PDA

View Full Version : Disney Hawaiian Renaissance? Bring back a Hawaiian-themed restaurant to Disneyland,



Disney Crone/Kid
06-26-2002, 08:32 AM
A transplanted local girl's wish:

Maybe the powers-that-be will ride the LILO & STITCH wave all the way in and bring Hawai`i and Aloha back to the park...

I would love it if this revival of Disney's love affair with Hawai`i will help bring back a Hawaiian themed restaurant to Disneyland with dinner shows with REAL hula dancers from the Orange County and Los Angeles area ha~lau (hula schools) and REAL Hawaiian music artists.

Do any of you remember when there was live Hawaiian entertainment in Disneyland? It was da bes' !

I like this new Disney cultural sensitivity and enlightened mindset. Maybe they'll extend it to the park. They already have a template to follow with Tokyo Disney's Polynesian Terrace (http://www.jazzpiano.com/tdl/adventureland/restaurants/poly_terrace.htm).

The Tiki Room REALLY needs to be completely refurbished and updated. It lacks cultural accuracy and relevancy. As delightful and classic as it is, it is woefully lacking, bordering on being cheesy and in some ways, an insensitive travesty to Polynesian cultures and an embarassment in today's more enlightened world.

The 'Ohana theme would work well...it is, after all, a FAMILY park.

I can just see Lilo and Stitch mingling with their fans, along with the rest of the Disney characters `ohana. And they could have shave ice stands, too! Perfect for those hot summer days.

I see it! I see it! Can you? E `olu `olu (Please), would you kindly brainstorm with me by writing down your thoughts and ideas here and maybe, just maybe, it'll be a lu`au for thought for the Disney imagineers and brainiacs.

Would be SHAKA (http://www.ohanamagazine.com/janfeb2002/feature.html) !

For the guys, here's Miss America, 2001, Hawai`i's own Angela Baraquio flashing the SHAKA sign:
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/2000/Oct/15/image2/1015homepage_b.jpg from
The Honolulu Advertiser (http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/specials/missam/photos.html). While I'm at it, did you know Miss Universe, 1998, is Hawai`i's Brook Lee (http://www.geocities.com/Paris/7011/brook.html) ? Not bad representation for a teensy state. Like Nani, they are babes...and like Nani, plenty akamai (smart), too.

Beauties with brains, and nice inside, too.

3894
06-26-2002, 08:43 AM
DisneyCrone/Kid, if you're not a professional writer, you ought to be.

Lani
06-26-2002, 08:47 AM
DC/K, if you haven't read it yet, take a look at the thread "Lilo and Stitch Tiki Room" (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?threadid=7260) in this forum.

While I would love to see the presence of Lilo & Stitch in Disneyland, I highly doubt it is going to happen because of TDA's current policy of requiring that all new characters go into DCA (and not DL).

On the other hand, we might be able to see L&S at the Poly or the luau there in WDW (or even in the Tiki Room in the Magic Kingdom there), since there is no DFA [Disney's Florida Adventure] to get in the way.

Disney Crone/Kid
06-26-2002, 09:33 AM
Thanks, 3894. You are discerning. Writing is what I do, mostly for fun, and sometimes, as part of my job.

Mahalo hou (Thanks again), Lani, for steering me to the thread. It's been so long ago, I actually forgot that the once-upon-a-distant- time restaurant in Adventureland was called Tahitian Terrace.

My two goddaughters were so inspired by the hula dancing at the Terrace. They were two little Lilos back then, taking hula lessons for years with hopes of one day growing up to be cast members there. Alas, by the time they did grow up, the Tahitian Terrace was pau (finished, gone, kaput). It was not all for naught as they got in touch with the culture of their father's homeland. One grew up to become a college-educated working, non-starving graphic artist, hoping to one day work for Disney animation, and the other is now a biologist.

They still dance a mean hula. I just learned Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai (http://www.geocities.com/~olelo/s-kauluwehiokekai.html) from the artist goddaughter. If Disney does a Hawaiian-themed restaurant, we'll be ready to moonlight there. As for me, when I retire, I'll VOLUNTEER to be the tutu[/] (grandma) in the baggy mu`umu`u and big lauhala hat greeting the guests: [i]"Mai! Mai! E komo mai! (Come, come, welcome!)

I am not averse to the LILO & STITCH attraction and Hawaiian themed restaurant being located in DCA. Not at all. Some may remember that I am part of the minority that actually LIKES DCA not a little, but a lot. But I nixed that hope when I remembered the "C" in DCA is California. But heck, isn't Hawai`i practically in California's backyard?

Remember C&H Sugar... C stands for California and H for Hawai`i: "C&H, pure cane sugar, that's Hawaii`, sweetened by the sun, Island sugar, pure and sweet...

Hmmm, DCHA has a good ring to it.

Besides the spaciousness -- the open blue skies -- of DCA is more like Hawai`i. The huge lagoon is Hawaiianesque. And maybe this way the Disney folks can go ALLLLLLLL OUTTTTT -- "Go for broke" as we say in Hawai`i -- doing it right as they have the space to do it.

It may just be DCA's salvation. The upgrade and key attraction that will turn the red ink into black.

Too, we'll keep the TIKI ROOM devotees happy, by not messing with it. Indeed, it is one of the last vestiges of Walt's original work and its historical value is considerable.

Corith
06-26-2002, 10:14 AM
Eisner doesn't seem to have the faintest clue what is going on within the company. I saw the trailer for the Country Bears movie with Lilo & Stitch. Eisner and his brilliant cadre of followers shut down country bears, while the movie division is releasing a movie named after the attraction.

Now, here we have an entire animated feature taking place in the Hawaiian islands, but the Hawaiian themed area of Disneyland is almost non-existent.

As soon as the Lilo & Stitch completed its story boards, Eisner should have told is underlings to start work renovating adventureland's South Seas corner. Tahitian Terrace would have reopened the same day as the movie. I bet, with the success of the movie, the new Tahitian Terrace would be doing a brisk business.

Its like is right hand doesn't know what his left is doing. He closes attractions, or allows them to fall into disrepair, then has movies about them.

A few friends were talking at work about this anti-walt. We agreed that during the mega-buck 80's he was the perfect man for the job. But, this isn't 1988, this is 2002, and times are different.

Tigertail777
06-27-2002, 04:03 PM
Great ideas Disneycrone/kid!
I love the idea of making a hawaii area in DCA by the lagoon, and leaving my beloved tiki room alone (other than finally fixing everything again :) ) . I agree wholeheartedly that Tiki's historical worth is immeasurable (that is exactly why the first issue of my fanzine is about tiki!). And they could really do some knock yer socks off stuff with that theme in DCA have an entire california/hawaii "land" and maybe add some interactive stuff to the old polynessian show with large tikis standing around by the tables, that talk to you from time to time, or spray a cooling water mist out of their mouths. Maybe you could make these giant tiki's hosts of the stage show presenting the performers as they come out. Also a leisurly boat ride throughout the islands attraction simular to small world but completely polynesian themed. And to top it off, a new circle vision type experience of all of the islands, and they pipe different scents in (like pineapple) while you are watching...maybe have it a circlevision in 3d--sponsored by either c&h sugar, or hit up dole again --maybe even have it part simulator, such as a simulated surfboard you have to ride. Oh and you caould have a small outrigger canoe ride on the lagoon maybe...so many idea and possibilities, and it needn't all be tied into lilo and stitch, so when the popularity dies down to that movie, thay could still keep the hawaii area.

justagrrl
06-28-2002, 06:02 AM
Originally posted by Corith
He closes attractions, or allows them to fall into disrepair, then has movies about them.


But isn't that the American Developers way? Build houses over a natural habitat and then name the streets after all the animals and plants that you've killed by building there.:rolleyes:

coronamouseman
06-28-2002, 06:32 AM
Seems unlikely, with DTD just outside the front gate, that Disneyland would go to any great lengths to add any more dining places inside the park.