Post #586656 by Okolehao on Tue, Apr 26, 2011 4:31 PM

I was down in So.Cal. a week ago (from Salinas) for the big extended family vacation to Disneyland with a total of 8 people in tow. I was the Nazi tour guide that planned out the 2 day itinerary down to the minute with Ridemax software. The one and only attraction I said I had to see – that everyone was going to have to see damn it – was The Enchanted Tiki Room.

The Tiki Room was the first Disneyland attraction I experienced when I went to the park for the very first time in 1967 as a 5 year old, sweating in that long line with dad who was complaining about the extra 35 cents it cost. And seeing that show back then is the reason I think I became a Tiki zombie. It was like an acid trip for a little kid like me and I’ll never forget it.

When I got my blasé group to the attraction on the Friday of the trip they liked it (yawn – “lets go to Pirates of the Caribbean, uncle”), but I was in ecstasy seeing it again with slightly moist eyes feeling like a 5 year old. A real lump in my throat had I.

As we walked out I had to see for myself if it was true. I went to the fountain and was able to open the cabinet below it to see where there could have been the serving station that was designed to hold regular glass ware for the restaurant the attraction was supposed to have been in the first place. Nothing was inside the cabinet. But for a moment I imagined a complete bar sitting there, all ready for a cool one to be made just for me.

I think next time I’m going to bring a mini of rum for my Pineapple Whip. The ultimate Tiki bar.

This post is too long, I know. But the original place touches such a deep nerve in me and when I saw a youtube video last year of the recent WDW show I was ready to strap on the suicide bomber vest and get my plane ticket to Orlando. Wretched. What they did was like defiling the Dome of the Rock.

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2011-04-26 16:32 ]