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Tiki Archeology Tahitian Terrace Disneyland- Image Heavy |
Matterhorn1959
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 18, 2006
Posts: 177
From: Mile High City
|  Posted: 2006-08-10 7:14 pm Permalink
The Tahitian Terrace was Disneyland's answer to the Tiki restaurant. The location was originally part of the Plaza Pavilion and known as the Pavilion Lanai. In the summer of 1962 the facility opened as the Tahitian Terrace with scheduled show times for a Polynesian Dinner review. In April of 1993, the restuarant closed and was re-imagineered into an Alladin dinner theater which performed poorly. Today the space is an Alladin themed story telling location in Adventureland. During the years of operation there were not many items created. However I plan to show several items including menu's, tip tray, postcards, images and more over several posts. The first item is a rare postcard that was part of a series of postcards published in 1966. For many years the numbers were known, but no examples were in collections.
The next item is a server tip tray upon which the check would be presented.
And the final items are the drink stirrers with a great tiki on the top. These are probably the most common items and fairly easily found. The design is not unique to the Tahitian Terrace as I have seen other swizzle sticks with the same tiki for other restaurants.
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Matterhorn1959
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 18, 2006
Posts: 177
From: Mile High City
| Posted: 2006-08-11 06:02 am Permalink
Continuing on, these two items are from the later years of the Tahitian Terrace. The first is a sign that was placed at the entrance of the restaurant when closed. It is nicely framed in a bamboo mat and includes the shell necklaces that were given to diners:
This is a menu from 1986. The back features a very cool mask and the side has some interesting tiki motif. All of the menus have the story of the Tahitian Terrace on the back with the story of the tree and the explanation of the hula dance.
The back reads:
Welcome to the wondrous world of Polynesia...the Tahitian Terrace! Here Walt Disney has opened the wide portals to an enchanted island world across the blue Pacific...a world of romance, beauty and exciting entertainment.
Towering high above you is an amazing tree, a tre taht grew in less than a year to a height of 35 feet through a secret formula of Walt Disney and his "imagineers"! The branches of this "species Disneydendron" are laden with more than 14,075 hand grafted leaves and fiery-colored flowers that bloom perpetually. Today this tree is Disneyland's second largest of this rare, unnatural species, exceeded only by The Swiss Family Treehouse.
Nestled beneath the tumbling waterfall is a matchless stage setting...a stage whose "curtain" is a cascade of wate and whose "footlights" are a leaping flame of the fire burning on the water itself! For your summer evening entertainment, the falls magically draw aside...and out from behind the waters, sarong-clad natives appear to perform the swaying rhythms and amazing rituals of the islands...the hypnotic bare-foot fire walk and thrilling fire-knife dance and the traditional grass-skirted "twist" of Samoa, Tahiti, and Hawaii. (The dedicated student will note how the story-telling technique varies from island to island...here a hip movement, there an entire torso.)
Disneyland welcomes you to a unique Polynesian amphitheatre The Tahitian Terrace.
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Polynesiac
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 29, 2004
Posts: 2020
From: San Pedro, CA
| Posted: 2006-08-11 07:33 am Permalink
THanks for the great post, matterhorn. The first post card and the "now closed" sign are awesome. I have never seen that postcard before, were there many different varieties made?
YOu have quite an amazing collection, thanks for sharing
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Polynesiac - putting the "F" back in "ART"
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Matterhorn1959
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 18, 2006
Posts: 177
From: Mile High City
| Posted: 2006-08-11 08:29 am Permalink
Polynesiac- that is the only postcard of the interior of the Tahitian Terrace, there are no other views. And the card is very rare, I know of only five cards that are in collections. I believe it was a very small print run.
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GatorRob
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2004
Posts: 1766
From: 3 hrs 33 mins to paradise
| Posted: 2006-08-11 09:24 am Permalink
Funny, you'd think Disney would have put more effort into the photo on that postcard. Here you have Mary, BettyLou and Jean half-heartedly dancing (and not in step), many empty tables, and a guy on the front row looking totally bored! The place may have been spectacular, but you wouldn't know it from the photo. At any rate, thanks for posting it, especially since it is so rare.
And by the way, what is a "Hawaiian-style potato chip" anyway?! 
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Tangaroa
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 25, 2002
Posts: 1550 | Posted: 2006-08-11 10:31 am Permalink
Some Tahitian Terrace items from my collection...
Men's restroom sign (actually from the Adventureland bathrooms prior to the Aladdin install), and Maui sun god, which once hung from the rafters in the entrance A frame....
It looks like we have the two matching signs from either side of the entrance, PJ! I wish we had the frames that went around them...
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Coco Loco
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 21, 2004
Posts: 821
From: Exotic Isle of Alameda
| Posted: 2006-08-11 10:59 am Permalink
I LOVE the pictures. They bring back memories. We were at Disneyland this week and wondered if they would ever bring the Tahitian Terrace back. One can wish.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10560
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2006-08-11 11:32 am Permalink
Great post. Nice artefacts! I remember seeing the dinner show at the Tahitian Terrace, and the Hula Dancers appearing THROUGH the waterfall on the left (which briefly ceased to flow for that, as the text above states), really were a stunning entrance...and that giant Banyan tree looming over the stage, outfitted with thousands of plastic leaves truly was a wonder of artifice. Behind the stage began the sometimes real jungle and river of the Jungle Cruise ride.
Who's gonna post that amazing 50s modern CARTOON menu from the Tahitian Terrace? There is also an interesting "employee training guide" with some funny text.
[ This Message was edited by: bigbrotiki 2006-08-11 11:39 ]
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arriano
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 13, 2006
Posts: 1122
From: Birdland - San Diego
| Posted: 2006-08-11 11:36 am Permalink
Fun to see the postcards. I remember well going here with my mom when I was a kid. It was the first time I'd ever had beef teriyaki.
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arriano
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 13, 2006
Posts: 1122
From: Birdland - San Diego
| Posted: 2006-08-11 11:39 am Permalink
Quote:
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And by the way, what is a "Hawaiian-style potato chip" anyway?!
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Perhaps something like this?
http://www.hawaiianchipcompany.com/
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TikiJosh
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 01, 2005
Posts: 735 | Posted: 2006-08-11 11:57 am Permalink
Matterhorn and Tangaroa-- Awesome posts! It's good to know that at least some of the good stuff was saved. Tangaroa-- the Maui Sun God rocks! I think I possibly like the old black and white photos even more, though. So cool.
I worked at Tomorrowland through most of the renovation in the late 90s, which was also painful to see. Hopefully someone was able to save some of those artifacts as well.
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Matterhorn1959
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 18, 2006
Posts: 177
From: Mile High City
| Posted: 2006-08-11 1:38 pm Permalink
Hey Bigbro- I am planning to post more versions of the menu including the cartoon one (and also the employee training manual.) More stuff to come....
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Tikinomad
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 20, 2005
Posts: 364
From: Outerspace
| Posted: 2006-08-11 2:28 pm Permalink
You have some amazing collectables.....I have a weakness for Disney/Tiki related items, I would probably give you my car for that Maui Sun God. I you ever want to sell it please keep me in mind. Great collection.....peace and respect.
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Matterhorn1959
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 18, 2006
Posts: 177
From: Mile High City
| Posted: 2006-08-11 6:51 pm Permalink
Hey Gator Rob- there is a whole series of postcards done at this time that look similar. All the people in the postcard are Disneyland employees. It is amusing to see obvious employees posing in New Orleans Square before they opened the land to the general public. The employees are posing as happy tourists but just do not pull it off.
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Matterhorn1959
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 18, 2006
Posts: 177
From: Mile High City
| Posted: 2006-08-12 05:39 am Permalink
Per Bigbrotiki's request, here are some of the menus. All of these are dinner menus. The first one is from the mid 1970s and still uses the great cartoon imagery. Here is the front:
And the inside of the menu:
And the back of the menu:
Just to show that I am a complete lunatic, here is the inside of another menu from the 1970s with different prices and meals:
In the 1980s, Kikkoman Soy Sauce began sponsorship of the restaurant. The menu changed from the fun cartoon graphics to a more tapa cloth based design withe Kikkoman symbol:
And the inside of the menu:
And the back of the menu:
These menus are smaller in size than the 1960s menus, measuring 5 by 5 inches when folded and 5 by 8.5 inches unfolded.
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