How Sad is it to Boat Past Discovery Island?!

[princessariel]

Thinking about River Country Rumors made me think of Discovery Island.

It is looking so over-grown! A few birds soar over it as if they are lost.

Has anyone heard anything new on it? I seem to remember a rumor of a Pirate Treasure Hunt kind of thing. Which I think would be kind of cool.

 

[MrKTI]

What was Discovery Island ??

It has not been open since we have been going to FW. You can see some evidence of structures and a dock.

John

 

[JCJRSmith]

When WDW was first concieved, Bay Lake in front of the MK did not exist. It is man made. The other lake was a swamp. They dredged the swamp to turn it into a lake, built the first floor of the MK and buried it under the detritus they took from the swamp. The also dug the lake and used the sand they found under the swamp to make the beaches.

Discovery Island is an island in the middle of the former swamp that Disney turned into a bird sanctuary. You could take a boat out there and see the birds and animals they were caring for. Disney's Animal Kingdom effectively put it out of business.

 

[KevinNYC]

the fun thing about it all is that the original island was NOT Discovery Island but instead was Treasure Island..this goes back to 1974 when it opened...It was a lot of fun to walk around Treasure Island and see the pirate artifacts..the ship washed up on the beach etc. It was a lot of fun back in the early WDW days...and so was FW at the same time..then FW was so much smaller and had the steam train going around the outer loops....but time moves on and things change...FW lost its train and WDW changed Treasure Island into Discovery Island...the changeover was due to WDW's decision to find a place or natural habitat for injured birds so they could be cared for and nursed back to good health and released...the island was open to guests to walk through and was very educational...althought you really did need to wear a hat all the time..with all those birds...but overall Treasure Island was the original and definately a fun place to explore with the kids...and it was just a 2 minute boat ride from FW for a nice fun filled afternoon

 

[JCJRSmith]

Wouldn't it be cool if they turned it back into an attraction like Treasure Island?

 

[KevinNYC]

It would be cool if they returned it to the Treasure Island attraction...I have a few old photgraphs of the island but dont know how to post them here...I do remember the boat launch which picked you up for Treasure Island at FW had a large Jolly Roger flag..not the usual blue or green WDW flag....its a shame ..they are just letting the island go to waste when it can be turned in to a fun place again.

 

[bradjh]

I had heard of one other reason for closing Discovery Island....
From what I understand, a guest had suffered a heart attack on the island, and it became apparant that there was no easy way to get medical attention out there - no land path for an ambulance to get access to the island. With today's lawsuit mentality - that just wouldn't be acceptable to Disney Management anymore....

 

[VAN]

I could be wrong, but I think the main reason they closed it was the opening of Animal Kingdom. It was about the same time. They had a bird show - which they now have at AK and other things that are somewhat duplicated at AK.

Discovery Island was a paid attraction and mostly focused on nature and the Florida habitat.

 

[Memaw2Wm]

Gotta admit everytime we take the launch from FW to MK I wish Discovery Island was still open. We really enjoyed it back in 1992. Admission was included with the then "length of stay" passes.

It's sad seeing it fall into disrepair ... really miss River Country too. Maybe Disney will eventually reopen it or turn it into a theme pool for the campground.

 

[KevinNYC]

I agree.....it does seem that Disney can't afford to allow areas like Discovery Island and River Country to fall into disrepair and become eyesores..then it detracts from the Disney magic and fun of a vacation..Hopefully, they will do something soon to revitalize both areas.

 

[Grumpy37]

A couple of comments.

Bay Lake always existed, with the island which was originally named Riles Island then Raz Island (before Walt bought the property that became WDW) and then Treasure Island, and finally Discovery Island. (The center of Animal Kingdom, where the Tree of Life, etc. is located is now also named Discovery Island.)

It was Seven Seas Lagoon over by MK that was a swamp that they excavated to make a nice lake for the resorts and monorail to go around.

For anyone interested, here are links to a couple of websites that have interesting and historical facts about Riles/Treasure/Discovery Island and much, much more:

"Widen Your World: Treasure/Discovery Island"
http://home.cfl.rr.com/omniluxe/trislnd.htm

Brian Martsolf's "WDW: A History in Postcards"
http://www.bigbrian-nc.com/wdw-pc33.htm

BTW, the last time I rented a watermouse I asked if I could dock at Discovery Island and was told it would get me ejected and probably arrested. Needless to say, I'm not THAT interested.

 

[princessariel]

Thanks for posting those websites Grumpy37! They were very interesting. I really enjoyed the old postcards.