Tom Sawyer Island Fort?

[Artoo]

In WDW, when we were on our Honeymoon, my DH was soooooo excited about the fort on Ton Sawyer's Islnad (the one with all the lookout towers and the guns you could shoot).
When we went to DLR a few weeks ago, we took the little raft to Tom Sawyer Island, walked around a bit (bring quite claustrophobic, I am not a fan of the caves) and saw what looked like the fort. It was fenced off though, and there was no way to get in. DH was pretty upset and pouted for about twenty minutes (awwwww.....).
My question is, is the "fort" actually operational? Was it just closed for refurbishment? Is it even intended for people to run around in and play in?
Anyone?

 

[Disney Wishes]

Last time i was there on the island (before it was a pirate theme) they had it all closed up. I asked the CM about it. He told me the wood was rotting and they couldn't let people in it. I understand your DH I always loved it as a kid and a teenager. All of my friends would hang out there looking for cute guys! Disney thought of using real subs so they would last a long time, but they didn't think of the wood rotting? I'm not buying it.

 

[pixiewings71]

It's closed indefinitely. It has major structural issues and they haven't put aside any money to refurb it, they may never reopen it. Which is sad....

 

[Sherry E]

Last time i was there on the island (before it was a pirate theme) they had it all closed up. I asked the CM about it. He told me the wood was rotting and they couldn't let people in it. I understand your DH I always loved it as a kid and a teenager. All of my friends would hang out there looking for cute guys! Disney thought of using real subs so they would last a long time, but they didn't think of the wood rotting? I'm not buying it.

I am glad to know my friends weren't the only ones - we ALSO used to hang out over on TSI and at the Fort as teenagers, looking for CUTE GUYS! I didn't realize it was such a meat market over there, but I guess a bunch of us had the same idea!!!

 

[DangerMouse]

Fort Wilderness has actually been rebuilt. They tore down the old structure and rebuilt it during the same time they installed the Pirates Lair theme. I talked to the Pilot of hte Mark Twain in April and he told us that they currently use it for staging purposes for Fantasmic and for some of the CM's that work on the island (Captain Jack & fellow pirates) and they have no plans to reopen it to the public at this point. Sad, I know.

 

[Hound 109]

I want to think that there's a public bathroom at the bottom of it as well.

& ladies.....the cute guys were on the other side of the park....riding SM & Teacups.

 

[Sherry E]

I want to think that there's a public bathroom at the bottom of it as well.

& ladies.....the cute guys were on the other side of the park....riding SM & Teacups.

We looked in those places, too! But for some reason, we convinced ourselves that the best place to find the cute boys was over on the Island!

 

[pixiewings71]

Fort Wilderness has actually been rebuilt. They tore down the old structure and rebuilt it during the same time they installed the Pirates Lair theme. I talked to the Pilot of hte Mark Twain in April and he told us that they currently use it for staging purposes for Fantasmic and for some of the CM's that work on the island (Captain Jack & fellow pirates) and they have no plans to reopen it to the public at this point. Sad, I know.

Really? In July (or maybe June) our Pilot told us it was structurally unsound. I wish they would just reopen it then.

 

[bumbershoot]

I want to think that there's a public bathroom at the bottom of it as well.

Every time I've tried to use the bathroom it's been closed.

But in someone's trip report the Dis'er showed a pic of the hand dryer in the bathroom on the Island. It's one of those really cool Dyson-created air "blade" things that I just recently discovered at an airport, so it stayed in my mind.



FWIW, the top level of the ship structure on the island is fairly cool. Has those talk/listen tubes so you can chat with others elsewhere, and the tunnels/caves are more than I expected, once I finally found them.

 

[Disney Wishes]

I want to think that there's a public bathroom at the bottom of it as well.

& ladies.....the cute guys were on the other side of the park....riding SM & Teacups.

Well that explains it then. You and your friends were keeping all of the cute guys to yourself. Ahh...goodtimes hanging out there.

Just got back from DL now. Went for a couple of hours and had lunch with DH. He works real close. I love that we can do that. Like a mini date night!

 

[PinkBudgie]

Don't miss that first cave to the left when you get off the raft. There are some very cool interactive things inside! There were also some telescopes up high somewhere. I forget where, but we took pictures of us using them. There is also a treasure pile and bone cage!

I remember being 4 years old and getting beef jerky at the fort. I noticed that CMs went in and out this past summer so I assumed it was now a place for island CM to go.

 

[tinkcollector]

Actually, I know a completely different story about the closure of the Fort. About ten'ish years ago a child got his/her finger caught in the gun that was in the elavated gun rooms on the corners of the Fort. The child lost part of thier finger. Due to this incident and the law suit the guns were removed. Then we had "911" and the entire Island was shut down due to terriost threats. At that time the caves were changed and the Fort never re-opened because of safety (too many hiding places for bad guys.). The Fort was mostly dismantled, new bathrooms constructed and has been used for CM's that perform Fantasmic ever since.