VIDEO: Meet the Tiki Gods, celebrating 50 years of the Tiki Rooms

Jun 23rd 2013 at 6:00

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If you're visiting the Magic Kingdom today, be sure to check out the Tiki Room, which is celebrating it's 50th birthday. Lets take a look at the Tiki Gods located outside of the attraction.

The Disney Parks Blog explains who the Tiki Gods of the Tiki Room are:

• Pele: This Hawaiian fire goddess lives in the Kilauea volcano and likes to torment her neighbor …
• Ngendei: from Fiji, he is the creator of all the gods. He’s also got a big job as balancer of the whole world. That pressure combined with the torment he suffers from Pele – it’s no wonder there’s an earthquake every time he moves.
• Maui: The Polynesian trickster who gave people time and roped the playful Sun.
• Rongo: The Polynesian god of agriculture, also known as Lono in Hawai`i, is also the provider of food. He also discovered electricity, naturally.
• Koro: The Midnight Dancer, under whose spell all ladies and men learned to dance.
• Tangaroa-ru: Also known as Mapui-Kaufanga in Maori tales, she is goddess of the east winds, which bring rain.
• Hina Kaluua: This Hawaiian mistress of rain, from Hilo, Hawai`i, keeps it in the family – her daughter, Hina, is the mother of the trickster, Maui.
• Tangaroa: The father of all gods and goddesses, he took the form of a tree (a tree that no one ever did see).

While these Tiki carvings were based on legends of the South Pacific, a few of our own Disney Legends worked on the Tiki gods you find in the Enchanted Tiki Garden. They were primarily designed by Imagineers Marc Davis and Rolly Crump. The plaques and dialogue were written by Marty Sklar, who went on to become vice chairman and principal creative executive at Walt Disney Imagineering.

Never noticed the Tiki Gods before? Take a look at them in this video that the Disney Blog team put together:

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