Fun Find Friday
December 19, 2014
Location: Frontierland, Magic Kingdom
In 1876 one of the great
American novels was published. A little over
thirty years later, a young Walt Disney fell in
love with the story and eventually decided to
bring the story to life at Disneyland. The
story? The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
With Walt's beloved Marceline only being about 90
miles away from Mark Twain's beloved Hannibal, it's not surprising
that Walt felt a connection to the story of Tom Sawyer and his
adventures along the Mississippi River. Walt would end up bringing
Tom Sawyer Island to Disneyland a year after the park opened in
1956. Similarly, shortly after the Magic Kingdom opened, Tom Sawyer
Island became a permanent resident in the middle of the Rivers of
America on the East coast as well!
So where am I going with all of this? Within the
caverns, barrel bridges, and hidden pathways of Tom Sawyer Island in
the Magic Kingdom, guests can also explore a fort. The fort, which
is named Fort Langhorn, connects us back to where our Fun Find
began.

If you were to ask a random person who the author of
Tom Sawyer is, several people will proudly answer Mark Twain. Very
few people, however, will give you a different answer, which is just
as correct. While Mark Twain is the author of Tom Sawyer, the name
Mark Twain is actually his pen name. His real name? Samuel Langhorne
Clemens! To pay homage to Mr. Clemens, Imagineers named the Fort
after him in a very subtle way!
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Find Friday