Trip Report: Adventures in Adventureland!

When my friends joined me in the park, it was a no-brainer as to what we should do first: The Enchanted Tiki Room! The show could not have started soon enough for us to bathe in the wonders of freon. When these doors magically opened, we were the first to enter.



A front row seat gave me a great vantage point for shooting my photos.



The scary face on the front of the Magic Fountain structure in the center of the room, which was to originally be a coffee station.



Pierre and Michael were right above me, doing their schtick and banter back and forth.



It wasn't long before the familiar strains of The Sherman Brothers' classic, "Let's All Sing Like The Birdies Sing" could be heard by the adoring audience.



Then the lights dimmed, and I knew it was time to watch the ladies descend from the ceiling.



Gigi and Mimi looked beautiful in the magical lighting.



The clicking of the plastic orchids could be heard throughout the room.



The drumming of the figures on the ledge increase the tension in the show...



then the Totem Poles join in...



and before we knew it, Pierre was telling us it was time to exit. Back to the heat!



If you are still craving all things Tiki, you can visit the current "exhibit" (aka a not-so-subtle merchandise opportunity) at the Opera House. On display was The Barker Bird, which was (according to the accompanying text) "positioned high above the crowd at the entry of the pre-show Tiki Gardens, to deliver a humorous, descriptive spiel. This proved to be such a novelty that traffic jams occurred in the walkway below as people gawked in amazement, and he had to retire from show business."



This bird prototype was created by Disney's first female Imagineer, Harriet Burns. She "presented this bird to one of the Figure Finishers who was creating the birds for the original Enchanted Tiki Room show at Tokyo Disneyland under her watchful eye. It was one of the prototypes that she had created as they were developing the ground-breaking, original show premiering at Disneyland in June 1963. Knowing its value, he donated it to the Imagineering Art Library for safekeeping and exhibition."



If I remember correctly, this painting by Shag was selling (or not selling) for a cool $18,000.



Back in Adventureland, the wait for Indiana Jones Adventure wasn't too bad, so we decided to check out the new special effects that I had heard about.



Snakes - yikes!



This attraction has one of the most interesting line queues in the park. Every inch of the way has something cool to see.



The perfect shadow is cast on the wall of the "Eye On The Globe" movie projection room.



"Is the Daveland vehicle ready for its journey?"



Getting ready to enter the Chamber of Destiny:



The new lighting effect on Mara:



Mara now has eyes that open. It looks pretty cool and is interesting to see something different after riding this attraction so many times. The voice isn't James Earl Jones, but when we went through, it still sounded like a deep-voiced male.





Indy was still attempting to hold back the swirling lights behind the gates.



This attraction goes by so quickly...next thing we knew, we were below Indy, about to get scared by the oncoming boulder.



Next up: brunch at Club 33.

See more vintage & current Disneyland Adventureland photos on my Adventureland web pages.