Discovery Island, is it still there?

[Ollybeak]

What has happened to Discovery Island? is it still there? visited it on a '95 trip and wouldn't have minded going again but have neither heard or read anything about it. can anyone tell me?

 

[crazygirley]

The island is still there in the physical, but the attraction Discovery Island was done away with when AK was built. I believe there are ideas up in the air for the land, but nothing concrete. As of now, it just sits vacant...a decaying eyesore.

 

[cloudboy]

If you rent a boat, are you able to walk around the island, or do they prevent you from doing that?

 

[WDWHeadBanger]

Sadly I never visited Discovery Island. I dont think they would let you roam around the island if you rented a boat though. Prob too high a libability.

 

[crazygirley]

Originally posted by cloudboy
If you rent a boat, are you able to walk around the island, or do they prevent you from doing that?

Um...no. They don't let you wander around the island. But wouldn't that be nice?

 

[Ollybeak]

so what happened to all the animals, are they all in animal kingdom?

 

[cloudboy]

Actually, on a related note - it loks like there are bunch of roads and traisl around the property. How active are they about preventing people from hiking those?

 

[ChefMickeyGrits]

I heard they can't do anything with Discovery Island right now because the island is in such bad shape - completely infested with bugs and needs a lot of help since they closed it up!

 

[crazygirley]

Originally posted by cloudboy
Actually, on a related note - it loks like there are bunch of roads and traisl around the property. How active are they about preventing people from hiking those?

There are boats out on Bay Lake (and Seven Seas Lagoon) patrolling the waters. I am sure they jump right on it when people get too close to the island.

Originally posted by ChefMickeyGrits
I heard they can't do anything with Discovery Island right now because the island is in such bad shape - completely infested with bugs and needs a lot of help since they closed it up!

Yeah, and it was infested back in the day when it was open, too. It is just so secluded. It was and is probably really hard to control the bug problem, and probably a big hastle, too.

 

[vhsshoulddie]

of what I know its a bird sanctuary. I know people work on the island.

 

[crazygirley]

Originally posted by vhsshoulddie
of what I know its a bird sanctuary. I know people work on the island.

It was a bird sanctuary and people did work on the island...

...it that what you meant? Because it's a ghost town...er...ghost island now.

 

[flowerlady]

I was just wondering about that.....

I just returned on April 6th and was wondering the same thing....I remember visiting the island in 1990....and I think they had a parrot show...and you could walk around the bird sancturary...on this trail....it was no big thing really,,,,,just a diverson. Anyone know why they closed it up??

Was it just a lack of interest on behalf of the visitors??? :wave:

 

[PaisleyMF]

There is a another thread that explains what happened and now what is of Discovery Island. As i can recalled it Closed when Animal Kingdom Opened. If my memory doesn't fails it is a Natural Habitat and a protected one for Wild Life.

I Will Search tonite for the link of this thread.

 

[swimmom]

If I remember correctly, there are No Trespassing signs posted. Ferry boats go by it all the time from Wilderness Lodge & Fort Wilderness, so I don't think you would be to successful in exploring the island on your own. On our last visit, it appeared that birds have made it a nature preserve on their own. There were always tons of birds in the trees when we went by on the ferry.

 

[TURKEY]

The nets are still up for keeping the birds in. There was a boat docked at the island on Saturday. I don't know why. It almost looked as if they were fishing.

 

[meanmice]

Originally posted by crazygirley
Yeah, and it was infested back in the day when it was open, too. It is just so secluded. It was and is probably really hard to control the bug problem, and probably a big hastle, too.

I would think that having birds and lizards on the island would help to control that

 

[ZHoyt]

don't even think about trying to sneak on to discovery island. I did once, and the patrols were on me within seconds.

 

[marni1971]

There was talk a while ago of running a `Doom` style game on the island, in conjunction with a video game publisher - you know, run around shooting lasers at eachother. That didn`t get far, and there is still word now of flattening all the Disney made items (return it to its natual state) for tax reasons - if its classed agriculture they pay the lowest tax on it, not `attraction` tax.

 

[raven]

Originally posted by marni1971
There was talk a while ago of running a `Doom` style game on the island, in conjunction with a video game publisher - you know, run around shooting lasers at eachother. That didn`t get far...

Oooh! Now that would be kinda cool. Or how about Myst? I never visited the Island before and I'm not sure even how large it is. But surely you'd think it could be of use for something.

 

[crazygirley]

Originally posted by meanmice
I would think that having birds and lizards on the island would help to control that

My family and I used to go to DI every time we were at WDW and I would always be covered in mosquito bites. Since it closed, I have not had one mosquito bite while staying at WDW. Enough said.

I believe they cannot spray the same pesticides at AK and, when it was open, DI, because of the animals. This could explain the bugs.