Tom Sawyer's Island replacement / Expansion

[cheezbat]

I for one love the river rapids style rides....and Grizzly River Run at DCA is a very good raft ride...far better than Kali, but still beaten out by Popeye and Bluto at IOA.

I would love to see another water ride added to the MK...but definitely NOT at the expense of Tom Sawyer Island. I have made it a point to visit the island every trip to the MK the past number of years. it's really grown on me.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I'd probably be disappointed in one of those circular raft rides too. I enjoy them, but i don't think WDW needs another, nor does it need to destroy TSI for such a thing.

Shame we're not talking something more akin to Western River Expedition, i could probably really get behind such an attraction. I'm assuming there would be enough space for it.

 

[Phineas fo Prez]

I would love to see something done to that side of the park. For me, TSI and the Rivers of America is something I have always skipped at the MK because it doesn't excite me. For the MK to make a FLE type expansion, and the area is bigger then that of the FLE, in the area and add multiple attractions that more then a few guests want to go on, which is TSI today, would benefit the park in the long run.

As much as I understand everyone feelings on getting rid of TSI, one must think of the future.

 

[zooey]

I would love to see something done to that side of the park. For me, TSI and the Rivers of America is something I have always skipped at the MK because it doesn't excite me. For the MK to make a FLE type expansion, and the area is bigger then that of the FLE, in the area and add multiple attractions that more then a few guests want to go on, which is TSI today, would benefit the park in the long run.

As much as I understand everyone feelings on getting rid of TSI, one must think of the future.

No.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I too am starting to severely question the work being done in Orlando. I really don't get it. Although many are more worried about TSI, I'm more worried about the Liberty Belle. The steamboats are park icons - I would say that second to the castle and the mountains, the riverboats are the singular most iconic structure at every Disneyland-style park - and the only of those icons which physically takes you somewhere! The very idea of a functioning, moving, and nearly full-scale riverboat traveling through a theme park (just think about that for a moment) is astounding. It's the kind of thing that separates the spectacle of a Disney park from the cheap amusement parks at home that disguise the restaurant as a stationary riverboat and leave it at that. Why would Disney remove such an amazing feature of the Magic Kingdom?

The level of respect Disneyland shows their Mark Twain riverboat is vastly superior - they actually treat it like the icon that it is. It gets featured on pins and merchandise, it has an attraction poster, it plays a part in Fantasmic every night, it was ornately decorated for the park's 50th anniversary celebration, and of course, the entire Rivers of America got a significant refurb recently, which added new show scenes, painted rockwork, and a new narration. Meanwhile, WDW runs their Liberty Belle pretty much the same way they have since Disney launched it in 1971, creaky AAs and all, and judging by how much attention they give the boat outside the attraction itself (like, on merchandise and resort marketing and stuff), they would almost rather pretend it doesn't exist. Apparently, they've just been on tenterhooks to shut it down so they can build a 3rd E-ticket thrill ride in Frontierland.

It's like Disneyland actually values its roots, attractions that opened when then park did, the authentic and historical experiences which used to define what it meant to be a Disney park. Meanwhile, WDW is just pulling a Universal and shutting stuff down so they can build the next franchise tie-in (I presume - but let's be honest here).

I really just don't get it. :shrug:

Great post!

With one caveat: at least the cheap local amusement park tries to disguise the restaurant as a stationary riverboat. At WDW, they no longer even bother with that. As the tragic history of the Empress Lilly shows. Gone are the paddle, the smokestacks, the elegance. In it's place, the vandals installed huge neon signs advertising the boat is crab nowadays.

 

[zooey]

Great post!

With one caveat: at least the cheap local amusement park tries to disguise the stationary restaurant as a riverboat. At WDW, they no longer even bother with that. As the tragic history of the Empress Lilly shows. Gone are the paddle, the smokestacks, the elegance. In it's place, the vandals installed huge neon signs advertising the boat is crab nowadays.

That's what happens when you let a 3rd party call all of the shots.

 

[cheezbat]

I would love to see something done to that side of the park. For me, TSI and the Rivers of America is something I have always skipped at the MK because it doesn't excite me. For the MK to make a FLE type expansion, and the area is bigger then that of the FLE, in the area and add multiple attractions that more then a few guests want to go on, which is TSI today, would benefit the park in the long run.

As much as I understand everyone feelings on getting rid of TSI, one must think of the future.

Future? Sure. Tomorrowland. There's your future. Put a new attraction back in the current employee parking lot. Demo the Speedway for more attractions. Do a PROPER refurb on Space Mountain. Replace Stitch. Sounds like a pretty good future to me.

Leave TSI alone. :animwink:

 

[disney fan 13]

Future? Sure. Tomorrowland. There's your future. Put a new attraction back in the current employee parking lot. Demo the Speedway for more attractions. Do a PROPER refurb on Space Mountain. Replace Stitch. Sounds like a pretty good future to me.

Leave TSI alone. :animwink:

don't forget laugh floor and buzz

 

[The Duck]

I'd probably be disappointed in one of those circular raft rides too. I enjoy them, but i don't think WDW needs another, nor does it need to destroy TSI for such a thing.

Shame we're not talking something more akin to Western River Expedition, i could probably really get behind such an attraction. I'm assuming there would be enough space for it.

I'm not a fan of the raft rides mostly because I hate getting soaked (especially in the first 3 seconds like on Popeye and Bluto). But I would LOVE to see something like a cross between Western River Expedition and Disneyland's old Nature's Wonderland Mine Train. Picture a POTC flat boat (perhaps themed like a rubber raft one would ride on the Colorado River) cruising slowly past scenes of American wildlife. The ride could have a few mild thrills like going over a small waterfall or two and perhaps passing through a cave but nothing that would discourage more timid riders. Whether or not this would belong on TSI is debatable but it's something that I would enjoy. Please WDI, thrills are OK but theming is what should set Disney apart.

 

[trr1]

I'm not a fan of the raft rides mostly because I hate getting soaked (especially in the first 3 seconds like on Popeye and Bluto). But I would LOVE to see something like a cross between Western River Expedition and Disneyland's old Nature's Wonderland Mine Train. Picture a POTC flat boat (perhaps themed like a rubber raft one would ride on the Colorado River) cruising slowly past scenes of American wildlife. The ride could have a few mild thrills like going over a small waterfall or two and perhaps passing through a cave but nothing that would discourage more timid riders. Whether or not this would belong on TSI is debatable but it's something that I would enjoy. Please WDI, thrills are OK but theming is what should set Disney apart.

kinda like Jurassic park at uni?

 

[The Duck]

kinda like Jurassic park at uni?

Maybe a little but Jurassic has more of a Splash Mountain finale plunge and why build that right next to each other? Jurassic begins as a pleasant boat ride and then something goes wrong and you find yourself in danger. I'm thinking something more low key with a few mild thrills and lots of theming. Most of the classic attractions (POTC, JC, HM etc.) don't have white knuckle thrills. Just excellent detail to theming which has been a Disney tradition since the beginning. A tradition, I hate to say, that has been fading away. Again, whether or not this belongs on TSI is debatable but it's something that I would like to see.

 

[C.FERNIE]

i sadly havent been over to TSI in years or on the riverboat, but we have taken a more relaxed not running around like a lunatic approach lately! Just havent really fancied them since i was young! Did enjoy them but it has never changed! Probs would go back but not untill we were staying for awhile! pretty sure i read somewhere on here there is already a tunnel under the river for emergancy evac of guests and possibly storm shelter? so there is already access there i think! dont quote me on that though! so why could they not just use the tunnel and that keeps the boat open! and if they already have one tunnel why not build another lol? :wave:

 

[koryadams]

Very interesting...although I would have said Don't take away, just add to the island. It's a fun place to explore (would rather walk to the island than have to wait for a boat though) but I hope they keep Tom Sawyer because that's a classic story and true to the land theme!

 

[Captain Neo]

Why did you change your post from:

All he said was "Kungaloosh".

to

All he said was "The Grid".

?

busted

 

[koryadams]

I was hungry on the island and wanted to eat at the little food place on the island....but oh no, it's closed! Stupid vending machines instead...

 

[Captain Neo]

Yes to the first, nope to the second.

That actually sounds really cool to me

 

[flavious27]

Neither do they, though.

The MK's waterways used to be vibrant and on the move. Now ... what's that saying about still waters?

They went from two riverboats to one, they killed the canoes and then the keelboats. They shuttered Aunt Polly's (one of my absolute favorite places for a lunch at WDW). They shut effects off that went unrepaired (burning settlers cabin) and left hurricane damage on the island for years.

So, no, they don't get it.

~They must be smarter than us because they have the positions, right?~

One of them is smart enough to get a free meal while on the clock and talking to guests.

not a bad idea, but i think that for a while, other parks need more attention:

• epcot-is looking very unfuturistic
• DHS-needs a new lease of life

don't even get me started on the parks abroad. have you seen the studios park in paris?! its an embarrasment.

i think that the upkeep should be priority at MK right now, before further expansion.

DHS needs a good amount of work but it also has the most freedom for its theme and how additions could be done.

This is something I came up with to help make improvements to DHS.

Would some kind of draw bridge be that unfeasible?

With the current frequency of the riverboat, yes. Adding to it would be the safety risk if the bridge did not raise in time, so they would need to have the bridge closed and raised with enough time that the boat can abort passing by.

Any way they could instead lengthen the caverns to be more like the California version???

Not sure how I feel about this and how it fits.

They could expand the caverns a bit, but they would need to have most of that island closed for them to get in there. Someone suggested having a large cavern built that could house groups of like 30 or more, they could have live shows in there.

I wouldn't be a fan of the hypothetical pirate TSI overlay for MK, but I did recall seeing some conversation about it here years ago.



A couple mermaid AAs for PotC would be OK I guess. The only downside is that they will be constant reminders of what I consider to be a burnished turd of a movie -clearly the weakest in the franchise. :lol:


Parking the Liberty Belle and making it Tiana's permanent greet spot would seem to make sense IF part of multi-layered plan to bring 2+ attractions to the current TSI location.
I would miss TSI just because it is so unique, relaxing, and fun. But if it needs to go for sake of something grand I can live with it.

I would like tiana's place to not replace something existing, or have it added to pofq.

No the Utilidors are pretty much the basement of the Magic Kingdom, none of them are under the river but they do run around that area.



If by few feet deep you mean 4-5 at the most shallow point and 6-8 and the deepest yes....

Pic from http://www.bigfloridacountry.com/disney.htm

I thought it was that shallow around most of it. It took me a couple of seconds to recognize what I was looking at, great picture.

I too love the Liberty Belle and would hate to see it permanently docked. I can't help but wonder if the "grid" comment isn't related to TRON at all but rather related to the redirection of ped traffic with the removal of the old skyway station and the path going closer to HM.

Maybe they'll do something that would link ped traffic across the river to the island from the HM side and have another connection to Frontierland so there's an alternate path around the top of things completing a gridwork of pedestrian travel.

Just a thought

I can't really see a way that they could get a path between roa and the HM queue. They could put in a pathway between HM and small world and have to loop back over.

Well, while we are draining the river to create a tunnel to the island, why not move Fantasmic! to Tom Sawyer Island as well like it is in Disneyland and install World of Color at DHS?

While I'm joking, it could totally be possible...if the Magic Kingdom didn't have a nighttime parade route through the potential viewing area of Fantasmic :-\

It would be great to have something better at dhs, but f! would be hard to install at mk. A nighttime show would need to be able to seat a large amount of guests. A MK F! would need a viewing area about what illuminations has, there isn't nearly that much room around roa. Something else would be that no other park has two night ending shows, logistics would be killer.

Nothing but a bit of a low water table and the utilidors around the area.....yeah not a option.

I don't think the utildors will be much of a problem, they aren't near tsi.

As for he low water table, MK was built one level up. Any tunnel to tsi would be the on the same level as the utilidors. The biggest problem I can think of is where it will be located and how do guests get to it.

The only type of attractions disney is going to build are ones with known franchises. They announced this a couple years ago, this along with anything that is going to move merchandise. So anyone know what they can shoehorn into this area that is not a new IP.

Well if they are going to expand frontierland with existing franchises, it will be something modeled after Woody's Roundup. I doubt they are going to try out the Daniel Boone franchise they had back in the 50's.

 

[Fable McCloud]

I love the idea of a Who Framed Roger Rabbit ride/attraction!!

I adore that movie and god does it ever belong in DHS!
Well said to everything else!

 

[RSoxNo1]

We've got an ongoing discussion on our Facebook page regarding the Paintbrushes, I think they hide either 5 or 10. If it's 10, they would give guests up to 10 Fastpasses for either Splash or Thunder Mountain, so at most they were giving out 100 Fastpasses a day. Splash Mountain can certainly handle that, Splash has an hourly capacity of like 1800-2000 if I'm not mistaken, and 100 Fastpasses for Splash Mountain would potentially push back the Fastpass distribution time by at most, 10 minutes, but more likely, 5 minutes.

I really think this is a B.S. excuse, and wouldn't be surprised if it means one of the following:
1. They're cutting the paintbrushes entirely.
2. Splash is actually going down for a short refurb from 1/20-2/10, when Main Street Electrical Parade is going dark due to work in Frontierland
3. Tom Sawyer's Island is being prepped for a Raft Ride.

 

[Scuttle]

I really think this will continue in May. That's what the cast member told me. I even said for a second time " so you guys will be doing the paint brushes again"? And she said "Yes in May".