Disneyland Enchanted Tiki Room Art Event TODAY JUNE 22, 2008

A note about the special gallery event at Disneyland this morning (all artists will be signing their work from 8AM to 11AM on Main Street).
I posted more detailed information here:
http://miehana.blogspot.com/
Jody and I will be at the Main Street Cinema with the new Tiki Room collectibles items we've been working on this year. Drop by and see us if you're planning to attend!

-Kevin Kidney

That fountain is awesome...I am hoping to get one. The Sacramento Ohana has representation there today with our shopping lists in his hot little hand. Happy shopping to all the TCers who make the event.

My wife and I are gonna be there. We've flown all the way from the east coast and are all excited about this.

I had friends who were going to D-land today anyway so I gave them a shopping list and cash last night. Crossing my fingers they get me some good stuff!

Just got back from the Tiki Room event. This was the most poorly managed event that I have ever attended at Disneyland. They advertised the event as starting at 8am, we got there at 6am. To start it all off they let in people early that stay at the Hotels (and some that did not) I can understand that, but they should have everyone waiting for the event have a fair chance of getting in line, maybe giving out wrist bands. The main fiasco began when we were informed that they only had 60 fountains in stock due to labor disputes in China. Instead of taking our names in the order that we were in line they stated that we would have to call in on Monday morning to their merchandise services department to see if we can order them. As you can imagine, this had everyone very upset, most people came specifically for the fountain (one couple flew in from Denver) I was so upset that I went to City Hall to complain, I was getting nowhere until the wonderful woman that was behind me in line showed up at City Hall. She took the issue to the top, I don’t know who she spoke with but they spoke with event management and they changed their minds about not taking orders. After that the Head of merchandising and the Event manager came down the line telling us that they would take our names and call us when the fountains were available. When they started taking names we told them that we would be traveling in Costa Rica in a few weeks and they took the dates and stated that they would call us after our trip, great customer service. I ended up getting everything I wanted yet we were in the first 1/4 of the line - several items had shortages. I feel bad for the people behind us.

Oh dear, that is not good news. So many enthusiasts invested money into their travel there for a fair chance at the merchandise. I won't complain if I get nothing...but I sure hope that those that showed up to the event were able to come away with something. :(

I was there a month ago, and I went in to talk to Disneyanna cast members.I asked a few questions about the event. They didn't't know much either.

I feel for you, I am glad you received the items you wanted. The event Management should know how to handle this type of event by now.

I was going to fly down for this event. I am so glad I didn't. I wanted some stuff , but that was the key word WANT I don't need any of it. I might call tomorrow to see if there is anything I wanted is still in stock. Or if they will be getting more in.

I have heard from some of my Disney friends that Disney seemed to have WILDLY underestimated the popularity of this event...

I'm almost glad some stuff came up that kept me from being able to go today

Two Thumbs Down to The Disneyana Shop for making The Happiest Place on Earth the Most Unhappiest Place on Earth today. We arrived at Disneyland this morning around 5:45am and literally stood in line for 5 hours. Like mentioned before this event was totally unorganized. Thank goodness we saw a few familiar faces from TC to help brighten our day.





Happy Anniversary Enchanted Tiki Room!!!

See you at Buster's WooHooWahine, I got Scott to take a nap so he'll be all ready to go.

Jen

Hello,
I wasn't able to drive to Southern California for this event. I saw the list of merchandise on disney gallery's website. Was there any additional merchandise there that is not pictured on the website? Any pictures of the merchandise sold at the store today would warm my heart. :) Any further reports on the merchandise itself? Any look better or different in person than on the website? Anything missing (other than the fountain)? Thanks!
Dying to learn more....
Louis

On 2008-06-22 12:53, disneydan wrote:
I was so upset that I went to City Hall to complain, I was getting nowhere until the wonderful woman that was behind me in line showed up at City Hall. She took the issue to the top, I don’t know who she spoke with but they spoke with event management and they changed their minds about not taking orders. After that the Head of merchandising and the Event manager came down the line telling us that they would take our names and call us when the fountains were available. When they started taking names we told them that we would be traveling in Costa Rica in a few weeks and they took the dates and stated that they would call us after our trip, great customer service. I ended up getting everything I wanted yet we were in the first 1/4 of the line - several items had shortages. I feel bad for the people behind us.

Well, that is good news. Now you will be able to sell those fountains on ebay along with the other items you picked up and have already listed today. Whew, I bet that was a close one for you! :D No wonder you felt so sorry for those people in line behind you. :wink:

My friends just called me and told me what they were able to get for me. I was not expecting them to spend their D-land day in line so they waited till 4pm to hit the shop. I got the "babies", 2 shot glasses, the pitcher and some bar towels. I missed out on the Rongo bowl and I could not afford the fountain anyway. I am just SO happy they were able to find anything this late in the day!

Tiki Kinniki and I walked in at 8 am and could not believe the line which was great but they only let a small group in at a time to shop . I could see this was going nowhere . Soccer Tiki and Woo Hoo were not as happy as in those pics when I saw them . They had a right to be upset about the way things were handled . We said screw it for now and proceded directly into the park . While everyone was waiting in line we were actually sitting IN the Tiki Room enjoying it . We even went again later in the day . As we left there wasnt much but I got the Tiki room drummer box and Cindy got the fruit bowl so it all worked out for us . But I just couldnt believe how they made everyone wait so long . Soccer Tiki called me at 11 am and told us they just got done shopping . We had fun though .

I was there this morning as well, what a complete MESS!!!! We waited in line for over 45 minutes and didn't move ahead one inch. Luckily, I live about an hour from the park, so we cut our losses and got a refund for our tickets and left. I feel really bad for people that traveled from far away.
It was good to see the tiki spirit is alive and well, though!

Was there too-from about 7am-1pm. 98% of it waiting in line. Happy with what I got but noticed that on the back of the Tiki Room shadow box, it gives a little description and history of the item. Its for a Disneyland Halloween version, not the Tiki Room version. My cousin's had the same thing. I wonder if the entire shipment is that way. Oh well! :)

On 2008-06-22 15:55, Atomobile wrote:
Was there any additional merchandise there that is not pictured on the website?

I got the following bag that wasn't on the website:

Tag says it's an edition of 500.

I got the stuff I was looking for (and am on the list for the fountain that I really wanted - Big Thanks to whoever got that worked out!!).

Up until noon or so, they were only letting in groups of 5 people at a time (or so we heard from the back of the line, over by Tomorrowland!). In two hours, we went from near the entrance of Tomorrowland to where Main Street opens onto the circle. Whomever planned the event at D-land didn't seem to expect the number of folks who showed up.

Split and came back around 2:00, and only a handful of people in line, but still a lot of good stuff. Went back around 4:00, and most of the stuff was gone.

I too was in line today for about 6 hours. At about 12:30 a Disney Rep. walked down the line telling us they were so low on merchandise they stopped selling completely, but a 2nd truck load of stuff was on the way & close by. By 1:00 the line was moving again. I was inside the store shortly there after. I got everything I went for, but still no fountains. I went back into the park at 8:30 for the fireworks. I decided to go back to the store to see what was left & to my surprise all most all of the items were still there. The only thing I didn't see was the bag with bamboo handles. It looked like all the standard prints, glasses, shots, green bracelet, ornaments, pillow, t-shirt, & button up shirt were still being sold. So if you missed it maybe it will be available while supply lasts.

I just called DeliverEars. I was able to get the purse, two aloha shirts, a rongo bowl, and a baby. So they still have many items. Expect to be on the phone oh hold for a while. The number is 800-3624533. As for the fountain they said to call back at the end of July to see if any are available. I am excited that I at least was able to get some items since I could not make it down there yesterday. Kind of glad I didn't after hearing what a mess it was.

Agreed. The waiting in line thing sounds like it really sucked A$$. I was able to get everything I wanted with just a phone call!

Bowls and Babies still available! ...a 45 minute wait on the phone and $50+ in shipping charges. Cool.

sounds like y'all had a BLAST!
:lol:

I waited an Hour on the Phone and they had everything I wanted but the Bracelet.

Beats a $250 plane trip and 5 or 6 hours of waiting inline.

[ Edited by: princessP 2008-06-23 13:20 ]

test

Did we pass?

Scott and I went to see our pendants on display (Pele, Koro, Maui, Jose and the Monkey Drummers with the Tahitian pearl), and ended up leaving with the button down shirt and lucite bracelet. They were just so darn cute.

Saw a lovely lady purchase one of the Jose pendants (she also has the POC Moonlit Voyage Black Pearl pendant we did 2 years ago). Don't know how many sold. Pele, Koro, Maui and Jose are all $400 each, and the Monkey Drummers with the Tahitian Pearls are $600.

I'll post photos when I have a few extra minutes.

Jen

yes it was crazy all right, I thought I was doing quite well, got to the park before the parking attendants were even there(6:30 Am, got first row parking, 1st tram, 8th person in line from the gate. Then came the magic mornings people who they let in at 7AM while the rest of us waited till 8am to come, Instead of giving out wrist bands with numbers on then by the order of which you were waiting at the gate, it was like a horse race once the gates opened, everyone ran but us that couldn't because of knee problems. My 8th person in line at the gate got me 110th in line for merchandise, some guy in front of us counted. They did give rules though, you had to let the person in front of you take a break and let them back in line, no line holding, so that was nice. But you would think they would of had someone walking around selling drinks to us or something. Lucky for me my mom was with me & we took turns sitting down or walking. And the sun never hit that side of the street while we were in line, don't get me wrong it was plenty hot, so 10:44 I got in, got all my goodies, but they ran out of the tiki gods box set and told me to pay for it and come back in 2 hours, but would not have to wait in line again. so I went to check in packages, again a wait, I am on the wait list for the fountain, which is okay. But geez, that was horrible!

The merchandise is nice but the lucite bracelet clearly on the side very visible says made in china and there is no way to take it off! They glazed over it! Also the eyes are barely there, poor blind bird. The T-shirts ran small very. But the bowl is amazing, The tiki Babies awesome, The Button up shirt to die for, The pillow was a pleasant surprise, the tiki gods a joy, The prints very nice too. So all in all it was A + merchandise. They even let me use my annual pass discount coupon you get when you renew, so an added bonus. but lets face it on a hot day like yesterday, it wasn't a good idea, no amount could make me sell mine on ebay for the suffering I went through to get them.

They should of done it like they did at the shag party at Disneyland they did years ago, you pay $75 to attend the party, you get drinks, appetizers, a party with entertainment, a free souvenir photo, a free collector tile, and you got to pre-order your goodies as well as prepay and before you left you got in a small line, told them your name they had all my merchandise in a bag all ready to go. Simple fun and easy and no heat and no super outlandish lines. And you left with a happy feeling too! PS if you do call deliver ears it's about a hour wait. I had to call as they forgot to put some of the ceritificates that come with the merchandise in my products, so check yours they may not be there. All limited editions should have come with them, all of them, so double check.
oh one more thing, I think we all deserve a t-shirt that says "I survived the 45th tiki room aniversary product line and all I got was hot sweaty"

On 2008-06-23 13:39, tiki-a-fair wrote:
test

Sorry I couldnt remember my pass word so I was making sure it worked, and I see it did, and yes every one passes. sorry about that, It's been a long time since I posted on here. Have a happy day!

Sounds like h-e-doublet-toothpicks. Which bracelets are they out of? The lucite or the charm?

No question -- the event was not well thought out by Disney AT ALL. But Kevin and Jodie were gracious and wonderful, signing their merchandise past the cut-off signing time (which Disney said was 11 a.m.). The Disney employees were very patient and helpful, though. I arrived at the park at 6 a.m. My main purpose was to get photos of the event and Kevin and Jodie for my upcoming article for Tiki Magazine. But, hey, since I was there anyway...I did stand in the extremely long line and wait my turn. Happy to say I was able to get everything on all my friends' wishlists (except the fountains, which they promised to me in 6-8 weeks, since I was lucky enough to make it onto Disney's "will call" list). But there was this frenzied sense that they were running out of everything... only to find out later that they just couldn't restock fast enough. Odd how Disney didn't think this was going to be such a big draw.

Here's what I can't understand: After the success of the last Tiki Room merchandise, why didn't Disney put some imagination into this day? This should have been a REAL EVENT. It would have been so special to have had this take place (or part of it) in the pre-show Tiki Room garden. Maybe have the signings done there, instead of the VERY dark Main Street Cinema. Hire King Kukelele to entertain. Passed out free pineapple juice. ANYTHING. (Oh, wait. I just said "free"."Free" and "Disney" aren't allowed in the same sentence. My bad.)

Anyway, if I ran this circus, I would issue "Fastpass" type tickets to everyone in line, based on first come. That way, everyone could enjoy the park (and continue to spend their money... do you hear that, Disney execs?) until it was their timeslot to show up and buy their merchandise. Yes, people would still have to wait in line (at the beginning of the day (to get their "Fastpass" event ticket), and perhaps have to wait 20 minutes or so, when their timeslot was called, but I think that beats waiting in one line for HOURS, don't you? And it will keep the Main Street stores from being blocked with long lines of tired-looking people. (Always a cheery thing to see when you first enter an amusement park.)

I did manage to amuse myself in line however. I must have been asked at least one hundred times (by park guests) "What's this line for?" To which I merrily replied, "the bathroom". Always a crowd-pleaser.

On 2008-06-23 14:18, Brenda's Tiki Hut wrote:
Sounds like h-e-doublet-toothpicks. Which bracelets are they out of? The lucite or the charm?

The charm bracelet wasnt even there, production problems and the lucite one is gone. but it wasnt made very well to you the truth, the made in china ruined it for me as it was painted in plain view on the side.

On 2008-06-23 14:20, Tangaroa-Ru wrote:
No question -- the event was not well thought out by Disney AT ALL. But Kevin and Jodie were gracious and wonderful, signing their merchandise past the cut-off signing time (which Disney said was 11 a.m.). The Disney employees were very patient and helpful, though. I arrived at the park at 6 a.m. My main purpose was to get photos of the event and Kevin and Jodie for my upcoming article for Tiki Magazine. But, hey, since I was there anyway...I did stand in the extremely long line and wait my turn. Happy to say I was able to get everything on all my friends' wishlists (except the fountains, which they promised to me in 6-8 weeks, since I was lucky enough to make it onto Disney's "will call" list). But there was this frenzied sense that they were running out of everything... only to find out later that they just couldn't restock fast enough. Odd how Disney didn't think this was going to be such a big draw.

Here's what I can't understand: After the success of the last Tiki Room merchandise, why didn't Disney put some imagination into this day? This should have been a REAL EVENT. It would have been so special to have had this take place (or part of it) in the pre-show Tiki Room garden. Maybe have the signings done there, instead of the VERY dark Main Street Cinema. Hire King Kukelele to entertain. Passed out free pineapple juice. ANYTHING. (Oh, wait. I just said "free"."Free" and "Disney" aren't allowed in the same sentence. My bad.)

Anyway, if I ran this circus, I would issue "Fastpass" type tickets to everyone in line, based on first come. That way, everyone could enjoy the park (and continue to spend their money... do you hear that, Disney execs?) until it was their timeslot to show up and buy their merchandise. Yes, people would still have to wait in line (at the beginning of the day (to get their "Fastpass" event ticket), and perhaps have to wait 20 minutes or so, when their timeslot was called, but I think that beats waiting in one line for HOURS, don't you? And it will keep the Main Street stores from being blocked with long lines of tired-looking people. (Always a cheery thing to see when you first enter an amusement park.)

I did manage to amuse myself in line however. I must have been asked at least one hundred times (by park guests) "What's this line for?" To which I merrily replied, "the bathroom". Always a crowd-pleaser.

Ha, Ha that is funny, bathroom line, I told everyone it was for Minnie Mouse's rare perfomance of her 1st Burlesque show!

I was hopping for a Shag like event, or the Nightmare before christmas event .

Pay a fee, you use a RSP for merchadise lottery.

Pick up your merchdise at one place and have a little reception at The tiki room !!

On 2008-06-23 15:07, princessP wrote:

I was hopping for a Shag like event, or the Nightmare before christmas event .

Pay a fee, you use a RSP for merchandise lottery.

Pick up your merchdise at one place and have a little reception at The tiki room !!

Just my thoughts too, it would of been more enjoyable! How about the poor people that came from out of state and paid to get in?!?!?!?! That is horrible. couldn't even enjoy themselves.

Thank the Tiki Gawds I passed the test online here...cause I would have PASSED OUT in line at Disneyland. Bless all of you dedicated collectors for putting up with such insanity. Sounds like the phone line thang is working out for peeps too. I am holding my breath that I got something...will have to wait till my contact checks in.

I really want a fountain...hmmmmm...wonder if I can hold on the phone line to that number till the end of July. :D

I'm glad I had no idea about any of this.

I like alot of the disney tiki stuff.

but the circus is just not worth it to me.

I went and saw 2 surf bands by the Beach and then saw the Smokin Menahunes,
both for free, and then went to Kona(Sams Seafood) after that.

now that was a good day.
:wink:

I agree with everyone that this event was very poorly managed.

I too spent just over five hours waiting in line.

But, I did manage to snag everything I was after and am on the fountain call list.

Most of the items were much nicer in person than as pictured on the website, I thought.

I did meet some great people in line too, so that really helped make the long wait much easier.

Steve Soto of the Adolescents?

Agreeing with everyone on this post that had to wait. My story - arrived at 8am, had to start waiting near the outlet street (is it really a street?) past the last building on Main Street. Definitely enough grumblings to go around. Yes there were the perennial questioning from others - What is this line for? At one point my girlfriend's brother told someone - I don't know. Person just looked confused and left without any follow up.

After 5 hours of waiting, add in the brief pause for the restocking of merchandise. (Note - at one point they removed the Rongo Bowl from the display case and the person watching the door said, "If it's no longer there, its' sold out." You can imagine the sinking feeling in us as we had to pass along the news. Luckily we were very happy when we heard "restocking shelves"). A little after 1 am and we finally walked in. Walked out with - purse, 2 rongo bowls (yea-and they are awesome), jewelry box, pitchers, glassware, hand towels, shirts, artwork, and shadowbox. On the list for the fountain.

For anyone that purchased the shadowbox by Dave Avanzino, you will notice that the letter key and explanation on the back doesn't correspond to whats on front. I emailed Mr. Avanzino and he responded by saying there was a bad run at the facility in China (hmmm, running theme here...how about Made in the USA for once!!). He realized the problem when he was asked to sign the first one and there was nothing they could do about it, because the facility in China had closed. He said there will be a link on the Disney Gallery website with the right image file that should have gone with it. But now the shadowbox has definitely turned into a collector's item.

Even though we didn't get to meet the artists (I was looking forward to meeting Mr. Miehana (aka Kevin Kidney himself)I'd like to thank them for sticking it out longer for those that did get to meet them. Again I agree with other members when they say that Disney should have done a better job in handling this event. It is the 45th anniversary after all!! I for one would have gladly paid an extra fee for a hosted event somewhere within the park (preferrably air conditioned)with the whole nine yards - band, meet and greet, Dole sponsored pineapple juice / whip, exclusive artwork on display. But no, long line, heat, and a lack of preparation. But a thank you Disney employees - Hardy and Martha. The former was managing the line and explaining the situation as the day progressed, and the latter for explaining the Tiki Fountain list. Hopefully we get a call.

Knowing in 5 more years they will have this again, is there anyone we can contact at Disney to tell them - Hey it's the 50th, we don't want to wait in a long line in June heat for a mismanaged merchandise opening. Do something special (or perhaps..enchanted?), Charge us a little extra and we will gladly pay for it.

On 2008-06-23 14:20, Tangaroa-Ru wrote:
I did manage to amuse myself in line however. I must have been asked at least one hundred times (by park guests) "What's this line for?" To which I merrily replied, "the bathroom". Always a crowd-pleaser.

My favorite we used a few times was "If you don't know just keep moving" Talk about confused looks!

The best line that my friend heard that day came from one of the Disney staff:

"What's this line for?"

"Oh...they're unfreezing Walt"

that was my favorite "snappy answer to stupid questions" too! now, as for the event, i have to say that it could have been worse. i was at the 40th Anniversary event, and was just short of 300th in line at that one. they had the line running in the opposite direction, back toward the park entrance, so we were in the sun almost the entire time, and it was just as HOT!!! at least this time we were (mostly) in the shade and were kept informed regularly by very nice Disneyland cast members. after the 40th event, i swore that i'd never do that again. that resolution lasted exactly 5 years. as long as folks like us continue to queue up, they will keep staging the events this way. will i be able to resist the 50th anniv? i doubt it. my thought on not having food/drink vendors walking the line, think they're damned if they do, damned if they don't. if they had done that, people would have probably complained that Disney was taking advantage of the situation, "they made extra money off of us as we stood in line" type of thing.

I think Disney made plenty of money from us yesterday -- and I have absolutely no problem with that since it's all great Tiki merchandise that we wanted. I appreciate that some people say they would pay even more for a "fun and pleasant" experience while shopping, but, as a former Disneyland employee (pre-Eisner, I'm happy to say) I'm here to tell you that IT USED TO BE a fun and pleasant experience, regardless! You did NOT pay extra to be treated as a special guest. THAT was a given. Showmanship was #1 in Walt's book of rules. Sad to say that counting every nickel has become the standard operating procedure.

Seriously, how much do you think it would have cost the Disney Company to hire the a ukulele player for five hours and serve six hundred people free pineapple juice last Sunday? $2000.00? How much do you think all of us spent collectively last Sunday?

I'm not anti-Disney and I'm certainly not a whiner, but it is painful to see a company, that always used to put Park Guests FIRST (and that I learned so much from), now become the butt of jokes. And for us to actually OFFER to pay that company more money just to treat us AND their events with any sense of appreciation? After what we do for them AND for what Disneyland means to so many? Disneyland has an amazing history and is inspirational on many levels. The Tiki Room was one of Walt's personal favorite attractions. He LOVED it and he was a big fan of pop-Polynesia, too! I wish the Disney executives could see what we see... because it's more than just merchandise.

This is sickening!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Disneyland-Tiki-Room-Enchanted-Fountain-45th-SIGNED-LE_W0QQitemZ190232216423QQihZ009QQcategoryZ1380QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

On 2008-06-24 19:38, WooHooWahine wrote:
This is sickening!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Disneyland-Tiki-Room-Enchanted-Fountain-45th-SIGNED-LE_W0QQitemZ190232216423QQihZ009QQcategoryZ1380QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Truly, a 100% scumbag...It's because of assholes like this I waited 4 hours in line just to have my name added to a list.

Well, I really don't want to add to the grumbling that's already been posted, but as an attendee of several Disneyland Merchandising Events over the years (Pirates, Haunted Mansion), Disneyland never seems to learn from their repeated mistakes. It seems every event is poorly planned and executed. But like a dope, I keep coming back.

I didn't get the item for which I stood in a three hour line to purchase, the 5 figure tiki god set. It sold out by the time I got into Disneyana at 10.45am.
The edition was 1,000 but apparently they only received about 100 sets. (Disneyland didn't bother to inform us of this, unlike the fountains) So I got to pay an extra 35.00 for shipping when I ordered it by phone the next day! That was the Happiest Phone Call on Earth!

I would think after repeated merchandising fiascoes, Disneyland would know to order the product with enough time to insure they have plenty on hand for the saps that are willing to stand in a three hour line to purchase it.

At least I have an annual pass, so I didn't have to pay to get into the park, plus the discount the pass provides.

But the Tiki Room 50th is only five years away... and the Haunted Mansion 40th is next year! They've got me hooked!

I totaly agree,it is bad that it's on ebay for that price, and the info in not correct, they had 60 of them not 20, I talked to a employee who took my credit card information for it, the new ones will be in 6 to 8 weeks, anyways for all of those who waited in line and dreamed of the fountain and where they would put it in there tiki bar and on a table, and then some money making greedy person buys it just for profit, shame on them!