Garner Holt Donate a Tiki Room Audio-Animatronic Barker Bird To Walt Disney Family Museum

Mice Age did a great article today HERE about the Tiki Room Barker bird which has been recreated by Audio-Animatronics wizard Garner Holt and donated to the Walt Disney Family museum in San Francisco. Guests can move the animated bird thanks to a control joystick and it's a great addition to this fantastic museum!

I've found on youtube two videos for you and here they are!




On this next one you'll see a guest manipulating the control joystick.



Pictures: copyright Garner Holt Productions

Walt Disney Imagineering Honored by Three THEA Awards !

Three WDI attractions have won THEA Awards - the equivalent of the Oscars for Theme Parks attractions - as it was announced yesterday during a ceremony in Orlando by the Themed Entertainment Association announcing the 2013 winners.

No surprise, Hong Kong Disneyland's Mystic Manor received a fully deserved Award for "Outstanding Achievement – Attraction, which noted the original storyline, special effects, Audio-Animatronics technology, musical score by Danny Elfman, and the trackless, wire-guided ride vehicles as reasons for excellence". TEA noted that “Mystic Manor exemplifies the seamless integration of the latest technology with true state-of-the-art storytelling.”

The next WDI attraction to received a THEA award was Enchanted Tales with Belle, at WDW MK New Fantasyland, and it won the Award for "Outstanding Achievement – Participatory Character Greeting for being “far more than the typical character greeting experience… It is a creative blend of excellent design, imaginative interactivity and technical wizardry.”

Last but not least WDI also won a third THEA award and this one was for...  Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary which received the Thea Classic award. "This landmark attraction is “the world’s first Audio-Animatronics show – introducing a new technology that soon became one of the dominant tools used by designers and engineers in our industry.” Disney won others Thea Classic Award in the past for Disneyland Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, Disneyland park itself, and Epcot.

The Thea Awards ceremony, a black-tie gala will happen April 5, 2014, at the Disneyland Hotel and Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Executive at Walt Disney Imagineering said “It is very rewarding to be honored by the Themed Entertainment Association, which represents our peers throughout the industry. We are especially proud that all three of these projects represent the best of Disney storytelling and the spirit of innovation we bring to our guests,”. Disney and more warmly congratulate the winners and every people who worked on these three magical attractions honored by a THEA award!

Pictures: copyright Disney

Behind the Scenes of The Enchanted Tiki Room

Undoubtedly the very first attraction with audio-animatronic at Disneyland, the Tiki Room have Enchanted millions of guests since its opening.

Today we'll have a look behind the scenes , but first of all some images. As we know the Tiki Room is located at the entrance of Adventureland.





The attraction poster is now famous.







The video embedded two years ago in which Walt Disney introduces you to the Tiki Room secrets is now available only on Youtube but you can watch it HERE.




Here is another b&w version of this famous picture of Walt inside the attraction.




And for those of you living outside the U.S or Japan who never had the luck to see it, here is a video of the whole show by ru42




Always with a Polynesian theming, the Tahitian terrace was close to the Tiki room during many years and even share another poster with the Tiki room and the Plaza pavillion.




Finally, let's not forget the two great replicas of the Tiki bird and the Tiki drummer designed by Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily for Disney shopping.com, no longer available on the site but you can find them on ebay very probably.




Photos and First video : copyright Disney

Second video by ru42 : Filming copyright ru42

More about Trader's Sam Tiki Bar

I'd like to talk again about the new Trader's Sam Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel - see my previous post with videos here - as it seems that it is the hidden jewel of this summer season. I mean, there was big press events for the Little Mermaid ride and Star Tours 2 but nothing special for the Trader's Sam Tiki bar. Okay, it's only a bar but since its opening news about it are not only good but extremely enthusiastic, and there are good reasons for that.

The Trader's Sam has reminiscences of the Tiki Room, the Jungle Cruise and the now extinct WDW Adventurer's Club and it seems to be a wonder of WDI perfect theming. In two words: if you go at the Disneyland Resort to experience the new rides, don't forget to go to Trader's Sam to have a drink and enjoy the theming when you will get out of the parks!

I realised that i didn't posted the WDI official rendering and you have it on the top. Below, three pictures shot by the excellent Theme Park Adventure.com web site who have done the best review so far about the Trader's Sam. Even better they, have an exclusive interview of WDI Imagineer Kyle Barnes that i strongly recommand you to read.

Below, from the top, an interesting picture as it is shot exactly on the same angle than the rendering above and shows the "reality". Next is a picture showing some of the great theming inside Trader's Sam, and the last one shows the volcano diorama which will erupt regularly.







Theme Park Adventure also shot a great video showing both the outside and the inside of Trader's Sam. It is embedded below and, again, don't forget to go on their site to read the Imagineer interview and to discover dozens of more pictures of this great Tiki bar!




Pictures and video: copyright Theme Park Adventure.com

Artwork: copyright Disney

Disneyland Hotel Trader's Sam - Edited with new videos

If you like Disneyland's Tiki Room as much as i do then you will love the new Trader Sam "Tiki" bar at the Disneyland Hotel. Trader Sam is supposed to be the “head salesman of the jungle", the one you see at the end of the Jungle Cruise and "every inch of this new place is decorated with his collection of artifacts and photos from his many adventures around the globe" as you will see on the video below just released by Disney Parks. On a certain point of view it's a new kind of Adventurer's Club theming, although with a totally different theming than the one which is now unfortunately extinct at WDW. But just like at the Adventurer's Club there is some nice little special effects, including rain effect (a bit like in the Tiki Room storm sequence), a Volcano erupting scene and even a ship in a bottle which is sinking!

By the way, do you want to know who provided so many Tikis and "Adventureland" artifacts to Disney parks since the last 40 years? It's a Californian company called Oceanic Arts. Oceanic Arts has been one of the main provider of Adventureland props to Imagineering since a looong time and if you're an Adventureland lover who wants to create your own Adventureland at home you will find everything to do it at Oceanic Arts. And when i mean everything, i really mean EVERYTHING, from sculpted Tikis of all sizes - including giant ones - to Polynesian war clubs and ceremonial paddles or bamboo poles you'll be able to find all the props (or almost) that Imagineering is using in Disney Parks' Adventureland. You won't see a lot on Oceanic Arts web page HERE but if you ask them their products catalogue you will be amazed, really!

That said, and this little secret shared with you, have a look at these short videos, and to know more about Trader Sam legend, jump on the Disney Parks blog HERE.




The next video will show you the volcano erupting effect.




On this last video you can see "the sinking ship in the bottle" effect - great effect, by the way.




If you are at the Disneyland Resort, make sure to have a drink at Trader's Sam!

Video: Copyright Disney and HV10N90

Discover "Disney by Mark" the new web site of former WDI Imagineer Mark Hickson

If you're a faithful Disney and more reader you probably already know WDI former Imagineer Mark Hickson thanks to the great interview i did of him about the incredible S.S Disney project. The S.S Disney concept was to transform a huge super-tanker in a floating theme park wich would have bring the Disneyland experience to countries around the world. Well, now, Mark Hickson launched his own web site called "Disney by Mark" and it's not that often that a former Imagineer share rare pictures and memories, so i think you will like it.

Mark Hickson started his WDI career working on the Splash Mountain/Critter Country project at Disneyland and then chosen to become part of the Tokyo Disneyland Project Office. Over a period of four years they conceived, produced, and with Disney Japanese partners, installed 13 attractions including TDL Splash Mountain, Adventureland Treehouse, and Mickey’s Toontown. He was also involved in contributing to some very special projects including the “Aida” and “Beauty and the Beast” Broadway Productions, Disneyland’s 35th Birthday celebration, and the development of Tokyo Disneyland 5, 10 & 20 year Master Plan. He concluded his Disney career working on the EPCOT development team and leading the S.S. Disney Floating Theme Park effort.

On Mark's site which began recently, you'll see never seen before "backstage" pictures of Disneyland rides like this one shot when the Mark V orange monorail was delivered to Disneyland in the summer of 1987...



...or a rare shot of what the DL Submarine Voyage ride operator sees when the 306 Argonaut was coming back to the dock...



...not to mention historical pictures like this one, of beautiful Tiki Room Hostess in 1968.



So, jump to "Disney by Mark" to discover more rare pictures - it's HERE - and come back regularly on Mark's site as i'm sure that Mark Hickson has many more picture and memories to share with us!

Pictures: copyright Mark Hickson

Tokyo Disneyland special report - Part Three : Adventureland

Randie Soul is back with more pictures of Tokyo Disneyland! This time it's all about Adventureland, and we'll begin by the new skow at the Tiki Room with Stitch. The marquee at the entrance clearly indicate the new show title: "Aloha e komo mai!".



A nice addition is the Stitch vehicle in the Tiki room garden. Guests can immediately understand that Stitch landed at TDL!




Some of the Tikis located around the building or in the garden...




Visitors are also informed about Stitch thanks to other outside elements like this one.



The Stitch audio-animatronic during the show is pretty big - may be a little bit too big in comparison with the birds?



Here is an excellent Youtube video of this new Stitch show filmed by the always good JTcent - and with english subtitles!



Tokyo Disneyland also have a Polynesian Terrace.




Even food carts are themed, and each of them in the park have their own specialty. For instance, this one is selling chocolate popcorn, and it is the only one selling these.



Some pictures of scenes of the Swiss Robinsons Tree. I am always amazed with the maintenance quality at TDL. If you look at the plates, fruits, and other elements on these three scenes everything is incredibly clean, no dust, nothing, just like new. Incredible.





The Tiki Room building, as you can see it from the Swiss Robinsons Tree.




Actually, you can see pretty far from the tree, including Space Mountain...



Or even the Tower of Terror located far away, at Tokyo Disney Sea!



Here is the Jungle Cruise entrance!



...And some inside decor.



The entrance of Pirates of Caribbean...




Here is an interesting poster at the entrance, with old renderings and pictures of imagineers at work on the attraction.




A Tokyo Disneyland New Orleans Square street...



...and the marching band walking through New Orleans Square!



All the pictures above are in hyper high-res and some would be great as wallpaper for your computer screen! More of this Randie Soul Tokyo Disneyland report coming next week!

All pictures: copyright Randie Soul whom i thanks a lot!

Youtuve video by JTcent whom i thanks a lot, too!