4. Some Interesting Facts About Discovery Island

• In 1995 admission was $10.07 for adults and $5.57 for children three through nine.

• Discovery Island had a beach where swimming wasn't allowed, but you could play and walk on the sand.

• The island’s facilities housed the last known dusky seaside sparrow. It died in 1987.

5. The closure of Discovery Island

Once Disney’s Animal Kingdom debuted in April of 1988, Discovery Island was starting to look a little redundant. Its last day in which it was open to the public was on April 8, 1999. It continued operating until July 9. By then, all the animals had been relocated either to the Animal Kingdom or other zoos. Specifically, the animals were moved to the Safari Village hub area. It was renamed Discovery Island in the honor of the previous home to Disney-owned wildlife.

6. Discovery Island --> Myst Island?

For a while, Disney is rumored to have considered working with the makers of the graphic adventure puzzle video game Myst in order to create a modern, interactive experience that would have been called Myst Island. Guests would go to Discovery Island and explore weird locations to uncover a mystery about the previous inhabitants of the island. Sadly (?), the project never really got off the ground.

7. Completely, Eerily Abandoned

Photographer Shane Perez reported that he travelled to Discovery Island sometime after it closed in 1999, and had a pretty wild adventure. He’d heard about the island from Orlando locals, who told him that rumor had it that there were a bunch of wild animals still roaming the island.

Perez concocted an elaborate plan to make it to the island. The first time he failed, but, undeterred, he came back a year later and made it to Discovery Island. He documented things such as how Disney eerily had kept the lights on in the abandoned park on some paths and on others it was totally dark. He describes what must have been a very unnerving experience when he was surrounded by thousands of cooing and cawing birds.

A little more investigation confirmed that the island had not been kept up in any way. He found a storage building full of leftover paperwork, photos and even some snakes stored in containers like a bottle of Coke. He had only explored half the island before he had to head back, lest people on the ferries or in nearby park grounds see him and he get in trouble for vandalism. It’s a fascinating story, and he took some great photos. I encourage you to check them out and read his adventure in full on his blog.

Discovery Island is still somewhat of a presence at Disney, at least visually. It’s easily seen from both Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground as well as Disney’s Contemporary Resort. While it's not necessarily a vital part of Disney’s theme park history, I hope this profile of Discovery Island gives you some insight into one of Disney’s least-known parks.