Explorer says he wasn’t afraid when he snuck onto Disney World’s Discovery Island

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

http://thedailydisney.com/blog/2010/04/explorer-says-he-wasnt-afraid-when-he-snuck-onto-disney-worlds-discovery-island/

[Riverhill]

Thanks for the post. I remember Discovery Island from my trips as a child in the 70's and 80's.

[ConcKahuna]

Those baby vultures are adorable!

[Maistre Gracey]

It reminds me of one more piece of WDW that has slipped away..

MG

[cm8]

wow, that island seems magical in its own right:wizard:

[CanadianGuy]

Those baby vultures are adorable!

I thot the exact same thing!

[Maistre Gracey]

I thot the exact same thing!
I thought they were lucky Mother Volture didn't hear the chics cries...

MG

[ChrisFL]

did anyone get an "abandoned jurassic park" vibe from the photos? (I know, I know, wrong resort area :p )

[WDWKOOK]

Fascinating that WDW would leave lights on ($$) and also leave paperwork behind. We still hate that DI ever closed and we've always joked that we hope those giant tortoises weren't accidentally left behind:guilty:

The oddest thing are those bottled snakes. Is Coke experimenting over there with new reptilian flavors?

[PoohsFan1]

It's funny, my DH was just saying the other day that he would love to buy DI from Disney and build a house and live there for the rest of his life. We would of course get APs so we can go to the parks, and instead of using Disney's boats, he would buy a row boat and row to shore and back. He says this is a dream of his....he would love to live in WDW, and DI is his ideal place to do it :rotfl:

[robertdangelo]

You never know... maybe they will build Discovery Island Villas someday & you can snowbird there! :)

[CanadianGuy]

I was kinda shocked.. a previous report talked about the copious amounts of bird droppings all over the island and I didn't really read much from these guys about that at all..

Weird.

[Disney~Rocks~08]

I have gotten a little info on this (that I posted in a similar topic over in the camping boards also). I e-mailed Shane Perez about this and I did get a response. He says that he DID NOT go out there this past december on his exploration of the island. In fact, he says it was a good 5 years before he posted the photos that they went over there. This is likely because of that statute of limitations on trespassing in the state of FL being 5 years. Since he waited 5 years to post the photos, Disney can't come after him now and charge him with trespassing. Disney can still ban him whenever they want though. My question is though, if they banned him, what would that actually do? It's not like he couldn't still drive right in if he wanted too. I honestly don't think he would care too much though if he got banned. He is an urban explorer. I think he would manage to get by and still find thrill if he didn't come back to WDW.

If you look on his blog, there are a few pictures that seem to prove he went a while ago. In one of his pics, the RC water tower is still in RC. As some of you may know, the water tower has been removed from RC and is now by the FW pool area. Also, there is a sign that says not to enter RC, which currently is not there and the coke bottle that is there is clearly very old (however that might not prove much, but nonetheless...). So, that's basically what i've managed to gather from this whole thing.

[WDWKOOK]

I have gotten a little info on this (that I posted in a similar topic over in the camping boards also). I e-mailed Shane Perez about this and I did get a response. He says that he DID NOT go out there this past december on his exploration of the island. In fact, he says it was a good 5 years before he posted the photos that they went over there. This is likely because of that statute of limitations on trespassing in the state of FL being 5 years. Since he waited 5 years to post the photos, Disney can't come after him now and charge him with trespassing. Disney can still ban him whenever they want though. My question is though, if they banned him, what would that actually do? It's not like he couldn't still drive right in if he wanted too. I honestly don't think he would care too much though if he got banned. He is an urban explorer. I think he would manage to get by and still find thrill if he didn't come back to WDW.

If you look on his blog, there are a few pictures that seem to prove he went a while ago. In one of his pics, the RC water tower is still in RC. As some of you may know, the water tower has been removed from RC and is now by the FW pool area. Also, there is a sign that says not to enter RC, which currently is not there and the coke bottle that is there is clearly very old (however that might not prove much, but nonetheless...). So, that's basically what i've managed to gather from this whole thing.

Thanks:thumbsup2

[KYMickey]

I was kinda shocked.. a previous report talked about the copious amounts of bird droppings all over the island and I didn't really read much from these guys about that at all..
Weird.
Don't forget it's been quite a while since DI was abandoned and the droppings would certainly have composted by now. I'm sure was much worse soon after the island closed although I don't remember it ever being that bad when we visited.

[skiingfast]

I went boating around Discovery or Tresure island in late winter this year. I was shocked at the numbers of vultures. There may of been 75 or so circling. The think that surprised me is what are all the birds eating?

I've seen several in the air and several more on the ground around large animal carcasses. But they are attracted from far to these dead animals. What's keeping this population at WDW alive?

[WDWKOOK]

I went boating around Discovery or Tresure island in late winter this year. I was shocked at the numbers of vultures. There may of been 75 or so circling. The think that surprised me is what are all the birds eating?

I've seen several in the air and several more on the ground around large animal carcasses. But they are attracted from far to these dead animals. What's keeping this population at WDW alive?
Tourists:confused3

Actually, that's a good question. There are many vultures who fly around the CR/BLT, too, could they be eating dead rodents? Does WDW bait the rodents and they and other birds die from the poison and then the vultures eat the carrion?

[skiingfast]

I'm sure the birds at BLT and the CR are the same it's just a little ways over.

I once got to talk to a guy from Ecolab. If you don't know of this comany they is a fortune 500 company based in MN. They work in commercial applications ranging from kitchen sanitary equipment to selling chemical to santize slaughter houses. This guy worked in their pest removal part of the business. He was coming by every month on a routes to all the businesses in th area to service the traps.

Because this is a big well known company, politcally it need to be environmentaly concsience. I asked about the traps and there were two kinds, but neither used poison. They trap the rodent and then the rodents starve. But they also did use a poison, and like the PP stated about posion working through the food chain. The Ecolab tech threw all animals into the trash despite how it was caught.

I would guess that Disney either outsources to Ecolab or one of it's competitors or uses the same traps for rodents.

But carion is a good point, I haven't noticed dead animals next to the roads in WDW. Surely a deer or skunk gets hit every now and then. But at WDW do you want to see Bambi or flower dead on the shoulder? But I would guess they are put on a border of the property not near resorts. But you never know, Disney may have some reason to support the vultures.

[Zuzu03]

What a cool site and great pics. Just the idea of swimming across at night and the sound of the wild animals totally freaks me, but it's cool someone else did it! And yes, I totally thought Jurassic Park when I saw the pics! Yikes!!!

[skiingfast]

What a cool site and great pics. Just the idea of swimming across at night and the sound of the wild animals totally freaks me, but it's cool someone else did it! And yes, I totally thought Jurassic Park when I saw the pics! Yikes!!!

Well Disney is having some trouble with filling the gaps in the DNA sequences. Once they get Dino Island up and running with live specimens, the ride in AK's Dinoland USA will get a lot scarier.

[Zuzu03]

Well Disney is having some trouble with filling the gaps in the DNA sequences. Once they get Dino Island up and running with live specimens, the ride in AK's Dinoland USA will get a lot scarier.

Hahaha!! :rotfl: The line between animatronics and real life just got a bit more blurred. Now if they can just duplicate me a Johnny Depp...

[Sea-Donkey]

This is old but I just found it after reading about it on wikipedia. On his blog's comments, someone actually recognized the employee in the old pictures as his sister.

http://shaneperez.blogspot.com/2009/12/discovery-island.html