Latest Disney Fantasy Building Up to Reality

In April, Mickey Mouse will appear from the top of Tom Sawyer’s Island at Disneyland three times a night to create giant fountains, enormous flowers and visions of fantasy creatures projected onto screens of mist.

But for now, it is just one big construction site in Frontierland.

Since last September, crews have been working feverishly to create the new “Fantasmic!” show that will become a feature attraction at the Anaheim theme park this year. The moat around Tom Sawyer’s Island was drained, leaving the riverboat and pirate’s ship high and dry. Workers have built a new mill on the island and are installing a variety of special effects gizmos in the moat, more properly called the Rivers of America.

Barges sunk below the surface will rise for the show, creating waves, flames and pillars of mist. The construction site has been ringed with fencing that has holes cut in a few places to give visitors a peek at the work. It hasn’t attracted much attention, though.

“A lot of people really aren’t curious,” said publicist Diane Krupnak Turner. “They are more interested in the goings-on of fantasy at Disneyland than reality.”