Tom Sawyer Island

**Tom Sawyer Island** is an attraction in the Disney Parks' Frontierland.

## Backstory

Tom Sawyer Island is themed to the Tom Sawyer stories of American author Mark Twain, being set on *Jackson Island* from the books. In 1835 three boys named Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and Jim Harper ran-away to Jackson Island which they subsequently renamed to, "Tom Sawyer Island". The three had all been presumed dead and were hiding out on the island while playing pirate with Tom declaring himself, "The Black Avenger of the Spanish Main". Amongst their ranks would be a young Sam Clemens who befriended the boys and played with them on the island.

## Spin-offs

### Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island

This version of the attraction in Disneyland is themed to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, though their complete absence in the island storyline given on a newspaper article at the Raft dock suggests that these film elements exist only within the vivid imaginations of Tom and Huck's pirate games on the island.

## Connections

### Haunted Mansion

In the late 1990s, Imagineer Eddie Sotto had the idea to retheme Tom Sawyer Island, as a way to combine Pirates and the Mansion into one story. Historical pirate Jean Lafitte would have been the owner of the Haunted Mansion and the central figure of the retheme. The transformation never happened, but some remnants remain in New Orleans Square, such as the 1764 archway and the Pirate’s Lair attraction.. In the Haunted Mansion he is more frequently referenced in non-canon materials such as the comics by SLG where he was an ally to the mansion's founder William Gracey, in the 2003 film continuity where he was an affiliate of Captain Ambrose Gracey who built the mansion, or the audio-book Nuptial Doom where the sea-captain who owned the mansion was a compatriot of Lafitte. These are based on how in an unused concept for the mansion, catacombs under the manor entered through Lafitte's tomb would lead to a pirate's lair on Tom Sawyer Island.

Additionally in the non-canon Ghost Gallery storyline the dog from Fort Sam Clemens was an ancestor of the Hellhound in the Haunted Mansion while Wilson's Tavern was also visited by Little Leota.

### Phantom Manor

In the backstory of Phantom Manor, the Mark Twain Riverboat belonged to Rowan D. Falls, a suitor of Melanie Ravenswood killed by her father.

### Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island features many characters and entities from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. This includes the ghost of Davy Jones, a ship implied to have been destroyed by the kraken, bone cages of the Pelegostos Tribe, a chest labelled, "Blackbeard" and the pirates Pintel and Ragetti from the films who appear in their cursed state along with an unidentified imprisoned pirate seemingly suffering from the Aztec curse. It should be noted however that with the presence of Tom and Huck's tree fort and the island backstory emphasizing them going to the island to "play pirate" that these movie elements exist primarily within the boys' vivid imaginations.

The load-area for Pirates of the Caribbean is *Laffite's Landings* and is a boat-landing on the Blue Bayou. This naming choice might indicate a connection with Laffite's smuggling operations between Baratia Bay, through the bayou and into New Orleans. In Disneyland Paris, there is a portrait of Jean Lafitte seen in the possession of a citizen of Puerto Dorado on the isle of Isla Tesoro in the early 18th century. It is shown about to be auctioned off by the auctioneer pirate of *The Wicked Wench*and his enforcer Redd during the Wench's ransacking of Puerto Dorado. The nature of this anachronistic painting is yet unknown but might be the result of the supernatural.

## Trivia

* In Disneyland Paris Tom Sawyer Island inspired Adventure Isle in Adventureland and the design of Big Thunder Island in Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.disneyparkscripts.com/liberty-square-riverboat-magic-kingdom/
2. ↑ https://longforgottenhauntedmansion.blogspot.com/2010/09/jean-lafitte-and-mega-theme-temptation.html