Discovery Island - Has Anyone ever been??

[Lorelai]

I was just reading about Discovery Island in the All Ears Newsletter. Where and what is this - has anyone ever been there??

 

[bicker]

It was a nature preseve, in Bay Lake, before Animal Kingdom opened. It was moderately interesting, but nothing like Animal Kingdom.

 

[maxsmom]

If you are out in the little water mice you can still see the remants of it. I so wanted to dock and get off and look arounf but couldn't.

 

[Lorelai]

Is it closed - no one is allowed to go there?

 

[mrsR123]

I was there as a teenager with my parents. The birds were cool to see. I remember that much, but not much else. It has been closed since before Animal Kingdom opened.

FWIW, the water mice riders wouldn't want to check it out on foot. According to our water launch crew from Fort Wilderness two summers ago, the place is pretty much overrun with gators. Of course that could have been "A Whale of a Tale" for effect. YMMV.

 

[Trinity721]

I just posted this on another thread. Funny how people are wondering about DI lately! but DI was closed in 1999. I was part of a class that was the last group to tour the island. They had some small animals, reptiles and exotic birds on the island. Like another poster said, nothing like Animal Kingdom. I don't believe anyone is allowed to set foot on the island now.

 

[DebbieB]

I went a couple times before it closed. It was a nice place for an afternoon break.

 

[Gary M]

A CM from DI named Judy, would bring three of the animals to the WL at night and tell about each animal. It was fun for the kids and adults. I believe she also took the animals to another resort. After the animal show someone would take the children to another place in the lodge and read them stories. These were neat touches to the WL experience. I didn't realize DI closed in 1999. Time does fly.

 

[rhodisney]

We were glad to hear of its closing. As soon as your boat arrived from Ft. Wilderness, you were struck with the most God-awful smell !!! It was like a- steamy animal droppings kind of smell. Then as you walked along the pathways you were dive-bombed by wild birds that crapped everywhere. I couldn't wait to get back on the boat. I heard it sustained a lot of the hurricane damage from last Sept. and it is unstable to walk on, as well as overgrown. It looked like an eyesore on our visit this past Jan.

 

[Leota]

We went there a few times in the early 90's. It was an ok break. I liked the tortises, which I believe are now over at AK. We stayed at FW Cabins, so it was easy to get to & included in our admissions. I don't remember a smell from DI We used to spend alot of time at the beach, marina & River Country with our son.......

 

[DisneyMim]

We went years ago. Nothing special, but it was before AK so it was promoted as a place to see birds, etc. Very quiet, nice walk, but we were not upset when it closed.

 

[noseybuddy]

Did go there one time. Nothing too special about it.

 

[pixiedust23]

Doesn't the Pirates Tour thing for little kids go there now?

 

[milmore104]

I went once. I am deathly afraid of snakes. One of the cm's warned me to watch out for cm's holding snakes in their hands along the pathways. Well I made it about 50 steps into the bird display and FREAKED out I was in a complete panic. I told my DH I was heading back to the dock area and would wait for him there. Not 5 minutes of sitting there does a CM walk up w/ you guessed it a snake. I was completly frozen in panic I couldn't move. About 15 minutes later my DH walks up and asked the cm to move a little further away. After I calmed down I asked my DH about what he saw. He told me about the amazing turtles (I LOVE turtles, I have one) I was so sorry I missed it. I asked him about the snakes he saw and how glad I was not to go and he so nicely replied "the only one I saw was the one next to you!!!!"

 

[ReggieB]

We past it a few times by boat on our most recent trip (coming and going from WL, my husband loves the boats) My DS4 was fascinated by it. He could see some of the old docks and shelters, and really wanted to know about it. The allearsnet newsletter was perfect timing! We spent most boat trips talking about it with my son...he wanted to know where all the alligators went (they have crocodiles at AK on the Safari Ride not alligators, he pointed out)...Then he spotted River Country (County?) and that was a few very long conversations too! He doesn't miss much, bless him.

 

[foxtrotter]

http://home.cfl.rr.com/omniluxe/trislnd.htm

I found this article online, has quite a bit of interesting info about DI.

 

[Maleficent2]

I was just looking for one to post because DI was so much more than what has been described in this thread.


There are may parts of DI that have been moved to AK including the birds of prey show.


DI was a must do for our family every year until it finally closed in 1999 and we were one family very sorry to see an end to another Disney era.

Conversation Station at AK is just not the same as DI.

Mal

 

[Letsbgoofy]

My family really enjoyed DI as well. They had a great reptile show, I will never forget the CM asking my son if he wanted to pet the baby alligators tounge and my son reaching out to do it. They also had scarlett ibis (I think that's what they were) in a wooded area, beautiful!

It was a nice break from the theme park mind set. I love AK, but I still have that theme park feeling there.

Thinking about it now brings back lots of good memories, thanks for starting this thread.