Will pirates soon be returning to Treasure … er … Discovery Island?

Jim Hill

16 years ago

Christy S. writes in to say:

Jim

When I was a little girl, my father and I flew down to Walt Disney World. This was just a year or so after the resort opened and I distinctly remember taking a boat ride with my father out to some island. Once we got there, these pirates led us on a treasure hunt which ended with a marshmallow roast on the beach.

I have such clear memories of that day. But whenever I mention this experience to other people who’ve been to WDW, they look at me as if I’ve got two heads. They insist that Disney World never ever had an attraction like that. That I must have dreamed the whole thing up.

My father’s been dead for over 20 years now. So I can’t really ask him if we went on a treasure hunt with some pirates the first time that our family vacationed at Walt Disney World. So I was hoping that you could clear up this mystery for me, Jim. Did Disney World ever have an attraction like this? And if so, what was it called?

Thanks,

Christy S.

You’re talking about Treasure Island. The original incarnation of WDW’s Discovery Island. That 11 1/2 acre wilderness preserve that the Mouse used to maintain out in the middle of Bay Lake.

Very early on in the development of Walt Disney World, WED had wanted to turn what was then known as Raz Island into one of the resort’s real highpoints. Of spending millions of dollars to turn this overgrown hunk of land into … Well, Tom Sawyer Island on steroids.

Mind you, for a while there in the late 1960s, the Imagineers couldn’t agree on a name for this project. So — for a time — Raz Island was redubbed Blackbeard’s Island (in honor of the studio’s 1967 release ). But once the wizards of WED realized that that Peter Ustinov comedy didn’t really provide enough creative fodder for a project that was as ambitious as this, they opted instead to rename Raz after Walt Disney Productions’ 1950 release, “Treasure Island.”

And if all had gone according to plan, “Treasure Island” was to have featured a dozen or more elaborate recreations of the settings from that Robert Louis Stevenson tale. Among them:

Ben Gunn’s Cave: Which — according to the “Future Attractions” portion of the very first Treasure Island map that Disney World printed for the resort’s visitors — was to have been “As mysterious as the strange hermit himself. Its exact location is unknown even today … But we know it’s someplace on the island.”
The Blockhouse: Site of the battle for the treasure map. “Though fully armed … we were still out-numbered by Long John Silver’s buccaneers.”
Spy Glass Hill: A fantastic group of rocks at the heart of the island. In this primeval playground, you’ll discover the secrets of this treasure isle.

Unfortunately, given the enormous cost involved in turning Raz Island into Treasure Island (i.e. the construction crew had to move 15,000 cubic yards of sandy soil and 1,000 tons of boulders & trees by boat out the island in order to turn Raz into a tropical paradise), the pirate theming kept getting cut back. Until — in the end — all that was built was the Wreck of the Hispaniola. Which was located on the Northeastern side of the island.

And as it turned out, adding pirate theming to what was — in essence — a bird sanctuary proved to be problematic. Veteran Imagineer Leota Toombs used to tell the story about that plastic pirate skeleton that was part of the decor inside of Treasure Island’s buzzard aviary. One morning not too long after the island first opened to the public, the curators arrived to find … Well, buzzards being buzzards, they thought the skeleton that was in their cage was real. More importantly, that it was a potential food source. So — overnight — they pulled apart that pirate and scattered his plastic pieces all over their cage.

Realizing that this looked a little grisly (More importantly, out of concern that — if the buzzards continued to pick at the bones of this broken buccaneer — that they then might accidentally ingest some plastic), the curators quickly cleared this faux corpse out of Treasure Island’s vulture enclosure.

Anyway … Getting back to your pirate treasure hunt question. For a short while there, Disney World officials did try and make Treasure Island’s pirate theme work. Which is why — in an effort to boost attendance levels — they began offering special excursions to guests who were staying at the Contemporary & the Polynesian Resorts. Cast members dressed as pirates would take small groups over to Treasure Island in the late afternoon. Where — after giving these guests a treasure map that would lead them through most of the island’s aviaries in search of clues — the group would then regroup down on the beach at sunset. Where (just as Christy remembered) they’d roast marshmallows and sing sea shanties before these guests then had to reboard their boat and head back to their respective resort.

Unfortunately, given Treasure Island’s short operational hours (Due to the fact that all of the animals on display first had to fed and their cages cleaned before any guests could be allowed on the island, Treasure Island was typically only open to the public from 12 Noon to 6 p.m. ), it just didn’t make any sense to Mouse House managers to spend any more on pirate theming to the island. If anything, these folks felt that they should cut back on the Yo-Ho-Ho and look for new ways to make dough-dough-dough.

Which is why — in January of 1976 — Treasure Island went down for retooling. And when the isle re-opened to WDW guests in April of that year, it had a brand-new name (i.e. Discovery Island) as well as a snack bar.

And for the next 23 years, Discovery Island remained open. But was it never quite as popular (more importantly, as profitable) as the company would have liked. Which is why — when Animal Kingdom opened in April of 1998 — Disney used that as an excuse to begin shifting most of the island’s animals and exhibits over to that theme park.

And ever since Discovery Island was officially closed off to visits from WDW guests (That happened on April 8, 1999), the Imagineers have been wondering what they should do with this piece of property. Among the ideas that have been floated over the past 9 years was building a set of exclusive honeymoon cottages on the island. There’s also been some pretty serious talk of turning this remote corner of Disney World into an elaborate interactive gaming environment. Some place that would allow tourists to explore the worlds of “Myst” or ABC‘s “Lost.”

Of course, what’s kind of ironic about all this is — just recently — WDW Entertainment supposedly considered a new concept for Treasure / Discovery Island. One that comes full circle (sort of) to what Christy experienced in the early 1970s. In that WDW visitors would once again take a boat out to that island, where they’d then have a pirate-themed adventure which would involve a food component.

Only this time around, the rogue that resort guests would be dealing with wouldn’t be Peter Ustinov’s Blackbeard and/or “Treasure Island” ‘s Long John Silver. But — rather — Captain Jack Sparrow of “Pirates of the Caribbean” fame.

Mind you, we’re talking about a project that’s allegedly only in the discussion phase at this point. More to the point, this would be a very exclusive experience. One that would (in theory) have such a high price point that WDW Entertainment (in conjunction with Food & Beverage) is reportedly only considering offering this Discovery Island outing to corporate groups. To be specific, companies that are willing to pay big bucks for something truly special the next time they hold a convention on property.

But isn’t it funny how things works at the Mouse House? How a concept that was thought to be a failure back into the 1970s can now be revived in 2008 and possibly become a new income source for the Walt Disney Company?

Which begs the question: How much would you be willing to pay to travel out to Treasure / Discovery Island, where you could then knock back a few rum drinks with a Johnny Depp lookalike?

Your thoughts?

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