Punchy’s Hawaiian Animatronic Punch Band at Sea World

If you happened into Sea World in the 1970s/1980s and wandered past the Walrus pool on your way to the skyride and happened to take a left instead of a right, you would find yourself in the magical Hawaiian Punch Village. There Punchy reigned and not only served up delicious Hawaiian Punch, but he had and animatronic band to entertain and sooth your frazzled nerves. I was turned onto the band from this photo post by the Waffle Whiffer that shows the attraction along with the mascot Punchy that wandered the park.

For all pics, click on them to see the original on Flickr (which are often much larger)

I quickly went around trying to find video footage of the band in action, but found nothing, but I did find some more amazing photos and scans. Like these ones by Michael Poulin that show the band in color and also a 1970s ad for the Village.

And I was floored by these posts by Dan Goodsell who has some shots of the Village, but also of the menu of “exotic” drinks and snacks.

I would really love to hear and see this in action. Does anyone have any memories of this one in San Diego or the one in Orlando? Or more importantly, does anyone have any footage they are willing to share? I went to Sea World in Florida in the 1980s and I have looked through my photos from the time and found nothing related to this magical place. Perhaps it had closed by then?