After Action Report: Tropical Hideaway

Subtitle: In Which I Review A Restaurant For A Bit And Then Go Off About The SEA

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.)

Some Pet Peeves

As much as I love Disneyland, there are some things about it that just...bug me. They aren't travesties. They aren't even necessarily negatives, objectively speaking. They just bug me. This post is going to be somewhat ranty—a Disneyland Dilettantrum, if you will—but given the nature of most of the pet peeves, consider it a plea for additional creativity.

Tropical Hideaway and Other Adventureland Thoughts

I...actually don't know how to categorize this post.

Slightly old news at this point, I know, but I’ve been thinking lately about the announcement earlier this year concerning a plan to gut Aladdin’s Oasis and replace it with something called the Tropical Hideaway. Details are sketchy so far, but the official announcement describes it as an “exotic traders' market” where Jungle Cruise skippers will hang out, and the accompanying concept art depicts tables and chairs for outdoor dining and what appear to be a few Tiki birds.

If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know that my default reaction to these sorts of announcements is one of extreme skepticism—i.e. “You’re doing WHAT to MY PARK???”—but in this case, I’m actually all for it. The whole concept of Aladdin’s Oasis in Adventureland has never sat right with me, for a variety of reasons. Here are some of them:

Flipping the Script: Up Until This Point

They haven't been talking about it much, but from what I can tell, the Jungle Cruise movie starring Dwayne “The Rock” “Maui” Johnson is still going to be a thing. And that's pretty cool. There have been what, half a dozen Disney theme park attraction IPs adapted into movies at this point, of which only one has been financially successful (and boy howdy has it ever), yet they're still willing to tap this well for inspiration. That's actually...a bit heartening. It means the decision-makers actually recognize that a ride or attraction doesn't have to be based on a movie to be worthwhile in its own right. Here's hoping the Jungle Cruise flick is good enough to be enjoyable, but not so successful that they install a bunch of Dwayne Johnson animatronics in the actual Jungle.

But that gets me thinking...where to next for the ultimate trend in flipping the theme park script? What other attractions have decent film potential? Hence this new post category: Flipping the Script,* wherein I explore the possibilities! For this first installment, however, I'm going to briefly review the existing “theme park movies” and see if I can tease out a) Disney's methodology for producing them and b) patterns of success and failure in said methodology. How do ride concepts map onto things like film genre and themes? How much does the existing structure of a ride constrain its film adaptation? How much should it constrain it? And so on.

After-Action Report: Disabled at Disneyland

Yes, the blog is still on hiatus due to Yours Truly's knee injury, but this topic intimately concerns said injury, so I figured I'd throw you a bone. (All, what, three of you?) I may do this from time to time until I'm properly back in the saddle and can commit to a weekly schedule again. The point is, a torn ACL, etc. is no excuse to cancel previously existing theme park plans, so the other day I got to undergo the Disneyland Wheelchair Experience.

My challenge was in fact twofold: 1) a complete inability to put weight on my left leg, and 2) this big honking immobilizing brace they're having me wear until further notice, additionally preventing me from bending said leg...unless I take it off, which is technically an option, but one I want to avoid as much as possible. I mention this because it serves as a contrast with my previous secondhand glimpses of the Disneyland Wheelchair Experience, with a party member who could walk, just not for hours at a time. No ride or attraction need be off-limits to such an individual. I knew from the outset that my situation was going to be a bit more dire than that.

So how did it work out? Here are some of the highlights. And lowlights.

Beyond Blue Sky: The Building Blocks of Magic

I never expected to do another post about toys this soon, but here we are.

So this is happening:

Not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited for these. If there's one hobby I enjoy almost as much as Disneyland (and spend comparably on over the course of a year), it's LEGO.

Disney and LEGO have been partnered for several years now, with quite a few licensed sets based on properties like Toy Story, Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean (the movies, unfortunately, not the ride), and now an ongoing Disney Princess line. But this is the first time the partnership has been put to a purpose other than promoting a current Disney film or franchise. It makes me excited for potential new directions the team-up might take.

Because really, are a few Disney Theme Park LEGO sets too much to ask?

Armchair Imagineering: PVC Figurines

(Tip of the hat to fellow-blogger and commenter Cory Gross, whose recent post about his kitbashed Disney board game Talismouse started a conversation which led to this post.)

This is going to be a bit of a different Armchair Imagineering post than the usual. Instead of sharing my grand ideas for rides, attractions, and holiday overlays, this one is about...souvenirs. Merchandise. Swag.

Souvenirs are obviously a big part of Disneyland, but most of the ones available seem to revolve around Disney's film and television IPs. It's not difficult to see why this is: It's easier to sell people stuff they recognize than stuff that might be brand-new to them. Tourists are having a terrific time at the park, to be sure, but they might not be falling in love with the individual attraction characters to the extent that they're willing to blow their memorabilia budget on Hitchhiking Ghosts when that Winnie the Pooh plush is right there, promising to make them feel like a kid again. So there's a lot more of the latter than the former lining the shelves.

Then, too, most of the merchandise that specifically references the park treats Disneyland* like a holistic entity, with little attention paid to its individual components. If you had only tee-shirts and picture frames to go by, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that the place consisted only of a castle with animated characters cavorting around it:

Celebrating 60 Years of Painfully Generic Branding

More specific items exist, of course...but the execution is inconsistent. There are pins, if you're into that sort of thing, and the odd plush toy. Beyond that, things start to get pretty pricey. At the low end, a handful of the popular Ear Hat Ornaments are based on rides, but they're twenty-five bucks a pop, making it a daunting task to build a collection. That, and they're Christmas tree ornaments based on Mickey Mouse ear beanies, meaning that the rides in question are not being allowed to stand on their own as souvenirs. The “purer” the attraction merchandise gets, the more expensive it gets. If you love more than one ride for its own sake, but you're not rich, it can be all but impossible to express your love via knickknacks.

The Second Sense: Adventureland Music Loops

It would be nice—I guess—to close out Adventureland August with a bang, but the Disneyland Dilettante isn't just about the E-tickets and momentous events. The smaller stuff definitely has its place here too...maybe even a more cherished place, considering how often it's overlooked by not only the general park-going public but even the aficionados. There are entire websites dedicated to extolling the virtues of the Haunted Mansion or catering to the exalted fraternity of Jungle Cruise skippers, but when was the last time you saw even the smallest blog post praising the Silhouette Studio?

This blog post is not about the Silhouette Studio. It's about a feature of Disneyland that actually does have a following (though it's still definitely a niche interest by normal standards): background music.* This is one of those under-appreciated but absolutely essential parts of the Disneyland experience, like the standards of cleanliness. Most guests don't really notice that it's there. They might not overtly notice if it were gone...but they would certainly feel the detriment on some level. What would Main Street be without its light orchestra instrumentals? The New Orleans Square riverfront without its lively Dixieland jazz? Frontierland without its Western folk tunes or Fantasyland without its (gasp) actual Disney songs?

And where would Adventureland be without its...uh...hang on...huh.

Adventureland does not have an overall area music loop. I can think of potential reasons for this oddity. Perhaps there aren't enough good places along the walkway to install speakers for such ambiance. Perhaps the diversity of the locations represented is such that no single loop could adequately serve. Perhaps it was decided that any ambient music would detract from the impression of a remote area where survival is Priority Number One and performing arts are an unaffordable luxury.

Or maybe, given how narrow the walkable space is, an overall loop would clash with the queue loops for the individual attractions. Because Adventureland does have a plethora of background music tailored to its specific offerings. This, of course, is one way to get around the second issue mentioned above. So let's take a tour!

Kidnap the Magic: Jungle Cruise Cookout

Can you believe it's August already? Where is the year going? Before you know it, it will be Labor Day, and then the kids will go back to school, and then you'll start seeing Halloween stuff everywhere, and The Holidays Will Be Upon Us.

But in the meantime, there's still plenty of summer left—plenty of hot weather and late sunsets and not a lot of other commitments involving school or calendar holidays. Perfect conditions, in other words, for a barbecue! You know where else the weather is hot, the demands of civilization have little to no hold on you, and people cook over open fires? The untamed jungle. So for this installment of Kidnap the Magic, I'll give suggestions for turning your cookout party into a Jungle Cruise-themed extravaganza!

60 Disneyland Diamonds: 2006-2015

Here it is, then...the final Disneyland decade. Ten more Diamonds, and then I must move on to other things. We're in the home stretch now...more-or-less literally, for catching up to the present is a kind of homecoming.

If you're new to this blog, let's get you up to speed!

60 Diamonds Intro

60 Diamonds: 1956-1965

60 Diamonds: 1966-1975

60 Diamonds: 1976-1985

60 Diamonds: 1986-1995

60 Diamonds: 1996-2005

Are you ready for this? Are you sure? Here—we—go!

60 Disneyland Diamonds: 1956-1965

Welcome back! Last week, I announced a new post series I'll be running here at the Disneyland Dilettante in honor of Disneyland's 60^th birthday: 60 Disneyland Diamonds for the Diamond Anniversary. So let's get the ball rolling with the first ten!

We Name the Nameless

A couple weeks ago, I shared a tidbit about having made up my own names for the individual members of America Sings's Gander Quartet*, since they never had official ones, and teased that I might do an entire post about this weird habit I've developed of doing just that. Let it never be said that I'm content to be a tease...

After-Action Report: The Jungle Cruise

My last After-Action Report was about something very new at Disneyland, namely the Fantasyland Theatre show, “Mickey and the Magical Map.” This one is about something very old at Disneyland—maybe the oldest thing, depending upon how you define “oldest” and “thing” and for that matter “at Disneyland.”

A common trivia item among Disneyland fans is that the Jungle Cruise is the “first” ride. This seems to mean not that it was the first one to open—it shared Opening Day status with 17 other attractions, many of which are still in operation—but that it was the first thing Walt Disney conceived of and decided that he definitely wanted for his park while it was in the early planning stages.