Birt Family Focus

The Enchanted Tiki Room and The Magic Carpets of Aladdin -- 9/25/01
Photos by Cheryl and Stacy L.

As we continue our journey through Adventureland, we come upon a cute little building with loud, obnoxious birds out front. Ah, The Enchanted Tiki Room. This attraction is a classic, but not for everyone. in fact, no one in my family will go in it with me so I don't do this one very often. I am the only connoisseur of early animatronics in my family. Well, not really. Let's just say I don't hate it.

The Enchanted Tiki Room is historically significant because the Tiki Birds starred in the very first ever audio-animatronic attraction in California. It has been recently reworked to include Zazu from the Lion King and Iago from Aladdin. The name has been changed to protect the inno- no,sorry- to reflect the addition. It is now called "The Enchanted Tiki Room- Under New Management". It is still pretty hokey, but fun. The biggest complaint my family has (and I have to agree) is all the clicking noises from the animatronics' beaks opening and closing. It is pretty loud and almost drowns out the music, add to that Gilbert Gottfried's annoying whiny screech emanating from Iago and it's , well, you get the picture. Still- it is a classic and if you haven't seen it, you should go at least once. If you can find it. It is all but blocked in by the newest attraction in Adventureland- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin are nothing but the Dumbo ride with bigger seats. It has the Aladdin theme, but you still sit in a car that goes up and down by the use of a joy stick, while the whole business turns round and round. It is slow, so you don't get dizzy. We were going to ride this because I have a rule that we must try everything once, but it is out in the middle of the walkway with no shelter from shade. The line was 30 minutes long and there is no fast pass. No one in my family, including me, was up for a long, hot, stand in line for a kiddie ride. The littles will enjoy this, but those of you with bigger kids or kid-less might want to give this one a miss. The spitting camels are cute, though.