While traveling the waters of the Seven Seas Lagoon, you may spot something curious on the small island northeast of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. Is it a log? A dock? Believe it or not, it’s the remnant of a wave machine—a forgotten piece of Disney history.
In 1971, as part of the Polynesian Resort’s construction, Dick Nunis, then VP of Park Operations (and a surfer himself), envisioned surfing as a guest activity. With backing from senior leadership—including Roy O. Disney—a wave machine was installed on Beachcomber Island, a small man-made island located just offshore from the Polynesian’s beach.
The machine worked—producing powerful waves that allowed guests (and Nunis himself) to surf. But the success came at a cost:
- Severe beach erosion at the newly created Surfrider Beach
- Disrupted boat navigation, especially for the Southern Seas steamship
- Frequent mechanical failures, requiring divers to repair the system after only a few hours of operation
The wave machine was quietly shut down within a year. In 1985, Disney briefly reactivated the machine to test whether the lagoon had stabilized. It hadn’t. The machine was officially retired, and while the above-water structure was removed, the mounting wall remains visible on Beachcomber Island today. Rumors persist that the underwater wave-generating mechanisms were never extracted, left to rust beneath the lagoon due to high removal costs.
