Inside the creepy abandoned Disney attractions left to rot for decades
THE rides have shut, the crowds long gone and the parks left to rot after closing down.
A series of eerie images have captured the remains of Disney's abandoned attractions.
Urban explorer and photographer has visited a number of abandoned parks at Disney World and Disneyland, with entry banned inside.
Other parks have been captured by urban explorers, such as a Disney-inspired theme park in Japan and Disney's now defunct airport.
While it is breaking the law to go inside, with many explorers now banned from the parks, the images capture a sad scene of once popular resorts.
Here are some of the creepiest attractions which haven't seen guests in years.
Disney River Country
Disney's River Country was a water park opened which opened in 1976.
It featured a number of water rides and pools including one described as Huckleberry Finn's old-fashioned swimming hole.
Despite boasting an average of 4,700 daily guests, it closed in 2001.
Many reasons were given for the closure, including the deaths of three boys on-site, along with strict new regulations in Florida over water sanitation when using fresh water, something the park used in the large swimming lagoons.
New plans for the area include Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge which will feature 900 rooms and villas, and plans to open by 2022.
A lakeside restaurant featuring the characters from The Princess and the Frog will be built alongside it.
Disney Discovery Island
Originally called Treasure Island, the 11.5-acre island in Bay Lake in Florida was an attraction featuring wild animals and exotic creatures.
It opened in 1974 and ran for 25 years with the natural jungle habitat popular with guests wanting to see birds, reptiles, monkeys.
Tortoise Beach and Avian Way were two locations on the island, as well as a small zoo.
However, it was closed to guests in 1999 after Animal Kingdom was built, which was a larger and more expansive wild animal attraction.
It remains off limits and abandoned - although a man was recently arrested after breaking into it and setting up camp during the coronavirus lockdown.
Lake Buena Vista Airport
Disney World once had a fully operational airport, which was built in 1971.
Walt Disney World Airport, also known as Lake Buena Vista Airport and Lake Buena Vista STOLport sits south of the Magic Kingdom park and north of Epcot, next to World Drive, and was only large enough to operate four planes at one time.
Guests could arrive from airports in Orlando to the Disney Airport, with the journey taking just a few minutes.
However, after the monorail was built in the 1980s, the airport could no longer be used.
A small feature popular with passengers was the music which played after landing thanks to small grooves in the runway, with When You Wish Upon A Star from Pinocchio blasted out.
Nara Dreamland
While not an official Disney park, Nara Dreamland in Japan was heavily inspired by Disneyland California.
The park, first opened in 1961, hoped to be an official Disney theme park after Kunizo Matsuo, a Japanese businessman & president of the Matsuo Entertainment Company, met with Walt Disney to discuss the attraction.
After disagreements over the license fees for using the Disney characters, the park was a mere resemblance of Disneyland, not an affiliated park.
Similarities can be spotted by the large castle at the entrance, almost identical to Sleeping Beauty's castle, as well as a Matterhorn-esque mountain ride and Main Street.
It once attracted 1.7m visitors, running for 45 years until Tokyo Disneyland was built, which led to its demise.
The drop in attendance meant it was forced to close in 2006, and left to rot.
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The Disney-style castle fell into ruins, while the train carriages were graffiti-ed by trespassers.
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The whole theme park resembled a ghost town, with one creepy broken rides and nature taking over.
It was eventually demolished in 2017.