Ideas at the Walt Disney Company experience something akin to a life cycle. They are born, usually from the mind of a lone Imagineer or artist, and they are raised and shaped into fully-formed creations. Then they age – sometimes gracefully, sometimes not, – and, at a certain point, they move on and exist only in our collective memory. Some live quite a long time, others are only around for a brief time, but nearly every Disney attraction will experience this life cycle.
But, where the Disney life cycle differs from the traditionally-accepted human one (depending on your beliefs, of course) is that there’s often an additional step: Rebirth.
You see, good ideas never truly die with Disney. It doesn’t matter if those ideas were cancelled early on or seen through to become fully-created attractions – every idea gets a second chance. The good ones often even get three or four chances.
And if that idea happened to come from the mind of Walt Disney himself, it will never truly disappear. Imagineers will circle back to it over and over again until they get it right. Even then, they’ll still work to make it better.
From 1974 to 1999, Walt Disney World featured a small and unique attraction located right in the middle of Bay Lake. It was accessible only by boat, had tickets that cost a fraction of the price of Disney’s theme parks, and could draw a lineage directly back to ideas championed by Walt for use in his original Disneyland park. That attraction was Discovery Island – a small zoological park that, even 16 years after its closing, continues to fascinate Disney fans across the world. It later served as the inspiration for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, perhaps the resorts most beautiful and important park, and has a legacy that is crucially important in Disney lore.
Today, Disovery Island is abandoned and derelict (and we’ll take a look at exactly what has become of it). But that doesn’t mean that the idea behind it is dead. Far from it.
To paraphrase the immortal Bill Nye: Before we get into the curious question of what has become of Discovery Island – and its important legacy at Walt Disney World – we need to go back. Way back.
Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures
In the 1950s, Walt Disney Productions became famous for a series of Academy Award-winning nature documentaries called “True-Life Adventures.” There were 13 in total – some feature-length and some short-subject – and their topics spanned everything from bears to desert wildlife to insects. While they depicted real animals in their natural habitats, each True-Life Adventure still had a sense of artifice to it, with an elaborate musical score consisting largely of classical music playing on top.
Walt was obsessed with these features. He loved having the opportunity to show audiences how exotic animals behaved in the real world, and to give those audiences the chance to see something they might never have the opportunity to see in real life.
He was a sort of proto-conservationist, hoping to document the receding wildlife in a format that could prove both permanent and educational. He knew parts of the wilderness were becoming extinct, and he hoped his films could raise awareness of these creatures. The films weren’t without controversy, but on the whole, Walt felt they did some real good.
When Walt began developing Disneyland in California, he thought back to those True-Life Adventures. He thought of how excited audiences were about encountering these types of creates and locations, and they served as a strong guiding point for the development of Adventureland. When the time came to start brainstorming attractions, Walt suggested a river cruise through an artificial habitat that would house real, live exotic animals that guests could view from the safety of a boat. Unfortunately, the zoological technology of the time prevented the Imagineers from putting such a ride together, and so, the animals were swapped out for audio-animatronics and the attraction opened as the Jungle Cruise we all know and love.
But Walt – and, more importantly, his Imagineers – didn’t forget the idea of combining storytelling and wildlife. And, when time came to build an enormous vacation resort in Central Florida, they brought it back to life and gave it another go.
From Raz Island to Treasure Island
In 1965, the Walt Disney Company began quietly buying 43 square miles of land in the Central Florida area. It was largely low-value swampland, and with the Disney Company operating under the guise of several dummy corporations, they were able to acquire most of the land without raising too much of a fuss.
One piece of that land was Raz Island – a small island situated in the heart of Bay Lake. In the first half of the 20th century, the island changed hands quite a bit, going from a peaceful and remote residential area to a hunting resort. Eventually, it was purchased by Walt Disney, who immediately knew he’d want to use it in some way as part of his newest theme park resort.
When Walt was planning the “Florida Project,” as it was called, the theme park was actually just a small portion of the entire master plan. To Walt, an East Coast version of Disneyland was fine, but it was really only there to keep his money people happy. Walt was far more obsessed with his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, and he believed that was to be the real focus of the Florida Project. He saw Raz Island as a component of the theme park, possibly something that could be renamed “Blackbeard Island” and given a pirate theme, but those plans weren’t much more elaborate than that. That is, until Walt passed in 1966.
With Walt’s death, the Walt Disney Company was left somewhat rudderless. Not wanting to abandon Walt’s vision, but also not wanting to get involved in futuristic civic planning without their visionary leader, the company forged ahead in building the theme park aspect of the Florida resort while leaving the EPCOT concept on the shelf. It opened in 1971 as Walt Disney World – a Vacation Kingdom that included three resorts, two golf courses, an enormous body of water, and a theme park. Very quickly, people loved it.
By 1974, the Walt Disney Company knew it needed to continue to expand its offerings in order to compete with the nearby tourist activities of Florida. And so, they decided to take that little island in the middle of Bay Lake – the one so covered in natural wildlife that it was home to a hunting retreat in the years before Disney bought it – and turn it into a Walt’s pirate-themed area. They called it Treasure Island, after the Robert Louis Stevenson book, and built some theming to heighten the sense of adventure and isolation. They built shipwrecks and small buildings, they created small treasure hunts and bridges, and they even had some simple animal exhibits. It was a simple activity – one far removed from the energy of the Magic Kingdom – but one that people enjoyed nonetheless.
No more Treasure, time for Discovery
In 1976, Disney decided to rethink its Treasure Island strategy. While the pirate theming was nice, the Imagineers knew they had the opportunity to try something a bit more ambitious. In their search for a new concept for the island, they did what Imagineers have been doing for decades – they looked back at some ideas they’d previously tossed aside.
And so, at this point, Disney revived that old Walt idea about giving guests a face-to-face encounter with real, exotic wildlife and pushed the island exhibit more in the direction of a zoo. They expanded the island’s size, increasing the area for animals to live, and they shifted the experience’s focus to be more about those animals. By 1978, the island earned a new moniker to live up to its new direction: Discovery Island.
It quickly earned full accreditation from the American Aquarium and Zoo Foundation, and was truly a place guests could go to learn more about wildlife in a more well-themed and exciting location than a local zoo. There were hundreds of species of animals on the island, and its Cast Members not only taught guests about the animals on display, but they also helped breed and rehabilitate endangered animals and species. While it was never overly crowded, it was most definitely a success – and it operated in this fashion for roughly two more decades.
What was Discovery Island like?
In many, many ways, Discovery Island was like a dress rehearsal for Disney’s Animal Kingdom. To guests staying at Walt Disney World in the early days, it seemed quite out of the way – you couldn’t drive there, nor get there straight from the monorail. If you wanted to get to Discovery Island, you had to take a boat. It sort of had the feel of Tom Sawyer Island in the Magic Kingdom: In visiting the attraction, you felt particularly adventurous, as though you were embarking on a large and grand expedition. In reality, you were just crossing Bay Lake on a small boat, and pulling up to a relatively low-profile dock.
From there, once you were on Discovery Island, it was even more Animal Kingdom-esque. Curving, branching pathways gave guests multiple possible routes to use to tour the island, increasing the sense of adventure and heightening the feeling of exploration.
The island was full of small exhibits, each showcasing a new animal species. They were spread far enough apart to feel as though they were simply part of the natural environment, immersing guests in the wildlife atmosphere. There were even some shows, such as a bird show that featured exotic avian creatures performing tricks.
For the most part, the wildlife exhibits consisted of animals that could survive in the Florida climate without much additional effort. They weren’t the most high profile animals in the world, but they were still very exciting to encounter.
Eventually, Disney would incorporate more traditionally popular animals like giraffes and tigers in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, but for Discovery Island, the appeal was much more low key.
Importantly, constructing seamless and effective animal exhibits on the island gave the Imagineers the experience they would later need in building Disney’s Animal Kingdom. That aesthetic – the natural world overtaking and living in harmony with the artificial world – first began on Discovery Island.
The beginning of the end
So, why did Discovery Island go away? Well, a lot of reasons. The location in the center of Bay Lake was truly a deterrent to some guests. Either they thought it was much more difficult to get to than it actually was (many guests would have to take a bus to the Magic Kingdom, a monorail to the Contemporary, and then a boat to the island), or they simply didn’t realize it existed. Beyond that, Disney had a few issues handling and caring for the animals – some of which may have been rather bad, according to government investigators.
In 1995, a two-month investigation led to 16 state and federal charges being filed against Disney and its Discovery Island employees for, according to the Orlando Sentinel at the time, “the death of vultures which were crammed into a tiny, overheated shed for days with limited food and water.” Disney claimed there was a misunderstanding and eventually settled out of court, but the damage was largely done. If Disney was going to continue to give guests this type of animal-related experience, changes were going to have to be made.
And so, later in 1995, Disney reconvened and needed to make a decision: Was Discovery Island lagging in attendance because it was a bad idea, or was it underperforming due to the fact that it was under-supported and needed a large capital investment?
Ultimately, Company opted to make a bold move and try to reboot this idea elsewhere on the property – that project would later become Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
And, at that moment, the writing was on the wall for Discovery Island. It was only a matter of time before the site would close, its animals would be moved to the Animal Kingdom facilities, and the island would be cut off for good.
Sure enough, in 1999, Discovery Island closed – ironically, on April 8, the 25th anniversary of its opening.
But, that wasn’t all…
Despite the fact that Discovery Island closed, Disney still knew that having this island in the middle of Bay Lake – complete with a pre-built infrastructure – might be valuable down the line. And so, they didn’t quite tear everything down. Instead, they left most of the structures up and untouched – presumably planning to retool anything they’d want to use again down the road.
Initially, the island was the subject of plenty of rumors about future attractions that might call it home. One particularly robust rumor surfaced in the early-2000s suggesting that it might be re-themed as an experiential game designed by the makers of the computer game Myst. Later, some theorized that it might become an attraction themed after the television show Lost.
Months dragged on and turned into years, and eventually, Disney fans and the famous Disney rumor mill gave up. It has now been over 15 years since the closing of Discovery Island, and we have no evidence that Disney is planning on doing anything with it. For now, it sits untouched.
Well, mostly untouched.
The island becomes a magnet for (trespassing) explorers
In the late-2000s, Disney became a popular location for so-called “Urban Explorers” to ply their craft. Essentially, these explorers would sneak into not-entirely-open spaces and have a look around. At Disney, that meant Discovery Island – the former attraction that could be reached only by boat.
The fact that you had to take a boat to get there proved to be an appealing challenge to those explorers. Some groups used elaborate strategies based on satellite imagery to find the closest point to set off from alongside the Fort Wilderness shore, but they quickly figured out that they’d need to swim to the island if they wanted any hope of making it across the lake without being caught by security.
Made it they did, and what they found was shocking.
It turns out that, due to Disney’s desire to possibly reuse the structures and space at a later time, Discovery Island was left in something of a suspended state. There were papers all over the place, food in the fridges, and animals still preserved in jars. It looked like a place that was abandoned in a hurry – sort of like the most realistic video game level of all time. These explorers couldn’t get enough of it, and released photos and videos showcasing their bizarre findings. It was so bizarre, in fact, the national media picked up the story, and it went viral nearly overnight. To this day, blogs and sites still discover those photos and are surprised by the contents. The idea that something so ruinous could exist on Disney property seemed to be a baffling dichotomy that took the internet over.
And now, people always try to get close to snap images of the unsettlingly creepy remains:
Obviously, it’s not recommended that you do this yourself – if Disney catches you, you’ll likely be banned from the property for life – but we’re glad someone made that sacrifice so that we can see these surreal and fascinating images from a former attraction left to nature.
Discovery Island’s spiritual successor opens
In 1998, Walt Disney World opened Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a park dedicated to educating guests about the natural world, providing them with thrilling experiences contained within it, and encouraging the conservation of the beautiful natural spaces on our planet. Those ideals draw a lineage directly from Walt, himself, and those roots continue all the way through Walt’s True-Life Adventures and even thorough Discovery Island.
Many of the techniques used at Animal Kingdom were first developed for use on the island. The experience with animals Disney gained in operating the attraction was very valuable when they began planning and putting together the new park – particularly the zoological accreditation. Additionally, a small number of the animals that were originally located at Discovery Island were relocated to Animal Kingdom.
But, perhaps its greatest legacy is the name of Animal Kingdom’s central hub – also, Discovery Island – a fitting tribute to the Disney animal attraction that came before it.
Visitors to Disney’s Animal Kingdom experience that same sense of awe and adventure they would have felt in visiting Discovery Island two decades prior. Its beautiful natural aesthetic, its meandering paths and trails, and its exploratory ethos all combine to give it the same audacious vibe of the old island park. A trip to Animal Kingdom is really about discovery – discovery of the natural world, of the animals that inhabit it, and of our role within it – and so, it’s very fitting that a part of the park bears Discovery Island’s name: It’s truly fit to carry on its legacy.
Even with all of that, Disney can learn a lesson from Discovery Island
Great ideas never die at Disney. Some might get shelved indefinitely, some might get reworked and reworked until they reach a point that the originals are unrecognizable. However, if an idea is truly great, it will have a chance to succeed. And, even if it fails, Disney will make sure it has its best chance at success in the future.
Disney tried to create an animal attraction with the Jungle Cruise, but that didn’t quite work (not with real animals, anyway). They tried again with Discovery Island – this time creating something people enjoyed and that lasted much longer – but it still didn’t resonate with the public the way Imagineers had hoped. And so, not content to let a good idea die, they gave it one last go, this time throwing the full support of the company behind it. And, lo and behold, they wound up creating one of Disney’s best theme parks.
The lesson, then, is an important one for Disney – and really, for anyone working in a creative field: Risk, fail, risk again. If you truly believe in something, it’s worth it to keep at it, even in the face of failure. Just because an idea didn’t work the first time, doesn’t mean it can’t work at all. There’s value in failure, because you learn far more from failure than you do from success.
And, most importantly of all, if an idea came from Walt, you should probably listen. That guy seemed to know what he was talking about.
