I’m glad you asked because this is actually a subject I’m personally very interested in!
So, in the mid 20th century (specifically 50s and 60s), there was a major cultural fad that is referred to by different names but I know it as Tiki Kitsch.
It was a broad fascination with Polynesian aesthetics that dominated everything from entertainment to architecture. Things like Tiki Room and the Polynesian are direct results of this trend. While I won’t go so far as to say this was a trend that was outright, nakedly, on its face offensive or malicious, as time has gone on, it has been reevaluated.
Broadly speaking (there will of course be individuals who are exceptions), people of Polynesian origin or dissent do not appreciate Tiki Kitsch because it is viewed as a cartoonized, heavily diluted, and at times blatantly disrespectful to a culture that they are very protective over and one that is actually in quite a bit of danger.
Native Polynesian culture is endangered. As more and more islands and hubs for these various cultures get commodified and turned into beach resorts and vacation destinations, natives lose their land and their cultural heritage sites, and are forced to watch as their cultures and religions are turned into performance and show rather than treated as something sacred to the people that it represents.
This is why there has been a large push from native Hawaiians to reduce the amount of tourism that the islands receive. They, like many other Polynesian regions, are fighting for their land, their history, and their culture to be preserved..
Where does Tiki Room fit into that?
Well, it is an example of the sort of thing they dislike. While I do believe that Tiki Room was never made with the intention of disrespect, ultimately it is a very cartoonized version of real cultures and beliefs with the intention of appealing to a predominantly (at the time) white American audience. It is a product of a cultural fad that Polynesian folks have long been dismayed by. It is insensitive even if it doesn’t mean to be by sheer virtue of just being bad representation.
Disney has also gotten in hot water over this subject before.
Alauni was and is extremely controversial for this very reason. Natives were not happy then and continue to be unhappy now that a mega resort that is essentially modern Tiki Kitsch was built and today platforms other Disney products that they have taken issue with such as Moana and Lilo & Stitch.
While I don’t personally think any of these things are outright malicious, they are examples of cultural tourism that have contributed to a negative impact on the people whose culture these things are supposedly meant to be representative of.
I believe wholeheartedly this criticism and this broader movement of Polynesian individuals to openly criticize and push back against Tiki Kitsch and cultural tourism is what influenced their decision to make such significant changes to the Poly.
Of course, I do not believe putting Stitch or Moana in there is going to help this. Those two properties also have received heavy criticism from these communities for the exact same thing: they are not very good representations of the culture and people they deal with and have been used by Disney outside of the films to further business practices that have brought direct harm to natives, their homes, their culture, and their way of life.
I believe that there is a way to tweak Tiki Room so that it is more sensitive to and knowledgeable of this criticism. A way to present it in a way that is more reflective of of reality rather than the cartoonified, theme parkian vibe it presents now that so many natives find to be troubling.
I do not think that it is as pressing necessarily as something like Splash Mountain or the Native Americans in Peter Pan was, but I do think that it is something that Disney is at least somewhat aware of given how they have interacted with the Polynesian Resort, and I would not be surprised to see sometime in the future have a bit of a reassessment on Tiki Room and whether or not it’s current presentation is in line with their move toward more cultural sensitivity.
