Post #653019 by chefmayhem on Sat, Sep 22, 2012 7:51 PM

On 2012-09-22 12:56, lucas vigor wrote:
Chef, has there ever been any discussion that you were privy to about just straight up re-opening the tahitian terrace on a perment basis?

For the life of me, I don't know why they ever got rid of it. The food and atmoshpere were great (best in the whole park) and this was the attraction I most looked forward to. Aladin just lies fallow....

any insights?

I don't have any official insights, but I have heard that re-opening the Terrace for an event like ours has been attempted before, including internally by Disney itself for a possible Annual Passholder event. But it has proven prohibitive because the per person cost of paying for 10-to-12 performers to host a one-off dinner show when the venue only holds 100-120 attendees max is just too high for Disney to justify on its own - there'd be an uproar. But they'll let private parties pay however much it costs, of course, so we have a sponsor that helped us pay part of the cost, and went as low as we could. It's a total money losing venture for us, and for Disney to do it themselves, it would have to be a money earner. But our purpose isn't to make money, it's to celebrate what was.

Having said all that - I can't imagine that using the venue as the Tahitian Terrace permanently again would be anything but a success, but when they closed it, the reason must have been financial - i.e., it just must not drawn enough patrons. Times are different now, and today's dining costs and entertainment expectations might make the idea of the Terrace re-opening more palatable, but the infrastructure has been taken apart and would be costly to restore (i.e., the banyan tree and waterfall curtain.) I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Disney to reopen the Terrace as it existed before. But as a tropical-themed venue? Who knows? And there are a lot of Tahitian Terrace champions in Imagineering. I've learned to never say never.