I
know you’ve been on tenterhooks waiting for this one: my in-depth
review of the latest iteration of the big Adventureland eatery, the
Tropical Hideaway! I’d previously meandered around the seating area
and looked at stuff, but only on my most recent trip to the park did
I finally take some time to enjoy the Hideaway in full.
I’ll start by
saying…it’s not very well named. The phrase “tropical hideaway”
is of course drawn from the lyrics of “(In the) Tiki Tiki Tiki
Room,” but there’s nothing hidden about this place—it’s open
to view from the main walkway in a way that its immediate
predecessor, Aladdin’s Oasis, was not. This isn’t really a
complaint, just an ironic observation.
Despite being so
very public, it's a nice little place to hang out for a while. It has
a unique music loop, featuring mid-century exotica by the likes of
Les Baxter and Augie Colon, and the food is garnering high praise
from just about everyone who tries it. There are two snack counters
in the Tropical Hideaway. The more obvious one, with a big
ostentatious sign, is Dole Whip, I Presume. The name alone is a
stroke of genius—it references the original Adventureland snack
stand, Sunkist, I Presume (which became the Bengal Barbecue in the
late Eighties), right down to the curly cursive font in which “I
Presume” is written:
But the thing is,
you don't have to be aware of that reference to get the name, because
it's all a riff on the famous “Dr.
Livingstone, I presume”
incident. This is a theme park reference done right. (We'll see about
some done wrong in a little while.)
