Most Christians have at least a vague idea that a Tiki has some kind of  Polynesian religious connections and you may wonder if “Enchanted Tiki Room – Under New Management” in Adventureland at the Magic Kingdom is appropriate for the family.

I checked wikipedia for information on tikis and was surprised to learn that,  in Maori mythogy, the tiki is roughly equivilent to our “Adam” (first man).  The tiki carvings we know mostly from plastic decorations at Hawaiian luau themed parties were – in Central Eastern Polynesian (Pacific Ocean) cultures – used to mark the boundaries of sacred or significant sites.  You might want to read the wikipedia entry; it is an interesting creation account.

The Enchanted Tiki Room show doesn’t seem to bear any resemblence to actual…well, anything.   It seems that Disney just borrowed an easily recognizable tribal god-type  just as it borrowed a hispanic accent for Jose, the bird that opens the show.   The whole thing seems more like something you’d see on “Scooby-doo”, than on “National Geographic”.    Here’s a rough outline of the show:

• The classic 1963 “Enchanted Tiki Show” show begins but is quickly interruped by Iago (from Aladdin) who rudely announces that the show must get more up to date.  He is quickly warned that, “The Tiki gods will hear you…”
• The lights go out, you hear a few lines from the song “Hot, hot, hot”, there is the flashing of  lightning,  and ”tribal” chanting
• A female Tiki animatronic with yellow eyes appears and, in an accent that seems more Jamaican than Polynesian,  demands to know: “Who dares defy the tiki god!?! ”  
• Iago disappears.    Wooden tiki posts  sing a snippet from “In the still of the Night” in great 50s doo-wop style.
• Iago returns all singed & bandaged, appearantly as a result of his encounter with the tiki gods.   He’s excited about the prospect of a profitable show featuring the singing tiki gods.  
• Iago’s revelation of the existance of some type of god seems to leave him completely unchanged and its only significance is its place in reaching his ultimate goal – more profits.  

Should your family see this?  You’ll have to go with your own concience on that one.  As Christian people, we obviously do not worship idols.   Just seeing an idol isn’t sinful.  In Acts 17, Paul was speaking to a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers about religion and in Acts 17: 23 Paul tells them, “For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: ~to an unknown god….”   It seems highly unlikely that anyone would convert to paganism as a result of this show. 

If anything, the show could serve as a catalyst to a conversation with your children or fellow travellers about the type of fear people live under when they must appeal to a wood or stone “god” in hopes of having a good harvest, hunting season, or birth.  

You might also talk about what I call “Christian superstition”: thinking that nothing bad will ever happen if you 1.) pray the right prayers, 2.) claim the right Scriptures, 3.) rebuke the devil the right way, etc.  Although prayer, Scripture, and the authority of believers is real; we people of faith are not immune to sorrow or hardship.  Our comfort is that even when we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” we need fear no evil for God is with us (Psalm 23:4).   Too many people become discouraged when the Christian life does not perform “as advertised”.  They were sold “heaven on earth” instead of being taught about the God who sustains us even if we are persecuted to the point to death.

Another good talking point is Iago’s guest for fame and fortune blinding him to eternal realities – that seems to be a highly contagious condition in our world.  Luke 16:13 (NIV) says, “No servant can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot service both God and Money.”   Hebrews 13:5 (NIV) says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.:”

If you are quite strict about what your children watch – avoiding shows with sorcery, new age philosophies, etc – they might be confused by your letting them see the Enchanted Tiki Room.   TIP: Tell them before going in that while this show is just silly, you’d like them to be on the look-out for certain things.  You might say that there’s a snack ahead for anyone who can 1.) tell you about a character who was selfish and wanted fame and 2.) whether the birds and characters seemed loyal to the tikis out of love or out of fear.    A great snack to reward them with is a Dole Whip (pineapple softserve) over at Aloha Isle (Adventureland)

Do you still need more information to decide whether to let the kids see this Walt Disney World Resort attraction or not?  You can see the whole show on this youtube video:

Trivia:  The very first Disney Audio-Animatronic was a simple South American toy bird and Disneyland’s Enchanted Tiki Room was one of the earliest displays of Animatronic technology.