Must see tiki locales in Florida

My husband and I are heading down to Florida for a wedding at the end of March. The wedding itself is in Orlando so we plan to hit up the Polynesian (fingers crossed Trader Sam is opened). Afterwards we are going on a bit of a road trip with the Mai Kai as our destination. Obviously there has to be more places to see between Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. Where should we go? Open to any suggestions.

Mahalo!

Not a lot of tiki between Orlando and Ft Lauderdale, but there is quite a bit of roadside kitsch.

There is Spook Hill in Lake Wales.

There is the scenery of Sebring and Lake Placid and all the citrus groves. Depending on when you are coming through you could smell orange blossoms or buy fruit from roadside vendors.

There's hiking, boating, fishing, and all of the water activities in Okechobee and the north shore of the lake.

There is Gatorama in Palmdale.

This is probably easier....

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/map/fl

More things that you could ever want to visit, but still fun to try to get to them all!

Downtown Orlando has a pretty decent tiki bar called Aku Aku.

Also, the folks here in Brevard are very active and social. We have quite a few folks with some amazing home tiki bars as well as the Hula Moon Grill. If you shoot me a PM before heading down, I'm sure we can hook you up. While you are here, Kennedy Space Center is always a good trip if you've never been.

[ Edited by: TikiHardBop 2015-01-12 16:08 ]

[ Edited by: Jungle John 2015-02-28 23:38 ]

There's the Hawaiian Inn in Daytona, a little out of the way, but you'll probably go down 95 anyway...
http://www.hawaiianinn.com/

and of course some non-poly pop Florida "tiki" bars.
http://critiki.com/destinations/?region_id=6&country_id=1&state_id=14

Further afield there's the home of the Rum Runner on Islamorada in the Keys
http://www.holidayisle.com/

But every hour on the road is an hour not spent at the Mai Kai!

South Florida has it's own brand of "tiki" and that usually entails an open hut-like structure with a thatched roof found mostly on the intra-coastal waterways or beaches or hotel poolsides. These open places offer "Floribbean" fare and decorate with an eclectic mix of nautical decor with a tiki or two thrown in so the place can have "tiki" in the name. They are found up and down the coast from the Space Coast to Key West. The best are chill bars where you can go barefoot and hang with locals and tourists. The old days of big mid-20th-century Polynesian-pop themed temples are long gone here with the sole exception of your destination, the Mai-Kai in Ft. Lauderdale. There are some remnants around and a lot of artifacts of the old days, but the trend is dead here despite any rumor of Tiki 2.0 or the new Tiki Renaissance. Market forces have dictated that people don't want to come here and sit in dark tiki restaurants and bars when the ocean and sky and palm trees beckon outside. Have a nice trip. Going south on US-1 would probably be much more interesting than the interstates or turnpike. If you go directly east from Orlando you'll be in Cocoa Beach. There is a rickety tiki bar at the far end of the ocean pier there. They make the world's best rum drinks.

You must be thinking about a different pier than the one I've been to, especially now that it has been purchased by the timeshare king. Unless you are at The Storm Shelter, you are better off sticking to beer anywhere in Brevard county!

Okay, this might be a better choice. Just had lunch here this afternoon:

Two Georges
728 Casa Loma Blvd, Boynton Beach, FL
Phone: (561) 736-2717

Boynton Beaches' Two Georges Harbour Hut Restaurant has been a fixture in Boynton Beach since 1957. It is right across the marina from the Banana Boat Restaurant. I'm not sure if has always been called Two Georges, but as you can see it has the old tikis brightly painted and relegated to a corner by an ATM machine. This thatched roof "A" framed building is a waterfront island-tropical casual dining experience where you will at least find some inkling of tiki culture ala Florida-style, as I mentioned in the earlier post in this thread. Admittedly it is not much if you are on the lookout for a Mai-Kai caliber experience. But again, there is nothing remotely like the dinosaur that is the Mai Kai between Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale.

If you had a time machine there would be lots of Polynesian fantasy palaces to visit in the 1960-1970s, Frances Langford's Outrigger Resort in Jensen Beach, The Maori Village Restaurant in West Palm Beach (this site has some great history on these places) plus, the plethora of Poly-pop places in old Miami. Not to stray too far from your request, but I thought I'd offer this tantalizing bit of old Florida: