Originally Posted By leobloom >> If CBJ, HOP, and even COP can draw crowds, Tiki Room can and will, too. Especially with some promotion. << Doesn't necessarily mean it won't be mocked or walked out on. (The teacher in me is wincing at that last phrase.) And with MK's crowds and capacity issues, anything is going to draw a crowd right now. I'd also argue that Tiki is, in some ways, the least of the shows you mentioned. CBJ - better humor than Tiki HOP - has the serious historical/patriotic thing going for it COP - well, I guess Tiki is about equal to this one, and it probably will draw about the same amount of people, mainly people who are attracted to dark theaters with seats and air conditioning. Tiki is great for quaint exotica nostalgia, but I just don't see the soccer mom contingent (you know, the people who schedule a year in advance their rides on Space Mountain, their visits with Tink at her Adventureland meet-and-greet, and their stops at the Cosmic Ray's restrooms) "getting" this show. So I'm not sure how much promotion is going to help Tiki's popularity. Maybe they'll hand out free FPs to the Tiki Room whenever you get a FP to Splash Mountain. That could help.
Originally Posted By leobloom >> I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head leobloom! << Sad state of affairs, then, Tom!
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Am I correct in thinking that after this opens, two of the last three "new" attractions to have opened at WDW will be the 1980's Captain EO and the 1960's Tiki Room? And the other "new" attraction was sprucing up the 1980's Star Tours?" Pretty much the same story at DL Park. We even got Abe Lincoln back.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Am I correct in thinking that after this opens, two of the last three "new" attractions to have opened at WDW will be the 1980's Captain EO and the 1960's Tiki Room? And the other "new" attraction was sprucing up the 1980's Star Tours?<< It's just like all of the 'new' attractions in DL since Buzz opened in early 2005. Since that time, we've seen an updated Space Mountain (with brand new tracks in the same configuration), the return of the Submarine Voyage (with the addition of Nemo), the return of the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough, an attempted reboot of Innoventions (with the Dream Home on the first floor), new Monorail trains (that are exceedingly unreliable due to reused mechanics from the originals), the return of (an updated) Great Moments with Mr Lincoln, the return of Captain EO, and the updated. While this may seem like a lot of stuff, it results in no real net change in the park's offerings. And on top of the capacity, it just further pushes Iger's ideals of Disney only rehashing existing content, rather than coming up with original experiences. Even though many of DCA's redressed attractions are technically new themes, they still focus on pushing the existing properties, which don't really add anything to the attraction experiences. It's like Disney is trying to listen to the fans who want the old days back, but just don't understand what we're saying. They hear that we want specific attractions, instead of the quality and variety of experiences that they presented. I'd love to get to experience some of the old stuff again (or for the first time), however, I'd rather see them push the envelope and deliver something beyond our imagination. If they only strive to meet our expectations, they'll never exceed them.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <<Sad state of affairs, then, Tom!>> It is what it is leobloom! I think somewhere along the way Disney decided their target audience were families with small children. They certainly have vampt up their character meals, meet and greets and after hour parties with oodles of Disney characters. I (and I'm sure I'm not alone) no longer feel as if I'm WDW's target audience. WDW just hasn't come out with anything "new" that appeals to me since "Looming" over Canada. Even the Fantasyland expansion holds little appeal to me and it's not going to motivate me to visit WDW. I feel left out and I don't exactly understand why. Why has Disney abandoned the over 21 crowd? They shut down PI. I can understand why adults who don't have small children would prefer to vacation elsewhere. When Disney's latest promotion is "Princess Rooms" at POR you know things are not looking good.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>Tiki is great for quaint exotica nostalgia, but I just don't see the soccer mom contingent (you know, the people who schedule a year in advance their rides on Space Mountain, their visits with Tink at her Adventureland meet-and-greet, and their stops at the Cosmic Ray's restrooms) "getting" this show.<<< If people can still go on IASW or any of these "dated" rides, I don't see it being a problem for Tiki Room. It's a ingrained part of Disney "culture". What kiddie sing a long CD doesn't have Tiki Room on it? People know about it and accept it. Further, if it's billed as a "new" attraction, and given more new aesthetics, like the lovely new sign it got yesterday, I think we will be fine.
Originally Posted By HMButler79 I'm with Leo. The WDW demo who wakes up at 7am at CRT, wait 75min for Tink, think Soarin is the Alpha and Omega of WDW attractions, are gonna go in this show and be like "WTH is this that i'm watching".
Originally Posted By TDLFAN ^^^Agree. Not even the popularity of Stitch in Japan could save the horrible show that now performs at TDL's Tiki Room.. and this ine, while a relic, won't be popular with today's crowds. Remember, 102% of guests visiting WDW do not know the history and importance of the Tropical Serenade. Only regular DL visitors can appreciate that.
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>Remember, 102% of guests visiting WDW do not know the history and importance of the Tropical Serenade. Only regular DL visitors can appreciate that.<< I would be astonished if more than one half of one per cent of the guests who experience DL's Enchanted Tiki Room are more than remotely aware of the show's history or importance. Most of the time it's people with very young kids, older adults, and a smattering of families with older kids who are usually reluctantly dragged along. It's just a charming show with a fairly high profile entrance right off the hub. And it delivers a lively, relatively short show with some corny jokes, nice songs, and mildly interesting effects, all in about fifteen minutes. Fifteen air conditioned minutes. What's not to like???
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: Well, I can certainly remember guests walking out of the Tiki Room show or not bothering with it at all in the early to mid 90's. That's why management updated it--although they did a horrible job of it. I just don't see it becoming popular for this new century any more than it was for the last. My sisters and I fear it will flop.
Originally Posted By HMButler79 ""I would be astonished if more than one half of one per cent of the guests who experience DL's Enchanted Tiki Room are more than remotely aware of the show's history or importance."" Since DL is run by locals they've know about it from thier parents and grandparents for 47yrs. Plus the entire show was shown on the Tencenniel Special, PLUS the merch for teh 45th anniversary and the effort to restore it and save it for the 50th. So to say that most DLers do NOT know what the heck Tikis is, is disingenous. They most certainly know.
Originally Posted By HMButler79 "" Remember, 102% of guests visiting WDW do not know the history and importance of the Tropical Serenade. Only regular DL visitors can appreciate that."" TOTALLY AGREED.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt They know what it is, but that doesn't mean they know or understand (or care about) its historical significance, which is what I think that Doug was getting at. Even knowing the Tiki show's place in Disney theme park history, I still think it's a dud and typically skip the show whenever I visit DLR.
Originally Posted By DlandDug At Disneyland theEnchanted Tiki Room also had some trouble pleasing audiences in the early 90s. The changes that were made to address this were a little more nuanced. They tightened up the title song and cut the Barcarolle/Dancing Waters. The show then pulled in fairly respectable numbers, despite the fact that the building had begun to really show signs of neglect. There were cobwebs on the flowers, the birds got fusty looking, and many of the Tikis operated erratically. Worst of all was the very run-down appearance of the exterior. The thatch was completely dried out and balding in spots. The Tiki gods looked shabby, and the whole patio area seemed boarded up and abandoned. Worst of ll, the tower, with its guardian tiki god and boat simply collapsed in a Santa Ana winds one winter and was hauled away, with some camouflage nets tossed over the hole in the exterior. A complete cosmetic refurbishment was done in time for the 50th birthday. Inside and out the Tiki Room was cleaned up, with broken and missing elements replaced. A complete upgrade was done to the sound system (even out on the lanai). All of the mechanical elements were restored to working order. Even the tired old rattan chairs were replaced with new padded benches. The smartest move was the removal of the old fence that enclosed the lanai. There was no reason to keep that little pre-show secret any more. Finally, a set of blazing tiki torches were placed on the roof. They almost made up for the loss of the original tower. And today Walt Disney's original Tiki Room is safe and secure. For now, anyway.
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>Since DL is run by locals...<< Disneyland is not "run" by locals. We like to believe that is the case, but it's not. And it's not the locals alone who have boosted the numbers at the Tiki Room. Yes, there are a lot of people who have fond, fond memories of this show. But they're not nearly enough to have made the Tiki Room a new "hit" since 2005.
Originally Posted By 3disneylocations Fifteen air conditioned minutes.<<< 15 non moving corny Disney sit down hand clapping wonderfully airconditioned minutes.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom I think the Tiki House would benefit from a "new" show. Sometimes retro is just plain redundant.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I would be astonished if more than one half of one per cent of the guests who experience DL's Enchanted Tiki Room are more than remotely aware of the show's history or importance.>> Seriously? You really think that less than 0.5% of guests know anything about WALT DISNEY'S Enchanted Tiki Room? Disneyland isn't particularly subtle about tugging on those nostalgic heart strings for regulars. It plays precisely to the park's key demographic - baby boomer (or older) regular park guests.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <<I would be astonished if more than one half of one per cent of the guests who experience DL's Enchanted Tiki Room are more than remotely aware of the show's history or importance.>> I really view this as a snobby remark. A quest's knowledge base of independent Disney rides and attractions is completly irrevalant as to one's enjoyment of the said ride or attraction. What is the assumption here.... that you can't properly "experience" the Tiki Room without full knowlege of it's historical background or importance? Geez Louise! How about if I just enjoy the show!
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>Seriously? You really think that less than 0.5% of guests know anything about WALT DISNEY'S Enchanted Tiki Room?<< Didn't say they don't know anything about the show. But I do believe that the vast majority could care less about the history or importance of the show. That is left to the very small, very impassioned fan base who know the names of the performers, can tell you who wrote the show, and may even know the name of the book that was the source material for the tiki gods in the entry. I did go on to say, "there are a lot of people who have fond, fond memories of this show." But they only make up a portion of the regulars who have given this attraction respectable numbers in recent years. >>It plays precisely to the park's key demographic - baby boomer (or older) regular park guests.<< What surprises me each time I experience the Tiki Room is the number of families with very young children who have found the singing birds and flowers. They are definitely too young to be Baby Boomers.
