Florida Vacation ~ Discovery Island Pictures at Walt Disney World

This hub will address the half day that we spent while on vacation in Florida's Walt Disney World on the Discovery Island.

The year was 1990 and my mother, niece and I had made plans to spend five days at Walt Disney World. We had reserved lodging at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort for the duration of the Disney portion of our vacation.

Clustered around water are groups of buildings named after islands. Our reserved room was in the Aruba complex. Other names included the following: Barbados, Martinique, Trinidad, Jamaica plus the Custom House and Old Port Royale. Shops and dining facilities were centrally located in the Old Port Royale area. As one might imagine, the Caribbean Beach Resort is tropical in nature and decor.

A wonderful aspect of residing at one of the Disney resorts is the free transportation back and forth to Walt Disney World. Being able to catch buses that operate on frequent and regular schedules, one does not have to worry about driving a vehicle nor trying to find parking spaces or paying parking fees once one is checked in to one of the many Disney resorts.

Seven bus stops were located at the Caribbean Beach Resort in order to facilitate ease of transportation back and forth to the various sites at Walt Disney World. We found this to be an easy and friendly mode of traveling.

Naturally we saw and experienced much of the normal entertainment while at Walt Disney World...and believe me, there is much to do and see!

(c) Peggy Woods - All Rights Reserved

Discovery Island

One day we decided to take a break from the norm and see what Discovery Island had to offer. This proved to be a nice interlude for us from the frenetic activity that surrounds one at the other Disney theme parks.

One traveled to and from Discovery Island by boat.

The following photos will give one an idea of what was to be found on this eleven and a half acre zoological park called Discovery Island. Sadly, it no longer exists as the park was closed in 1999.

The animals have been relocated to Disney's Animal Kingdom and other zoos, and what transformation the island takes is yet to be determined as of the time of this writing.

On Discovery Island were thousands of different varieties of vegetation and plant-life.

Think small tropical paradise ...and it would be a good description of what we found.

Water elements on Discovery Island as well as the lake surrounding the perimeter of the island created a great habitat for many of the aquatic loving birds and animals.

We enjoyed getting to see not only the many flamingos but also trumpeter swans, pelicans, several varieties of cranes, different types of ducks, storks, monkeys, lemurs, capybaras, Galapagos tortoises and more.

Discovery Island had a variety of trails that could be followed and one could linger as long as one desired in any spot taking pictures or simply enjoying the scenery.

Many of the animals roamed freely on the island except for a few that were contained within areas for their safety as well as the tourist's safety.

Safely contained behind wires were some crocodiles, Ring-tailed lemurs from Madagascar and the Queen of Bavaria Conures which are an endangered species coming from North Eastern Brazil among others.

Numerous animals ( over 100 + species ) existed on Discovery Island besides the ones pictured or mentioned in this hub.

It was one of the most natural of zoo settings that we have ever gotten to enjoy.

The red bird pictured to the right is a Scarlet Ibis which originates in tropical South America.

A sign had the following information:

"The early explorers of the Caribbean Sea wrote about trees covered with blood when they saw flocks of scarlet ibis.

These birds are now protected over much of their range.

Our breeding colony of Scarlet Ibis is the largest in the United States."

Getting to see Galapagos tortoises on Discovery Island was a rare treat.

We will probably never get the chance to visit the Galapagos Islands which have been made into a National Park with the prime object of protecting these endangered tortoises. So we were thrilled to see five of these magnificent creatures on Discovery Island.

They were provided with a wonderful area in which to roam including sandy areas and also water. Shade was also provided. What we learned about them was informative and interesting.

Galapagos tortoises originally had from 12 to 15 subspecies and only 11 remain alive today.

Over 250,000 of them used to thrive in the Galapagos Islands but only about 15,000 are there today. They had few natural predators.

Pirates in the 17th century used to capture the tortoises and take them on board ship in order to have a ready supply of food. Since the tortoises could survive without food or water for up to one year, this was a living source of sustenance when needed by the people aboard the ships.

Other people also sought out the tortoises for oil and other purposes.

The Galapagos National Park was created in 1959.

In 1969 U.S. law made it illegal to import Galapagos tortoises or their eggs into the country. A year later the same rules were enacted impacting every other country.

Since 1971, in order to further protect this endangered species, tourists in the Galapagos National Park are now all accompanied by guides while on tours.

Other interesting statistics...

Galapagos tortoises live to be 100 to 150 years old and are not full grown until about age 40. Their prime reproductive years are from ages 60 to 90.

Bird shows and aviary

At regularly scheduled times parrots, cockatoos, and other birds were part of a show. Some of the birds talked and did tricks on cue. Others were displayed and we learned a bit more about them.

The white cockatoo pictured here was very friendly and posed while sitting on people's arms.

A walk through aviary united one in spirit with the free flying colorful birds that were in abundance.

It was wonderful seeing them flitting from one tree to another as they would do in the wild.

We were so happy to have gotten to enjoy this respite from the normal hustle and bustle at Walt Disney World for a short while. I am saddened to learn that it no longer exists.

Those of you who may have visited Florida's Discovery Island while on vacation may like seeing these photos as a reminder of good memories, and for those of you who missed it, you will have some idea of what it was like.

I'll leave you with some final pictures...