The Construction of Star Wars Land has undoubtedly caused quite a lot of disturbance in the normal operating procedures over at Disneyland. Most noticeable being the closures of park staples such as the Mark Twain Riverboat, The Disneyland Railroad and Tom Sawer’s Island. While these are not attractions that Gabe and I went on every park visit, they were definitely missed.

It comes as no surprise then, that Gabe and I were so excited when it was announced that Tom Sawer’s Island was once again open to the public! We made our way over to Disneyland as soon as we possibly could to check it out. In fact, we made a special trip just to go on the island! As we made our way through Adventureland, we came upon the familiar sight of people on the rafts being ferried across the river. We immediately jumped in line to cross for ourselves.

We were both so excited to run around and rediscover all of the things that the Island has to offer. We immediately made our way to the stage at the front.

As we traveled farther around, we got a very good view of construction being done on Star Wars Land as well as on the Rivers of America and the new Railroad track.

Next, we stumbled upon Smuggler’s Cove. We truly acted like a couple of kids as we ran across the rope bridge, turned the wheel to pull the skeleton out of the water, and climb around in the bone cage. I forgot how much fun that area could be!

I think it is safe to say that we walked around every inch of that Island! We climbed as far up as you could go and got some pretty nice views of Fronteirland,  Splash Mountain and Space Mountain!

Fort Wilderness is still closed unfortunately. But you can still use the restrooms that are attached to the side!!!

As you walk on you can see construction of the Hungry Bear Restaurant and the loading dock for the canoes!

The highest point you can get on the island is Huck’s treehouse!

The last thing we did before we departed the Island for the day was to explore the caves known as Dead Man’s Grotto.

As we walked through the caves, we looked into all of the peek-ins. In one, there was a treasure that you could never touch… no matter how hard you tried. And all the way along, you could hear the ominous heartbeat that seemed to grow louder the closer you got to the Dead Man’s Chest!

It’s funny how sometimes you don’t realize how much you missed something until you go back to it again. That is exactly what happened when Gabe and I went back to Tom Sawer’s Island. With how busy the park can get at times, Tom Sawer’s Island is a calm little respite from the crowds. One of my favorite views is looking at New Orlean’s Square from the Island, and I think to myself how thankful I am that I am out of that crazy crowd, if only for a little while.

There were not huge changes to the island. Many very small things only some major Disney fans would notice. The graveyard behind Fort Wilderness was gone and the island did feel a tad shorter. I only wish they had done some upgrades to some of the special effects they have inside the caves. Upgrade the pirate who is locked up possibly. The scare and skeleton hand inside one of the treasure peek ins was completely broken. Although the island was closed, it really doesn’t seem like they were too concerned with plussing it. It would be nice to see the island get some love in the near future! Possibly some new interactive elements for kids, although the entire island itself is one giant interactive element.