Post #412693 by bigbrotiki on Fri, Oct 10, 2008 1:32 PM

No reason to be miffed, Tom! Not only was United Airlines the traditional sponsor of the Tiki Room:

...these swizzles were used at the pineapple juice booth which stood... where? In the Enchanted TIKI GARDEN in front of the Tiki Room:

"Where Fantasy and Legend walk Hand in Hand with Tiki Talk"!!!
The Tiki Garden has been the stepchild of the Tiki Room forever, since it was considered the holding area/ waiting room for the "real" attraction, and its Tikis were not fully animatronic:

But it is actually the Tiki Garden that has provided all the Polynesian pop mythology and the more interesting Tiki art to us Tikiphiles, with Tangaroa the Talking Tree above, and various deities like Koro:

Hina, the Rain Goddess:

...and Ngendei, the Earth-shaker (here the original sculpt, right side up):

Not to forget Pele! Why, we would have never had as many wonderful collectibles without the Tiki Garden Tikis!

It is of course regrettable that this swizzle depicts that relatively generic, often used swizzle stick Tiki --but here at TC we know that that Tiki stems from the Kona Kai Marriott logo Tiki, which ultimately is based on the Trader Vic/De Young Museum Maori Tiki, and so all is well, after all... Right!? :)