Tiki Archeology Tahitian Terrace Disneyland- Image Heavy

The Tahitian Terrace was Disneyland's answer to the Tiki restaurant. The location was originally part of the Plaza Pavilion and known as the Pavilion Lanai. In the summer of 1962 the facility opened as the Tahitian Terrace with scheduled show times for a Polynesian Dinner review. In April of 1993, the restuarant closed and was re-imagineered into an Alladin dinner theater which performed poorly. Today the space is an Alladin themed story telling location in Adventureland. During the years of operation there were not many items created. However I plan to show several items including menu's, tip tray, postcards, images and more over several posts. The first item is a rare postcard that was part of a series of postcards published in 1966. For many years the numbers were known, but no examples were in collections.

The next item is a server tip tray upon which the check would be presented.

And the final items are the drink stirrers with a great tiki on the top. These are probably the most common items and fairly easily found. The design is not unique to the Tahitian Terrace as I have seen other swizzle sticks with the same tiki for other restaurants.

Continuing on, these two items are from the later years of the Tahitian Terrace. The first is a sign that was placed at the entrance of the restaurant when closed. It is nicely framed in a bamboo mat and includes the shell necklaces that were given to diners:

This is a menu from 1986. The back features a very cool mask and the side has some interesting tiki motif. All of the menus have the story of the Tahitian Terrace on the back with the story of the tree and the explanation of the hula dance.

The back reads:
Welcome to the wondrous world of Polynesia...the Tahitian Terrace! Here Walt Disney has opened the wide portals to an enchanted island world across the blue Pacific...a world of romance, beauty and exciting entertainment.
Towering high above you is an amazing tree, a tre taht grew in less than a year to a height of 35 feet through a secret formula of Walt Disney and his "imagineers"! The branches of this "species Disneydendron" are laden with more than 14,075 hand grafted leaves and fiery-colored flowers that bloom perpetually. Today this tree is Disneyland's second largest of this rare, unnatural species, exceeded only by The Swiss Family Treehouse.
Nestled beneath the tumbling waterfall is a matchless stage setting...a stage whose "curtain" is a cascade of wate and whose "footlights" are a leaping flame of the fire burning on the water itself! For your summer evening entertainment, the falls magically draw aside...and out from behind the waters, sarong-clad natives appear to perform the swaying rhythms and amazing rituals of the islands...the hypnotic bare-foot fire walk and thrilling fire-knife dance and the traditional grass-skirted "twist" of Samoa, Tahiti, and Hawaii. (The dedicated student will note how the story-telling technique varies from island to island...here a hip movement, there an entire torso.)
Disneyland welcomes you to a unique Polynesian amphitheatre The Tahitian Terrace.

THanks for the great post, matterhorn. The first post card and the "now closed" sign are awesome. I have never seen that postcard before, were there many different varieties made?
YOu have quite an amazing collection, thanks for sharing

Polynesiac- that is the only postcard of the interior of the Tahitian Terrace, there are no other views. And the card is very rare, I know of only five cards that are in collections. I believe it was a very small print run.

Funny, you'd think Disney would have put more effort into the photo on that postcard. Here you have Mary, BettyLou and Jean half-heartedly dancing (and not in step), many empty tables, and a guy on the front row looking totally bored! The place may have been spectacular, but you wouldn't know it from the photo. At any rate, thanks for posting it, especially since it is so rare.

And by the way, what is a "Hawaiian-style potato chip" anyway?! :D

Some Tahitian Terrace items from my collection...

Men's restroom sign (actually from the Adventureland bathrooms prior to the Aladdin install), and Maui sun god, which once hung from the rafters in the entrance A frame....

It looks like we have the two matching signs from either side of the entrance, PJ! I wish we had the frames that went around them...

I LOVE the pictures. They bring back memories. We were at Disneyland this week and wondered if they would ever bring the Tahitian Terrace back. One can wish.

Great post. Nice artefacts! I remember seeing the dinner show at the Tahitian Terrace, and the Hula Dancers appearing THROUGH the waterfall on the left (which briefly ceased to flow for that, as the text above states), really were a stunning entrance...and that giant Banyan tree looming over the stage, outfitted with thousands of plastic leaves truly was a wonder of artifice. Behind the stage began the sometimes real jungle and river of the Jungle Cruise ride.

Who's gonna post that amazing 50s modern CARTOON menu from the Tahitian Terrace? There is also an interesting "employee training guide" with some funny text.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2006-08-11 11:39 ]

Fun to see the postcards. I remember well going here with my mom when I was a kid. It was the first time I'd ever had beef teriyaki.

And by the way, what is a "Hawaiian-style potato chip" anyway?! :D

Perhaps something like this?
http://www.hawaiianchipcompany.com/

Matterhorn and Tangaroa-- Awesome posts! It's good to know that at least some of the good stuff was saved. Tangaroa-- the Maui Sun God rocks! I think I possibly like the old black and white photos even more, though. So cool.
I worked at Tomorrowland through most of the renovation in the late 90s, which was also painful to see. Hopefully someone was able to save some of those artifacts as well.

Hey Bigbro- I am planning to post more versions of the menu including the cartoon one (and also the employee training manual.) More stuff to come....

You have some amazing collectables.....I have a weakness for Disney/Tiki related items, I would probably give you my car for that Maui Sun God. I you ever want to sell it please keep me in mind. Great collection.....peace and respect.

Hey Gator Rob- there is a whole series of postcards done at this time that look similar. All the people in the postcard are Disneyland employees. It is amusing to see obvious employees posing in New Orleans Square before they opened the land to the general public. The employees are posing as happy tourists but just do not pull it off.

Per Bigbrotiki's request, here are some of the menus. All of these are dinner menus. The first one is from the mid 1970s and still uses the great cartoon imagery. Here is the front:

And the inside of the menu:

And the back of the menu:

Just to show that I am a complete lunatic, here is the inside of another menu from the 1970s with different prices and meals:

In the 1980s, Kikkoman Soy Sauce began sponsorship of the restaurant. The menu changed from the fun cartoon graphics to a more tapa cloth based design withe Kikkoman symbol:

And the inside of the menu:

And the back of the menu:

These menus are smaller in size than the 1960s menus, measuring 5 by 5 inches when folded and 5 by 8.5 inches unfolded.

Excellent imagery. Thanks for posting this. I only ate at the Terrance once, back in the late '70s, and while I have fond memories of the floorshow, I recall that the food was pretty awful.

Wow PJ! Those are great.... I don't have any of those menus - whenever they come up, the prices get way out of my league pretty fast.

Great pics Matterhorn...I've seen your blog online quite a few months ago! Excellent collection....Thank you for sharing these images for all to see!

I dunno, those wahines are sure showing a lot of skin for Disney! One of them is (gasp) topless! Well, almost. But I love the drawings on those earlier menus. They should have stuck with those.

Great post!

Great to see that some of the Tahitian Terrace stuff has survived. Here's a MiceChat thread with more photos, including my TT tiki lamp bases that will be restored to their former glory one day soon.

http://www.micechat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25653&highlight=tahitian+terrace

On 2006-08-13 00:45, TikiHula wrote:
Here's a MiceChat thread with more photos, including my TT tiki lamp bases that will be restored to their former glory one day soon.

Love those lamp bases! Once you restore them, please post pics here.

Here is my lamp base from the Tahitian Terrace. On the tables, there was a circular base that it would sit on and the base is hollow for electrical wiring. I have been told this was purchased from Oceanic Arts and that they still have the tiki bases in stock.

On 2006-08-12 14:11, GatorRob wrote:
I dunno, those wahines are sure showing a lot of skin for Disney! One of them is (gasp) topless! Well, almost. But I love the drawings on those earlier menus. They should have stuck with those.
Great post!

It's funny you bring that up. I had the same reaction at first. But I think that Disneyland pre-1990 wasn't exactly PC. I'm sure there are others who remember better than I, but my impression of the 50s and 60s was that family fun didn't always mean or equate to politically correct. It wasn't really until the '90s that things started being removed from the park for not being appropriate-- Jungle Cruise guns, etc.
Also, contrast the Pocahontas movie from the mid-90s with the peace pipe sequence in Peter Pan. Disney produced some stuff (movies, etc) way back when that definitely wasn't PC. Some things like the menu were maybe a little racy, but still more or less family oriented.
And now back on topic-- excellent posts Matterhorn! Thanks so much for sharing. Those are really good scans, too! You can really see all the nice artwork detail in the menu backgrounds-- this attention to even minute details was the mark of quality Disney. Very nice!

These are all images of the larger size menus that were used in the 1960s when the Terrace originally opened. I believe the green one is the earliest. Note these are all Dinner menus, I am looking for a Lunch Menu in Green and Orange. The menus measure 10 by 10 inches in size.

And a large size Kikkoman one from the 1980s:

Thanks for the excellent images, particularly the first one.

I'd never been to the Tahitian Terrace but have always mourned its passing. I'd heard about the waterfall that parted like a curtain, but had never seen it. All the pictures I had seen of the Tahitian Terrace excluded the waterfall so I could only imagine until now.

Wonderful!

They really need to bring that place back.

Some more Tahitian Terrace items- these are all press 8 by 10 photographs usually published by Disneyland for use in Newspaper and Magazine articles.

I especially like the second one of the dancing girls. All of the photographs are from the 1960s.

Great images PJ!

I remember working on the Jungle Cruise - and to get back to boat storage, we had to cross behind that Tahitian Terrace stage. Sometimes the performers (many of whom were married to the beautiful dancing girls) would give us the "stink eye" as we crossed back there. I think they thought we were trying to sneak a peak at their gorgeous women!

On 2006-08-16 07:34, Tangaroa wrote:
I think they thought we were trying to sneak a peak at their gorgeous women!

Which, of course, you were! :D

Errrrrr... yeah.

Being an OC native, I did my time at the big Mouse house working the Plaza Pavilion (which backs up to the Tahitian Terrace) and the Tiki Juice Bar but I was the wrong look for the Terrace. That of course did not stop me from hanging out in the Terrace as often as possible. We even lit the volcano up and danced around during closed hours. What I heard (and its all rumor, heresay, etc) is that there was discussion about bring back the Terrace but there are health concerns about the building. The bathrooms are on top of the kitchen and the pipes leak. Can't reopen either restaurant without a major rebuild, major downtime. Wish I'd have kept all that stuff (menus, etc) Also used to sneak into the jungle (of Jungle Cruise) at night. Very fun.

Tangeroa, is that YOU in the photo (in front of the Tahitian Terrace)? Did you cook? You look way familiar!!

[ Edited by: BettyBleu 2006-08-16 12:49 ]

Tangeroa, is that YOU in the photo (in front of the Tahitian Terrace)? Did you cook? You look way familiar!!

Nope! I'm about as lilly white as they come...

Gosh that all looks so cool.
You know whats sad?
I live in Anaheim about 2 miles from Disneyland.
Have been there Hundreds of times,
and I never ate or saw a show there.
What a crime, somebody lock me up now.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

As promised after a short delay, this is the training manual that was given to the Tahitian Terrace employees in 1963. This manual describes all one would need to know to run a Polynesian restaurant that does not serve rum drinks! Actually it is a good manual espousing the customer service orientation at Disneyland even at this time. The manual is 16 pages long so this will be a fairly long post.

Thanks Matterhorn. Classic!

Fantastic piece of paper there, Matterhorn! I love the photos throughout and the simplified manner of instruction. They just give the basic guidlines and ethics and leave a lot to the employees. They seem to think that the employees are fairly intelligent and can figure out the details. Hmmm. Novel idea.

Sabu

Hey Unga- Nice caption!

On 2006-08-25 19:47, Matterhorn1959 wrote:

Is that Humu dropping off an order?

Actually that is a good manual, have Martin whip up an appendium for Serving Rum-based Drinks and it'd be a solid blueprint for anyone opening a new Tiki Restaurant.

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance 2006-08-26 09:29 ]

On 2006-08-26 09:28, freddiefreelance wrote:

Is that Humu dropping off an order?

Speaking of "is that?"...I believe that's a very young "Indian" Aramaki on his first job at Disneyland, in that picture! Born and raised on Maui, Disneyland hired him away from the old Kono Hawaii Restaurant in Santa Ana to work at the Tahitian Terrace. He later went on to become the Executive Chef of all of Disneyland, and later an official "Disney Legend." For the whole story, see:

http://legends.disney.go.com/legends/detail?key=Hideo+Aramaki

Great scans! Thanks!

A good friend just sent me an issue of a Disneyland employee (okay...Cast Member) newsletter from 1991, that had a story about the Tahitian Terrace in it. The cover of the issue shows this tiki:

You can read there where it was located.

Just thought I'd share. Nothing in the rest of the article of tiki interest. It's mostly close-up photos of workers at the location, and a story about how they prepare and serve the food. Nothing on the stage show.

Awesome archival material! I ate there as a kid back in the '60's, and it was a real disappointment when it was closed. These pics bring really bring back the fun...

At a friend's suggestion I'm reading "The Disney Way" right now, and the TT Manual pics are particularly fascinating. Mahalo nui nui for these very generous posts!

Cheers and aloha,
SOK

Thanks to everyone who has posted such great images. I had the absolute pleasure of working there as a hostess from 1985-1987, and have such fond memories... I loved standing out in front of the restaurant and answering questions, even if I repeated myself thousands of times "5 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 7:15, 8:30 and 9:45"."The fresh fish of the day is Baked Mahi Mahi, and Grilled Ahi"."The nearest restroom? It's, er, over there behind that tree" :) To be standing out there, listening to the guys finish their Jungle Cruise spiels, as well as the "Hi-ho, Hi-ho" coming from the exit door of the Tiki Room, and the sounds of Fantasy in the Sky... I always thought to myself, man, I'm getting paid for this? I never got tired of the "South Sea Island Magic" theme, hearing the singing, catching glimpses of the performers (was mostly too busy to watch) or hearing the servers yell out "Pele, I need a Pele!!". I wish I had taken some photos! I remember a coworker filming the show one day.. oh if I could only see that now...

Thanks for sharing the great items and stories... it brings it all back to me, as if it wasn't so long ago. What a great place - I was definitely sad to see it replaced!

thanks for posting all the great photos...being a big fan of classic vintage tiki room...it was a joy going through them...

[ Edited by: closettiki 2007-09-01 21:40 ]

Wow....great images. I too was a frequent-flyer at Disneyland, but never ate in the Tahitian Terrace. As I remember, my parents (we would drive up for the day from San Diego) usually packed lunch and dinner in a cooler and we would go to the parking lot to eat....hmmmph. As my sister and I got older, we did break off from the parents for the day and go do our own thing....we always had a blast, but hit the burger places then.

If some restaurants now days would use those helpful customer service guidelines, they would be 5-star restaurants. :)

Thank goodness you saved all that ephemera....it is amazing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwQVTlHyiyI
(vintage Tahitian Terrace show)

Wow, GREAT video.
Nice archeology too.

Big Tiki Dude...hang your head in shame for living that close and never seeing that.

From the menu, I'll have the La'Ko Lau and the hula dancer in the RED grass skirt in the video please, . :P

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2007-09-29 08:17 ]

Found this stuff on Google

http://www.yesterland.com/tahitianterrace.html

http://www.yesterland.com/tahitianmenu.html

http://matterhorn1959.blogspot.com/2006/01/tahitian-terrace-restaurant-before.html - This is from or own Matterhorn, I believe

Yes, the DVD is fantastic. I love all the info regarding vintage DL. It is a must have DVD for the Vintage Disneyland enthusiast! No longer produced,but you can probably find a copy or three on ebay. It came under the tin box collection called Walt Disney's Treasures -"Disneyland U.S.A.". Also coming December 7th will be a new release to this series...Walt Disney Treasures - "Disneyland Secrets, Stories & Magic" available through amazon on pre order! Get it while you can!