Yesterday I went to Disneyland with my dad. We were celebrating my degree conferral (which is technically Sunday, but that's a blockout day) and we had a great day.
I warned him well in advance that I wanted to go to the Tiki Room. See, I am one of those few and proud people who love the Tiki Room. My family has come to terms with this fact and they still speak to me, so I guess it's not that bad.They also put up with me dragging them to the Tiki Room as often as possible.
While Dad and I were sitting there enjoying the show, I started thinking about how much the Tiki Room has dealt with in its long life at Disneyland and what can be learned from that.
1. If you realize your original plan for life isn't going to work out, find one that works with who you are and go with it.
The Tiki Room was originally supposed to be a restaurant with the birds providing a dinner show, but Disney decided that would not be best use of the space and decided to make it a walk-in, walk-out show. The plan for tables and a coffee bar was replaced with benches and an enchanted fountain (big improvement), and the Tiki Room suddenly became a different type of venue.
What can we learn from this? If you have to makes changes in your life, even pretty major ones, don't be afraid to go for it, and never look back.
I learned this lesson many years ago when I realized a life in Biology was not for me. I was pretty sure that I wanted to teach, but I didn't know what else I wanted to study. I walked out of the counselor's office with a plan to major in English and I haven't looked back since.
2. Say it out loud! I'm campy and I'm proud!
The Tiki Room opened in 1963 and I don't think they have changed much in the meantime. The main host-birds are funny in the way your grandpa was funny; something current generations will never quite understand, but will politely laugh at anyway. The music and show were right-on with trends in the 60's, now it seems dated and showy, which is a major part of the appeal to me. Disney has left in the original soundtrack, even though it is sexist (Jose starts every show with "Hello Seniorita!" even though men were added as hosts of the room years ago), old-fashioned, and not fully understood by most of the current population, because it offers a snapshot of a time that was.
Lesson to learn: Geeky? Retro? Social misfit? Celebrate it! This even applies to smaller issues, like physical features. If you're short adopt the Ringo Starr approach to life, I certainly have, or wear super tall platforms, which I do too, but even then you're still short, you're just farther off the ground. Whatever it is that makes you unique: rock it.
3. Look old and frumpy? Don't overhaul your look, just clean it up!
About seven years ago Disneyland closed down the Tiki Room for renovations and I got nervous. Were the birds going to be covered in something other than feathers?, something that wouldn't fall off during performances? Were the benches going to be replaced with something more comfortable? Were the tiki's going to have their eyes fixed so they pointed in the same direction and blinked at the same time? Had Disney taken away the charm?
The answer was a happy 'NO.' Disney simply polished everything up, replaced lost feathers, and enhanced the audio track. It was nothing major, but it was enough.
I guess this one ties in with the previous lesson: don't fight who you are; embrace it. But it never hurts to look good too.
