Pirates May Kidnap Tom Sawyer

The Pirates of the Carribean movie franchise has been spectacularly successful, and its namesake ride at Disneyland has been getting huge crowds since they spiffed it up with Jack Sparrow and other characters from the movie (previous ride review here). Disney has a history of replacing old rides with new ones based on current movies. The Swiss Family Robinson treehouse was rethemed for Tarzan, and the submarine ride (based on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) is currently undergoing transformation to a Finding Nemo theme (it opens next summer). Now there's word that Tom Sawyer's Island, a fixture since 1956, will be rethemed for Pirates of the Carribean:

Goodbye, Tom Sawyer. Ahoy, Capt. Jack Sparrow.

If Disney film execs have their way, a "Pirates of the Caribbean"-themed attraction reportedly will take over Tom Sawyer Island – a Disneyland playground designed by Walt Disney himself.

The Disney watchdog Web site, miceage.com, reported Wednesday that the island, which began in 1956, will be updated. Disneyland officials refused to confirm or deny the news.

"We're always looking at ways of doing things differently. It could happen. Or it could not," Disney spokesman Bob Tucker said.

Theme-park attendants board rafts to get to the island featuring caves, secret passageways, tunnels and rope bridges – all inspired by Mark Twain's books.

In 2003, Disneyland rehabilitated many of the island's features to make them safer, said Al Lutz, the Web site's editor.

"The island is just a shadow of what it used to be," Lutz said.

Lutz said executives, who cashed in on movies based on the Disneyland ride, are pushing for the island makeover in time for the third movie's release next year.

That would probably be a brilliant move, though they'll have to do some serious planning regarding access to the island and capacity. They used to pack the rafts chock full of folks for the trip over and back, but due to safety concerns, they now only fill them about halfway. This can make for a long wait on a busy day. Given the attendance at the Pirates ride, they're going to have to come up with a better way to get people over and back.

They've also cut back a lot of stuff that kids used to be able to do on the island. The fort has been closed after a kid lost a finger in one of the toy rifles, and the island is pretty boring these days. It's still a good place to let little kids burn off some energy running around, but it could use a makeover. The last time we were over there we shared the ride back with a pre-teen girl who had an egg over her eye the size of a golf ball. She had walked into one off the low hanging rock outcroppings. Poor kid.

If they end up putting a Pirates theme over there, it will be hugely popular, and not just with the little kids.