Tom Sawyer Island

Description And Comments

Tom Sawyer Island is a getaway within the park. It has hills to climb; a cave, windmill, and pioneer stockade (Fort Langhorn) to explore; a tipsy barrel bridge to cross; and paths to follow. You can watch riverboats chug past. It’s a delight for adults and a godsend for children who have been in tow and closely supervised all day.

Touring Tips

Tom Sawyer Island isn’t one of the Magic Kingdom’s more celebrated attractions, but it’s one of the park’s better-conceived ones. Attention to detail is excellent, and kids revel in its frontier atmosphere. It’s a must for families with children ages 5–15. If your group is made up of adults, visit on your second day or on your first day after you’ve seen the attractions you most wanted to see.

Although children could spend a whole day on the island, plan on at least 20 minutes. Access is by raft from Frontierland; two operate simultaneously, and the trip is pretty efficient, although you may have to stand in line to board both ways. A St. Clair Shores, Michigan, family made an unplanned visit:

My 5-year-old son needed to run off some energy and he kept bumping into people in the crowded streets of Frontierland, so we veered from the touring plan and took the raft to Tom Sawyer Island. I thought it was a playground (we never bothered to head there before), but it was the coolest area to explore for our whole family! Unlike the Boneyard at Animal Kingdom, Tom Sawyer Island was truly an attraction. Very few people were there, which meant I got amazing pictures of my kids without strangers in the background, and the buildings, tunnels, and fort were so fun to explore! My kids asked to go back here the next day, and we did!