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Many a child ran amuck on the shores of Tom Sawyer's Island over
the years…and many parents simultaneously enjoyed the benches
that lined those same shores. It's hard to imagine Disneyland without
Tom Sawyer's Island…but did you know…
In the early days of the Attraction, Disneyland had a child character
who would sit at the docks fishing, dressed like Tom Sawyer.
Although guests could see Tom Sawyer's Island across the waters
of Rivers of America on opening day (1955), they couldn't actually
access it until December of 1956.
There used to be two different docks giving access to Tom Sawyer's
Island.
The second dock, which gave access to the middle of the island closer
to Fort Wilderness, was closed in 1971.
The rafts take park guests on a one minute trip to the island, traveling
at 4 MPH. The rafts are powered by diesel engines…and no, they
are not on tracks.
In 2006 some of the rafts were renamed from Tom Sawyer Characters
(Huck Finn, Injun Joe and Becky Thatcher) to Pirates of the Caribbean
characters (Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, Captain Kidd) to match the new
pirate themed portions of the island.
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