Haunted Mansion and Tom Sawyer Island Rumors

[ztbz]

Anybody remember the name of the other riverboat at WDW? I was told that it was damaged beyond repair back during in the 1970's or early 80's and at that time Disney decided not to fix it. It too bad that Disney won't pay to fix the problem with Liberty Belle or build a New Riverboat.

 

[Horizons16]

Anybody remember the name of the other riverboat at WDW? I was told that it was damaged beyond repair back during in the 1970's or early 80's and at that time Disney decided not to fix it. It too bad that Disney won't pay to fix the problem with Liberty Belle or build a New Riverboat.

Well the Belle USED to be called the Robert F. Irvine before 1996. As far as the other Steamer I couldnt find that. Thought it was a fun little trivia thing to post about Irvine though.

 

[Dznefreek]

This seems to be more the reason -

The LibertyBelle was taken for it's annual rehab (boiler inspection, deck teaking, etc) back in September. It was to be out of service for about 2 weeks, but they decided to do a full refurbishment on it. It has been in service since 1994 and has never had a full rehab (just the mini rehabs). There is some work that needs to be done on the hull itself so it should be out of service until about May of 2006. It is currently behind Big Thunder Mountain at the wet dock (the train bridge swings open and the boat can pass through). They will be moving it to Dry dock (where they can fully remove it from the water) behind the Contemporary, via tugs across the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake, as soon as they can get the hull secured.

 

[Horizons16]

Dznefreek, I saw that you posted where is says last poster. I half expected there to be 3 or 4 pictures of the Belle in dry-dock

ETA: Click here and you can see the area that he was talking about. Im not sure when these were taken, but I went to look at Epcot and Mission: SPACE was there but it didnt look like Soarin even started construction. The lagoon contruction on 20,000 also had not started. Also if you look close, it looks like there are 2 Mike Finks there that were talked about earlier in the thread.

Have fun with this and click all around.

~Steve

 

[Dznefreek]

Dznefreek, I saw that you posted where is says last poster. I half expected there to be 3 or 4 pictures of the Belle in dry-dock

Give me some time . . . .

 

[Horizons16]

He has spoken.

 

[MommyBoo!]

We took the VMK tour while we were there in October and the Haunted Mansion was part of the tour. Our guide told us that they had been trained for the POTC recently as that would replace the HM part of the tour as the HM would be closed for repairs over the holidays. She said it would be closed for at least 4 months.

 

[wdw4us2]

Both of these are WDW problems. the Riverboat at DL is called the Mark Twain, the Riverboat in Florida is the Liberty Belle.

Actually, the Liberty Belle is the current name of the WDW Riverboat. It was originally called the Admiral Joe Fowler Riverboat.

 

[Horizons16]

thought it was the Irvine....

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

The Admiral Joe Folwer was the 2nd Riverboat that was "damaged beyond repair" at an unfortunate Dry dock incident.

The Richard F. Irvine "is" the Liberty Belle. The Irvine was striped down and rebuilt into the Liberty Belle (which began service in 1994). The crew keeps an old Richard F Irvine life preserver in the hull (at the hatch that is in the engine cage) for good luck.

The Admiral Joe Fowler was a double stack (like the Mark Twain at DL) as opposed to the Irvine/Belle which is a single stack. Here is a link to a great picture of the old Folwer (note that this was taken pre-Tom Sawyer Island/Big Thunder Mountain)...and the Irvine.

Fowler: http://www.disneypix.com/Pana-Vue/D...DW-302 - Riverboat Admiral Joe Fowler.jpg.htm

Irvine: http://www.disneypix.com/MagicKingdom/LibertySquare/1991a/LS1191-10.htm

Here is the Liberty Belle, Just for reference: http://www.disneypix.com/MagicKingdom/LibertySquare/2001b/LS-1016-02.htm

Just a side note, after both the Fowler and Irvine were no longer on the Rivers of America they reused the names on the Ferry Boats for MK... They are the Admiral Joe Fowler, Richard F Irvine and the General Joe Potter.

 

[Horizons16]

thats what I thought...

thanks for the links too... interesting to see how undeveloped it looked.

 

[stevenpensacola]

I have NEVER been to tom sawyer's... I never really got the point of it...


Is it just an island with a fort or something?... It seems like an awful large amount of land

Tom Sawyer's Island is a ten-year-old boy's dream come true!

 

[padams]

HM was running during Thanksgiving week with no apparent problems.

 

[LoveWDW]

I hope the HM is running when we get there. We don't go on any of the fast or rough rides, HM is the high point.

 

[All Aboard]

HM is running. The old motor was reinstalled.

 

[psiprez]

HM is running. The old motor was reinstalled.

My trip is coming up soon. I hope that old motor can hold on until then...