Tiki Treasures from The Story of Disneyland Exhibition & Auction at Van Eaton Galleries

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Right now, the two-room space at Van Eaton Galleries in Sherman Oaks (LA area) is so full of Disney treasures that it may be the next best thing to visiting The Happiest Place on Earth itself. (Also, it’s free and you’re probably less likely to catch measles.)

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It’s all part of The Story of Disneyland: An Exhibition and Sale, one anonymous person’s massive collection that will be auctioned off piece by piece on February 28 & March 1, 2015. A substantial portion of the items are on view to the public through February 27, Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

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The colorful castmember uniforms ($400-$600) from Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room were so popular that the fabric was sold in Adventureland stores. There were a few different patterns, with my favorite being the one featured here on the left (closeup on Instagram). On the right is a vintage hostess costume ($900-$1200) complete with nametag from the now-defunct Tahitian Terrace restaurant. In the middle is an original Enchanted Tiki Room attraction poster ($10,000-$12,000).

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The Adventureland piece with the highest bidding estimate — $20,000-$30,000 — is this animatronic member of the Enchanted Tiki Room’s chorus from the 1970s. It was apparently purchased from an Imagineer who worked on the Tiki Room and it still has all the original hardware inside.

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The same can’t be said for this feathered friend, so he’s valued a little lower at just $18,000-$20,000. How did this little birdie fly away? A cast member received it as a retirement gift from their supervisor! (Sure beats a gold watch.)

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Recognize this? It’s the finial that sat atop the A-frame ticket booth at the entrance to the Enchanted Tiki Room. According to the catalog, an Imagineer rescued this one-of-a-kind piece ($15,000-$20,000) from demolition when the bamboo and wood structure had to be torn down in 2000. Later, renowned carver Leroy Schmaltz of Oceanic Arts was commissioned to make a wooden base for it.

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Not everything will cost you beaucoup bucks, though. There are lots of things in the $100-$200 range, like these Disneyland Moai salt and pepper shakers from 1956. (These seem to appear on eBay for less every now and again, but the attention for this particular auction will surely drive up the price.)

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Now this face I really couldn’t place. Turns out it’s one of three handpainted “Nature Tree Masks” ($2,000-$4,000) that adorned the trees near the loading area of the Jungle Cruise for a few years around 1956.

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There are also six “Tangaroa-Ru Babies” that descended from the flowers of the Tangaroa tree of life at the end of the Enchanted Tiki Room pre-show. Disney Legend/Imagineer Rolly Crump designed these based on Polynesian carvings. They’re estimated to go for about $3,000 each. The deep-pocketed collector could be well on their way to building their own authentic Enchanted Tiki Room.

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Rolly Crump also designed these smaller ceramic versions ($200-$400) that were sold as souvenirs at Disneyland. The catalog notes that they’re rare finds.

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Many of the artifacts were once Disney property or official souvenirs, but there are also stashes of visitors’ personal slides and photographs from over the years. I adore this picture of these ladies posing with the Marquesan tiki that used to be in Adventureland. It’s part of a bundle of 10 amateur photos at Disneyland circa 1956-1959.

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You can browse through the entire collection in the 300-page online catalog, which is also available for purchase in a soft-cover version ($30) and a hard-cover edition ($95, including a complimentary soft-cover copy). (There’s a section dedicated to Disney World’s Polynesian Resort starting on page 287.)

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Which of these items would you bid on if you had unlimited funds? I’d love this flower boat ($12,000-$15,000) from Disney World’s Enchanted Tiki Room as the centerpiece for my own tiki room. Or perhaps the Pirates of the Caribbean skeleton ($60,000-$80,000) guzzling liquor for more of a Smuggler’s Cove style…

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The Story of Disneyland
Van Eaton Galleries
13613 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
818-788-2357

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New “Adventureland” Tiki Merchandise at Disneyland

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Disneyland recently released a boatload of new Adventureland-themed merchandise that includes tons of tiki items. I found this trove of glasses, mugs, pillows and plates at the World of Disney store at Disneyland but all of these items (and still more that I haven’t shown here!) are available to purchase online at the Disney Store. Search for “Adventureland” and you should be able to find it all.

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It’s a bit odd that some of the items feature the tiki mascot from Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, which is a Disney World hotel and not part of Adventureland at all (or even the Magic Kingdom park). However, there is a precedent, as this little interloper also snuck in via the Polynesian Luau Party Bowl (by Kevin Kidney & Jody Daily) that was part of the Enchanted Tiki Room’s 50th Anniversary merchandise.

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I liked this Enchanted Tiki Room parrot plate ($14.95), but the lightweight bamboo material and raised screen print made it feel a bit cheap to me. (Same goes for the Poly plate above, which is the same material.)

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On the flip side, the Aloha appetizer plates ($12.95, available in red, blue and green in addition to yellow) are made with sturdier ceramic. (Though they’re still not dishwasher safe — aside from the coffee mug, none of this stuff is.)

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I was also pleased with the quality of the Enchanted Tiki Room appetizer tray and bowl set ($39.95), and I loved how it highlights each of the birds by name. That’s not something I’ve seen all that often.

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The purple scorpion bowl ($24.95) showed some promise but ultimately I was disappointed with how smudged the sculpt appeared in the finished product. I looked at a few other specimens to compare and they all had the same issue. (I’m guessing these weren’t manufactured by Tiki Farm, the company that’s previously produced several mugs and bowls for the park and Trader Sam’s. Their designs have nice, sharp details that these lacked.)

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This hefty green tiki mug ($16.95) features the graphics from the four shields that hang under the A-frame of the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland. Still, this one was also missing the “wow factor” for me for whatever reason.

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Much more to my liking were these glass tumblers ($12.95), which come in two designs: the Enchanted Tiki Room tikis and the parrot logo (based on the 1963 art for the attraction).

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Another distinctive Adventureland design is this collage of logos, which Disney has printed on coffee mugs and afghan throws. Like I said, there’s way more tiki merchandise where this came from so I suggest you go check it out!

Related Posts:
Enchanted Tiki Room Easter Egg
Recreation of the Original 1963 Brochure for the Enchanted Tiki Room
More Disney & Tiki Connections

55th Anniversary Adventureland Tiki Glasses at Disneyland

A few months back, I mentioned the four giclées that Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily designed in honor of Disneyland’s 55th anniversary. When I was back there in December, I discovered that they had spun off those images onto glasses, like this one with the tiki from Adventureland.

They look neat, though alas not very photogenic (at least not with my camera skills)—and for $7 they’re practically a steal. (You couldn’t even buy two churros for that.) Don’t count on getting a full set, though, the Fantasyland ones seem to have been sold out since Day One.