BACKSTORY (June 23, 1963—Present): First Audio-Animatronic attraction to cost $1 million+. United Airlines was the first commercial sponsor, but it soon changed to Dole (try a delicious Dole Whip at the snack bar!). Originally owned by Walt Disney (through WED Enterprises) and was to be a restaurant featuring AA birds serenading guests as they dined. The “magic fountain” was to be a coffee station (a storage compartment remains in the base) and the restaurant would have shared its kitchen with the now-defunct Tahitian Terrace and Plaza Pavilion Restaurant. Since ownership was separate from the rest of the park, a small admission of 75¢ was charged. The Tiki Room was also Disneyland’s first fully air-conditioned building. The attraction was an immediate hit with its Hawaiian-themed musical show hosted by four macaws whose plumage matches their implied countries of origin. José is red, white, & green and speaks with a Mexican accent (Wally Boag); Michael is white & green with an Irish brogue (Fulton Burley); Pierre is red, white, & blue and has a French accent (Ernie Newton) while red, black, & white Fritz has a German accent (Thurl Ravenscroft, voice of Hawaiian God Tangaroa-Ru near the entrance). The birds have real feathers with the exception of the chest area which is covered in custom-woven cashmere, allowing the figures to “breathe” in a lifelike manner (inspired by an employee at a planning meeting who wore a cashmere sweater which moved at the elbows exactly the way the engineers envisioned). 225+ talking, singing, and dancing birds, flowers, the magic fountain, tiki drummers and tiki totem poles perform “In The Tiki Room” by the Sherman Brothers and “Let’s All Sing Like the Birdies Sing.” The finale has them performing a rousing version of The Hawaiian War Chant. Exit music is an arrangement of Snow White’s “Heigh Ho” with lyrics thanking guests while encouraging them to exit quickly!
An AA talking “barker” bird was once located near the walkway to beckon visitors inside, but was removed when he caused enormous traffic jams of gawking guests. While waiting outside in a lanai area for the show to start, visitors are serenaded by Hawaiian music which at one time included Martin Denny. Hawaiian gods are represented around the perimeter of the lanai and each has a story to tell via AAs. A brief documentary of the history of the pineapple is also presented. Filmed in the early 1960’s and updated at the end with a presentation of Dole products, it is shown on a screen on the rear of the roof of the Dole snack bar at the entrance to the lanai. Other than the removal of a minor musical number set to the “Barcarolle” from Jacques Offenbach’s opera “Tales of Hoffmann” and the final verse of “Let’s All Sing Like The Birdies Sing,” the show has remained otherwise unchanged since its debut, thanks to a stipulation in the Dole sponsorship contract that the attraction remain the same. As such, the attraction is somewhat dated, adding to its classic appeal. One chorus of “Let’s All Sing Like The Birdies Sing” has José crooning like Bing Crosby, Fritz scat-singing in a gravelly voice like that of Louis Armstrong, and Pierre singing like Maurice Chevalier.
The show re-opened after a 7 month hiatus in March 2005 for the park’s 50th birthday. After the renovation, the original show and storyline remained but with a digitally remastered audio, new sound systems, and completely new Audio-Animatronics which look the same but have a completely different infrastructure. Updates in technology allowed Imagineers to enhance the show while retaining its classic look & feel.
Many thanks to Danny Thayer, who encouraged Diana (his stepmother) in 2004 to write the tale of her years at The Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland.
“In May of 1963, when I was a freshman at Whittier College, I saw a flyer posted that would be outlawed today. It said that Oriental students were needed for a new attraction at Disneyland. I thought that it sounded like glamorous summer work, so I went there to apply. There was a pile of papers to complete first, including written verbal and math tests. I was told that I would be called when to come back for an interview. A week later, I returned to be interviewed by Walt Disney himself! He told me all about his latest achievement, Audio-Animatronics, and said that he needed a VIP hostess to inform important visitors to the Magic Kingdom about the workings of the Tiki Room, his newest project “baby” in Adventureland. At the conclusion of the long interview, he said he liked two things about me: that I had background experience through hula that gave me understanding of the culture and Hawaiian language of the tikis in the Lanai patio behind the juice bar of the Tiki Room, and that I was educated and articulate enough for him to personally train to introduce his “baby” to special guests at his theme park. I was very flattered that he also thought me a “pretty little miss” suitable for his newest project. The show was originally planned to be a walk-through in a restaurant setting, but the adjacent Tahitian Terrace was refurbished and the Enchanted Tiki Room was developed as a separate attraction. Needless to say, for a 19-year old, I drove home floating on air about getting to talk to Walt Disney in person. I saw him on television every Sunday night. The next day I got a phone call asking me to report to Operations as soon as possible to sign a contract. I had been earning 95¢ an hour as hostess at 5 Lanterns, a Chinese restaurant, so I was thrilled to be offered $2.00 an hour, if I were to pay Teamster dues. That powerful union controlled the ride operators, and even after dues, that was a huge increase in wages for me.
Next came a big surprise. I was sent to Wardrobe to be fitted for a sarong and sandals, the uniform for Tiki Room girls. After passing the customary inspection for costumed park employees, I was directed to the Tiki Room. Walt Disney met me there and took me down to the basement of the building, where I was amazed by the technology behind the show. He told me that the mainframe computer with giant reels of 1" magnetic tapes had 14 audio tracks controlling the sounds and movements of the 225 Audio-Animatronic figures; then we went upstairs into the Tiki Room, where he pointed out the specific birds, flowers, and tikis for each of the 14 tracks. He signaled for the imagineers to begin the show. The precise synchronization of the animation with the catchy songs was truly amazing. After the 17-minute show, I was asked to enumerate the different sound tracks. They were easy to recall after having just seen the show and with everything still in sight but now silenced. At that point, Mr. Disney insisted that I call him “Uncle Walt,” now that I was an official member of the Disney family. I was told when to report for work and issued a security badge and employee parking pass. My first week on the job in early June was for personal training by Uncle Walt. He told me precisely what to say about the development of The Enchanted Tiki Room. He took me with him as he guided visiting dignitaries and VIP guests through the basement and show, and then he observed me doing the same and gave me suggestions.
My second week on the job, I was joined by new hires. Our lead man, a moonlighting teacher, taught us about crowd control, safety measures, taking tickets, keeping accurate turnstile counts, and directing attention to the talking tikis encircling the entry patio: Koro, Maui, Pele, Rongo, & Tangaroa. We were shown how to move 200 people out of the Tiki Room while simultaneously ushering 200 incoming guests to their seats. We had 3 minutes between shows to do this, so the shows could run as scheduled every 20 minutes. We had to assure awed patrons that every seat was a good seat and keep them from running into the rattan chairs or over each other as their eyes focused on all the birds overhead. When guests were safely seated, we pushed the button to begin the Audio-Animatronics, then walked over to add realism to the show by tapping on the perch of a parrot to awaken him by saying," C'mon, wake up, Jose. People are waiting. It's showtime!" Our timed trial shake-down shows had us completely ready when the attraction held its grand opening on June 23, 1963.
During the shows, we watched carefully for any animation that was not perfectly in sync with the sound track and immediately reported this information to the engineers in the basement. Birds realistically moved their heads, preened themselves, and even puffed their chests in deep breaths while their beaks moved to replicate singing. Giant orchids in ceiling boats and floral birds of paradise in wall baskets had tongues that vibrated while crooning Hawaiian songs. Tiki drummers high over the windows pounded rhythmic native beats. Carved tike poles suddenly came to life to chant the Hawaiian War Chant and roll their eyes at guests. A water fountain danced to the music of Offenbach. Thunder, lightning, and rain in the windows enhanced the tropical experience. I was constantly delighted by the oohs, aahs, open mouths of the guests, and their willing participation as we walked around the central fountain and coaxed them to "sing like the birdies sing” halfway through the show. A week later, Barbara Phillips and I were selected by Uncle Walt to appear on the Tiki Room postcard. We signed release forms and were photographed singing around the fountain. 30 years later in 1993, I bought that same postcard in Adventureland. For 25 years the Tiki Room was our family resting place at the end of our annual day at Disneyland. Having seen the identical show over 5,000 times has not diminished my appreciation for the artistic beauty, music, animation, and technology of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. Uncle Walt was a perfectionist and taskmaster in his domain. He noticed details and was reputed to fire employees on the spot for not meeting his lofty standards for appearance, cleanliness, or making Disneyland the happiest place on earth. Word flew fast when he was in the park, and lead men of each attraction did extra inspections for clean costumes and shoes, grooming from hair to fingernails, cheerful attitude, and big smiles. There could not be a speck of litter in sight. At the Tiki Room, we had to sweep the stone patio between shows to clear away natural sheddings from the colorful but messy jacaranda trees surrounding the Tiki garden. On a personal note, Uncle Walt impressed me with his eye for details and his great memory. On my second week of work, when he was still protectively hovering over his “baby,” I reported to the Tiki Room with my right jaw swollen from the extraction of a wisdom tooth. Uncle Walt asked me about it and sympathized with my discomfort. I had bled too much, so the oral surgeon did not remove a second wisdom tooth until the following week. When Uncle Walt saw me again, he asked, “Wasn’t the other side of your face swollen the last time I saw you?” I had to explain, but was surprised that he would notice and comment on such a minor detail. It made tolerable being called “Li’l Darlin’” and “Sweetheart” by my world famous big boss. Upon his death in 1965, I was pictured with Uncle Walt on the front page of the Orange County Register. Unfortunately, that article about the Enchanted Tiki Room being his last accomplishment has vanished from my box of treasured mementos. Soon after, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride opened in Adventureland, adding to the Audio-Animatronic attractions at Disneyland.
Before the park opened each day in the summer, canoe races around Tom Sawyer’s Island were held for employees of each Land within the park. Adventureland challenged Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Frontierland and Main Street and usually won the races because of more male muscle. Although “Indians” guided the canoes, other employees provided the oar power. There was also a lot of employee camaraderie in the break areas and a few after-hours parties at some outdoor dance areas. The happiest place on earth was largely a happy place for most employees as well. A fringe benefit was being able to accompany a free guest anytime during off hours.
As they passed through the turnstiles into the patio, many people asked me to pose for a picture with them and questioned my racial background. I was claimed by every Pacific Rim ethnic group as looking like one of them! This Hawaiian Chinese student was the universal Oriental. One day a very persistent guy in a trim Air Force uniform sat on a bench across the entrance to Adventureland and watched me for hours, whenever I rotated to outdoor crowd control duties. My co-workers teased me about it, and my lead man asked him to leave for causing the distraction. Instead, he came over to introduce himself with a phony line about being the twist champion of New Jersey now stationed at Vandenburg Air Force Base. So I introduced myself as Aloha, a Polynesian dancer now stationed at the Enchanted Tiki Room. When he returned to see me the following week, I was inside directing the show, and he asked my lead man to see Aloha. Again, giggles and excitement circulated among us, as I went outside to accept a first date from the Airman whom I married three years later. When we divorced in 1976, he claimed that from our first meeting in the Magic Kingdom until our final parting three sons later in Valencia, our relationship was for him “nothing more than a combination of fantasy and adventure,” but now he had found his ideal blonde beauty and had to pursue his own dream. Imagine blaming the Magic Kingdom for not being able to cope with the realities of daily life! However, he freed me to meet and marry my own Prince Charming, and we are living happily ever after.
Additional notes from Danny: In 1997, Diana had a cerebral hemorrhage and stroke leaving her partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Despite a 21-year age gap between my father and Diana they remained married for 31 years until my father passed away in 2007.
