Check out this spectacular aerial view of the Magic Kingdom area as the Seven Seas Lagoon transforms into an actual lagoon! The site for Magic Kingdom and the surrounding areas was initially challenging to develop. However, with the leadership of Roy Disney and the incredible skill of the Imagineers and dedicated teams, Walt Disney World became a reality in Central Florida!
It was very difficult to build a theme park on the land where Magic Kingdom currently sits. Since Seven Seas Lagoon was created on similar land as the Magic Kingdom land, soil from the lagoon was brought to the Magic Kingdom land help stabilize that area for building. This soil removed from the soon-to-be lagoon area helped create Walt Disney World’s Seven Seas Lagoon.
From Imagineer Tom K. Morris
Morris: Geo-engineers underestimated the density and depth of the root-mat in the area of Seven Seas Lagoon. In some areas, it went down 40 or 50 feet! Caused headaches and delays. The Seven Seas Lagoon might have been designed differently had they known the conditions; Magic Kingdom location was moved a quarter mile east from the early plans to avoid similar conditions.
Morris: Root mat is a network of tree roots that are spread across horizontally, forming a “net” across a parcel of land. Sometimes only a foot or two thick, just below the surface, but sometimes several feet thick and 20 or 30 or more feet below the surface. The roots’ decomposition and resulting cavity are one of the things that can cause sinkholes.
Did you know the three islands in Seven Seas Lagoon have names?
Blackbeard Island: This island is the closest to Bay Lake and the water bridge. Interestingly, Blackbeard’s Island was a planned name for the island in Bay Lake until they officially decided on Treasure Island (and then eventually Discovery Island).
Castaway Cay: This name might sound familiar. Does Disney’s private island in the Bahamas ring a bell? This island is located closest to the Magic Kingdom. Whether Disney named this island after the one in the Bahamas (1997) or vice versa is unknown.
Beachcomber Island: This island might be the most interesting to Disney fans. It is located closest to the Polynesian & Grand Floridian and was once home to a wave machine! Dick Nunis, then Vice President of Park Operations, wanted waves and surfing on his new beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, the waves caused beach erosion, and the machine was expensive to maintain, leading to its eventual removal. Remnants of the wave machine are still visible within the trees and bushes, and some of the machinery remains under the Seven Seas Lagoon surface. However, this wasn’t the last wave machine at Walt Disney World. A more modern version of the wave machine found a home at Typhoon Lagoon in 1989.
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From Imagineers Tom K. Morris and Scott Girard
Castaway Cay, or the middle island, originally had three tall cypress trees that really stood out, and the landscaping crew named them ‘Roy’, ‘Donn’, and ‘Card’ (after Walt Disney Productions’ three top executives at the time). Lightening set them afire several years later. Two of the cypress trees stood at the eastern most tip of island. You can see the ‘Donn’ and ‘Card’ trees very close together in the Seven Seas Lagoon construction photo at the top. ‘Roy’ was further to the west near the heavy vegetation.
Here are the two ‘Donn’ and ‘Card’ trees from an early photo of Seven Seas Lagoon in Walt Disney World.
Morris: According to an interview with Bill Evans, after they landscaped those islands and before the Seven Seas Lagoon was filled with water for the first time, they did a survey to double-check elevations, and the islands were below water level! They had to pull out all the landscape material, add four feet of soil, and then replant!
Girard: While clearing and de-mucking for the Seven Seas Lagoon the crews worked around areas that had the rough shape of the islands shown on the survey for clearing; the assumption being the areas would be above water level when the lagoon was filled. When the islands had sat for a month or so after the de-mucking and water level draw down, we started planting trees on the islands. I think it was Bill Stockman (Chief Surveyor) who suggested they shoot the islands, and sure enough they had subsided and we had to dismount all of that landscaping, add more dirt, regrade the islands, and re-plant the trees and shrubs.
Girard: This very experience is what led us to build the islands in World Showcase Lagoon with concrete seawalls and plant them with ‘draping’ shrubs which cover the concrete walls.
From Former Walt Disney World Lake Patrol Lifeguard David Green
Green: As a lake patrol lifeguard, we had access to all the islands and used them as landmarks. I almost forgot all the names. Castaway Cay had old fireworks bunkers and a control room with a working phone. You could even make long distance calls! Same for the wedding pavilion dock phone. Beachcomber Island has a small inlet on the east side where you could drive a Boston Whaler into. On Castaway Cay, that’s the control room at the top of the photo. It is on a hill.
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