Hello weary travelers and worldly explorers. If you are in Southern California and of legal drinking age, there is a fun place to wet your whistle. The recently completed Trader Sam's in the courtyard of the Disneyland Hotel is easily one of the best themed bars in all of California.
The courtyard and pool area were recently renovated at the Disneyland hotel and a new water slide complex was built in the pool with an island-themed restaurant, the Tangaroa Terrace and the adjoining Trader Sam's bar filling out the reconstruction project. The renovations and new buildings were top-notch as one would expect from the Disneyland resort. The water slide for example it modeled after the old monorail station which used to connect the hotels to the park. There are also waterfalls pouring from either side of the retro-inspired Disneyland sign in memory of the waterfall that used to exist at the Disneyland Hotel grotto.
The Tangaroa Terrace and Trader Sam's are connected by an outdoor patio but the restaurant and bar are completely separated indoors. Island, explorer and tiki themes are repeated at every corner of the bar, helping to tell a rich story of its owner and founder. We'll learn more about the legendary Trader Sam in a moment.
The ornamental heavy wooden doors help block out the sun but are also the doors originally featured at the Polynesian Terrace at Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland. Once inside it takes a few minutes to let your eyes acclimatize to the bar and its tremendous personality. The bar is actually quite small, the occupancy of the room is around 47. This leaves many visitors standing around and enjoying the atmosphere or the outdoor patio night after night. This can also lead to very long waits for a seat at the bar or an indoor table. If you plan on going, think about traveling in a small group.
What type of bar would be adequate at the "Happiest Place on Earth" unless it too had a touch of the Disney magic? The bar itself it layered in tremendous detail work. Ornaments, masks, trophies, statues and photographs cover every inch of space on the walls. Each detail tells a story of explorers and adventurers seeking fortunes in lost continents, forbidden temples and dangerous jungles. The more details you look for the more you will find. Most everything in the bar has a sincere, albeit humorous spin on the typical tiki lounge.
The entire "Trader" theme is based heavily on the original tiki bar and inventor of the Mai-Tai Trader Vic's. A hearty thank you goes out to my wife's best friend Roger for treating us to the landmark Trader Vic's earlier this year and giving me a point of reference to how tiki bars are supposed to be done. Trader Sam's is actually an homage to the rich history that Disneyland and the Disney Imagineers have had with tiki culture for over 50 years. Adventureland was the most exotic of the original themed areas that made up Disneyland. The liberal use of Pacific Island art and culture helped frame the land, the masks, carvings, banners and ornaments were juxtaposed with traditional African art as well. The two most popular attractions in Adventureland were Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise.
The Tiki Room featured animatronic birds, flowers and carvings that sang and danced just above audiences. The attraction may be considered campy by most adults but it is still considered one of the more wondrous installations by younger audiences. Possibly the more famous attraction in Adventureland is the Jungle Cruise. The round trip around the rivers of the world features animatronic animals from Asia, Africa, South America and the South Pacific. This attraction ends with Trader Sam himself, a headhunter that is willing to make guests a trade, two of his heads for one of yours. After 55 years in operation guests have yet to take him up on the offer.
The motifs featured in the Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise appeared authentic but were also framed with a good deal of humor. Each of the scenarios on the Jungle Cruise calls for the “Cast members,” the skippers of the river boats to make as many jokes and puns as they can. Passing bathing elephants for example the skipper might say “It’s a good thing they packed their swim trunks.” The imagineers Rolly Crump and Harper Goff created these attractions at the height of the tiki scene in the USA. The art and inspiration for Adventureland was placed partly on the adventures featured in Tarzan comics and films as well as the movie the African Queen. These elements worked well with the lounge style atmosphere of the tiki movement. The Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise went on to inspire countless knock-offs and homages over the years. The magic of the attractions was captured and refined over the decades.
In Florida there was an Adventurers Club on Pleasure Island, a popular nightspot on Walt Disney World Property. It was a heavily themed nightclub featuring an elaborate collection of actual, reproduction artifacts and animated artifacts from around the world. The club hosts were improvisational actors whom stayed in character and often built followings with guests. The original concept of the Tiki Room was going to see the attraction as a restaurant where the birds and flowers would entertain patrons. That concept carried over into the early drafts of Club 33 where animatronic animals would speak directly to guests. Both ideas were cancelled during the building stages but the concept did not die. It eventually came to fruition decades later in the Adventurers Club. Sadly the club was taken down a few years ago with a majority of the artifacts going to Hong Kong Disneyland. Those that never got a chance to visit the club could see it in game form thanks to Garry's Mod.
Trader Sam's is much smaller in scope and scale yet also skirts the fine line between being too animated for its own good and just being light enough to rekindle those magic moments of early Disneyland visits. Part of the reason for this was because imagineers who also happen to be passionate fans of Disneyland had a chance to add their own input in the development of Trader Sam’s. It might sound odd but a good chunk of Disneyland construction and development is done outside of Imagineering. Or sometimes in the hands of people more concerned with coming in under budget than developing a quality attraction. It was refreshing to see a project in the hands of artists that understand the work of Crump and Goff and more important if that they could create something for modern audiences that did not insult the legacy. Freelance artists and former imagineers like Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily helped with the design and details of Tangaroa Terrace and Trader Sam’s. I understand that Kevin and Jody were standing on top of the bar painting details late into the night before it opened. Talk about being committed artists!
Disney has always enjoyed a close relationship with artists who also happen to be fans of the parks. Other notable retro-influenced artists like Shag enjoy working closely with the company. The influence of the original imagineers is apparent in the limited-edition prints that he produces. These types of artists made sure that every possible detail and nod to the masters went into the building of both Trader Sam's and Tangaroa Terrace. Even the fixtures are island-themed and reproductions of concept paintings for the Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room are scattered throughout both locations.
The love and attention to detail that inspired the Adventurers Club was rekindled in Trader Sam’s. Several of the club's gimmicks made it into the bar. The first are the barstools. A few of the barstools are rigged to lower themselves very slowly, so slowly that guests are unaware that anything has happened until they are almost eye level with the bar. These stools were taken from the Adventurers Club. The animated ship in a bottle was also brought over from the Adventurers Club. If a guest orders a special drink, the "Shipwreck on the Rocks" for example then the room darkens and the lights turn up on a model ship in a bottle. It begins tossing as waves rise up and a storm rages inside of the bottle. Eventually the mast snaps and the ship sinks under the waves.
Each of the drinks served in the bar has a funny name or an interesting story attached to them. The majority of drinks are inspired by scenes in the Jungle Cruise and clearly are written with fans of the park in mind.
These specialty drinks include the enormous Uh Oa!, the Hipoppatomai-tai, Mosquito Mojito, Ginger’s Pear-adise, Pirhana Pool, Ka-Blue-ie!, Shrunken Zombie Head, Rosita’s Margarita and the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum. There are even a few non-alcohol drinks for youngsters and designated drivers. Fruit-flavored cocktails including the Jungle River Sunset, the Skipper Sipper and the Schweitzer Falls help round out the menu.
There are other drinks that cause magic to happen inside the bar. The Krakatoa Punch is served in a tiki glass with an illuminated plastic ice cube. The drink glows red like lava. While the bartender is preparing it he encourages the guests to get into the spirit by ringing a bell and warning them of impending doom. The room darkens and the calm blue ocean projected behind faux window panes turns deep red and a volcano in the background erupts with a thunderous animated blast.
After a few seconds the bar returns back to “normal” and guests are free to enjoy the atmosphere. Each of the special drinks, which can be served in a collectable mug, bowl or glass, elicits some sort of theatrics. The Uh Oa! has a mini volcano in the middle of the bowl with actual flames shooting out. Guests are encouraged to chant "Uh Oa!" while they are served the dangerous cocktail. Those that are not setting their eyebrows on fire are usually busy looking at the details. The totem poles are easy to overlook for example. They have slowly moving eyes that seem to track patrons. These poles are inspired by those seen in the Tiki Room only they don’t sing.
Guests at the Disneyland Hotel and first time visitors to the resort get a sense that this bar is something extraordinary. Even some of the jaded annual passholders would have a hard time coming up for a reason to hate on the bar. Disneyland has a reason to celebrate with the opening of Trader Sam’s. It is a magical oasis tucked away from the hustle of the park. It is worthy of its name and legacy of Disney himself. I had the good fortune of visiting it on opening night and then a few days later, both times with my wife. Day or night the magic was still there. The only thing missing was our friends. Hopefully they will get a chance to check it out as well. Until that day we wish you all the best.
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