Overview
While visiting Disneyland, consider staying at the Polynesian Resort. This unique hotel features tiki decor, which is fun for kids and adults alike. Tiki decor has been popular on the mainland since the 1940's, and the Polynesian Resort offers a beautiful take on this decorating style.
Disney Tiki
By James R Shaw
If you have children, chances are good that your children will eventually want to visit Disneyland. While you're there, be sure to check out the unique tiki culture on display. Both the Polynesian Resort and the Enchanted Tiki Room grew out of Walt Disney's desire to showcase island culture with a tiki room theme. Both opened at a time when tiki decor was quite popular on the mainland, and these attractions have remained popular ever since. They represent an important cultural side of Disneyland that you should not miss.
While visiting Disneyland, consider staying at the Polynesian Resort. This unique hotel features tiki décor, which is fun for kids and adults alike. Tiki décor has been popular on the mainland since the 1940's, and the Polynesian Resort offers a beautiful take on this decorating style. Each room has a Hawaiian tiki motif, with wooden tikis and bamboo accents. Because the resort was originally built in the 1960's, it also has a retro feel, although it has been updated several times since then. You'll feel like you are staying in an island in the South Pacific without ever leaving the mainland.
The resort is not built in a high-rise building, but instead it has several intimate two- or three-story buildings scattered over the grounds. The area of the Polynesian resort features dense vegetation; even after you step outside the room you'll still feel like you are in an island paradise. These grounds include white sandy beaches complete with hammocks and lounge chairs. There are several Polynesian restaurants in the resort, so you can even sample some traditional island fare. For adults, there is also a traditionally-styled tiki bar.
Once you get to the park, make sure that you stop at Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. One of the more unique attractions in Disneyland, it is a theater featuring Polynesian characters and wildlife. There are over 150 animatronic characters that come to life during the sixteen minute ride. In fact, this attraction was the first to feature Disney's audio-animatronic system. It opened in 1963 in Adventureland, and has long been one of the more popular attractions in the park. The show is "hosted" by four singing macaws, and also features other tropical birds, tiki totems and masks, flowers, and drummers. Animatronic Hawaiian tiki gods are located around the perimeter, each telling their own story. There is also a version of the Enchanted Tiki Room at Tokyo Disneyland, as well as one at Disney World.
When visiting Disneyland, be sure to learn about the tiki culture you get the chance to experience in the Polynesian Resort and the Enchanted Tiki Room. Tiki culture is built around distinctive wooden or stone figures with large, flat heads in proportion to their bodies. These statues play an integral part in the decor of both the Polynesian Resort and the Enchanted Tiki Room. You'll also see other decor choices that have been popular parts of tiki décor in the U.S., including bamboo, dried grass, and thatched roofs.
Royal Tiki specializes in genuine Hawaiian-made Tiki masks, Statues and Signs.
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