Fort Langhorn Escape Tunnel

meyeet

meyeet

Well-Known Member
I recall stepping over puddles in both Injun Joe's Cave and the Escape Tunnel. Has anyone confirmed that Injun Joe's Cave is still open? They both seemed pretty narrow at spots so I'd imagine that if they close one because of risk of injury or complaint, then they would close both.

February was the first time that my DW and I have been on TSI. In the past we walked by it thinking our kids were too young to enjoy it. Now that they are a little older and we know what is there, we're looking forward to letting them enjoy TSI.
 
FigmentsFangirl

FigmentsFangirl

Well-Known Member
ExtinctJenn said:
That is actually an excellent point. That tunnel goes down quite a way and I could very much see the water table being an issue. Now, that said, when we were there in March it was open (and your experience was in January) but that's not too surprising as that sort of thing could/would certainly change. The only thing that I have in the back of my head that tells me someone is bound to call BS on this being the issue is the island technically shouldn't be impacted by the water table. It's manmade and there isn't water/land beneath it but rather storage and tunnels. In fact I saw a year or so ago when they drained the rivers of America to work on the Riverboat track and you can see the "island" is really a building surrounded by water. I suppose rain etc. could still impact it though... who knows!
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I was there when they had that closed to work on the Riverboat track, I knew the Riverboat was on a track, but I had no idea just how deep that water went. I just knew it was on a track. It is possible that with the weather, rain and whatnot, that could be water related, poor drainage, waterlevel going up, etc. TSI is indeed a manmade structure. Half if not most of its foundation underground and water. As far as I am aware, all of MK is built over a city, practically. Manmade ponds and whatnot.

As far as I am aware Injun Joe's Cave is still open. I saw no rumors or heard news of it closing. I think the primary concern is the Fort Langhorn tunnel. There used to be a path to the Indian camp at the back part of TSI. I went there as a child, but since then its been sealed off.

I will note that I had the fortune of getting lemonade at Aunt Pollys there on TSI.
 
FigmentsFangirl

FigmentsFangirl

Well-Known Member
Just remembered something I had read somewhere about forts, keeps and castles. "It is not a fort, keep or a castle without a bolthole or escape path to safety" Basically says that Fort Langhorn, without the escape tunnel, is more or less an office building with only one door. With no exit path unseen to get to safety, known commonly as a Bolthole or escape tunnel {I'll use Bolthole to ease confusion here}, the fort is either getting ready to be completely shut down for an extended period of time, or something else is going on.

My money is on the safe bet of either water table or water drainage troubles.
 
unkadug

unkadug

Follower of "Saget"The Cult
FigmentsFangirl said:
Just remembered something I had read somewhere about forts, keeps and castles. "It is not a fort, keep or a castle without a bolthole or escape path to safety" Basically says that Fort Langhorn, without the escape tunnel, is more or less an office building with only one door. With no exit path unseen to get to safety, known commonly as a Bolthole or escape tunnel {I'll use Bolthole to ease confusion here}, the fort is either getting ready to be completely shut down for an extended period of time, or something else is going on.

My money is on the safe bet of either water table or water drainage troubles.
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I just Googled that phrase and only got one hit...for this thread.
 
Sped2424

Sped2424

Well-Known Member
In both caves/tunnels I noticed a real lack of cast members or any supervision inside them hopefully nothing happened, IMO those caves make the trip to tom sawyer island worth it.
 
steve2wdw

steve2wdw

WDW Fan Since 1973
Just clearing up a few misconceptions of the island......TSI is landfill in the middle of the RoA. There are no storage rooms or tunnels underneath the island. Besides the obvious buildings, both the Cave and the Mine are maze structures, constructed and camouflaged on top of the island. Neither of the cave or mine attractions on the island go below the water table, so if there was any accumulated water in those mazes, it was either from rain runoff, or an actual leak in the ceiling of the structure.
 
itsbetsyh

itsbetsyh

Active Member
Timekeeper said:
There always seems to be a lack of CM presence on the island. Elsewhere in the park, there always seems to be a CM within any 50 foot radius. On the island, if a child were to sustain a serious injury while playing, there may be a significant delay in receiving the appropriate response. Maybe that's why this is where the kids often go to smoke.
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I had never ventured out there until this past April when my daughter wanted to go on the "adventure", the lack of CM's out there was the first thing I noticed. We were on the island with a group of unsupervised pre-teen boys who were going craaaazy and actually scared my 5 year old. kind of a shame, hope they get some CM's out there soon.
 
steve2wdw

steve2wdw

WDW Fan Since 1973
itsbetsyh said:
I had never ventured out there until this past April when my daughter wanted to go on the "adventure", the lack of CM's out there was the first thing I noticed. We were on the island with a group of unsupervised pre-teen boys who were going craaaazy and actually scared my 5 year old. kind of a shame, hope they get some CM's out there soon.
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Three weeks ago, I bumped into three different CM's on the island within 10 minutes. Can't imagine that in today's "suit happy" society, Disney would leave the island "unsupervised".
 
P

Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
steve2wdw said:
Just clearing up a few misconceptions of the island......TSI is landfill in the middle of the RoA. There are no storage rooms or tunnels underneath the island. Besides the obvious buildings, both the Cave and the Mine are maze structures, constructed and camouflaged on top of the island. Neither of the cave or mine attractions on the island go below the water table, so if there was any accumulated water in those mazes, it was either from rain runoff, or an actual leak in the ceiling of the structure.
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Correct. TSI is built up, and I think it is level with the walkways of MK which are built on the second story as the Utilidors are underneath them. Shouldn't be any water table issues, and I'll bet that the whole tunnel is above the level of the river, where rain flows when it rains on the Island. Might be a drainage issue they don't care to fix, though you'd think that the tunnel's drainage would already be pretty well thought out.
 
BoarderPhreak

BoarderPhreak

Well-Known Member
If anything, I'd lean towards drainage over water table also (for one thing, the water table hasn't mysteriously changed recently, rain or not). Of course it's thought out... But things happen over 40 years. Lines get clogged, break/collapse or tree roots grow through them. The only way to fix something like that is usually to rip up the floor to access and replace them. And that's not a quick job by any means in a normal house - let alone a "tunnel" on an island that requires rafts to get to.
 
FigmentsFangirl

FigmentsFangirl

Well-Known Member
JonothanPryor said:
We were on TSI last Wednesday, and the escape tunnel was open, along with Injun Joe's Cave and the Magnetic Mystery Mine. Alas, the Barrel Bridge was closed.
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This is very good news, well, partly good news, the bolthole is reopened, this is good news, the barrel bridge, I make a point of going over it barefoot {My I have weird feet troubles with sandals 100% of the day, I went today mostly barefoot in my resort {French Quarter!}} because it is so fun. I think they are refurbing things, someone tell if this is the case, can anyone spot anything different within the escape tunnel when you went through ? Better light, sounds, etc ?
 

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