Discovery Island

[CrayzeeDiz]

Does anyone know what happened to Discovery Island ? I remember it being somewhat near the Wilderness Lodge. That Island would have been a great addition to VWL. Too bad.

 

[drusba]

It was closed a couple of years ago mainly due to lack of interest. The island itself is near WL as you can see it from the shore. No decision as to what to do with it.

 

[Pa@okw95]

With Animal Kingdom opening up they decided to close it. I only went there once, there were 5 of us and it cost me about 50 dollars. I was not impressed. Don't miss it.

 

[gscott8075]

We rented watermice and got very close to the island. There are still hundreds of birds - many are odd - living there. It was upsetting that WDW has not cleaned the place and returned it to its natural state. There were decks, platforms and equipment throughout.

While we went by, an egret was drowning, but we could not reach it. It was rather depressing.

 

[DeeP]

There are still hundreds of birds - many are odd - living there.

Just curious, what do you mean that many were odd??

 

[CrayzeeDiz]

What a shame. We liked that place . Maybe the problem was that it wasn't "Disney enough" to survive. No Mickey on that island. Maybe if they gave it more of a theme like "Treasure island" and included it as part of the Magic Kingdom it would have been more popular.

 

[KNWVIKING]

We went there a couple times-enjoyed it for what is was. Our park passes included admission to the island,don't think I would have paid $10.00 pp to see it though. AK was basically its reason for being closed. The "island" between the AK enterance and the big tree is named Discovery Island. It has all the old DI had plus much more.I agree that WDW should do something with it- maybe secluded honeymoon suites or and extravagant dinning experience- shame to see it go to waste.

 

[frank2271]

Since it has power, water and some type of sewerage system, I think a nice Five star resturant on the island would be GREAT!!!!

If they do nothing with it, Disney should get rid of all the equiptment on it.

Frank

 

[dianeschlicht]

Hey! How about a DVC dinning club? We could have our own little island dinning spot!

 

[crisi]

Its original theme when the park opened was Treasure Island - that's what the shipwreck is doing there. It was kind of a playground - ala Tom Sawyer's Island.

No interest, so they turned it into kind of a zoo. Mostly birds. If you had a park hopper pass, it was a great place to spend an afternoon, but not necessarily worth paying for.

Most of what the provided is now at AK. But many of the birds stayed behind. My guess (although I don't know this) is that Disney is still feeding them. (I saw boats pull up early one morning, my guess is that's what they were doing. Letting the birds starve would be poor PR).

I would odd meant "not necessarily native to Florida."

I'd guess Disney won't develop this space. Its expensive to run anything on an island.

 

[Granny]

I like the idea of a restaurant there...if they positioned it well, you'd be able to see the WL geyser, MK fireworks and the Electrical Water Pageant from some nice balcony seating!


Of course, transportation might be a little spotty....but it does seem that they could make something there.

 

[missyndda]

When we traveled on DCL last year, Joe Rodee, one of the Disney VPs who was a lead player in the building of the AK, said that the last time Discovery Island was used was for the opening party for the AK. Now the island is overrun with scavenger birds, vultures and the such.

 

[missyndda]

When we traveled on DCL last year, Joe Rodee, one of the Disney VPs who was a lead player in the building of the AK, said that the last time Discovery Island was used was for the opening party for the AK. Now the island is overrun with scavenger birds, vultures and the like.

 

[RealMickey]

We really liked Discovery Island. It was a great way to decompress during an afternoon in the middle of a commando style week at WDW. After running for days, I could just sit and watch the lemurs, birds or tortoises. Very Relaxing!

 

[madcoco]

Ok since some of us agree that a restaurant would be a good thing;What would you like to see for theming?Maybe an upscale BlueBayou type theming like in POC in Disneyland?Maybe a fantasy type like Mythos (US IOA)?My vote goes for Bodega/BodegaBay.Just add a school house and an Alfred Hitchcock lookalike as the Maitre d'.The birds are already there.

 

[colleen costello]

This was a place where you could "get away from it all" for an afternoon, and have a different kind of "low key" fun. I was sad to hear it is closed now. When I was a kid we used to stay at Ft. Wilderness and Discovery Island was a nice little diversion. The birds and tortoises were always a treat.

I was REALLY sad to hear about River Country closing... similar, wonderful memories of that place. So much fun yet very laid-back compared to current water parks.

I think both these places seem to represent a "kinder, gentler" Disneyworld that I recall through the rose-colored glasses of childhood. I really hope River Country doesn't stay closed. I ALWAYS planned to take my children there!

 

[Mojomanny]

The island is covered with a giant net to keep the birds in.

There has been talk in the past about them using it for a themed island along the lines of MYST the computer game. Rumor was the developers of Myst were working with Disney. Guess nothing came of it.