Tom Sawyer Island Stuff
Hooray for the Mysterious Benefactor! We really should send him a gift. Perhaps some Omaha steaks, or a Chia pet. As usual, we will enjoy another selection of Frontierland images from the very large batch that he so generously shared with us.
Here's a neat (and rare) look inside the caverns on Tom Sawyer Island - the sign on the wall tells us that this is the Chamber of the Bottomless Pit. My understanding is that, for a while, the Bottomless Pit had an echo sound effect - your own voice would reverberate back to you in the spookiest manner. Say rude words for added entertainment! I have no idea if this echo effect still works. Overhead, stalactites, formed by millennia of dripping water, create a cozy home for bats. Those bats will want to fly into your hair. Don't think about it.
This next one was so washed out that you could barely discern anything, but Photoshop helped. This family is walking through what I believe is another cave. Maybe this is the Cavern of the Unfortunate Aromas?
Rafts to Tom Sawyer Island? Don't mind if I do! Sorry, no strollers allowed. Or mini bikes. Notice that the sign has a lemon reamer (to the right), the kind of detail that only Walt Disney would insist upon. "I never want my guests to suffer from scurvy!", he famously said in his opening-day speech. Art Linkletter actually cried when he heard this part.
Speaking of rafts, the next three photos feature those simple watercraft. Like this fully-loaded example, which has just left the landing along the western shore (near the Haunted Mansion). To the left, a Keelboat.
Another Raft! I think it just left the Island, but Im not positive. The pilots of those rafts execute a tricky maneuver, spinning the thing around as it crosses the river. I'm always impressed by their perfect timing! If you're really lucky, the pilot might "pop a wheelie".
This next photo is very nice, though that giant structure, added for "Fantasmic!", really chaps my hide. Don't worry, I have some lotion, but that's not the point!
THANK YOU, Mysterious Benefactor!
19 comments:
Major-
""I never want my guests to suffer from scurvy!", he famously said in his opening-day speech".
Funny, I had memorized the Opening Day Speech some time ago, and that passage is oddly missing-! (Between you and me - Walt was less concerned about 'scurvy-suffering guests' and more concerned about his own imbibing pleasures - insisting lemon reamers be placed at the same intervals throughout the Park as trash cans, so the serving of mid-day cocktails could be had without flavor compromise-!) Walt... always thinking.
Thanks to the M B and The Major.
The first and second pic are both showing the "Bottomless Pit," which was a part of Injun Joe's Cave. The original Sleeping Beauty Castle had an echo effect like that in one of the little window displays. There was a hole in the wall next to the window that you could yell into and hear it repeated. I remember the paint was worn off around the hole from either people fingers touching it, or more likely from people's mouth's touching it......GROSS!
Security should have taken that little girl in the fourth photo, and ejected her from the park for standing on the railing of that raft! I don't get the parents who let their kids do such things. It's because of them that there will one day be a high wall around each of the rafts.....once they have their first case of a kid slipping between the rails and into the water.
Thank you MB and Major P.!
"Notice that the sign has a lemon reamer (to the right)" Yeahbut, it's facing downward. I guess yer supposed to stand underneath, with your mouth agape, and catch the citrus juice as it drips down?
"To the left, a Keelboat." And behind the Keelboat, the Columbia!
In the penultimate pic, is that a guest up there, in the background, above the Raft, wearing a red shirt and blue jeans? Maybe it's Cletus Arrowshirt, the settler whose cabin is ablaze. He finally avoided becoming a human pincushion!
There are at least four CM Raftsmen in the last pic. And whatdyaknow, they're all wearing identical red shirts with the sleeves 'ripped off' and patches in the same spots. They all must've got their shirts snagged on the same low-hanging tree branch.
Thanks to the Mysterious Benefactor, I hope you enjoy your Chia Pet. Funny commentary today, Major. Thanks.
I’m not sure how long the echo effect was used in the Bottomless Pit inside Injun Joe’s Cave , but since the late 70’s a recording of fierce winds and lightning is used in in the Bottomless Pit and the cry/scream used for the Snow White witch being pushed off the cliff in Snow White’s Scary Adventures.
That same style of Tom Sawyer Island sign was used into the early 80’s … with at least 3 variations .
Seeing anything about Tom Sawyers Island makes me think of the massive mistake Walt Disney World is about to make. Even Tokyo Disneyland is keeping their Rivers of America and Disneyland Paris is currently added many new Audio Animatronic scenes and vignettes to their Rivers of the Far West : all based on Marc Davis concepts that had been previously unused - including some for Western River Expedition!!
Disneyland Paris is currently added many new Audio Animatronic scenes and vignettes to their Rivers of the Far West : all based on Marc Davis concepts that had been previously unused - including some for Western River Expedition!!
Mike, just hearing that makes me very happy! :-)
I remember the day I finally worked up enough courage to go through Inj-, er, Native American Joe’s Cave (I was seven). The Tom Sawyer Island handout with the map had an entire entry on it and it really talked up the Bottomless Pit. When we finally got there, I gazed down into its endless, shadowy depths only to see a discarded drink cup resting at the bottom. Illusion ruined…but it also got me thinking about how they designed the illusion and how effective it would be if some jerk hadn’t dumped their drink in it.
Seven years later, I met a Boy Scout from Orlando on a bus at the XV World Scout Jamboree in Banff, Alberta. Somehow we got to talking about the Bottomless Pit at WDW’s Tom Sawyer Island, and he described how he and some friends had dropped to the bottom of it, found a smooth, dark concrete floor, an air vent blowing cold air upward, and a speaker playing the wind sound effects. He then said you could crawl down a short tunnel and come up in a backstage passage that paralleled the guest areas of the cave, allowing access to recessed light fixtures that dimly lit guest areas and terminated at one of those locked wooden “mineshaft doors” that opened into the main cave. He said that they would wait until someone was right next to the the door (there were cracks you could see through) and then smack it hard to startle them.
It was a great story that sounded plausible but I took it with a grain of salt - I was a teenage boy and knew that teenage boys can tell some whoppers to impress their friends. When I next visited WDW, I made a point of visiting the cave, and while I wasn’t going to risk getting ejected from the Park or finding out the hard way that it really was a bottomless pit, I did walk through with an eye on mapping what I was seeing to that story. Although I don’t really know what’s backstage there, from what I could see, it certainly could have been a true story.
The fourth photo illustrates the cause of a little-discussed medical problem common to many former Disneyland watercraft skippers - the dreaded “Tiller Butt.”
This may be the first time we’ve seen a photo from the Mysterious Benefactor showing the altar for sacrificing dragons.
Like TM!, I am heartened by the news from TDL & DLP about their Rivers of America. At least somebody somewhere besides us “gets it.”
Thanks again, MP & MB!
Fantasmic. Ugh. Sorry Barnette, I know it's your claim to fame, and made you a "Legend", but the little show you created became a monster...and then melted...I don't mind the show itself, albeit a bit "showy" for me, it's what it has done to the landscape, flow and design of the West side of the Park. That being said, Injun Joes Cave is right up there with Sleeping Beauty Castle as one of my favorite "rides" in the park. Boy did we howl and scream in that cave to scare kids! What horrible little hellions we were. I'm not sure if we experienced the echo effect, we had so much of OUR OWN echo effect you wouldn't have even heard it. I still have lumps on my head from knocking it against walls and ceilings in that durn cave. As a younger kid, that cave scared the beejeebees out of me....which ended in screaming and crying...and it never stopped from there. The way the employees twirl the raft is quite a feat...congrats to them. I've told the story about too many people and people screaming as the water came rushing over their feet...so hilarious. The best part of this ride was the "thump" as you hit the dock (gently) with the guests all reaching for something as it made them very very very slightly off balance. Good luck riding the subway you people....or Amtrak for that matter...both are unforgiving, but you learn how to balance a coffee, your laptop bag, and type on your phone through all of it. I agree that WDW has made a very very very big mistake. Aesthetically, and historically that is. Even environmentally. That big mass of water actually can cool you just looking at it. Disneyland can be hot. Walt Disney World can be downright oppressive and horrible. Anything to cool you down is good. Cars seem kind of "hot". Cars next to a bayou next to colonial America next to a Haunted Mansion....hmmm....sounds like California Adventure when it opened. I DO think that the guests will love it, and won't even care that the very beloved river is gone. "It was boring anyway". Those are not my words. Some things are meant to be thoughtful and beautiful. Progress. Thanks MB and Major!
The WDW suits are morons.
That's all I got for now...
The sad day draws nearer when we will have to travel to Japan to visit the Rivers of America.
I loved TSI and Injun Joes Cave, I grew up on those stories and it was wonderful to see those places come to life. I would love to grab a seat on a dynamite keg for another raft ride over there the way it used to be.
I’m glad that sign has a lemon reamer, as I would need a G&T afterward. Mental Note: Carry a lemon reamer in your 10 Essentials pack.
Thank you MB and Major for the look back.
JG
Nanook, you are probably seeing the edited opening day speech, they removed three curse words, the line about scurvy, and Art Linkletter’s loud boo-hooing.
TokyoMagic!, as I’ve said here before, I never went to Tom Sawyer Island until I was an adult, and by then things had changed. AND… not long afterwards, it changed even more to the “Pirate’s Lair” thing, which I’ve still never seen. I agree, the idea of that castle feature with paint worn off by thousands of mouths… yuck. Don’t worry, the little girl did not slip into the water. Her mother pushed her in! HARD FACTS.
TokyoMagic!, you are welcome.
JB, um, the lemon juice went into a glass. We’re not barbarians! I refuse to acknowledge the Columbia on this blog, henceforth. Well, OK, just today. I see that person with the red shirt and jeans, I’m wondering if it could be a pack mule rider. No idea, really. With so many other red shirts out there, you’d think the raftsmen could have patched their shirts with a swatch of red cloth. Maybe it was cool to use another color!
Mike Cozart, funny that they reused that “evil hag” scream in Injun Joe’s Cave, as we know from “Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted Mansion”, they had a whole library of old screams to choose from. I noticed that the TSI sign is similar (if not exactly the same) as a photo that you recently sent to me! I agree that WDW is making a huge mistake, but the general public won’t really care, they always want something new and novel. Very cool that Tokyo Disneyland has added all of those Marc Davis scenes to their River!
TokyoMagic!, me too.
Chuck, yeah, there’s always that small percentage of jerks who ruin things for the rest of us. The story about your fellow Scout and his adventure dropping into the Bottomless Pit is very interesting! I choose to believe it. Man, there is no way I would have “broken the rules” the way those guys did. I want to know the rest of the story, like how he got out of that backstage area without getting caught/ejected. Did they somehow climb back up the Bottomless Pit?? Maybe for those less criminally inclined, you could bring a small flashlight, wait until nobody else was around, and look down to see if a little side tunnel was apparent. “Tiller Butt”, much worse than carpal tunnel syndrome. “I had to give up playing the grand piano because of my chronic Tiller Butt”. I do believe we’ve seen the Fantasmic stage before, but it’s easy to block it out of our brains.
Bu, I’m with you, I don’t mind the actual Fantasmic show that much (it’s fine, but one viewing was enough), but it’s the effect the show has had on Frontierland and New Orleans Square. All that concrete, hours of huge crowds at night, etc. I love the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-thru; a few weeks ago I visited Enchanted Forest near Salem, Oregon. They have a walk-thru haunted house that is charming, lots of walking in pitch darkness, and then happening upon a dimly-lit scene. They don’t have Disney budgets, but I still enjoyed it a lot. If you’re ever in that neck of the woods, I recommend visiting. One of my main memories of the caves on TSI is scraping my head on the rough walls - to the point where blood was apparent. Ouch. They did not build the caves for people over 6 feet tall. I will sometimes watch the rafts from the shore just because I’m so impressed with the way they turn just so and hit the shore exactly as they should. Your point about the large body of water is a good one, and I always think the same thing about the Sub Lagoon, when that ride is eventually removed (it’s “when”, not “if”). I like the Radiator Springs Racers ride, but it bums me out that it was unique to California, and now they are just cloning it for Florida. Why go there if they have the same attractions?
Stu29573, how can you say that! ;-)
JG, while Tokyo Disneyland will still have their big River, they are planning on getting rid of their Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, and other things that I forget at the moment. Which kind of stinks. I need a Swiss Army Knife with a lemon reamer!
Disneyland Abu Dhabi! But like the Oriental Land Company...their pockets are very very deep, and will want to have the most amazing most fantabulous, most of most of most...and perhaps they will enjoy a Rivers of America? Anything is possible in Disneyland...but which one?
Major, if I’m remembering correctly, they had somebody in their party who didn’t drop into the pit help them back out.
Of course the Disneyland “bottomless pit” in Injun Joe’s Cave was barely 2 feet deep.
Major: while Tokyo Disneyland is keeping its RIVERS OF AMERICA , it’s Disneyland Paris that is adding all the new previously unused Marc Davis concepts to their RIVERS OF THE FAR WEST . My favorite is the WESTERN RIVER EXPEDITION Buffalos and PRARIE dogs after the stretch of the geyser plateau …
Also a return of the River Rogue Keelboats and their freight supply dock.
Bu, yeah I just saw that early this morning. I will be curious to see what they cook up for Abu Dhabi… isn’t it hot there? Like REALLY hot?
Chuck, it’s like the “designated driver” - the responsible person who didn’t get to have the fun!
Mike Cozart, is that true? I assumed it was at least 8 or 10 feet deep. Sorry about my misreading about the Marc Davis scenes. I do love that they are using some of those Western River Expedition concepts all these years later! And they still have Keelboats, wow!
Yeah, Major, it's hot there, but its a dry heat...
Swell pics today. I always enjoy MB stuff. As a kid we enjoyed TSI and I still like to get away from the crowds and just ignore the pirate overlay.
Thanks, Major P and MB
Zach
I love the Jr. Gs' personal tales of yore, today. Thanks to all!
zach, as long as it’s a dry heat! 140º will be no problem. I feel like (if I was smart, which I’m not) I should go to TSI the next time I’m at the park. I have a bad feeling about its future.
JB, I love ‘em too!
"I feel like (if I was smart, which I’m not) I should go to TSI the next time I’m at the park. I have a bad feeling about its future."
Yes, Major, I do think that's a wise decision.
Thanks, MB and MP, for a fun day on TSI.
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