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View Full Version : Pirates invade Tom Sawyer Island - Orange County Register, 1/27/07



Darkbeer
01-27-2007, 07:42 AM
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1556800.php

QuikQuote: Rob Doughty, Disneyland's spokesman, said the island will retain Walt Disney's original vision. Old concept drawings show pirate imagery, including Jolly Roger flags on the rafts used to get to the Frontierland island.
Pirate details will go in Tom and Huck's treehouse and Smuggler's Cove, keeping the rope and barrel bridges. Visitors will search for buried treasure on the island, while live pirate characters wander.
Margot Wright, an Anaheim resident since 1954 who lives about a mile away, said she worries the island will become too commercialized.
"I prefer to leave it just as an island. Why tie it into pirates? We've already got Pirates of the Caribbean and enough stuff in New Orleans Square," said Wright, 56.

Rkkm
01-27-2007, 03:09 PM
Sounds fun! No word on what will happen to the Fort, though. And to creating larger bathrooms. Hope that they can control the time that people spend on the island so that it is available to all who want to explore it. Maybe one idea will be to do away with the bathrooms!:D

Another Dimension
01-27-2007, 08:17 PM
1. Phase 1 sounds fun.
I know some 'purists' that won't like the changes, but the Ultra-purist in me knows that change is way of the Land. :cool:


2. Yaarrr! Send that Pirate band over to the Lair and re-hire the Bayou Brass and River Rascals for NOS! :D :D


3. Fort Wilderness and more... are the 'WDI hopefull' (http://www.mouseinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83674&garpg=4) Phase 2... :)

Katran
01-28-2007, 08:29 AM
I have to admit that I'm really looking forward to the changes. I went to Tom Sawyer Island once as a kid and was so unimpressed that I've never had a desire to go back. I went back once more to take one of my kids there, but she was equally unimpressed. But I love all things pirates (POTC and otherwise), so I can't wait to visit the new version of the island.

MadasaHatter
01-28-2007, 10:15 AM
I also am excited about the change as I have not visited TSI in for ever...and as PURIST shouldn't we opt for change everytime as Disney said (paraphrasing here) As long as there is imaginition left Disneyland will never be finished??? I think this looks like fun.....I agree bring back the RIVER RASCAL dudes....they rocked!!!!

madasahatter

pooh0200
01-28-2007, 04:29 PM
I am excited about this change I think my kids will love it.

Katlovett
01-29-2007, 03:05 PM
I wouldn't mind something pirate-y where the old closed-up fort is, particularly since it is on the other side of the island from Tom Sawyer/New Orleans Square area. And I would love it if they reopened the really long tunnel that ran from the fort to the shore.

Katprint

Lost Boy
01-29-2007, 04:45 PM
The sad thing about this is that the younger generation today doesn't even know who Tom Sawyer or Becky Thatcher or Huck Finn are. Let alone what "Whitewashing the Fence" even means. Why? Because the don't read anymore. Too busy playing video games or watching DVD's of the latest movies. So, with that said and being the reason for the change along with the franchise for Pirates, I don't mind the makeover as it will put some things on the Island that have been broken or closed for years. Anytime you can take something like that and fix it, that's fine. From what I hear the makeover will be made so that when the Pirates craze runs its course, things can be changed again, even back to Tom Sawyer Island with working birdges, interactive caves and a fort you can go in and play around with. That's all a good thing.

Katran
01-29-2007, 05:15 PM
My kids all love to read (as do I). We all know who Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, etc. are, but none of us finds their stories interesting. I can't speak for my kids as to their reason why, but for me it's just a matter of I don't really find that whole time period in history to be all that interesting. I'm far more interested in earlier time periods, including the "Golden Era" of piracy. For some people it's not that they don't know who these characters are, it's just that they aren't interested in them.

Katlovett
01-29-2007, 07:05 PM
My kids all love to read (as do I). We all know who Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, etc. are, but none of us finds their stories interesting. I can't speak for my kids as to their reason why, but for me it's just a matter of I don't really find that whole time period in history to be all that interesting. I'm far more interested in earlier time periods, including the "Golden Era" of piracy. For some people it's not that they don't know who these characters are, it's just that they aren't interested in them.

Also, some of the public schools seem to actively discourage reading the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn books due to racism/slavery issues. I personally believe that the books are a fairly typical historical example of how slaves and african-americans were regarded by caucasian people at that time but I understand that some people find the books offensive and don't want their children to read these books. I have similar feelings about many of the old sexist 1960's and 1970's movies (for example, the James Bond genre) which were creepy in their portrayal of women, so I can relate.

OTOH, the lyrics of the PotC song and pirates' historical bad behavior (robbery, rape, murder, etc.) could be considered offensive - like the racism and slavery in the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn books. I guess it all depends on how sensitive you choose to be, and about which issues.

Katprint

Katran
01-29-2007, 07:11 PM
Also, some of the public schools seem to actively discourage reading the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn books due to racism/slavery issues.


Yes, you're right. I hadn't thought of that (because I did read them in school), but I have heard that many schools have banned those books due to the complaints you mentioned.

And I think a lot of people in general nowadays, not just kids, aren't interested in "older" stories. They want new, new, new. The next big thing, not yesterday's classics (unless they're redone in a newer, bigger, more special-effects-laden format).

VickiC
01-29-2007, 08:07 PM
The reading level of both TS and HF is very high, around sixth or seventh grade which is older than the average kid I see playing on the Island. I don't believe Mark Twain wrote them as children's books, which may be why most children aren't familiar with them. I recall being assigned HF in high school.

I try to get my kids to read the classics, my second grader is currently reading Charlotte's Web and recently finished Black Beauty, but there's also a lot of excellent children's books released in the last few years that she finds very relevant to her life now and she needs to read those to.

mamatojade
01-30-2007, 10:09 AM
On another board, I think that I saw that TSI was being closed down for refurb and as a result Fantasmic would end as well. Has anybody else heard this?

samsma
01-30-2007, 10:22 AM
Yes that's correct. TSI and Fantasmic will both be DARK until sometime in May. You might want to check the refurb list on this weeks DLR update.

ScottDisneyFan
01-30-2007, 10:28 AM
On another board, I think that I saw that TSI was being closed down for refurb and as a result Fantasmic would end as well. Has anybody else heard this?

Yes.

Darkbeer
01-30-2007, 12:06 PM
The Last Fantasmic! is February 12th.

It is listed as being closed at Disneyland.com, so it is official.

Darkbeer
01-30-2007, 12:07 PM
By the way, Al Lutz describes the new Pirates' Lair in more detail in today's article...

http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al013007a.htm

disneyrox
01-30-2007, 02:53 PM
My 12 year old son just read Tom Sawyer last month - and not as an assignment for school - although he did buy them through the Scholastic Book Club form that the teacher sent home.

This past weekend, we went to TSI for the first time and he thought it was very cool to go into Injun Joe's cave.

houseofmouse
01-30-2007, 03:13 PM
I am probably more excited than my kids about the island change!! What fun something fresh and different will be. I am glad they are keeping it Tom Sawyer and not a total POTHC theme. :)

cstephens
01-30-2007, 04:37 PM
So I'm the only one who's been tired of the pirates craze, which will continue for some time given all the changes and the new movie coming out this year...

Katran
01-30-2007, 07:36 PM
I know that you're not the only one who feels that way. I've seen plenty of other posters on here complain about it. I personally disagree, just because I can't get enough of pirates stuff in general and I've been that way all my life. But rest assured, you do have plenty of supporters. :)