Tonight we celebrate the greatest attraction in Disney history.
On April 5th 1998 Disney World opened The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management), an update to the opening day attraction that gave the people what they really wanted, Gilbert Gottfried singing. The update added a new preshow with talent agent birds voiced by Phil Hartman and Don Rickles, and a new plot where Iago insisted the show was out of date and needed to be updated for modern audiences. Ignoring Zazu’s warnings, Iago proceeded to anger the Tiki Gods, and things went predictably poorly from there.
While the attraction was met with universal acclaim and Disney fans still clamor for its return, it sadly came to a premature end in January 2011 when a fire broke out in the attraction’s attic and it was rumored the fire and sprinklers damaged some of the animatronics beyond repair. When it reopened in August that year, the Tiki Room was back under original management, restored to (almost) the same form it was before 1998. Uh-Oa, the Tiki Goddess, eventually resurfaced at Trader Sam’s restaurant.
I hope you all enjoy this video of animatronic birds singing Gloria Estefan. I’m tired. I think I’ll head over to the Hall of Presidents and take a nap.