Tom Sawyer

[Mike]

Tom Sawyer - songfacts

I won't deny it, I'm a big Rush fan. Although Tom Sawyer is not my favorite Rush song... it's in my top ten. A great beat, energetic, fast and furious and ... wow the drum work is no doubt phenominal. A staple of rock radio over the decades, possibly an overated song, however it does open more tours than any other Rush tune since Moving Pictures release.

But it's the subject of the song, a Rebel, a creation of Mark Twain. That's what I've come here to spotlight today, and the place that Walt Disney created to commemorate this character.

TOM SAWYER ISLAND

My son loves this place. One of his highlights of Disneyland!

We spent a while there quite recently.

What better place to escape back to the adventure, imagination and mystery of discovery through exploration than Tom Sawyer Island?

All the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips. There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step. The locust trees were in bloom and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. Cardiff Hill beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation, and it lay just far enough away to seem a delectable land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.

That’s how Mark Twain the world of his first novel.

Opened: June 16, 1956

Authentic looking rafts are the only transportation to Tom Sawyer island. Step onboard and enjoy the ride as you float to your destination. Bordered by a muddy river, the old west, and an untamed frontier, Tom Sawyer Island is the most remote location in Disney’s Magic Kingdom. What better place could there be for kids’ (or adults’) imaginations to run wild. Tom Sawyer Island is a frequently misunderstood attraction, often host to guests hurriedly looking all over to find out why they bothered to take that raft across the river. What these visitors don’t know is that it is in that search that the magic of the island unfolds. It’s as if you, in crossing the river, become Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn in search of some fabled buried treasure. You wander through a separate world which takes as its inspiration the literary works of Mark Twain. Twain, America’s most celebrated writer relived in books his childhood home on the Mississippi. Works like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn draw the reader, no matter his or her age, into a charming place and time. With the creation of Tom Sawyer Island, Walt Disney wanted to draw the guest into a fantasy world which has been lost to time, and it is in that escape that Tom Sawyer Island finds its very soul.

Explore the paths, waterfalls, bridges, caves, the fort and the old mine.

In the early years of the Park, the Rivers of America was stocked with catfish and fishing was allowed off the docks of “Tom Sawyer Islandâ€.

The maiden voyage of the “Mark Twain†(The Riverboat that circles Tom Sawyer Island) was made before opening day, during Walt’s wedding anniversary celebration.

The “Columbia Sailing Ship†was the first three-masted windjammer built in the United States in over one hundred years. You may also visit below deck to view the galley and living quarters in the ship's museum. The Columbia is also used during the nighttime spectacular ‘Fantasmic’

At nighttime, the south end of Tom Sawyer Island, as well as the water that surrounds it, becomes the stage for Fantasmic!, a show featuring fountains, fireworks, lights, lasers, live dancers, costumed characters, and a large helping of special effects, not to mention the Mark Twain and the Columbia. Fantasmic!, a show about Mickey Mouse's imagination, has proved to be so popular that the walkways around the river were terraced, giving guests a better view of the show. This complex show, performed two or three times on summer and holiday evenings, requires over 100 performers and technicians and features moments from several Disney films. Of particular note are three 30-foot screens of mist, on which film clips are projected as part of the show.

Mark Twain Riverboat

(Opened: July 17, 1955)

Experience a full-circle cruise tour of the Rivers of America around Tom Sawyer Island upon this steam-powered stern-wheeler paddlewheel boat. It’s a delightful and relaxing journey that brings the past to life. The Riverboat is one of Park's original 17 attractions.

[Tenacious_Peaches]

Mike, that's awesome. Informative stuff. I love Mark Twain and I was obsessed with Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn when I was younger. I always imagined myself as Becky Thatcher and that Tom would go to all that trouble to impress me. What can I say, I had a vivid imagination when I was a kid.

I know you guys had fun exploring the island. Your son will remember that for the rest of his life.