Throughout its run, the attraction was almost universally despised and was the object of scorn from Disney fans and guests alike.
The attraction was permanently closed after a fire that occurred in the building's attic on January 12, 2011, and was replaced on August 15, 2011, with a slightly abridged version of the Tiki Room's original show.
In the pre-show, things began when a waterfall tube rotated to reveal two toucans: William and Morris, who were Hollywood agents who had just signed on as new hosts for the Enchanted Tiki Room. The two began arguing over whose clientele was better and eventually realized that they could split the money from having both of their clients involved in the show.
The main show opened in the same fashion as the original with Jose being woken up to start the show. However, in the middle of their performance of "The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room", they were interrupted by Iago who told them that he was changing the show as it had become way out of date in a twisted version of "Friend Like Me". Zazu came down and told Iago that it was a bad idea to change the show, as it would anger the Tiki Gods. Iago did not back down and after insulting the Tiki Gods, the birds started to sing "Hot Hot Hot" as things became more dangerous before the Tikis began chanting for Uh-Oa, the Tiki Goddess of Disaster. Disgusted by Iago's insolence, Uh-Oa trapped Iago on his perch and blasted him with a powerful bolt of magical energy. Zazu then presented the Tiki Gods, who wished to perform a doo-wop version of "In the Still of the Night" before segueing into a rap incorporating elements from the original show's songs. Burnt and bandaged, Iago reappeared, now very impressed with the Tikis, and saw the show as a gold-mine and allowed them to do what they did.
Zazu told Iago that where he came from, no worries was "Hakuna Matata", which Iago misinterpreted as "Hunky-Tuna Tostada". However, he seemed to like it, declaring that Zazu was now his friend and that they should party. All the birds started to sing their own rendition of "Conga" as the Bird Mobile descended from the ceiling. Zazu sang about how Iago learned his lesson and would no doubt be more discreet in the future. Iago decided to show Zazu that he would not be discreet, telling everybody to get on their feet. "That's right — everybody stand up!"
As the audience prepared to leave, the Tiki Birds began singing "Get On Your Feet!" The birds declared that they were going to do a magic trick and make the audience face the door and disappear. The exit doors opened and the guests started walking out as the Tiki Birds continued to sing "Get On Your Feet!", followed by "Heigh-Ho". Zazu bid farewell to the guests, while Iago kept up a barrage of comments and insults designed to get the guests to leave as they walked under him. Once the majority of the guests had left the theater, Iago said that he was tired and planned to go take a nap in The Hall of Presidents. He then said good-bye to Zazu, turned around and entered the compartment over the exit. José laughed that nobody "laid an egg"... except him.
On January 12, 2011, a small fire broke out in the attraction's attic, damaging various infrastructure and dealing a crippling blow to the Iago animatronic. Until August 15th of that year, the attraction was closed and rumors began to make the rounds, many of them pointing towards the attraction being replaced by a restored version of the original show, as the Iago animatronic was deemed too expensive to fix and the attraction had garnered much criticism from guests and Disney fans over the years. These rumors were confirmed at the Destination D: Walt Disney World's 40th event on May 14, with the replacement show being called Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room (just like its west coast counterpart) and being not a direct revival, but an abridged version of the old show, cutting a few parts to appeal to modern audiences, who, as Yesterland has noted, are a bit less patient. This was also a cost-saving measure, as the Enchanted Fountain had been removed to create Uh-Oa's pit, with only a small mist machine being put in its place. The original pre-show with the voices of Dallas McKennon and Sebastian Cabot was also restored.
In 2015, the Uh-Oa animatronic figure resurfaced as part of Trader Sam's Grog Grotto at Disney's Polynesian Resort. When a drink named for her is ordered, the chant for her begins, her eyes glow, and one of her lines of dialog plays.
Trivia[]
The Goofy holler could be heard when Iago interrupted the "The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room" song and asked what it was.
Co-incidentelly, both Aladdin and The Lion King are both films from the Disney Renaissance era.
Iago has dialog referencing the attraction in one of his quests in Disney Magic Kingdoms, commenting that he always wanted to open a music club, run it into the ground, put all the blame on a business partner and then take all the money and run, before remarking that he couldn't keep a scam like that going for more then a few years and remarking that he needs a management job like a hole in the head.
