The store in general looks quite nice... but they have got to get rid of those crazy painted "tiki" statues/sign. That is basically the Walmart party decoration version of the mid-century tiki phenomenon and Disney should be better than that. Indeed, at Trader Sam's they are!
If they get rid of or replace them with something more appropriate, no notes!
Oh man. Classic tiki bar / poly-pop fan and Hawaiian here and I agree. Don't get me started.
Boutiki has some pretty attractive and well thought out decor (the framing, displays, prints, and even the painted trimwork), but those massive Party City / Dollar Tree / Buffett-Florida style tikis are awful and cheap looking. Aside from how bad they are, they aren't even consistent with the aesthetics and theming of the rest of the store. Let alone the rest of the resort.
Along with Trader Sam's (which I think was largely designed by Bamboo Ben & Trader Brandon who have serious bona fides), everywhere else in the resort, you still have the classic, well carved and well researched items from Oceanic Arts. Then in the middle of an otherwise well-themed and transportive space, you turn around and see the garish, jarring juxtaposition of the discount store monstrosities at Boutiki. The only difference between the Boutiki tikis and the junk in the Dollar Tree Summer aisle or that you see tacked up in cheekee hut bars along FL's Route A1A is that at least Boutiki's lack the dumb looking pineapple or Indian or Aztec headdresses incongruously present on their foreheads.
For a resort that was supposed to have been and continued to retain the theme of a Hawaiian or South Pacific escape, where you walk around hearing the Sunday Manoa, Makaha Sons, and Genoa Keawe piped quietly through the speakers and have an ukulele player on the lanai singing Hawaiian songs, it's a weird juxtapositon for them to have a space where they lazily plopped down some decorations that are not even remotely Polynesian, but instead represent the aesthetics of a South Florida or Gulf Coast dive bar.
And I'm not one of those Tiki Oasis/Hukilau tiki uber-hipsters who refuses to go to a FL-style "tiki" bar. I do and appreciate them for what they are as a completely distinct and very different culture. But I can't fathom why or how anybody at Disney thought FL-style Party City tiki styles were thematically correct or fitting for a "Polyesian Resort."
Editing to add: Argh, I just noticed that these clown figures do feature the bizarre Aztec-stye headdress.
I guess I tried to not look at them too much when we used to go there. So bizarre and stupid looking and I am pretty sure that it all derives from some overseas designer for Party City who misunderstood the traditional depiction of hair on Kane or Kanaloa and decided to put an Aztec headdress on his design.
