Poll: The ultimate tiki trip

I want to travel somewhere where I can have the ultimate tiki experience if that exists. Where would your once-in-a-lifetime tiki trip take you? and why? Here is a list of some of the top rated tiki locations from critiki.com.

The Enchanted Tiki Room, Anaheim
Oceanic Arts, Whittier
Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge, Alameda
Hala Kahiki, River Grove
Mai Kai, Ft. Lauderdale
Tiki-Ti, Los Angeles
Thatch, Portland
Trader Vic's, Emeryville
Hula's Island Grill & Tiki Room, Monterey
Trader Vic's, Atlanta
Bahooka Ribs & Grog, Rosemead
Martini Monkey, San Jose
Kon Tiki Lounge, Tucson
Trader Vic's, London
Otto's Shrunken Head, New York
Bali Hai Restaurant, San Diego
Damon's, Glendale
La Mariana Sailing Club, Honolulu
The Alibi, Portland
Purple Orchid Exotic Tiki Lounge, El Segundo
Caliente Tropics Resort, Palm Springs
Mister Tiki's Mai Tai Lounge, San Diego
Sam's Seafood, Huntington Beach
Tonga Room, San Francisco
Tonga Hut, North Hollywood

We did a 2-week California trip back in 2006 which ended up being quite the Tiki Road Trip:
-Conga Lounge, Oakland
-Trader Vic's, Emeryville
-Tonga Room, San Francisco
-Hula's & Munktiki in Monterey
-Tiki-Ti, Los Angeles
-Trader Vic's, Beverly Hills
-Purple Orchid, El Segundo
-The Encounter Bar at LAX Airport: which had far better than average drinks and superb appetizers. It's worth getting to the airport to dine & drink before your cross-country flight!

All the locales were a treasure trove of both classic and neo tiki goodness. It was pretty tremendous, and unlikely to be repeated. We had fun at all these places and definitely recommend them all!

That being said... if you could only go to one place...
my vote goes to the MAI KAI. On all points: food, show, decor, drinks, it knocks it out of the park. If you want to experience what it might've been like for our parents/grandparents to have the classic polynesian experience, the MAI KAI offers all that in one location. You'll never forget it. In fact, you'll be dreaming of those cocktails the rest of your days! Unless they publish a recipe book!

~Rupe

LA, San Diego, San Francisco or Ft. L/Miami are not once-in-a-lifetime destinations.
You will make it back to those locations.

Think Easter Island.

Think Hawaii, specifically the Big Island: the Place of Refuge as well as Ahu'ena Heiau.
Authentic Hawaiian Tiki on the a'hina.

Well, I'd say that christiki's suggestions are more for an ultimate oceanic art tiki vacation, and I suspect that nature boy is more in the market for a polynesian pop tiki getaway, yes? But christiki's point of thinking bigger is a good one. What part of the world is your starting point, nature boy? And how much time do you think you would have? A weekend? A week? A month? With that info, I can give you all kinds of useful & useless thoughts.

Without said info, California is likely your best bet. I started with a two-week vacation here, and it stuck, now I'm living a non-stop tiki getaway of my dreams. There's just so much packed in here that you can't really go wrong.

For me, the once-in-a-lifetime trips would be ones that take me out of the country. Seeing the tiki in Spain, Germany and Japan is high on my personal list.

Welcome back Humuhumu!!! :)

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff