Live music on a big stage, rum drinks being handed out like candy to people dressed in all kinds of exotic tropical attire, parties at pop-up tiki bars in hotel suites hosted by bars and rum manufacturers and even burlesque shows.
This, I decided, is a fine way to do Tiki Oasis in San Diego. In the past, I would arrive early afternoons at the world’s largest Polynesian festival, relishing in the fun of the scene at the pool with its poolside bands and go-go dancers, take part in some of the many seminars and run tastings, then hang on for what happened after dark. But by the time the bands took to the main stage and the opening of the suites which doesn’t happen until 10 p.m., my energy level was as tapped out as an empty keg.
So for the 25th anniversary of Tiki Oasis, I decided I would take a different strategy. Instead of arriving at Noon – or sometimes even earlier – on Friday and Saturday, I would get there at 8 p.m. This approach gave me a whole new perspective on Tiki Oasis, one that left me loving it even more than I did in the past.
By starting my Tiki Oasis at night, I was able to fully enjoy and appreciate the bands playing under the stars at the Town & Country Inn’s vast courtyard. There was Polynesian, tiki and surf band music. This is right up my musical alley.
It put me in the perfect this-is-awesome frame of mind for the suite parties. These events-within-the-event are in the hotel rooms and balconies converted into pop-up bars with various forms of entertainment. They hand out small drinks and it’s all free for those with a wristband. One might have a DJ, another musicians and – as I experienced for the first time – even burlesque dancers. What!? Is this for real!??
Yep. I was in the Ron Barcelo rum suite when I heard a bunch of cheering inside. I walked in just in time to see a beautiful girl untie her bikini top to reveal even more of her magnificent body (she was wearing pasties; this was burlesque not a stripping). My eyes were wide open and I joined the other Tiki Oasis-ites (a description I just made up by the way) in the cheering.
I had heard these shows take place and there is a burlesque show in a ballroom inside the hotel, but I never stayed late enough to actually experience it.
From there, I and my PubClub.com associate moved onto other suites, where we drank more rum drinks and bonded with not just other Tiki Oasis-ites but with the bartenders and suite staff, too. One was hosted by a bar I regularly go to, Miss B’s Coconut Club in Mission Beach, and it’s sister bar, the you-must-go-there The Lobby Tiki Bar in Oceanside where I got to know a girl named Regan who was blowing bubbles out of a water gun and saw the super-lively Miss B’s bartender “cute Kate” who used her water gun to shoot rum into people’s mouths.
I wound up staying until the last trolley left at 12:30 and the Ron Barcelo rum suite was still going strong. My associate stayed, for the suites go well past 1 a.m.
So I had a blast. A different kind of blast than in the past at Tiki Oasis. Oh, and I did get in my pool time on Thursday and Sunday.
Aloha!
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