Discovery Island, a name that invokes wonder, a name of mystery, a name of how being forgotten can make you better known then when you were remembered. No joke, this small,11 1⁄2 acre island in Bay Lake Florida is now a legend within the Disney community not for what it has to offer but for being an overgrown, deserted ruin.
Discovery Island in it’s salad days. Image from moderndayruins.com
The island’s history before Disney is long but somewhat limited, then again the history of private property usually remains just that, private. It was originally owned (to my knowledge) by the Raz family and named after them until they sold it to Delmar “Radio Nick” Nicholson in the late 30s. Radio Nick was a radio engineer and salesman who was quite an animal lover and self taught herpetologist. It was said to have kept an alligator in his bathtub at one point! Before purchasing the island he also worked in a previous venture to create the ‘Orlozoo,’ the first zoo in Orlando, Florida. It did not get off the ground (interesting story, you can find more of it here).
Radio Nick with a friend. Image from thehistorycenter.org
He lived on the island with his wife and pet crane for twenty years until he sold it and the land was made into a hunting retreat. Bay Island was sold yet again in 1965 to the Disney Company and was given the name of ‘Blackbeard’s Island’ and had additional land added and trees from South Africa and Asia imported. It opened on April 8, 1974 as a part of Walt Disney World under yet another new name “Treasure Island’ decked out with pirate themes and a shipwreck. Despite this, the island’s main attraction (if any others) was wildlife observation. And no, if anyone who hasn’t been there is wondering, the island did not include a recreation of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ Walt Disney World has one in Adventureland but it opened the year before.
Guest map for visitors. Let us know in the comments if any of you remember Discovery Island (I’m curious to know if there were any Hidden Mickeys). Image form worldabandoned.com
On the island there was one of the largest aviaries in the world, as well as a collection of small primates, a few Galapagos tortoises and American alligators (Why would they need those? Florida all ready has plenty). The island at one point was the most extensive breeding colony for Scarlet Ibis in the USA and was home to the last surviving specimens of the dusky seaside sparrow. After a couple of years Treasure Island would be remodeled into its now more famous name of ‘Discovery Island’ though there wasn’t much of it changed from what I can find. It was also used in the climax of the 1976 movie ‘Treasure of Matecumber’ (Peter Usinov gives an excellent performance, you can find the movie on Disney+). The following year, Disney held a ‘Rescuers Diamond Sweepstakes’ promotion for the animated film sponsored by General Electrics, where some lucky families would win a four day trip to WDW and a chance to find a $25,000.00 diamond on Discovery Island! The sources for this contest, however, are very few if any.
While some might find some aspects of this fill dated, this is still a pretty fun action movie. image form imdb.com
For just having a small zoo, a walking path, a café and bird shows Discovery Island enjoyed a pretty long run. Having a quiet place to get away from the hustle and bustle of shops and rides (as long as you have about ten bucks, Discovery Island was not part of any of the current parks apparently) seems a good idea to have in a theme park. But progress comes and people lose interest in some things and profits go down. The island closed to the public EXACTLY twenty five years after it opened on April 8, 1999, with the animals being sent to Animal Kingdom and other zoos. It also doesn’t help with PETA (Boooo!!!) sticking their noses in about the treatment of some of the birds causing some trouble. There were plans with Cyan Worlds Inc. to repurpose Discover Island to an attraction based on their hit video game series ‘Myst’ but it never went anywhere (A real shame, that would be so cool!)
To be fair, you can still ‘see’ the island. You can see it on the lake from Walt Disney World Monorail, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and boat rides going in between them. It remains one of the only two parks that Disney Parks, Experiences and Products closed, with the other one being Disney’s River Country water park. The name ‘Discovery Island’ has been reused for part of the Animal Kingdom probably as a tribute. The original Discovery Island is still well known and talked about online and has been a very well known spot for urban exploration with a notable expedition in 2009 and another one in 2017 that was filmed. I do not, however, advise a trip there for your next winter vacation both because of safety concerns, the old buildings still haven’t been removed, and because the Disney Parks has taken strict measures against explorers. Heck, one guy in 2020 got banned from all Disney parks for trying to live on the island. And between you and me, I’m pretty sure Discovery Island is the inspiration for the ‘Abandoned by Disney’ creepypasta so I wouldn’t go there for any reason!
Bird’s eye view of Discovery Island today, it really needs a haircut. Image also from moderndayruins.com
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