Disney's Abandoned Boat Ride: The Discovery River Boats

Animal Kingdom's Discovery River Boats at Disney World was one of the strangest, short-lived attractions at the park. And is to this day, one of the few abandoned remnants of Disney World history that still sits in the parks to this day. So let's go through the history of the ride, what it was supposed to be, what it actually became, and what eventually happened to one of Disney's worst ever rides, the Discovery River Boats Tours!

Media and Informational Sources:

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:52 The Cancelled Beastly Kingdom Land
4:41 The Original Plan for the Ride
7:01 The Ride We Actually Got
12:19 The Many Problems of the Discovery River Boats
15:59 The Radio Disney River Cruise
17:16 The Closure of the Ride
18:28 The Abandonment and Remnants of the Ride

[somecat]

DISCOVERY RIVER BOATS VIDEO LET'S GO! My family gets so tired of me pointing out the rock bits

[Dumplys]

I love how he’s roasting the ride mid vid and then the image pans to the animatronic dinosaur and he’s like “Your cool” 😂

[dreamwrlds]

Such a lovely unicorn statue. I'd like to think it's just in someone's backyard garden somewhere, still being admired and preserved.

[kevinmsmith]

I rode this when I was young during the Radio Disney re-theme. Even as a Disney-loving kid, I just kept thinking "Wow, this is bad" while riding it.

[Solo]

As someone who's done a ton of research into the history of cancelled Disney attractions this somehow completely passed me by. Great research on this!

That scene with the mangled Knights is shockingly disturbing especially for 1990s Disney.

[thefalsekingslayer]

Wanted to come here to add, the boats are neither in storage nor at Epcot.

They were bought by the Magic Kingdom (yes they had to pay for them) and used for the pirate themed fireworks cruises, and then used as regular transportation after Covid.

Afaik they aren’t being used at all right now, they are very slow and quite old.

Source: you’ll just have to trust that I know

[Laurendamon]

Biggest Disney World let down as a kid was that dragon cave - I had been promised a dragon! Even had (still have) the promo Happy Meal toy of it!

[Brocksqd]

This video has cleared up so many questions I have had about what was on that river, why is it so wide and what about those "abandoned" barely used buildings along it's shores. Crazy how many things at Disney World are built and abandoned on their huge property, just barely visible under the overgrowth.

[Koopaklown]

The closest thing to a visible abandoned attraction I can think of is the tracks for the People Mover/Rocket Rods at Disneyland. I actually rode both attractions, and will always point out the abandoned tracks, and loading dock just out in the open.

[Keish]

They just made the boat available in Disney Dreamlight Valley and it comes in two versions, the nice boat and the abandoned half sunk version 😅

[timothybeuth]

I got to ride this during a park preview! It was my dad’s favorite attraction at opening. Next time we went to animal kingdom, we asked a CM about it and they repeatedly denied that a boat ride ever existed!!! It was wild! No pun intended..

[ScallywagBeowulf]

I always wondered what the rock feature was at that walkway from Pandora to Africa in Animal Kingdom. Never knew it was supposed to be a "cave" for a dragon.

[blapis-blazuli]

It's wild to me that it's somehow the unicorn statue that managed to make it out of this ride not just okay but with its own Instagram page meanwhile everything else was either left there or taken out and not cared for.

[djinnspalace]

of course its forgotten even by explorers, because whats even there to explore? the one animatronic is gone, and the unicorn barely was there to begin with. thats already 90% of the attraction

[AlienDude]

The failure of EuroDisney had so many weird knock-on effects, I wanna see someone do an alternate history story where the park succeeded

[skychaserthedragon]

Get onto this slow-ass boat and get a sunburn! Sights & sounds may vary.
Also, really disappointed that the beastly kingdom was completely cancelled. Another reason to dislike Eisner, I guess.

[jamesknight]

The more time goes on the more inclined I am to believe that Walt was truly one of kind, and no one else at Disney has any remote clue beyond trying to make money.
Case in point, the brick and mortar of the People Mover is still standing today, despite lack of maintenance, and that was one of Walt's projects that he didn't see completed.

[kittybum]

I had never heard of this! Great video. I'm planning to see what remnants I can spot on my next trip!

[Greeneflower]

the radio disney renev... that was so comically disney... gotta love it (sarcastically)

[HeatherSummerRaine]

YES! My poor teen! I always point out the loading dock area over the bridge every time we enter AK as I quiz her on what used to be there. She was not amused when I got excited about this video! I absolutely loved it! There was so much history packed in it! Thank you for making my day/year!