The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)

History

The Enchanted Tiki Room opened in the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971, as Tropical Serenade. The show was an exact duplicate of the Disneyland attraction, but instead of the pre-show there was a waterfall in place of the Tiki gods, which opened and two Audio-Animatronic toucans entertained guests. The show was sponsored by Florida Citrus Growers until 1986.

The show closed on September 1, 1997 for renovations and updating, re-opening in April 5, 1998 as The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management, featuring Iago (again voiced by Gilbert Gottfried) and Zazu (voiced here by Michael Gough) from Aladdin and The Lion King, respectively, as the new owners of the Tiki Room. The show features all of the same audio-animatronic birds, flowers and Tiki gods but now includes Iago and Zazu, plus a new evil Tiki goddess named Uh-Oa, who disrupts the usual Enchanted Tiki Room storyline after Iago upsets her.

On January 12, 2011, a small fire broke out in the attic of the attraction. It is rumored that the Iago figure (that first interrupts the show) was severely damaged by the small blaze, but the cause of the fire and extent of damage was kept quiet under an investigation. Other show elements experienced minor damage when the sprinkler system went off to extinguish the flames. No guests were injured in the incident.

The original attraction re-opened on August 15, 2011, as "Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room". The show is now an edited and trimmed version of the original show, featuring all but one of the songs from the 1963 version of the show.

Storyline

As guests are waiting outside the Enchanted Tiki Room, a cylinder-shaped tube opens behind a waterfall to reveal two audio-animatronic toucans — William (voiced by Don Rickles) and Morris (voiced by Phil Hartman). William and Morris entertain the waiting guests by discussing their positions as agents of the new Tiki Room's new "co-owners". A human Cast Member then tells the birds that he/she is preparing to let the guests in. William and Morris are incensed because their clients are not yet in the theater.

Morris says that he has to leave because he's about to sign Donald Duck, while William brags that he's got the Mighty Ducks. The cylinder closes with the two birds yelling and arguing. After the guests have entered the theater, the human Cast Member proceeds to "wake up" José with help from the audience. The 4 original Tiki Bird hosts- José, Michael, Pierre (in this version, voiced by Jerry Orbach, the voice of Lumière from Beauty and the Beast) and Fritz get ready as they did in the original show. They start singing "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" as they have for the last 30 years, but in the middle of their song, an audio-animatronic Iago, the red, cranky, loud-mouthed parrot from Disney's Aladdin, descends from a hole in the ceiling.

Iago sits on a pillow holding a small megaphone, yelling that the Tiki Birds need to stop the music. Iago complains that the show's outdated songs make him want to "toss his crackers." The birds say that they are in the middle of a show. From another hole in the ceiling comes a perch bearing an audio-animatronic Zazu, the proper blue hornbill from Disney's The Lion King. Zazu pleads with Iago not to toy with the Tiki Room. Pierre tells Iago that "his friend" is right and that he should not anger the Room's inhabitants. Iago ignores Zazu's warnings and replies that Zazu isn't his friend.

José, Michael, Piere and Fritz are confused — they don't know Iago and Zazu because they never "fly to the movies." To give them an example of how the songs should be sung, Iago begins singing a song to the tune of "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin. He says that since the Tiki Birds are ancient history and he's a big "cele-birdy," he's going to change the show so that a more modern audience can appreciate it, warning the birds that they'd better get hip or their audience will disappear.

Zazu tells Iago to knock it off — the Tiki Gods can hear him. Iago then begins to blatantly insult the Gods, soon after which "lightning" strikes and the lights go out. The Tiki Birds begin singing that the atmosphere in the theater has suddenly gotten "Hot Hot Hot" and the carved faces on the Tiki Poles begin chanting "Uh-Oa!"

From the center of the fountain in the middle of the room, smoke bubbles and fumes and Uh-Oa, the green and evil audio-animatronic "Tiki Goddess of Disaster" (Voiced by Armelia McQueen), emerges. Uh-Oa wants to know who dares to defame the Tiki Gods and Zazu tells her it was Iago. Uh-Oa then sings about how unwise Iago was to have messed with her. She claims that he "Can't fly away because [he's] stuck, [she] has cursed [him] for pushing [his] luck and it won't help to yell — [he's] under [her] spell!" Uh-Oa then uses her magic Tiki powers and Iago shoots up from his perch. In a big, dark explosion of smoke, the loud-mouthed parrot is gone. Uh-Oa laughs evilly, then, in a cloud of smoke, disappears back into the fountain.

The Tiki Birds and Zazu feel that they should let the Tiki Gods have their say and Zazu introduces the one and only musical sensation: The Tiki Gods. The faces on the Tiki Poles begin to sing "In the Still of the Night" by The Five Satins, then the flowers join in by singing a rap song using lyrics from the original Tiki Room show and some of the birds begin singing along. At this point, over the exit doors, a small compartment on the wall opens. And who else should be in the compartment but Iago. Iago is burnt, smoking, carrying a crutch and has bandages all over his body. He tells them all how the Tiki Gods are the greatest act he's ever heard and that they're going to make a gold mine on this show, no more worries.

Zazu tells Iago that where he comes from, no worries is "Hakuna Matata," which Iago misinterprets as "Hunky-Tuna Tostada". However, he seems to like it, declaring that Zazu is now his friend and that they should party. All the birds start to sing their own rendition of "Conga" as the Bird Mobile descends from the ceiling. Zazu sings about how Iago learned his lesson and will no doubt be more discreet in the future. Iago decides to show Zazu that he won't be discreet, telling everybody to get on their feet. "That's right — everybody stand up!"

As the audience prepares to leave, the Tiki Birds begin singing "Get On Your Feet" by Gloria Estefan. The birds declare that they're going to do a magic trick and make the audience face the door and disappear. The exit doors open and the guests start walking out as the Tiki Birds continue to sing "Get On Your Feet", followed by "Heigh-Ho". Zazu bids farewell to the guests, while Iago keeps up a barrage of comments and insults designed to get the guests to leave as they walk under him. Once the majority of the guests have left the theater, Iago says that he's tired and plans to go take a nap in the Hall of Presidents. He then says good-bye to Zazu, turns around and enters the compartment over the exit. José laughs that nobody "laid an egg"... except him.