New Stuff! - The Disneyland Hotel

In addition to getting a "Sneak Preview" of The Little Mermaid attraction and the new Star Tours on Friday, I was also able to check out the new "stuff" over at the Disneyland Hotel. We'll begin with the new Monorail-themed water slides. This is the area that was formerly occupied by the Seaports of the Pacific shops, The Lost Bar, and the remote control Jungle Cruise boats.





The former Shipyard Inn/Hook's Pointe building was spared from demolition and has been given a complete makeover. Due to ongoing construction work at the hotel, temporary signs have been posted to guide the way through all the construction walls.





This shot shows the entrance to the new bar, "Trader Sam's".



Here's a shot taken last year from almost the same angle. The ground around the building has been raised and now covers up the old Wine Cellar space that used to be located on the lower level. I was told that the space is now used as a pantry and storage for the new bar and restaurant.



Here's another current shot taken from a different angle....



...and another taken last year from roughly the same spot. That building on the right was the Croc's Bits and Bites food stand that was torn down. We'll see a "before" and "after" of that in a minute.



These doors can be found at the entrance of Trader Sam's. The beautiful carved wood sort of reminds me of the doors to The Enchanted Tiki Rooms at both Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland.



The interior is rather small, but there is plenty of outdoor patio seating.



Does this view look familiar? I'm kicking myself for not staying in there longer or at least asking if there were any effects that take place outside the window. I didn't really think of it until later when a hotel employee told me to make sure to go back and order a specialty drink and see what happens. She seemed to be implying that the bartenders recite something or do something special, but when I got home and looked at my pics, I was wondering if maybe more happens. I guess I need to go back!



If you look upward, you can see a few familiar faces. There are two drum players from The Enchanted Tiki Room in the background, and Koro, "The Midnight Dancer" from the Enchanted Tiki Garden can also be seen. I don't know if they talk or do anything either.....again, it didn't really cross my mind until after I got home! Note the shirt being worn by the cast member.



Here's a close-up of that shirt. I love the print....tikis, hippos, Jungle Cruise boats, and there's even a groovy-looking bird. I want one of these shirts!



Now we'll continue around the building to the new restaurant, Tangaroa Terrace. Gee, I wonder where they got that name.....it's GRRRRRRRRRREAT!!!



Here's another shot taken last year from more or less the same vantage point.



A close-up of the new sign and the tikis on either side of the entrance.....





There's a patio, or should I say a "terrace" with seating to the left and right side of the entrance. The terrace area continues on around the building and connects with the outdoor seating for Trader Sam's. There's even an area for outdoor entertainment. As I was leaving, there was a man sitting on a stool playing the guitar. Now if they can just hire some hula girls and fire dancers! Oh, and I love that giant rubber tree in the middle of the terrace and it is a real tree.....no concrete Disneydendrons here!



Let's go inside and take a look at the new menu.



Once you know what you want, you place your order using these touch screens. A receipt is then printed out and you take it to a central register along with any additional items (chips, drinks, desserts, etc.) that you can pick up along the way.



The interior of the restaurant is also quite small (Trader Sam's was built in what used to be part of the Hook's Pointe dining room). There are some nice framed pieces hanging on the walls.









Here's a shot looking up above the entrance.



This is what the old Hook's Pointe interior looked like. I had taken photos of it and was even given a menu that I intended to post before it closed last summer, but I never got around to it!



Now we're back outside and looking at an outdoor fireplace that has been built in the spot formerly occupied by Croc's Bits and Bites.



Here is another shot from last year looking in the same direction.



Just to the right of this area would have been the path that used to lead to the old Hotel Waterfalls and Koi Ponds. Today, there is a path that leads to......a grassy lawn. Just as we had seen in the concept art, Disney took out the beautiful waterfalls and caves and replaced them with nothing!



If you look closely, you can see that at least three of the Jacaranda trees around the Koi ponds survived the demolition.



Here they are as they appeared last year. Also, if you look in the shot above, you can see that the Dancing Waters arena is still standing behind that construction wall, with only a small portion of the tall blue concrete wall having been removed.



I thought it was interesting the way that this construction wall had been built around a tree. Many of the construction walls at the hotel have vintage Disneyland attraction posters hanging on them. In addition to this Tiki Room poster, there are vintage posters for the Jungle Cruise, the PeopleMover, Tom's Sawyer Island and the Skyway.



Well that's it for today. This was my fourth post in four days! I haven't posted that frequently since the first three months of my blog! I'll probably be taking the next 3 or 4 days off from posting. If anyone is interested in checking out my Disneyland Hotel posts from last summer for further comparisons, you can click on the links below:

The Disneyland Hotel - Waterfalls and Caves

The Disneyland Hotel - Koi Ponds and Dancing Waters

The Disneyland Hotel - The Old Marina Buildings

Fowl Stuff At Disneyland - The Enchanted Tiki Room Barker Bird

(This is the first of a three-part series on "Fowl Stuff" at Disneyland.)

Today's post features The Enchanted Tiki Room's "barker bird", which sat on a perch over the entrance to the attraction when it first opened back in 1963. The idea was to have one of the audio-animatronic birds outside talking to the crowd below, trying to get them to come inside and see the show. Supposedly he was so popular, that he bogged down the flow of traffic through the area and was eventually removed. The photo below is courtesy of Major Pepperidge (thank you again, Major!) of Gorillas Don't Blog and shows one of the audio-animatronic birds that was used (there was also one with blue plumage).


For a while, one of the barker birds was on display inside The Walt Disney Story in the Opera House on Main St. He sat in this showcase which now contains a display of past, present and future Disneyland attractions.


Below, is a photo of the same showcase taken in 1997. The barker bird can be seen sitting on his perch at the bottom of the display.

Here's a closeup shot.

If we zoom in, we can see the cords that were used to provide the bird with sound and movement.

I was going to attempt to include footage of the barker bird doing his thing outside the Tiki Room, but being AV challenged, I just couldn't get it together. However, footage of the barker bird can be seen in the "Wonderful World of Color" episode, "Disneyland's 10th Anniversary" which aired in 1965 and is included in the DVD set, "Your Host, Walt Disney" (released in 2006 as part of the Walt Disney Treasures series.) There is also a short audio snippet available on one of the CDs from the "Musical History of Disneyland" boxed set (released in 2005 for Disneyland's 50th anniversary.) I should also mention that Wally Boag provided the voice of both the barker bird and the show's host, Jose.

***POST UPDATE*** - May 13, 2011:

Here is some footage that I found of the Barker Bird on display in The Walt Disney Story. I shot this footage in 1997.





And here is that footage from "Disneyland's 10th Anniversary" showing the Barker Bird in action.

The Zombie of Pixie Hollow

Last weekend, I flew to Phoenix for Father's Day and a family reunion. While on the airplane, I noticed the following ad in the "Sky Mall" magazine and couldn't help but think how great this would look strategically placed somewhere within Pixie Hollow at Disneyland. Or how about in Minnie's garden in Toontown? Sick, huh? Okay, so I was bored on the airplane and my mind was wandering. By the way, this was my first "non-Disney" trip in over two years.
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Here are a few other items from the catalog. Perfect ideas for converting you own home or garden into......
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The haunted forest from Snow White's Scary Adventures.
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The Jungle Cruise
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The Enchanted Tiki Room
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Pixie Hollow (or a tribute to Light Magic....Ugh!)

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I wish to thank Sky Mall for helping to pass the time on my flight! (I better not mention that the flight to Phoenix is only an hour and fifteen minutes!)

Got Popcorn?

Popcorn is just as popular in Japan as it is here in the United States. The Tokyo Disney Resort however, has only a few popcorn stands that sell just plain popcorn. Most of the popcorn sold in their parks is flavored popcorn. Here is a partial list (from memory) of just some of the flavors: Cappuccino, Chocolate, Curry, Honey, Black Pepper, Strawberry, Sea Salt, and Soda (don't ask...I don't know what the Soda flavored one tastes like!) The next time I am there, I will have to make a complete list of the flavors, but this post isn't about the flavors, it's actually about the locations that sell the popcorn.

First up, is the Popping Pod, which kind of looks like it just "landed" in Tomorrowland.

Also in Tomorrowland is this moon rover-looking cart. I do wish the Disney Parks worldwide would stop sticking brown, beige, and copper colors in their Tomorrowlands. Am I the only one that feels that way? I actually don't hate these colors, I just don't like them in Tomorrowland!


This next cart is from Adventureland and has a Tiki bird (complete with chef's hat and scarf), turning the little crank mechanism.

These last two pics are both from Westernland. First we have Big Al turning the crank at one cart.....

....while at another cart, we have the politically incorrect version of Pecos Bill turning the crank with his foot, while smoking a cigarette! (Incidentally, upon it's video release, Disney digitally removed Pecos Bill's cigarette from all scenes in the film Melody Time.)

For Halloween, Tokyo Disneyland puts miniature costumes on Big Al, Pecos Bill and even his horse! I will include those pics in a future post.

*Post Update: I visited Tokyo just about a month after this post and the popcorn flavors that I had listed from memory was a complete list!

*Second Post Update: For the newer post showing the miniature figures wearing their Halloween costumes, click here: Halloween, Popcorn And Westernland.