Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar
25 Feb 2024
Finally, so many years and designing my whole home tiki bar in its style later, I made it to the other side of the Esplanade and visited Trader Sam's! I sat at the very end of the bar (not the best spot, but at least I got inside), and ordered a Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum as well as a Dole Whip float with dark rum (they also offer it with coconut rum...eww.) The TTTTTR was much better than I thought a theme park drink would be, well balanced and not too sweet. The decor was great, so many beautiful flower arrangements, and I loved spotting both the references that Trader Brandon noted in his book I used to help create my bar, as well as a bunch of Tiki Tony's Disneyland-inspired mugs. You could feel that southern California tiki spirit strong here. My only gripe was that there was just something distinctly theme-parky about it. Maybe it was the way you couldn't chat with the bartenders because they were so slammed, working for a theme park. Or the slight artificiality of the walls and ceilings, just that feeling that you can't quite escape that you're in Disneyland. And I love Disneyland, but I don't know, it sort of messes with my head. Maybe because I visit other tiki bars (or at least I started to) to feel like I'm somewhere like Disneyland? I don't know, but I had a lovely time and I am so glad I walked over there.
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Tiki Bar
Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar
Anaheim, California, United States
Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar finally answers the question we've all been asking ourselves: what would it be like if the Enchanted Tiki Room actually served alcohol?
Trader Sam's is named for the "head" salesman from the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland, and the decor is a mix of influence from that ride and the Enchanted Tiki Room, with a little of Walt Disney World's Adventurer's Club thrown in for good measure. Top-notch Disney designers Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily were able to work on some of the decor. The bar is utterly packed with entertaining bric-a-brac and artifacts from "Sam's" archives. The music is a pitch-perfect mix of Exotica, hapa haole and traditional Hawaiian tunes.
The servers have been given the same training as the skippers on the Jungle Cruise, and keep the atmosphere lively, silly, and very friendly. The bar has lots of surprises and interactive elements, some triggered by ordering particular drinks.
The quality of drink ingredients is higher than one might expect, with fresh-squeezed citrus and syrups from Portland's B. G. Reynolds in use. The alcohol content of the drinks tends to be a little light -- keep in mind, they want their guests to continue to enjoy their vacation the next day. Let your server know you're looking for something more in the vein of classic tiki, and they'll steer you in the right direction. If you like the punny performance given by the Jungle Cruise skippers, you'll love the drink names: "HippopotoMaiTai", "Schweitzer Falls" and "Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum" are some of the cleverly-named cocktails.
Kids are welcome at Trader Sam's, as long as they don't sit at the actual bar; there are several tables around the room where kids can sit. There is also an outdoor patio, where Hawaiian musicians perform nightly.
There is a small menu of pupus available. The bar is near a casual dining tropical restaurant that opened at the same time, called Tangaroa Terrace.
In 2015, a sister location opened at Walt Disney World in Orlando: Trader Sam's Grog Grotto.