The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (52 page)

Guests are not allowed to enter
Fort Wilderness
or to pass beyond it or
Pirate’s Lair
.  The northernmost reaches of the island are off limits.  They contain Cast areas (such as the raft landing for Cast Members and supplies) and attractions like
Audio-Animatronic
wildlife and the
Settler’s Cabin
that are meant only to be seen from the decks of the
Mark Twain
and the
Sailing Ship Columbia
, the canoes, or the passenger cars of the
Disneyland Railroad
.

The
Settler’s Cabin
was known for most of its existence as the
Burning Settler’s Cabin
.  It really was on fire, but in a safely engineered
Disneyland
way.  When you view it now from aboard ship, it’s no longer ablaze and in fact has a homey, pleasant look, isolated as it is, with laundry flapping on the line, a horse tethered nearby, a watering can in the yard.

Although
Tom Sawyer Island
includes the amenities of rest rooms and water fountains, part of the island’s charm is that it lacks any stores or restaurants.  It’s consequently as close to unspoiled wilderness as you’ll find in the park.

Most of the trees and flowers on the island are real, but the island itself and
almost everything on it, including
Dead Man’s Grotto
, the tree supporting
Tom & Huck’s Treehouse
, and the networks of caves threading
Castle Rock
, are all completely man-made.  Despite its rustic ambiance, this isle is a high-tech construction with multi-level secret chambers that house the equipment, controls, and staging elements for the complex
Fantasmic!
show.

This attraction was very personal to
Walt
, and it was he who crafted its original design.  Like “Tom Sawyer” author Samuel Clemens (pen-named Mark Twain)
Walt
spent much of his boyhood in a small town in
Missouri
; for Clemens it was Hannibal; for
Disney
, it was
Marceline
.  In the book, Clemens fictionalized Hannibal as “St. Petersburg”, but it could just as easily have been
Marceline
. 
Walt
was familiar with “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
”
(published in 1876)
and the world that inspired it.

The Clemens classic con
tains a theme that resonates throughout
Disney
works and attractions: in a nutshell, the conflicting human thirsts for freedom and security, anarchy and order.

In
the novel, young
Tom
rejects civilization and commits to a life of crime.  Crushed after having been snubbed by Becky Thatcher, young
Tom
determines to run away from home and engage in a life of adventure and piracy.  Meeting up with pal
Joe Harper
, who has been unjustly accused of drinking up all the family’s cream, they decide to join forces and invite the always-up-for-trouble-and-adventure waif
Huckleberry Finn
to join them.

The trio meets at midnight, a suitable hour for mischief and desperate compacts, and
they greet each other by their pirate names. 
Tom
is “The Black Avenger of the Spanish Main”, Joe is “The Terror of the Seas” and Huck is “The Red-Handed”.  Their password is “Blood”.

They row a log raft over to Jackson’s Island–
that is, Joe and
Huck
row, while
Tom
shouts incomprehensible nautical commands gleaned from his voracious consumption of seagoing literature.  Jackson’s Island is an uninhabited oasis in the Mississippi River, located within eyeshot of St. Petersburg’s riverbank.

Eventually the homesick
boys return to the mainland during their “funerals,” both shocking and relieving the townspeople who welcome them home. 
Walt
, like Twain, appreciated the paradoxical aspect of boys’ nature and human nature, the endless curiosity and need for discovery balanced against cravings for stability and civilization.

Like
Tom
, Guests enjoy the island adventure—that chance to explore caves and wilderness—but eventually it’s time to go back to the mainland (probably to return another day). 
Tom Sawyer Island
is so iconic (and so much fun) that there is a version in
WDW
’s
Magic Kingdom
and at
Tokyo Disneyland
. 
Did You Know?
 
Walt
never did anything half-heartedly; this affectionate tribute to the world of Mark Twain and
Tom Sawyer Island
is, at least theoretically, part of the state of Missouri. 
Walt
made sure that real Missouri soil was included in the elaborate dedication when the attraction opened on June 16, 1956, and a boy named
Chris Winkler
, playing the part of
Tom Sawyer
, read aloud a letter from Governor Donnelly of Missouri to Governer Knight of California.  The letter asked California to deed
Tom Sawyer Island to
Missiouri.  A staffer from Knight’s office accepted the letter; however, in the May 19, 2011 “Ask Dave” column written by extraordinary
Disney
historian and archivist emeritus
Dave Smith
,
Smith
opines that Governor Knight never
officially
ceded the island to the “Show-Me State”.
Did You Also Know?
  If you like treehouses, you’re in luck, as
Disneyland
boasts three:  The
Chip ‘ n Dale Treehouse
in
Mickey’s Toontown
,
Tom & Huck’s Treehouse
on
Tom Sawyer Island
in
Frontierland
, and the most elaborate of them all,
Tarzan’s Treehouse
in
Adventureland
.
Did You Also Know?
  When it first opened,
Tom Sawyer Island
offered fishing on a portion of the river kept stocked with fish.  It was a fun idea, but Guests had no use for, and no idea what to do with, the fish they caught.  After a critical mass of reeking fish was found in trash cans and other places in the park, the practice was changed to catch-and-release and then discontinued altogether.
Double-take:
  You might hear middle-aged Guests reminiscence about seeing the live-action musical
Disney
film “Tom Sawyer” when they were kids in the early 1970’s.  You might even remember seeing it yourself.  The problem? 
Disney
never made a
Tom Sawyer
film until the 1995 live-action, non-musical
Tom and Huck
starring
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
and
Brad Renfro
.  What Guests are probably thinking of is the UA-MGM film “Tom Sawyer” released in 1973.  This colorful, musical rendering of key episodes from Twain’s novel has something of the feel of a
Disney
film, in part because
Disney
legends the
Sherman Brothers
wrote the screenplay and all of the songs and music.  The
Sherman Brothers
never wrote a bad song, but their musical numbers in “Tom Sawyer” aren’t of the caliber of, say, their Oscar-winning work for
Disney
’s
Mary Poppins
, and the film lacks the unmistakable
Disney magic
.  A critical mistake was having the actors croon their own songs.  Where the movie shines is as a portrait of youth’s exuberant craving for independence and wilderness.  Seeing the film in 1973 ensured that when our family made its 1976 trip to
Walt Disney World
, my brother and I were wild to visit the
Magic Kingdom
’s version of
Tom Sawyer Island
.  Loping around
Disney
’s immersive tributes to the world of
Tom Sawyer
in either
Disneyland
or
Walt Disney World
is far more rewarding than watching any film. 
Nostalgia Vision:
  How little has this delightful island changed over the years?  See for yourself by viewing
40 Pounds of Trouble
, the 1963 Tony Curtis film that features an elaborate chase scene through glorious Camelot-era
Disneyland
, particularly
Tom Sawyer Island
. 
Rain Vision: 
After it rains, the island’s paths of hard-packed earth become muddy and slippery.  So make sure you and your little ones watch your step–and don’t wear your brand new white sneakers to the island after it rains!
Night Vision:
  The island closes around sunset, and at night serves as a stage and staging area for
Fantasmic!
  (That’s why there’s an elevator and underground store rooms hidden below the island’s mill!)  In the past, some foolhardy Guests have tried to hide out on the island when darkness fell. 
Tom Sawyer
Cast Members are tasked with searching the island after hours to find truant Guests and return them to the mainland.  There have been two tragic fatalities linked to Guests who stayed after hours and otherwise disobeyed posted regulations on the island.  In 1973 an 18-year old and his younger brother hid on the island and then tried to swim back to the mainland.  The 18-year old drowned trying to carry his brother on his back.  A decade later, an 18-year old and his friends commandeered an emergency boat from a backstage area on the island.  The 18-year old drowned during the course of their journey back to shore. Take heed; follow all posted rules, and when the island closes, be on the raft back to the mainland. 
FastPass:
  No. 
FastPasses
are neither available nor necessary for enjoying this outdoor, self-guided attraction.  Rafts depart for the island every couple of minutes.  And no matter how crowded the park is, there’s always plenty of room on the island. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  It’s a fun island, but if you go on it too much it gets boring.  Little kids might get scared in the caves.  The treehouse and bridges are fun.  There’s a lot of fun stuff to do on
Tom Sawyer Island
!

Sailing Ship Columbia

[
FastView:
 
Brings to life the adventure and excitement of the old sailing ships.  Thrilling and educational, a must for pirates and explorers of all ages!
]

The
Sailing Ship Columbia
set sail on the
Rivers of America
in June of 1958.  This three-masted, steel-hulled windjammer, built in San Pedro, California, is based on the private vessel Columbia Rediviva, which was built in 1773, refurbished in 1787, and became, in 1790, the first American ship to circle the globe. 
Disneyland
’s
Columbia
is
Disney
’s nod to the United States’ post-Revolutionary War days, and to the frontier of the sea.

It
was
Joe Fowler
, a former U.S. Navy admiral and the organizational genius who oversaw the construction of
Disneyland
, who chose the Columbia Rediviva as a template for
Disneyland
’s sailing ship.  Appropriately enough, the
Sailing Ship Columbia
docks at
Fowler’s Landing
, near the
Harbour Galley
and
Mill View Lane
on the southwest banks of the
Rivers of America
.

Though
the
Columbia
docks at
Fowler’s Landing
, Guests board it at the same
Frontierland Dock
where they board the
Mark Twain Riverboat
.  Only operating on weekends and during peak seasons (summers and the holidays), the
Columbia
alternates with the
Mark Twain
in transporting Guests around
Tom Sawyer Island
.

Where the
Mark Twain
sweeps us back to the 19
th
century, the
Columbia
carries us to a more youthful time in our heritage, before we’d harnessed the force of steam power.  The
Columbia
reminds us of a time when sailors were at the mercy of the winds, and succeeded based on their courage,
sangfroid
and (a frequent phrase in
Disney
’s
Pirates of the Caribbean 3
) “the sweat of their brows.”