A Florida man has had his dreams of a magical quarantine dashed, after he was picked up by police for allegedly trying to camp out on an abandoned island at Disney World.
42-year-old Richard McGuire was arrested on the shuttered Discovery Island on Thursday, having been there since Monday or Tuesday, with plans to stay there for at least a week.
A Disney World security representative claims that he was seen using a company boat on Thursday, and he was hailed by a public address system and told to leave the property.
He allegedly ignored this, and told officers that he did not hear numerous sheriff’s deputies conducting a land, air and water search for him as he was asleep in a building.
Per his arrest report, McGuire also claimed to be unaware of the numerous ‘No Trespassing’ signs in place, and stated that the island “looked like a tropical paradise.”
He was reportedly taken into custody without incident.
Discovery Island itself has a fascinating history. Disney World originally opened it in 1974 as a Treasure Island-themed attraction, before renaming it several years later.
It was repurposed as an “avian paradise”, where guests could view numerous exotic bird species, but it was closed for good in 1999, with remaining birds relocated to the Animal Kingdom attraction.
Today, the island sits derelict, but photographers have snuck onto it at various times to document the collapsing buildings as nature slowly reclaims the area.
