Attention WDW Tiki Room experts!

Hello,
I'm looking for any Walt Disney World experts. I consider myself an audio expert for the Disneyland version of the show, but I have some questions regarding the WDW version. Back in the 70's they had a Barker Bird. I'm familiar with the complete Disneyland version. Did they re-edit and re-use the Disneyland version? If so, was it edited the same way the WDW Forever CD track had it? (The Forever series was fairly inconsistent with their sources and info). Was it longer than the WDW Forever version? I know the Disneyland Forever version was different but still edited andshortened. Any info would be appreatiated. Anyone have the Florida pre-show original or new? Any Florida exclusive stuff? Are the Tiki Drums in Adventureland conected to the Tiki Room in any way? What is their official name?
I'm compiling the ultimate Enchanted Tiki Room Anthology. So far it's 2 CDs. If you can provide any extra material, I can get you a copy. ANything Tiki Room related. Thanks,
Your friend,
Louis

Luis,

I recently wrote and produced two audio segments for another Tiki Room audio fanzine on the WDW version (known as the "Tropical Serenade").

https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic-new.php?topic=4654&forum=5

Walt Disney World's original barker bird (a toucan) had yellow feathers, blue wings, and a red beak. The Walt Disney World Forever version of his spiel is accurate except for a two-second dropout that cuts out a small portion at the beginning of one sentence.

It sounds as if parts of it were definitely edited from the Disneyland version, but as you know there are portions of it that were not used in California. I speculate that Wally Boag recorded a lot of material at the original session that ultimately didn't get used until the Florida park was built. Why else would they edit the Disneyland audio when they just could have brought him in for a new session and recorded it all again from scratch?

This version of the barker bird ran from opening day in 1971 until 1992, when he was replaced by a Jamaican-accented blue toucan named Artemus with a different spiel. He lasted until 1995.

The tiki drums are located across "the street" from the Tiki Room just before the sloping walkway down to the Jungle Cruise. They are not part of the Tiki Room per se, but help to tie the two areas together thematically. At one point, the drums were arranged in a complete circle, so that you would stand in the middle and be surrounded by the music (each drum has a speaker which plays an individual sound). They were rearranged possibly sometime in the 1980s into the semi-circle pattern found today. In the 1990s they started squirting water instead of playing music. Now they do both, I think, although I haven't been squirted by them during my visits in the past two years.

The preshow features two more toucans perched on a tiki. I have no way to confirm this, but I believe both birds were voiced by Dal McKennon. One definitely was -- I'm guessing on the second. The revised preshow uses Don Rickles and Phil Hartman.

Thanks for the update. Actually, I own that Tiki Room CDzine. I highly recomend it!!! I talked to Jesse on the phone and squared some things out. Regarding the Tiki Room Barker Bird in Florida: The audio was ALL taken from the Disneyland Barker Bird. The Disneyland Barker Bird spiels add up to aprox 10 or 11 minute depending on how tight they are spread. That is the COMPLETE Barker Bird spiel. All the Florida spiels come from the Disneyland spiels and are HEAVILY edited. I know it seems like there are different spiels than Disneyland's but that's because the Disneyland Forever spiels where incomplete. In fact, there was only less than 50 % of the speils and even those were edited for United Airlines content. So, they took the complete Disneyland spiel, edited the tracks heavily, and added a few seconds of new sound effects to the beginning of one spiel (the weird Jungle like sounds). The reason I wasn't sure about the Florida Barker Bird is that I didn't know if the Florida Forever track was the actual audio. I DID hear the live recording on the Tiki Room zine, but I thought it might have been faked adding ambiance and using the Forever track. Jesse asured me that it was really live. Now my question is, since I know that the Disneyland Forever track was edited... is the Florida Forever track complete at under 5 minutes? or did they leave out more spiels? I didn't hear any new speils on your live recording. I have to listen to your WDW report again. There was too much to take in. I wish I could find a non-live redording of the WDW original pre-show. Thanks much for your hard work. Now you know the whole story about the WDW Barker Bird. I did notice that you also mention on the CD about how they used extra spiels not used in the DL version, but I can assure you that they were all used. I have that 11 minute complete track that I'll be using in my Ultimate Tiki Room Anthology (along with The original show complete demo,complete Barker Bird, United Airlines gardens pre-show, complete Mono and Stereo show, Tahitain Terrace show, Jose's Making-of, Tour for the Blind Tiki Room narration, Dole FIlm, current Garden pre-show, Instrumental version of the show, isolated percussion, isolated female voclas, isolated chanters, Tiki LP Jungle B-side, World's Fair Bird show (cousins of the Tiki ROom), original Tokyo show highlights, un-used Let's All SIng... 90's re-recording, New Orleans Square Window Tiki ROom reference segment, Friend Like Me from WDW, Get the Fever english demo, Get the Fever japanese highlights, as well as 5 different cover versions). If anybody has any additional material, I'd trade you for a copy of my Anthology.

Now my question is, since I know that the Disneyland Forever track was edited... is the Florida Forever track complete at under 5 minutes? or did they leave out more spiels?

That's the full length on the WDW Forever System, as far as I can remember (I don't remember much of my visits before 1980, as I would have been less than 10 years old).

I wish I could find a non-live redording of the WDW original pre-show.

Ditto.

I did notice that you also mention on the CD about how they used extra spiels not used in the DL version, but I can assure you that they were all used.

Thanks for the clarification. I think I actually met you waiting in line at the first Disneyland/Shag event, and you played the complete DL spiel for me. I didn't quite understand what you were saying about the United Airlines part, but now I do.

[ Edited by: Hot Lava on 2004-02-09 09:25 ]