Tom Sawyer Island - 2 Month Refurb

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
I think the island should be re-themed to a New Orleans swamp land with a Princess & the Frog musical show located on the island, and use Aunt Polly's location as a Tiana and Naveen interactive Meet and Greet location similar to Enchanted Tales with Belle.

How to battle the crowds getting to see the show? Close the rafts and change the Liberty Belle to be able to dock at the island. And on the boat, put a New Orlean's jazz band group on there with some improv performers. Heck yea!

This all would never happen realistically. Just had a spark under my butt.
 

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
If they intend on doing a refurb.....Could we at least make Aunt Polly's Dockside Inn a Bar of some kind...I mean they seem to be liking to put liquor in places at Disney...Why not the Island?

aunt_pollys_dockside_inn3.jpg
This is a fantastic idea. It could be a draw for parents to take their kids over and walk around the island with a cocktail or beer. I would certainly take my kids over for an hour to get a couple drinks and take a break from the crowds.
 

jt04

Well-Known Member
I think the island should be re-themed to a New Orleans swamp land with a Princess & the Frog musical show located on the island, and use Aunt Polly's location as a Tiana and Naveen interactive Meet and Greet location similar to Enchanted Tales with Belle.

How to battle the crowds getting to see the show? Close the rafts and change the Liberty Belle to be able to dock at the island. And on the boat, put a New Orlean's jazz band group on there with some improv performers. Heck yea!

This all would never happen realistically. Just had a spark under my butt.

Jazz would bring so much life to that corner of the MK. Not to mention PatF has many great characters. Such an underrated IP.
 

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
Long ago at Carowinds theme park, they had a very similar (copied) concept with a riverboat around a play area island... They wanted to increase visitors to the island so the ended parked the riverboat permanently and put a temporary bridge from the riverboat over to the island...sort of maintain the look that it always had...eventually they demolished the entire thing waterway and all and just made it more ugly ride space...
 

geekza

Well-Known Member
Long ago at Carowinds theme park, they had a very similar (copied) concept with a riverboat around a play area island... They wanted to increase visitors to the island so the ended parked the riverboat permanently and put a temporary bridge from the riverboat over to the island...sort of maintain the look that it always had...eventually they demolished the entire thing waterway and all and just made it more ugly ride space...
Sounds right. Kings Island used to be a lot nicer as far as theming and varied experiences as well. Then Paramount bought them.
 

"El Gran Magnifico"

Bring Me A Shrubbery
Premium Member
Any chance of a walkway to the back of the island from HM? -- to maybe a nice little goulish sit down restaurant and possibly a Skellington ride? Or maybe another walkway to a haunted resort - with it's main entrance being along Floridian Way? Talk about immersive possibilities and a fortune per night.
 

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
Long ago at Carowinds theme park, they had a very similar (copied) concept with a riverboat around a play area island... They wanted to increase visitors to the island so the ended parked the riverboat permanently and put a temporary bridge from the riverboat over to the island...sort of maintain the look that it always had...eventually they demolished the entire thing waterway and all and just made it more ugly ride space...
What is in the place now? (I live like an hour and a half from Carowinds. Used to get annual passes all the time through high school till I got bored!)
 

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
What is in the place now? (I live like an hour and a half from Carowinds. Used to get annual passes all the time through high school till I got bored!)
the large waterway and lagoon have mostly been filled in...The Vortex and Nighthawk were in the lagoon, the Goldrusher used to sit next to and over the water... The waterway extended over to where Kiddyhawk currently sits...There were waterways that connected with another series of ponds over by the Carolina Harbor area which back then was completely different... It is a shame they removed all the water...it added a lot...not it looks more like a carnival. The park used to also be surrounded by a train and had a monorail...just like Disneyland.
 

geekza

Well-Known Member
the large waterway and lagoon have mostly been filled in...The Vortex and Nighthawk were in the lagoon, the Goldrusher used to sit next to and over the water... The waterway extended over to where Kiddyhawk currently sits...There were waterways that connected with another series of ponds over by the Carolina Harbor area which back then was completely different... It is a shame they removed all the water...it added a lot...not it looks more like a carnival. The park used to also be surrounded by a train and had a monorail...just like Disneyland.
Kings Island had a monorail, too. Some of the track and vehicles were bought by a local Cincinnati businessman who intended to set it back up to encircle his gigantic grocery store, Jungle Jim's. Sadly, that never came to pass, though one of the monorail vehicles is still on display outside of the building. If you ever get the chance, Jungle Jim's is an incredible store. It's crazy huge and has literally every kind of food you can imagine brought in from all over the world.

 

Phicinfan

Well-Known Member
Kings Island had a monorail, too. Some of the track and vehicles were bought by a local Cincinnati businessman who intended to set it back up to encircle his gigantic grocery store, Jungle Jim's. Sadly, that never came to pass, though one of the monorail vehicles is still on display outside of the building. If you ever get the chance, Jungle Jim's is an incredible store. It's crazy huge and has literally every kind of food you can imagine brought in from all over the world.


Actually the monorail is being used, when they have big events at the connected event center, they have folks park in the back and monorail into the event center. IT is actually pretty cool. there supposedly are still plans to add a bed and breakfast and complete the monorail loop, but that has all been delayed.
 

disneyC97

Well-Known Member
As I have read anyway, the problem with Aunt Polly's is that there is no underground access to Tom Sawyer Island so they had to bring everything over via the rafts. It was too much trouble so they closed Aunt Polly's and will not reopen it.

Too bad. I would also love to see them reopen it.
Yet they did just that for over two decades (if not more)...
 

disneyC97

Well-Known Member
It was the highlight of a family vacation in July and I brought my niece and nephews (11, 9, and 7) for the first time (and their parents for the first time since childhood). We planned to go back later in the vacation but rain/thunderstorms closed it. The only thing not working was the wheel on the mill (and of course Aunt Polly's was closed).
 

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