Room birds were one of her most challenging projects.
Jose was voiced by Wally Boag, the original “Pecos Bill.”
The Irish parrot, Michael, was voiced by Fulton Burley. He was an entertainer at Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Revue.
Fritz was voiced by Thurl Ravenscroft, who was also the voice of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes “Tony, the Tiger” character. He also sang the vocals for the song “No Dogs Allowed” in the animated movie, Snoopy, Come Home.
The theme song was written by Richard and Robert Sherman, the same creative duo behind the song for “it’s a small world” and the Carousel of Progress song, “Great, Big Beautiful Tomorrow.” The brothers wrote music for the Disney films, Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, the Sword and the Stone, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
The attraction was first to feature Audio-Animatronic technology.
The four-minute pre-show features the antics of two animatronic birds, Clyde and Claude.
The 16-minute show features more than 225 singing and dancing animatronic birds, flowers, Tiki drummers and totem poles.
In 1998, the Enchanted Tiki Room attraction at Walt Disney World was updated with appearances by two more animatronic birds, Iago from A Lion King and Iago from Aladdin. However, the Iago figure was damaged in a January 2011 fire at the attraction.
The Enchanted Tiki Room was re-opened as its original version in August, 2011. Have you seen this attraction? Share your thoughts in the comments!
