TOM SAWYER ISLAND

[zipadee999]

As much as I love Tom Sawyer Island, my biggest critique is the lack of any Rush theming. That’s blatant false advertising!

 

[TalkToEthan]

. That’s blatant false advertising!

I’ll go further and put it down as arrogant!

 

[TomboyJanet]

I believe the connection is primarily with Walt himself, who was presumably a big fan of Tom Sawyer. I did a quick Google search which said that Tom Sawyer Island is the only attraction that Walt personally designed. Also saw speculation that his love of Tom
Sawyer was due to his time in Missouri, where he had more freedom to roam and explore, in a similar manner to Tom Sawyer.

I think that Walt had a love of Americana (although he wouldn’t have used that word) that shows in the parks. I also think a lot of the original charm of the parks gets lost in the recent IP push. IP has a place, but it lacks the collective, mythical aspect of, well, myths. Americana is, in many ways, a beautiful myth. Princesses and castles and knights are, in many ways, a beautiful myth (I mean they existed, but the reality of life in that time was actually pretty f-ed up.) The technological utopianism of Tomorrowland is, in many ways, a beautiful myth. Etc. I am actually fine with coming up with new beautiful myths, if younger generations feel we need them. But I don’t think mythology can be replaced with fun but fleeting commercial ideas. (Lightning McQueen is great, but not a cultural mythos.) Not everything needs a meet and greet. Sometimes a felt, mysterious sense of something that you can’t really put to words is far more effective.

That is one of the best descriptions of how I feel ever. I did not realize Walt PERSONALLY designed it like that. It makes it even sadder to me that they'd rip it out, and that the only one left in America is not themed to Tom Sawyer anymore, and doesn't have the awesome fort. (I haven't seen the tokyo version but now I'm interested.

Me and my dad loved the rivers of America , TSI, the Liberty Belle, and the Mike Fink Keel Boats (now gone). This is going to totally wipe out so much of the place that I formed so many great family memories and the place that got me interested in history. If Liberty Square goes, then I'll say the park is fully lost to the commercial corporate brain. My Boyfriend has a saying "The Corporate mind is a mental disorder" They act like they can't relate to anyone and they have no emotions other than greed. I think that's what's happening here. I was always a tomboy and I loved playing around and climbing around on stuff and this type of thing is actually really good for kids to develop a sense of adventure and an interest in history and nature. Even if it's just the history of Mark Twain. (who Walt really admired). So hypocritical that they are building a Walt animatronic (which He totally wouldn't approve of I'm sure) while having NO regard for any of his creative visions and passions. It's like they want to make a Walt that approves of their work so that they can feel better about it. Just like when they had the Audacity to put a statue of him looking at the NON world's fair Epcot that is moving AWAY from being informative and inspirational, and more towards satisfying attention spans for a quick buck.

It really hurts to see this happen in real time. I really hope that whoever comes next after Iger cleans up his mess.

 

[DisneyHead123]

That is one of the best descriptions of how I feel ever. I did not realize Walt PERSONALLY designed it like that. It makes it even sadder to me that they'd rip it out, and that the only one left in America is not themed to Tom Sawyer anymore, and doesn't have the awesome fort. (I haven't seen the tokyo version but now I'm interested.

Me and my dad loved the rivers of America , TSI, the Liberty Belle, and the Mike Fink Keel Boats (now gone). This is going to totally wipe out so much of the place that I formed so many great family memories and the place that got me interested in history. If Liberty Square goes, then I'll say the park is fully lost to the commercial corporate brain. My Boyfriend has a saying "The Corporate mind is a mental disorder" They act like they can't relate to anyone and they have no emotions other than greed. I think that's what's happening here. I was always a tomboy and I loved playing around and climbing around on stuff and this type of thing is actually really good for kids to develop a sense of adventure and an interest in history and nature. Even if it's just the history of Mark Twain. (who Walt really admired). So hypocritical that they are building a Walt animatronic (which He totally wouldn't approve of I'm sure) while having NO regard for any of his creative visions and passions. It's like they want to make a Walt that approves of their work so that they can feel better about it. Just like when they had the Audacity to put a statue of him looking at the NON world's fair Epcot that is moving AWAY from being informative and inspirational, and more towards satisfying attention spans for a quick buck.

It really hurts to see this happen in real time. I really hope that whoever comes next after Iger cleans up his mess.

I get the corporations have to be profit focused, but I am quite hopeful that there is a genuine love of creativity and “What makes Disney, Disney” at the Disney company. They’re not going to get everything perfect the first time and they’ll have their missteps, but I still feel like that Disney spirit is very much alive at the company (I will say that Cars over ROA is one of the decisions I disagree with most - but I’m still hopeful it may be tweaked or changed. I just feel like this one’s not set in stone.)

 

[DW Aficionado]

I get the corporations have to be profit focused, but I am quite hopeful that there is a genuine love of creativity and “What makes Disney, Disney” at the Disney company. They’re not going to get everything perfect the first time and they’ll have their missteps, but I still feel like that Disney spirit is very much alive at the company (I will say that Cars over ROA is one of the decisions I disagree with most - but I’m still hopeful it may be tweaked or changed. I just feel like this one’s not set in stone.)

Why can't Disney add another park or expand a park. Why do they have to keep replacing attractions?

 

[DisneyHead123]

Why can't Disney add another park or expand a park. Why do they have to keep replacing attractions?

I’m not clear on how much surefire usable land they have. I’ve read differing things on these boards. If it’s somewhat finite, I can understand the desire to dole it out slowly and only for the biggest projects, like Villains land. Also not sure how much staffing shortages are a concern. The labor shortage is only going to get worse in the near future.

 

[Phonedave]

I’ll go further and put it down as arrogant!

I myself remain always hopeful, yet discontent.

 

[celluloid]

As much as I love Tom Sawyer Island, my biggest critique is the lack of any Rush theming. That’s blatant false advertising!

Funny, but try to stay closer to the heart of the situation.

 

[graphite1326]

I HAVE A GREAT IDEA!!!!
Let's turn the 'broken down almost daily' Tianias Bayou Adventure into Tom and Hucks Adventure!!! OBVIOUSLY, fix it so it doesn't breakdown, the riders go on an adventure with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, ending in 'finding a river rapids and going down' at the HILL.! Tom & Huck meet n greets, a parade float, merchandise and MAYBE some Crawdad Soup!?

Good idea

 

[donaldtoo]

I HAVE A GREAT IDEA!!!!
Let's turn the 'broken down almost daily' Tianias Bayou Adventure into Tom and Hucks Adventure!!! OBVIOUSLY, fix it so it doesn't breakdown, the riders go on an adventure with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, ending in 'finding a river rapids and going down' at the HILL.! Tom & Huck meet n greets, a parade float, merchandise and MAYBE some Crawdad Soup!?

Let’s make that last part the below and I’m in…!!!!!

 

[Smooth]

Funny, but try to stay closer to the heart of the situation.

Only a working man would understand that.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

In all the time I have been going to WDW, I have always wondered what the connection is between Disney and Tom Sawyer Island? How does TSI connect to Disney? Does Disney own the rights to Tom Sawyer and it characters and storylines?

I think another poster did a good job explaining that Walt liked the book, but at the time the park opened, both Tom and Huck were widely read/taught in American schools.

IMO, the entire original MK park is made up of games that American children used to play, when they played imagination games, or played 'pretend.' Sometimes children pretended to be astronauts, or princesses/knights, or cowboys, or explorers. The movie UP touches on the adventure/explorer idea.

Playing Huck/Tom was a good co-ed game, because girls could easily be Becky (or a male character). Playing this game, you'd make a fort, or turn something you had already into your fort, like a large box or a shed. A fort could be made indoors or outdoors. Bonus outdoors if your group had access to a stream or something you could pretend was a stream/river.

In the 1970's (and earlier) , I should maybe add, children spent most afternoons playing outdoors unsupervised.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I believe the connection is primarily with Walt himself, who was presumably a big fan of Tom Sawyer.

Walt wanted to make his own film version of Tom Sawyer, but was unable to in his lifetime due to rights issues at the time

Building the world of Tom Sawyer was probably the next best thing.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

I may get some pushback for this, but I am going to say it anyways...
Cars land HAS NO PLACE in the Magic Kingdom! It should go into DHS as an IP!
Villains land fits better to the Magic Kingdom, those villains that terrorize the princesses need someplace to live!

Most people agree with you. I do too. So you won't get pushback. Everyone knows how beautiful that part of the park is. Modern Disney is so obsessed with what Universal is doing that instead of actually expanding things (they have land the size of the city of San Fran) they remove the charm that made the parks so enticing in the first place. If they keep going through with this destruction of Tom Sawyer and the Liberty Belle, then that is a huge blow to Magic Kingdom and the legacy of Walt himself. Modern Disney seems okay with distancing themselves from Walt for whatever reason, as if they have more creativity.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Most people agree with you. I do too. So you won't get pushback. Everyone knows how beautiful that part of the park is. Modern Disney is so obsessed with what Universal is doing that instead of actually expanding things (they have land the size of the city of San Fran) they remove the charm that made the parks so enticing in the first place. If they keep going through with this destruction of Tom Sawyer and the Liberty Belle, then that is a huge blow to Magic Kingdom and the legacy of Walt himself. Modern Disney seems okay with distancing themselves from Walt for whatever reason, as if they have more creativity.

Walt was focused on building a park that would bring pleasure to families, a place where parents could enjoy time with their children. He had virtually no competition because there was nothing other than local amusement parks and they were not built with the entertainment, dining, character level Walt was bringing. Profits were needed to move even further forward.
Modern Disney is so focused on profits and building to stay ahead of Uni that they are losing all the prices that makes Disney Disney. The simple charm of MK no longer matters.

 

[ppete1975]

I may get some pushback for this, but I am going to say it anyways...
Cars land HAS NO PLACE in the Magic Kingdom! It should go into DHS as an IP!
Villains land fits better to the Magic Kingdom, those villains that terrorize the princesses need someplace to live!

With forced perspective and amazing theming that they are capable of, villains land could have been amazing. Imagine keep the river boat and the river and then have a 189 foot castle that looks much larger maybe model it after paris's castle with a dragon below mix in some hogwarts castle with the rock work. But make it super dark colors, make everything in that side of the park void of most color, keep it dark and foreboding big twisted evil looking trees. Make it look like its way in the back like miles away using forced perspective, make just the sense of it foreboding.
Have a walk way from big thunder and one from haunted mansion.
This way you can lean into the spooky more eerie side of the villains (not alien level terror) but just spooky and foreboding.
If you have little ones or ones that scare easily you can still enjoy the park exactly like you do now all the kiddy rides and less spooky stuff would be in exactly the same area and there would be no reason to go to that section, (you dont have to pass to get to dumbo etc). But you would still see parts of the land and that castle way in the back and the little kids would just know thats where the villains live.

But that makes sense... so lets destroy the river and boats and put cars land 2.0

 

[TomboyJanet]

I think another poster did a good job explaining that Walt liked the book, but at the time the park opened, both Tom and Huck were widely read/taught in American schools.

IMO, the entire original MK park is made up of games that American children used to play, when they played imagination games, or played 'pretend.' Sometimes children pretended to be astronauts, or princesses/knights, or cowboys, or explorers. The movie UP touches on the adventure/explorer idea.

Playing Huck/Tom was a good co-ed game, because girls could easily be Becky (or a male character). Playing this game, you'd make a fort, or turn something you had already into your fort, like a large box or a shed. A fort could be made indoors or outdoors. Bonus outdoors if your group had access to a stream or something you could pretend was a stream/river.

In the 1970's (and earlier) , I should maybe add, children spent most afternoons playing outdoors unsupervised.

IT wasn't that different in the 90s. I was a tomboy and I would play with the boys and I remember pretending to be peter pan a few times, but also I made up this thing where we were in a tribe and we were hunting the boys and spying on them and then messed up all their stuff. I guess I invented my own Amazons. No it wasn't bullying cuz they were in it to. They did it to us, we did it to them, just like the lost boys and the Indians.

With forced perspective and amazing theming that they are capable of, villains land could have been amazing. Imagine keep the river boat and the river and then have a 189 foot castle that looks much larger maybe model it after paris's castle with a dragon below mix in some hogwarts castle with the rock work. But make it super dark colors, make everything in that side of the park void of most color, keep it dark and foreboding big twisted evil looking trees. Make it look like its way in the back like miles away using forced perspective, make just the sense of it foreboding.
Have a walk way from big thunder and one from haunted mansion.
This way you can lean into the spooky more eerie side of the villains (not alien level terror) but just spooky and foreboding.
If you have little ones or ones that scare easily you can still enjoy the park exactly like you do now all the kiddy rides and less spooky stuff would be in exactly the same area and there would be no reason to go to that section, (you dont have to pass to get to dumbo etc). But you would still see parts of the land and that castle way in the back and the little kids would just know thats where the villains live.

But that makes sense... so lets destroy the river and boats and put cars land 2.0

WELL SAID! This would be a GREAT idea. but Great ideas require great thinking, and great thinking is not in the heads of the spreadsheet brained business execs who see numbers not art