Imagine going to Disneyland on that infamous opening day – July 17, 1955 – and experiencing Walt Disney’s magic for the first time in history. Now imagine going to Disneyland every day after that, for the rest of your childhood, playing the part of one of America’s most famous boys – Tom Sawyer. Let’s take this dream a step further and imagine working at Disneyland, on countless iconic attractions. Add in decades at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, and a cup of coffee in Disneyland Paris, and you’ve got a dream come true. Tom Nabbe did all these things and then some, enjoying an exciting career with Disney lasting almost half a century.
As part of our Disney Legends Spotlight series, let’s celebrate Disney Legend Tom Nabbe – Disneyland’s Tom Sawyer who turned a newspaper route into a remarkable life.
The Paperboy
The life of Tom Nabbe began in 1943 in Santa Barbara, California. But he didn’t spend too much time there. While still a young child, Tom’s family moved to Los Angeles, where Tom first flexed his entrepreneurial muscles. As a boy of about nine years old, Tom found some part-time work selling papers at the LA Coliseum on weekends during the football season. Tom wasn’t content with just a few extra bucks. He poured his Sunday paper profits into purchasing a bicycle, so he could have a full-time route.
Tom’s paper route was great while it lasted, but in 1954, his family moved to Anaheim. The rural nature of pre-Disneyland Anaheim couldn’t sustain a weekly paper delivery, but the neighborhood came with a heck of a view. Tom could ride his bike to the top of an overpass for the Santa Ana Freeway and watch a construction crew build Disneyland right before his eyes.
Tom did manage to get a Sunday route in his neighborhood to make a little bit of cash, and the enterprising entrepreneur made a deal with the local distributor, where he was able to keep any extra unsold papers. Tom promptly rode over to the Disneyland construction site, to sell papers to workers coming off their night shifts.
Tom salivated at the sight of Disneyland rising from the Anaheim orange groves, and couldn’t wait to get inside the gates and explore Walt’s Wonderland for himself. His chance came sooner than he could ever have wished.
While selling his Sunday papers, Tom met Ray Ahmedt, a Disneyland vendor who put together a monthly news publication for Disneyland – appropriately called the Disneyland News. Ahmedt offered the ever-ambitious Tom a gig selling copies of the Disneyland News to guests outside the park, with a key incentive – if Tom sold 100 copies of the paper outside the park, he could sell more copies inside the park for the rest of the day. That was Tom’s daily ticket into Disneyland.
Becoming Tom Sawyer
Tom’s daily entrance into Disneyland certainly had its privileges. Most mornings, Tom and a few other enterprising kids got to drive the Autopia cars in Tomorrowland, helping to line them up for the day ahead. But more importantly than playing in the park was the common sight of Walt Disney – the master architect of imagination himself – walking the grounds. Walt was all over Disneyland in those early years, before he got too famous to hide (and too busy to spend more time there).
During that first year in Disneyland, Tom caught wind of a new development. Walt was building an island to celebrate Tom Sawyer – one of the great American literary heroes. Being a twelve-year-old boy with red hair, freckles, and a straw hat, Tom Nabbe looked perfectly the part to play the island’s namesake for guests in the park. He just needed to convince Walt. Tom found Walt, introduced himself, and asked about playing the part of Tom Sawyer. Walt didn’t say yes. But as Tom is quick to point out, he didn’t say no either. He said he’d think about it.
For the better part of a year, Tom nagged Walt – at one point causing the boss to exclaim “Why should I put you on the island when I can put a mannequin there? Especially considering the dummy won’t be running off for hot dogs every half-hour.” But in May 1956, Walt relented. He offered Tom a job as Tom Sawyer as long as he got a work permit and social security card, and agreed to keep at least a “C” average in school. Tom did all three (and make no mistake – Walt checked his report cards).
For five glorious years, Tom Nabbe was Tom Sawyer – meeting and greeting guests, playing on the island, and even fishing out of the Rivers of America. For a short couple months, Disney offered fishing for guests, and Tom would help bait hooks, and clean and gut the fish for guests who wished to keep their prizes. But the catch-and-claim program lasted only a couple short months, as guests would often discard the fish later in the day, causing quite a stinky situation! The fishing eventually ceased, but Tom’s time on the island seemed endless.
Tom saw Walt every now and then, and Walt even consulted Tom on occasion when he was looking to “plus” the island with additional features and activities for guests. Tom Nabbe had become synonymous with Tom Sawyer.
Growing Up
Tom Nabbe lived a charmed life in those years, so much so that he was coined the “Luckiest Boy in America” by Parade magazine. But time stands still for no one, and as his 18th birthday approached, it was time for Tom to leave the island.
Tom didn’t go very far. Instead of residing on the island, Tom rode the Rivers of America, operating the rafts going to and from the island. After doing that for a bit, Tom enjoyed a Disneyland rite of passage, spending time as a skipper on the World Famous Jungle Cruise from 1961-’65, and again in ’68-’69, with three years in between serving as a U.S. Marine. Tragedy nearly struck Tom following his return from service when his car was hit dead-on by a drunk driver. But he toughened out a five-month hospital stay and came out stronger than ever.
Always an opportunist, Tom picked up extra shifts all around the park, when others were out sick or couldn’t make it to work. During his time in Disneyland, Tom worked on most attractions and even a few food service locations, one of which – Oaks Tavern – introduced him to his future wife.
Eastward Ho! (to Walt Disney World)
In 1971, Tom made the big move across the country from Disneyland to Walt Disney World, where he became supervisor of one of his dream attractions – the Walt Disney World Monorail. Tom managed the fleet, organized maintenance, and got to drive the iconic tubular trains around Seven Seas Lagoon.
Fun Fact: The Disneyland Monorail was one of two key attractions Tom never got to operate in Disneyland, along with the Disneyland Railroad, due to the fact that both attractions were owned and operated by Walt Disney directly, under Retlaw Enterprises, and Tom was an employee of Disneyland. That, and the little condition that Disneyland Monorail operators had to be six feet tall, to see out of the bubble atop the front engine car, and Tom was not even close to being tall enough!
After the Monorail was up and running smoothly, Tom moved over to a home-away-from-home when Disney added Tom Sawyer Island to Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland. While in Frontierland, Tom also assisted in the operation of the Richard F. Irvine steamboat (later renamed the Liberty Belle).
Tom continued to evolve as a jack-of-all-trades kind of guy. Following his time in Frontierland, he stepped into the future in Tomorrowland, helping to lift attractions like Space Mountain, the WEDway PeopleMover, and Carousel of Progress off the ground. Tom became the “nuts and bolts” guy who would learn the operating system, help train Cast Members, and manage operations until they had their footing.
Rounding out the 1970s, Tom was a key part of a project to refurbish 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – taking the attraction’s water system out of circulation from the rest of the park and enclosing the attraction in its own Fantasyland “biosphere.”
Back in familiar territory, Tom spent more time in Frontierland, helping launch Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Stepping Into the Future
As the 1980s dawned, Tom was tapped to go even further into Disney’s future, when he was pulled into the EPCOT project. Tom thought he was going to be a coordinator of one of the new park’s pavilions, but his services were needed for a greater good. Tom was tasked with managing a tracking system and warehouse for all equipment destined for showtime in EPCOT. He was behind the scenes, making magic happen to millions of guests who had yet to step foot in Disney’s newest park.
Once EPCOT was fully built and opened, Tom moved on to Distribution Services for Walt Disney World. After decades of working in rides and attractions, Tom settled into a sweet niche in warehouse operations, as the superintendent of general supplies and long term project storage. And when the manager of distributions left for vacation and never returned, Tom moved in. Once again, he was in the right place at the right time, and he had the ambition to go for it!
Tom spent the rest of his Disney career in warehousing at Walt Disney World, with the exception of a little side trip to Euro Disneyland (now Disneyland Paris). While the brand new park was being built, Tom spent some time in France performing much the same job he did while preparing EPCOT. He managed the inventory for new construction and outfitting and assisted in getting new attractions “show ready.”
A Home-Grown Disney Legend
In June 2003, after spending 48 years as a Disney employee (minus three years in the Marines), Sixty-year-old Tom Nabbe retired from the company. He was the last working member of Disneyland’s Club 55 – a group of original Disneyland cast members named for the park’s inaugural year. One specific qualification was needed for membership – a paycheck from Walt Disney dated 1955.
Tom was honored with a window on Magic Kingdom’s Main Street – located above the marquee for the Main Street Cinema.
The window reads:
Sawyer Fence Painting
Tom Nabbe, Proprietor
Anaheim, California
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
In 2005, Tom was further honored as a Disney Legend in the Parks & Resorts category. It was a fitting end cap to an exciting career and a remarkable life story. A young boy with big dreams and a hard work ethic, who found a timely opportunity and turned it into the Disney adventure of a lifetime.
After reading about all the attractions Tom Nabbe worked on during his distinguished career, what attraction would YOU like to work on if you had the chance? Offer a comment or share this article with a friend by reaching out on social at: Instagram Facebook X
Check out more Disney Legends in our spotlight collection.
Sources:
Disney D23 Legend page – Tom Nabbe
WDW Radio Show Podcast Episode #511 – Interview with Disney Legend Tom Nabbe
Tom Nabbe is Tom Sawyer – Wade Sampson, MousePlanet, January 21, 2009
