Mickey Mouse & Tiki Aloha Shirt – Elias & Co.

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Objets de Tiki and tagged with Art Deco, Buena Vista Street, California Adventure, Disneyland, Tikis June 12, 2012

What’s better than Disneyland? Disneyland with no crowds (well, fewer crowds, anyway). We were lucky enough to experience that at the passholder preview for Cars Land and Buena Vista Street, which officially open at California Adventure on June 15. This thoroughfare pays tribute to the 1920s, when a young Walt Disney arrived in Los Angeles to start a new animation studio (and the rest, as they say, is history).

It was such a treat to stroll around and admire the ersatz Art Deco architecture, especially the Elias & Company gift shop. The inside is made to look like a luxury department store (see: Bullocks Wilshire), and one of the rooms displays vintage sheet music on the wall as props. Among them I spotted the tropical cover of “Sun Kissed Isle,” one of many 1920s ukulele tunes inspired by the South Seas.

I also found a blue Hawaiian shirt printed with tikis, coconut drinks, palm trees, hibiscus flowers and surfin’ Mickeys. Disney seems to have produced quite a few aloha shirts with tikis over the years, not even counting the ones Shag has designed.

There were only boys’ shirts at this store, priced at $29.99, but I’m guessing adult sizes might be available over at the Disneyland Emporium. (Don’t quote me on that, though.)

They stock some neat mugs (coffee, not tiki mugs…you’ll have to go to Trader Sam’s for those) like this one that reminded me of the awesome travel trailers we saw at Palm Springs Modernism Week. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the new merchandise being rolled out for California Adventure.

If you want to see more of Buena Vista Street, there are some great photos here and here, plus detailed background about the people and places that inspired it here and here.

More Tiki-Related Disney Posts:

Boutiki at Disney’s Polynesian Resort
Tiki in Toy Story 3 & California Adventure
Tangaroa Terrace at the Disneyland Hotel

Tangaroa Terrace at the Disneyland Hotel

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with Disney, Disneyland, Enchanted Tiki Room, Oceanic Arts, Restaurants, Tangaroa Terrace, Tiki June 1, 2012

The Disneyland Hotel recently remodeled and re-themed the pool and dining area in the center of the property, with last summer bringing the opening of Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar and Tangaroa Terrace. The latter is a quick-service restaurant named after the tall tiki tree in the waiting area of the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland.

The A-frame edifice features a sign with spears and three colorful masks as well as two large tiki columns carved by Leroy Schmaltz from Oceanic Arts. The inside has a sleek look that’s accented with tapa and rattan lamps, bamboo and lauhala matting, and black-and-white vintage photos of Adventureland and Walt in the Enchanted Tiki Room.

Diners order at three touchscreen stations and then pay at the cash registers off to the left. Drinks, desserts and grab-and-go items like pineapple-macadamia nut muffins are set up at other displays nearby.

Breakfast options range from french toast with banana-caramel sauce to a healthy-sounding egg white and tofu bake with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese. After 11 a.m. the menu features burgers, panko-crusted fish and chips, cheese or kalua pork flatbread, and a couple of salads. There are also rotating “Island Plate Dinner” specials like miso-crusted salmon, chicken katsu and tamarind-glazed pork shanks.

The Angus 1/3 pound Hawaiian cheeseburger ($10.19) comes with grilled pineapple, teriyaki sauce, Havarti cheese, lettuce, tomato and a sad excuse for bacon on a multi-grain bun. The toppings are key to distracting from the fact that the beef is served well done. The Disney Parks may be a little late to the sweet potato party, but some of their restaurants have started abandoning regular fries in favor of these trendy tubers.

We used to fuel up on food here before going to Trader Sam’s, but they’ve since added some of the same dishes so you might as well head straight to the bar. It’s worth taking a look around Tangaroa Terrace, but I’d only recommend eating there if you’re looking for a quiet meal since it’s usually pretty deserted.

The large shared patio overlooks the Disneyland Hotel pool and its Monorail waterslide. It may be quite tempting to enjoy the pleasant setting when the weather’s beautiful, but I’ll say it again — just go next door to Trader Sam’s.

Tangaroa Terrace
Disneyland Hotel
1150 Magic Way
Anaheim, CA 92802

Previous Tiki-Related Disney Posts:

Tiki-Themed Restaurant at California Adventure Demolished
Holiday Drinks & Decor at Trader Sam’s
Los Angeles Magazine Article on Enchanted Tiki Room Imagineer

Tiki on “The Simpsons”: Part Three

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Tiki on TV and tagged with The Simpsons, Tiki, Tiki on TV May 25, 2012

After the Trader Joe’s spoof, I didn’t think I’d be spotting tikis on “The Simpsons” for awhile. But I was proved wrong by the episode “A Totally Fun Thing that Bart Will Never Do Again,” which aired on April 29.

The Simpsons take a family vacation on a cruise, and the ship hosts a South Pacific Pool Party complete with a beachy backdrop, tiki torches and a tiki table centerpiece that looks sort of Mayan to me (though I’m no expert on pre-Columbian sculpture).

Earlier in the episode there’s a musical number with the lyric: “Here Hawaiian shirts are cool; back home, well, not so much,” while later the disgraced cruise director laments, “After this I’ll be lucky to get work on a clothing-optional Jimmy Buffett cruise.” Leave it to “The Simpsons” to go for the clichés. Well, at least they didn’t refer to tiki as tacky.