The Tahitian Terrace at Hong Kong Disneyland

I love Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland. It might even be my favorite attraction at Disneyland. It is the theme, its unique sense of place and comedy. Behind the Tiki Room at Disneyland in the current location of Aladdin's Oasis used to be a wonderful restaurant called the Tahitian Terrace. The Tahitian Terrace was a restaurant with an accompanying dinner show and achieved much the same sense of place as the Tiki Room. IT also had an awesome logo and posters. In one of the Disneyland TV shows that is part of the Walt Disney Treasures set there is a scene featuring the Tahitian Terrace where we see a couple watching a performance by a young scantily clad lady dancing. The man, who is slightly overweight and balding is entranced by both the chicken he is eating and the woman dance, his wife on the other hand who looks like a teacher, wearing thick glasses and a frumpy top is merely staring at her food and looking entirely bored. For some reason this scene helped me fall in love with the Tahitian Terrace. Currently Adventureland in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World are in dire need of more restaurants and so I constantly hope that they will reopen the Tahitian Terrace.

So you can guess I was extremely excited when I saw the Tahitian Terrace on the map in Adventureland at Hong Kong Disneyland. I'm convinced that my pictures of it have been lost as I could only find two, but remember walking around and taking many of the small details.

Here is the main building that comprises the ordering area and kitchen for the Tahitian Terrace. One of the problems with this restaurant is that there is no Tiki room for it too complement. While it is clear Disney thinks that the Tiki Room in its original form is outdated as they have replaced two out of the three in the world with horrible abominations featuring newer characters shoved in, the truth is Hong Kong Disneyland does not have nearly enough attractions so anything would've done it some good. None the less the Tahitian Terrace plays tribute to the Tiki Room in some fun ways.

Anyone who has ridden the Tiki Room in any of its incarnations should recognize this at the Tiki Gods who line the columns of the Tiki Room and chant with their audio animatronic eyes and mouths. Here they are just decoration sprinkled around the exterior. Here you can see the outdoor seating area for the restaurant. I desperately wanted to eat here so that I could experience a version of the Tahitian Terrace but it was closed throughout my stay. 

Sadly these two pictures are the only ones I can find at this time of the Tahitian Terrace, but on the other side of the Tahitian Terrace the shrubs are lined with Birds of Paradise the followers which are referenced in the Enchanted Tiki Room song and appear as singing animatronics in the original line. While the logo for this Tahitian Terrace is similar to the original it has discarded the exact lines of the early sixties and embraced a more rugged styling albeit reminiscent of the original. 

If you'd like to learn more about The original Tahitian Terrace I highly recommend you check out Warner Weis' wonderful site Yesterland. 

Alain Littaye's site Disney and More: The Artwork Collection has some great photos of Hong Kong's Tahitian Terrace about mid-way through the page here in his interview with Imagineer Tom Morris.

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Hopefully I'll be able to dig up more about Hong Kong's Tahitian Terrace in the future

The Jungle Cruise at Hong Kong Disneyland

Every Magic Kingdom style Disney park has had the Jungle Cruise and Hong Kong was no exception. But this Jungle Cruise is completely different from any other for many reasons. This park had no Frontierland when it opened and hence no Rivers of America giving the Jungle Cruise and Adventureland a lot more room. The Jungle Cruise in Hong Kong is formatted much like the Rivers of America a large circular body of water. I was extremely excited about the Jungle Cruise having more room for new gags and animals. I was sorely disappointed, but we'll get there.

This sign got me really excited because one of the Jungle Cruise's classic gags involves an Elephant spraying water and then coming up as if it were going to spray again right when the boat goes by only to scare the passengers. I thought that on this ride there might be some meta joke for imagineers and visitors to different parks that here the elephant would actually spray you. It does not. Also an awesome sign directly above this one which I neglected to take a picture of shows the three lines and the three versions of the Jungle Cruise. Here in Hong Kong the Jungle Cruise is offered in Three Languages: English, Cantonese and Mandarin and hence has three lines. 

Say goodbye to the people at the dock, because you'll never see them again. 

At Hong Kong Disneyland in order to get to the Tarzan Treehouse you have to take a boat similar to the boats to Huck Finn island. We had to wait for this one to pass. 

Now the tricky matter of our skipper. I want to first say a few things. Out skipper whose name I didn't catch speaks english better or at least as well as I will ever speak another language and her superior gave her the job of Jungle Cruise skipper. She absolutely did her best. That being said, she was absolutely terrible. Speaking english as a second language makes it almost impossible to understand why or what makes the word play funny and hence our skipper memorized the content rather than the words. Although the silver lining is that this taught me I knew all of the Jungle Cruise jokes as I leaned over to my father and whispered the jokes in his ear. 

Elephants! 

I thought we were going to get sprayed here, but we remained completely dry.

Here is the temple! Scary and mysterious. More flubbed jokes. Still the same as Walt Disney World's Jungle Cruise

Here we have Ganesh the indian god of beginnings and gateways, I believe that this is slightly different. 

Crocodiles! Aaahh

Apes destroying the camp!! AAHHH! Still nothing funny.

The scene with all the animals. 

The Africans getting the "point." In some versions these adventurers are white. 

I'm gonna take some time to talk about my general feelings about this ride now before we get to the one new scene. I mean the natives have abandon the place so it seems like a good time to talk. Because this Jungle Cruise area was so much larger I expected the experience of the ride to be larger, feature new scenes and new visual tableaux. It has one and we'll get to that next, but everything else is exactly the same. I was disappointed. Not only is the extra size not taken advantage of, it actively hurts the ride. It is not hard to believe you are in a new river in a new part of the world when you cannot see the stretch of river you were just on, but it is nearly impossible when your skipper yells, "now we're on the nile" and you can see the amazon directly behind you. It's ridiculous. While some of you may be thinking, but they still added an extra scene. Sure that's true, but they also took out the scene with the two jokes that never fail to make me laugh. The took out the water fall which is passed through twice thanks to the twists and turns of the jungle cruise. My favorite jokes are: "Here we have Schweitzer Falls named after Mr. Albert Falls" and "Ladies and Gentlemen the backside of water!!!!!" Classic. So essentially they destroyed a lot of what made the Jungle Cruise a semi-believable attraction, really what held it together. Let's hope this last scene is really great. 

Here is the Toad/Monster like face that we are stuck by. Previously the boat has attempted to go around the rock formation, but a huge water jet explodes about five feet in front of the boat. Oh this is what they were talking about when they said you might get wet. No one got wet. Then as we try the corridor between the rocks and the scary monster face another water cannon goes off directly in front of the boat (no one gets wet). After that . . . 

All of this fire is burning simultaneously and the groans are getting louder and louder excited for a serious fireball we get this:

A puffy cloud of smoke, albeit a rather large one. The idea is that the Water gods and the fire gods are fighting and our Jungle Cruise boat is stuck in the middle. While I understand that this situation is ripe for comedy absolutely none of it was conveyed by our skipper at all. Because this was the one new scene I had no idea what the jokes were supposed to be and took it completely seriously. Now stay tuned for my Japanese Jungle Cruise ride where I understood about 50% of what was being said and laughed more than almost any other time on the Jungle Cruise

One last straggling baby Elephant. 

I wanted to show a few pictures of the Jungle Cruise building because I believe they adequately show what the Jungle Cruise show building was like in 1955 Disneyland opened to the public. Also I just like it. 

Actually I take back what I said above, I'm almost 100% sure that the roof of the 1955 Jungle Cruise building was wood, although I do believe the overall structure is similar. 

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The Curiosity Shop

Honestly I'm not sure if there is a Curiosity Shop at either Disneyland or Walt Disney World, but I love the signage and overall look of it.

I love this sign it's clearly new but it captures the essence of Main Street's era

I love that the Curiosity Shop has two hanging signs, one horizontal and one vertical, not to mention the different color schemes and dimensionality of the two signs. 

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The Hub at Hong Kong Disneyland

Something very important is missing here. Anyone want to guess what it is. 

IT'S THE GOSH DARN PARTNERS STATUE!

I'm not really sure why the partners statue isn't here at Hong Kong Disneyland, but if anyone knows please tell me. 

I have no idea if High School Musical is at all popular in China or Hong Kong but there is a show in the hub. It's so amazing that doesn't have a big three next to it like it does in Walt Disney World. I just wanted everyone to know the High School Musical craze is taking over the world. 

Here's a poster that was sitting by a closed off path from the hub. It's a cute little sign. I was hoping it would mention the three new lands coming to Hong Kong and that this was the way to get to them. I learned after my trip that this most certainly is not where the three new lands are. 

Hub-irific!  love the curvy lines. 

This is the view down Main Street from the Hub as everyone gears up for the parade, which was lots of fun. Although I sadly neglected to take pictures of the parade.

The Grand Marshals of the parade which I did take pictures of. Maybe this is when my iPhone died. That's really my only excuse. 

Before the parade but after the Grand Marshals came through was one last chance for the balloons and drinks. I love the design on the beverage cart which is helpfully obscured by a balloon-hankering child. Also they're cut off but notice the slightly different design of the Mickey Balloons. I don't think you can find Mickey (or Stitch) Balloons like that at any other park 

Here's where you get on the friendly Main Street Omnibus which will be the star in its own post later on.

Here is a look at the covered terrace of the Main St. Corner Cafe which takes the place of the corn dog cart and general open space at Disneyland. It's interesting. Also it's taken from the hub which is why it is in this post. 

Look it is the back of people's heads!!!!! Actually it should be the Hong Kong Disneyland castle from the hub. 

Looking down the Main Street from the Hub! 

That's all from the Hub at Hong Kong Disneyland! 

Disneyland Hong Kong's Hollywood Hotel

Attention: This Post is part of DisMarks Inaugural Blog Carnival! Please check out all the other wonderful entries here! Also stay tuned for upcoming Blog Carnivals from DisMarks.

While at Hong Kong Disneyland I stayed at the Hollywood Hotel, not to be confused with the Hollywood Tower Hotel. As two of my major interests are Disney and Los Angeles history this was a wonderful intersection of the two.

I'm not really sure why many years after the hotel's opening the postcards are still computer renderings

I have quite a few pictures of the hotel but I'll try to put most of them up now. The hotel had me bursting with excitement even after a 15 hour plane ride and an early morning arrival. the entry gates draw their inspiration from the Pan Pacific Auditorium, although the entry gates are red marble rather than the Auditorium's distinctive teal. The Pan Pacific Auditorium  also serves as inspiration for Disney's Hollywood Studios entry gates and the new entry gates for Disney's California Adventure. Speaking of that when are they gonna get rid of those awful letters, tiles and red bridge.

This is not the only connection Disney has to the Pan Pacific Auditorium, Walt himself showcased his miniatures there which included small scale replicas of Granny's cabin from So Dear to My Heart.  Walt made these miniatures entirely with his own hands and they were exhibited at  an exhibition of pacific living in the early fifties and were an inspiration for what eventually became the Disneyland we know today.

This is the Ambassador Hotel in Tokyo. Also those buses are the best thing ever.

Another thing that the architecture of The Hollywood Hotel draws from is Tokyo's Ambassador Hotel. Having had a throughly mediocre experience there five years ago I was slightly wary of this hotel. While would certainly be called a moderate at Disney World, it was beautifully themed. But it lacked some amenities such as a Spa and room service. My first day jet-lag caused to be shirk some of my picture taking responsibilities and hence I will describe more things than I have photos of.

In between the two twin beds there is an awesome portrait of Mickey and Minnie at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood as they sunk their hands into the wet cement. One of the things I really appreciated about this depiction other than its general whimsy and fun was the curl of hair by Minnie's hair which is unique to this drawing. I was personally disappointed that they didn't put a huge sorcerers hat in front of the theater.

From my room I had a great view of the park and Disneyland's other hotel The Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. It was Hazy and overcast during the entire time we were in HOng Kong, but supposedly you can see Hong Kong's skyline from here on a clear night. In the gray haze it's hard to even find the castle.

moving on...

This hotel room was so rich with theming that both the mirror and the shampoo bottles echoed the shapes of classic Hollywood. The Shampoo bottles are awesome by themselves but when you add Mickey ears and a setting meant to mimic the Hollywood Bowl, that's when I'm in heaven. 

I just love the shower curtain. 

I absolutely love the Hollywood Hotel sign, but the use of this sign is what keeps the hotel from seeing as though it is truly a resident of Hollywood's golden age. A stain glass window using this pattern particularly above a doorway would make the hotel seem even more authentic. 

Another glimpse at the wonderful font chosen for this hotel. Also on the sliding doors themselves you can get a sense of the graphic  that plays a large role in the resort. It lines the edge of much of the hotel. I tried to capture it on the Elevator doors, but the shot came out blurry. 

Below is the entry way towards the Guest rooms, this was one of my favorite parts of the hotel. 

A close up of the mickey sculpture in much the same garb he is wearing in the Grauman's Chinese shot in the room. 

The awesome carpet you can see in the elevator area helps the visual exuberance of the hotel's palate, which is continued more boldly in the guest rooms and hallways where a dark red is used and a light teal is used for the exterior wall of the bathroom, which is rounded reflecting the streamline moderne style of the Pan Pacific Auditorium. 

Below is a brief shot from the large back yard of the property which I did not photographed a tenth as much as I should have. It contains a replica of the large entrance gate to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. It contains a scaled down version of the El Capitan Marquee and box office in Hollywood. IT also contains a bar by the pool shaped like the Hollywood Bowl. a street like road leads you back to a 1959 cadillac parked in front of a replica of the Hollywood Sign. If you follow the road around the sign you come upon Muhholland Drive and some even older cars not to mention a beautiful view of the harbor. The pool n the back also has piano keys on it. It's fun whimsical and quant. My excitement as I discovered each thing was  well loud. 

The hotel has three wonderful eateries one is sit down, one is quick service and one is buffet. The Studio lounge righto n the main lobby serves standard western fare and was delicious according to others in my party at night they lower a projector and play movies on a screen behind the bar. The night I was there Enchanted was showing. 

and the menu

The Next up is Chef Mickey a fancy free buffet adorned with mickey everywhere: 

and one last blurry shot: 

On the way to the final Eatery there is a room with Disney toys for children and their parents to play called the Malibu Toy Shop: 

My absolute favorite lighting fixture in the entire hotel is in the Malibu Toy Shop

As Goofy would say "Oh Gawrsh!"Speaking of Goofy as I returned from the park around five Goofy was wandering the halls by the Malibu Toy Shop, I grabbed the chance to get a picture with him. 

Here's Goofy tooling around with some kids before I showed up! 

Anyway as we continue down the hall we run into the quick service restaurant Hollywood & Dine! 

That's all from the Hollywood Hotel for now! Although I have quite a few more stationary things to be scanned and what not! Until tomorrow! 

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Also I'm working on setting up a twitter for the blog that will only have my Disney related tweets!