Tom Sawyer Island
| Tom Sawyer Island | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disneyland |
| Land / area | Frontierland (Disneyland) |
| Type | Play island / walk-through attraction |
| Opened | June 16, 1956
|
| Status | Operating |
Tom Sawyer Island is a wooded play island in the middle of the Rivers of America (Disneyland) at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Reached only by raft from Frontierland (Disneyland), it is a self-guided landscape of caves, rope and barrel bridges, trails, a mill and a frontier fort, all themed to Mark Twain's 1876 novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Unlike most Disneyland attractions, it has no vehicles, no queue entertainment and no set route: guests explore at their own pace, and children in particular are meant to climb, hide and improvise.
Since 2007 the island has also carried a pirate theme, under the name Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island.
History
An island encircled by a river appeared in Disney park concepts from the start. Artist Harper Goff drew a river-and-island scheme in his 1951 concept work for a park in Burbank, and the island survived into the plans for Anaheim. The theme, however, came from Walt Disney's own boyhood in Missouri, in Mark Twain country, and from his fondness for Twain's books.
The island is often called the one part of Disneyland that Walt Disney designed himself. Imagineer Marvin Davis had produced repeated layouts without satisfying him, so, by Davis's own account, Walt took the plan home, worked on it overnight in the barn workshop at his house, and returned the next morning with his own overlay and the words, "Now that's the way it should be."[1] The island was then built to Walt's layout, filled with places he said he had wanted to explore as a boy.
Tom Sawyer Island opened on June 16, 1956, just under a year after Disneyland itself.[2] For the dedication, two children from Hannibal, Missouri — Twain's hometown — took part as a modern-day Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher.
For its first five decades the island changed only gradually. Fort Wilderness, the log fort at its northern end, and Harper's Mill were among its long-standing landmarks. The island closed in early 2007 for its largest reworking yet, and reopened on May 25, 2007 as Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, timed to the release of the film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.[3] Harper's Mill was re-dressed as Lafitte's Tavern, and new scenes, treasure and a shipwreck were added. Disney justified the blend in-story by pointing to the chapters of Twain's novel in which Tom, Huck Finn and Joe Harper run away to an island to play at being pirates.
The island also serves a second job after dark: its northern end forms part of the stage landscape for the nighttime spectacular Fantasmic!, performed on the Rivers of America.
Experience
The visit begins with the short raft crossing. The rafts are free-floating, steered by a cast member, and are among the few Disneyland vehicles not fixed to a track or guideway.
Once ashore, paths branch in several directions. Guests can cross a swaying barrel bridge and a suspension bridge, work through the dark passages of Injun Joe's Cave, climb around Castle Rock, and explore the stockade of Fort Wilderness, which offers views back across the river to Frontierland and New Orleans Square. Under the Pirate's Lair theme, visitors also encounter a dead man's chest scene, pirate props among the rocks, and occasional appearances by Captain Jack Sparrow and other pirate characters.
Because there is nothing to ride, the island is one of the park's quietest corners — a shaded break from queues, with benches overlooking the passing riverboats. It typically closes at dusk.