Tom Sawyer Island

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Amy
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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by Amy » May Sun 16, 2010 10:37 am

boilerbabe wrote:Thanks for sharing Amy! When B-dude and I go again, we've always wanted to do rope drop at MK, this would be a good day to head over to the island!!!
We've never been for rope drop either, and to combine the two - rope drop and Tom Sawyer's Island great paint brush hunt - that is a good idea :D

JimB
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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by JimB » May Mon 17, 2010 10:24 am

I've also been told that near the partially whitewashed fence and in the bucket in the well by the fort are favorite "hiding" places. I'm not sure but I don't think it opens with the park. I kind of remember having to wait for the first rafts to start running. You might want to doublecheck opening times before planning. Maybe that's why we haven't found any paintbrushes yet. :cry:

Brian845
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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by Brian845 » May Mon 17, 2010 2:40 pm

MadEye wrote:To the OP: The current Fantasyland will still be available (Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, Snow White's Scary Adventure, Dumbo [we'll have to see if they open the new Dumbo area before they close the original], Tea Cups, etc.) will be available during the expansion construction. It won't be closed. Mickey's Toontown Fair on the other hand will be demolished... if it hasn't been cut from the budget, of course. We'll see in a few months.
Toontown Fair was especially amusing for my little kids (who will be 7 and 5 on our next trip). They enjoyed playing on the playground in particular, and I'm guessing that Pooh's Playful Spot will be gone as well, so we will miss having a playground at MK for our next trip.

theBIGyowski
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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by theBIGyowski » May Mon 17, 2010 2:51 pm

Brian845 wrote:Toontown Fair was especially amusing for my little kids (who will be 7 and 5 on our next trip). They enjoyed playing on the playground in particular, and I'm guessing that Pooh's Playful Spot will be gone as well, so we will miss having a playground at MK for our next trip.
I think there is a small playground for kids at Splash Mountain. They use it to help with child-swapping when parents want to ride Splash Mountain. I doubt the 7 year old would want to play there...but the 5 year old might still enjoy it. They would have a blast on Tom Sawyer Island though with all the caves and such. That's one thing I hate is that I didn't get to go to WDW between the ages of 4 and 16...so I missed all of the fun stuff that elementary school kids love.
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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by NaCler » May Mon 17, 2010 3:24 pm

theBIGyowski wrote:I think there is a small playground for kids at Splash Mountain. They use it to help with child-swapping when parents want to ride Splash Mountain. I doubt the 7 year old would want to play there...but the 5 year old might still enjoy it. They would have a blast on Tom Sawyer Island though with all the caves and such. That's one thing I hate is that I didn't get to go to WDW between the ages of 4 and 16...so I missed all of the fun stuff that elementary school kids love.
Yep, the playland is under the train bridge next to the queue for Splash Mountain. A glorious place that occupied my 2 year old for awhile on our last trip. It's posted for kids 2-5yo. But there were MANY older kids on it and it got frustrating as they kept knocking down the little kids. :x

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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by Mouseoholic » May Mon 17, 2010 7:29 pm

JimB wrote:I've also been told that near the partially whitewashed fence and in the bucket in the well by the fort are favorite "hiding" places. I'm not sure but I don't think it opens with the park. I kind of remember having to wait for the first rafts to start running. You might want to doublecheck opening times before planning. Maybe that's why we haven't found any paintbrushes yet. :cry:
You are right JimB. The first raft is usually around 10:00 a.m. This is why we have never been there in time to find a paint brush. It is such an odd time and we are usually in the middle of making it on the major attractions.

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MmeLeota
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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by MmeLeota » May Thu 27, 2010 1:49 pm

Wow! I've never heard of this paintbrush thing before. Does it only work for kids or can kids-at-heart participate too? Does anyone know if they do this at DL too?

We usually head to TSI in the afternoon for a nice walk around the island...but there's no restaurant or anything at DL. We haven't gone over in recent years because the change made during the whole pirate invasion kinda annoyed us.

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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by momeja » May Thu 27, 2010 3:16 pm

I've heard they add paintbrushes throughout the day so that it's not just the first people who get them. Of course, we've never found one either, so that rumour may not be true...

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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by horizons1 » May Thu 27, 2010 3:50 pm

I think the island is a great stop on that side of the park. No need to spend a long time there. I always like the caves.
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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by Future Guy » May Thu 27, 2010 3:58 pm

The island is a nice place. It never seems to be that crowded, and it's nice and shady. I wouldn't worry about missing out on a lot of stuff during the Fantasyland work, though. Most of the construction is being done in places not currently occupied by anything. The way I understand it,they'll complete the construction in the vacant area between the old Ariel's Grotto and the railroad tracks before closing down Toontown for that part of the overhaul. The existing Fantasyland attractions (Small World, Peter Pan, et. al.) will remain open.

Amy
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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by Amy » May Thu 27, 2010 8:27 pm

MmeLeota wrote:Wow! I've never heard of this paintbrush thing before. Does it only work for kids or can kids-at-heart participate too? Does anyone know if they do this at DL too?

We usually head to TSI in the afternoon for a nice walk around the island...but there's no restaurant or anything at DL. We haven't gone over in recent years because the change made during the whole pirate invasion kinda annoyed us.
From what I have seen online, this is a WDW thing only and random at best. I would guess maybe it is more common in the busy season? One of the blogs also mentioned hidden plastic gems...

MmeLeota
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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by MmeLeota » May Thu 27, 2010 8:31 pm

Amy wrote:
MmeLeota wrote:Wow! I've never heard of this paintbrush thing before. Does it only work for kids or can kids-at-heart participate too? Does anyone know if they do this at DL too?

We usually head to TSI in the afternoon for a nice walk around the island...but there's no restaurant or anything at DL. We haven't gone over in recent years because the change made during the whole pirate invasion kinda annoyed us.
From what I have seen online, this is a WDW thing only and random at best. I would guess maybe it is more common in the busy season? One of the blogs also mentioned hidden plastic gems...
Hmm...it might be something to check out anyway...I like scavenger hunts!!! :wink:

nicklesm17
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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by nicklesm17 » May Fri 28, 2010 5:17 am

not alot to do, but a good escape from the crowds, plenty of shade. nice barrel bridge, trails, fort, view of thunder mountain railroad, and plenty of hiddn passages, caves, and trails to explore. we always spend a half hour or so there, its a nice breather.

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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by Future Guy » May Fri 28, 2010 7:53 am

It's also a good place to play checkers :)

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Re: Tom Sawyer Island

Post by kcookiebaker » May Mon 31, 2010 9:47 am

I love these forums...I had no idea there was a paint brush contest and reward..the last time I went the caves were very dark and I plowed into a wall and promptly went into panic mode. I used to like getting bread at Aunt Polly's and feeding the ducks...but I gather that would be a thing of the past.

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