The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)
The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) | |
---|---|
Status | Removed |
Opening date | April 5, 1998 |
Closing date | January 12, 2011 |
Replaced | Tropical Serenade (1971–1997) |
Replaced by | Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room (2011–present) |
Ride statistics | |
Attraction type | Audio-Animatronic Theater show |
Designer | Zazu (Michael Gough) |
Audio-Animatronics | 225 |
Assistive listening available | |
![]() |
The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) was an attraction located in the
. 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.History
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
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
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 Iago complained that the show's outdated songs made him want to "toss his crackers."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.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/EnchantedTikiRoomMagicKingdom.jpg/220px-EnchantedTikiRoomMagicKingdom.jpg)
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 "
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 "
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
- 2011 in amusement parks
- The Enchanted Tiki Room: Stitch Presents Aloha e Komo Mai!, another version of the attraction that features a character from a Walt Disney Animation Studios film and franchise
References
- ^ "Magic Kingdom voice credits on burnsland.com".
- ^ "Enchanted Tiki Room Adventureland Disneyland". AllEars. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ^ "Fire breaks out at Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room". Archived from the original on 2011-09-09.
- ^ "Small fire doused at Disney's Magic Kingdom Tiki Room attraction".
- ^ Herbst, Dave (August 15, 2011). "Dog Days? Not! In the Tiki Room, Every Bird Has Its Say". Retrieved February 10, 2014.
- ^ "Enchanted Tiki Room Under New Management". Yesterland. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ Krosnick, Brian (July 8, 2016). "This Attraction Was So Bad Disney Fans Cheered When it Closed Forever". Theme Park Tourist. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ Carroll, Luke (July 2, 2018). "History of the Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)". Review Tyme. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.