Vanished World of Disney 7 - Discovery Island

[zuriktul]

Haha I had tons of memories from this place. It was a favorite spot of mine. My favorite revolved asround chasing the vultures that hung out on the island and watching the various bold birds snatch food from visiters hands. RIP DI.

[thebradchannel]

now this place looks like shutter island

[brandnewjenn]

lol, my poor mom ate it while trying to take a picture of a pelican on this island. She leaned too far forward from one of the walkways. One of the many spills me and my family shared on our trips to Disney World, lol.

[ohamberxx3]

WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE ANIMALS?!

[forevershire]

@ohamberxx3 it says above that they got relacated to diffrent disany parks :D

[ohamberxx3]

@forevershire phew, I got a little worried there

[lordyendor]

@ohamberxx3

Burp.

[TotalDramaCourtney]

I can't believe I had a view of HISTORY! This is amazing! I mean, our room looked directly at the old island! XD I'm going crazy! Sadly, we checked out today and now we're at the boardwalk...

[TotalDramaCourtney]

@niiicole55 omg, we stayed at bay lake towers yesterday and Saturday! We had a PERFECT view of rotting discovery island. I KNEW it!!!! :D

[jetgirlcomet]

We came across this place the year is was to close. It was sad to know it wasn't going to be there anymore as we walked through it. No crowds, beautiful animals...like a hideaway. 

[WavestripeMcKe]

It's sad to see this go!

[angiebucko]

has everyone seen the ruins of this place and river country?? some people snuck across a few years back and took some photos of both as they are today, all rotting and creepy. search on a search engine, its quite interesting.

[niiicole55]

the island is still there, but its an animal (mainly bird) sanctuary

if you ever rent on bay lake drive by it, you can see a bucnhhh of birds, and if you look hard enough youll see the old walk ways etc

also, on bay lake, if you go twds the back corridor leading to the dock at ft wilderness campground you can see the rotting river country, there are sneaky walk ways on blocked off by ropes that you can hop over to get into parts of river country, but there is really nothing to see, just creepy

[schwelty]

1:24-1:53 D'AW! He's kind of like a playful cat (biting and all)! <3

[CheshireCatForever]

I can't find the link, but somewhere on Dis-Boards, somebody found a blog post involving some photographers who decided to sneak onto this island a year or two ago and take pictures of what remains of the place. The pictures were amazing and creepy at the same time.

[thesagebrushkid]

I remember when it was TREASURE ISLAND and there were no shows but just a huge nature walk. I remember the pirate boat on the beach and climbing all over it. Its sad that they changed the name and sadder that they closed the island off. Thanks for posting this and all the memories it gave me

[Thoralmir]

@thesagebrushkid The Pirate boat is still there, not too far from a tree that has a bunch of shoes hanging from it.

[thesagebrushkid]

@Thoralmir thanks for letting me know. The last time I was on the isle it was ummmmm. 1979, I think. Somehwre around then. When I went to the MK after that in 1983 and asked a few workers how do to get to Treasure Island, they had no idea what I was talking about, never told from those they worked for that it was once called Treasure Island.

[FiestyBelle]

I remember when i had an outting out to DI when I was younger, It was rather cool. But Animal Kingdom certainly tops this!

[LogoRifle]

So that's what those islands were! I'm glad I found these videos!

[CeletialDarkness]

dude! i can find this place on google earth!

[Beeblez55]

So this is now animal kingdom? Or on the ferry just an abandoned island?

[BamaJen]

Thanks for sharing this! The memories...

[farside41]

Discovery Island was awesome, especially since it was never crowded because most people didn't know about it

[xoroxyox12]

Its still there i went there last year. they have the hoop dee doo review there. its so nice and fun there :D

[girghosts]

Actually, Hoop Dee Doo Review is at Fort Wilderness. Discovery Island still exists with buildings and all in the middle of Bay Lake.

[33Keith33]

I only got to go there once. As nice as it was, the opening of Animal Kingdom caused it's extinction. Does anyone know if that huge aviary is still there? I thought that I could see it on Google Earth.

[taquma]

i do believe that they use the aviary for recooping any birds that are resuced or sick at least that is what i heard after animal kingdom opened weather they use it now i do not know

[FigmentJedi]

At the very least Animal Kingdom used the name for the hub island. And most of the animals that were at Discovery Island got moved to Animal Kingdom and other zoos.

[FemmeDePunkRock]

Naturally the island is still there, it was an original natural feature of the land when Disney purchased it, but the aviary is now defunct. The birds and animals have all been relocated to places like EPOCT, the Polynesian Resort and of course The Animal Kingdom. I did hear a rumor it might be turned into a Pirate themed dinner show. That sounds like fun, and if done well possibly the demise of the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue?

[KHorbust]

The aviary is still there, but the island itself is just a derelict ruin.

Last I heard about Discovery Island, there was a family of crocodiles that had taken over and cast members are no longer allowed to dock on the island for safety reasons.

[WolYou]

The fate of short-term profit oriented mindcraftship.

[adhdkid91]

why 10:oo pm why nto midnight?

[AllieJane1]

I rember being dragged around here as a kid, all I wanted to do was go on Space Mountain again!!

[Nzsean265]

u can see discovery island from the fort wilderness dock and when u go on the boats u can see the docks of discovery island and next to fort wilderness u can see the old river country u can see the rocks and the water slide from google earth u can see the slide at river country

[redskinsfaniam2]

It would make sense for Disney to put a pirates theme into it. Everybody likes pirates, and a small, partially secluded island is perfect for a pirate island at Disney World.

[MacDragard]

That was actually Walt's original idea. The original name was Treasure Island.

[greenhat16]

Ah! The rainstorm at 2:10. That's the Florida I grew up in.

[BenderJ24]

Oh man, this place was so much fun to go to on days that the family was too tired to go to the actual parks. Hah, but seriously, I used to love this place as a kid. However, if you've seen it now, after it's been closed for 10 years, it looks pretty ominous. My opinion, they should refurb it, and re-open it as a LOST themed island, with the hatch, the others' village, survivors camp, the lotus, etc. Anyone else think that would be cool?

[chefker]

oh hell yeah, that would be cool. And they could do it, too - Disney owns ABC.

[ALileInsanity]

Enough talk, lets pitch the idea to the big cheeses! It's an EXCELLENT idea!

[WzMystery]

i love those little birds. i'd love to see this attraction be refurbed! if you really get around to it, you can use my screen name in a petition!

[babieeginger]

MY GOD YES

I would visit yearly if they did go through with that

[freedogshampoo]

Looks amazing. I hope they re-theme it...maybe as a Pirates adventure or something..

[Monty22001]

That parrot was pissed.

[AIRLINE96]

what year did it close

[cristelvideo]

1999

[marim0y]

@cristelvideo actually '98

[cristelvideo]

@marim0y : Form various online resources : Discovery Island is an 11½-acre island in Bay Lake at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It opened as "Treasure Island" on April 8, 1974, as a place to observe wildlife. It closed to the public on April 8, 1999, but continued to operate until July 9, 1999, at which point all of its animals had been relocated to new homes at Disney's Animal Kingdom (whose Safari Village hub area was renamed Discovery Island) and other zoos.

[npyskater]

Well Disney is opening a new park soon called Night Kingdom that has animals.

[AardvarkBlue]

What about Animal Kingdom?

[npyskater]

No this is like competition for Discovery Cove and yes it's official now Disney did the green light for Night Kingdom.

[win705]

How come no one has gotten in every sence it closed look at chippiwta lake park!i am going to try and do it soon!

[LMann32869]

The dock is gone. I just went by there yesterday to get shots of the old River Country and there is no where to get off the boat. Plus, it looks downright scary there now. A place like that needs up-keep and it is overgrown everywhere you look on that island.

[007SBond]

I was on TV once here. An ABC Christmas special.

[tubeskippy]

in the rain it looks like creepy as jurrasic park...

[Jeffgoalie]

this is like animal kingdom. I like the name Discovery Island better than animal kingdom.

[jakeblues119]

one of the places on animal kingdom is called discovery island its where the tree of life is

[sugarhillboy42]

I can see how they got rid of it. Now, no one really waants to pay so much money to only see animals.

[disneyjoel]

Actually, Discovery Island didn't cost much. I think the most it ever cost was $15, and it was usually included as a free bonus with most Disney vacation packages. Once Animal Kingdom opened, though, it became redundant, so fewer people were making time for it. I have fond memories of it, as a refreshing, laidback alternative to the parks.

[bassmasta97]

it's not that nobody was paying, it's that they had built the animal kingdom to replace it

[myfocusisongod]

i think the ferry that takes you to magic kingdom passes by this island. i remember cuz it looked really creepy to me.

[cristelvideo]

You se it from the ferry between Magic Kingdom and Fort Wilderness / Lodge

[PastelStudios]

@cristelvideo you could also get there by the speed boats you can rent

[monkeyducks123]

@myfocusisongod maybe but you might be thinking of river country cause thats the one that you can still see the attractions

[echoscot]

It is very nice that you have captured attractions of the past, but I thank God that you never got to video Flight to the Moon or it's replacement Mission to Mars. They were awful. And this from a die-hard Disney fan who worked at WDW for about 25 years.

[americanjrsfan]

I've seen this place on a video.

[Dragonrider1227]

This looks familiar. I think I saw this during our trip in 1990. It was pretty neat, but I can see why they closed it. With Animal Kingdom, it's a bit of a third wheel

[petersinki]

Thank you for the posts in the "Vanished" disney series. They're great... and it's nice to see attractions that I've only heard about... or have seen remnants of.

[rollercoastersrock]

where is this?

[cristelvideo]

It's in the middle of the lake opposite Fort Wilderness. It's no longer open. The wildlife was transferred to Animal Kingdom