After purchasing tickets, tourists would board a ferry from the Magic Kingdom Park and sail for the main dock on Discovery Island. Disney leaned into these facts and dedicated the island as a nature preserve.

After a brief shutdown for renovations, the attraction reopened in 1976 as the newly dubbed Discovery Island.Īccording to Walt Dated World, the island had 140 species of animals and 250 species of tropical plants. It soon became clear, though, that the island’s rich botanical nature and wildlife overshadowed its pirate theme. There would be shipwrecks, exotic birds and buried treasure. The Disney company wanted the island to take on a pirate theme, so they named it Blackbeard’s Island but later changed it to Treasure Island. The island went through a small identity crisis after its development in 1974. He purchased the island and the surrounding area in 1965 but sadly passed away before he saw its development come to fruition. The island was supposedly one of the places that really caught Disney’s eye when scouting central Florida for future development. It was around this time in the early 1960s when Walt Disney stepped into the picture and acquired the property as part of “The Florida Project.” Disneyland had just opened in 1955 to resounding success, and Disney wanted to begin planning his next set of visions for the second theme park. Nicholson sold the island to some businessmen who would use it as a hunting retreat. He renamed the island Idle Bay Isle and stayed for about 20 years until he became sick and had to sell it. In 1937, Florida’s first disc jockey, Delmar Nicholson, bought the island for $800 and lived there alongside his wife and his pet crane. Long before it was called Discovery Island, it was known as Raz Island, named after the family that lived there during the early 1900s. Unprotected Speech Fighting Words Bay Lake, Florida: Pre-Disney Era It was shut down in the span of a few months without an official reason why, and this lack of closure gives the island an air of mystery and an unsatisfying ending to what was a relatively long and interesting history. What makes Discovery Island appealing to so many people, besides its massive “Jurassic Park” vibes, is the vague nature of the attraction’s closing. It now sits abandoned as nature continues to overrun the decrepit buildings and exhibits.

Visitors would arrive on the island by ferry and traverse the area while admiring exotic birds, monkeys and, of course, alligators. What is Discovery Island?ĭuring its peak, Discovery Island was a zoological park where families could get away from the rush of the theme park crowds. Not far from where the Magic Kingdom Park is located, however, is an island located in Bay Lake that Disney has kept from public view for the last two decades: Disney’s Discovery Island. With each new expansion, the location continues to see success. The resort is massive and regularly receives millions of visitors each year. The company’s most popular destination is the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Disney has had a long history of successful projects, from several theme parks to vacation resorts and even cruise ships.

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