Disney's search for a second Bahamian destination began after the company announced its cruise fleet expansion in 2016. The original plan targeted Egg Island, a small landmass surrounded by pristine reef systems. Environmental groups and local residents pushed back hard, citing damage to the coral ecosystems, and Disney walked away. The company turned instead to Lighthouse Point, a largely undeveloped peninsula on Eleuthera's southern coast. In March 2019, Disney purchased the property from the Bahamian government, committing an estimated $250 to $400 million to develop roughly 700 acres. The deal included a significant concession: 190 acres at the southernmost tip were donated back to the government for use as a national park. Construction workers were hired in March 2022, site work began the following month, and the destination received its official name at Destination D23 in September 2023.

Unlike Castaway Cay, which sits on a standalone private island, Lookout Cay occupies land that remains under Bahamian law and governance. All shoreline up to the high water mark is public property under Bahamian statute, accessible to any citizen regardless of the corporate presence nearby. Disney committed to hiring and training Bahamians for both construction and ongoing operations, and pledged to increase calls to other Bahamian ports like Nassau and Freeport by 30 to 40 percent over 2018 levels. The facilities were designed around Bahamian cultural themes rather than generic tropical fantasy. Ships dock at a pier, and guests walk roughly 800 metres to reach the shore and Mabrika Cove, the central beach area. The half-mile walk is the transition from ship to island, a deliberate passage from one world into another.

Lighthouse Point sits at 24.63 degrees north, where Eleuthera tapers to its narrowest before ending in a rocky tip. The peninsula looks out over shallow banks that glow electric blue in the midday sun, darkening to deep indigo where the ocean floor drops away. Eleuthera itself is extraordinary: a 110-mile-long sliver of land that at one point narrows to just 30 feet across. The island's eastern coast faces the open Atlantic, absorbing the full force of ocean swells, while the western side rests against the calm, shallow Great Bahama Bank. That geography gives Lighthouse Point a sheltered western exposure ideal for docking cruise ships while maintaining the wild Atlantic character of its eastern shoreline.

The tension between private development and public access runs through the story of Lighthouse Point. Bahamian law is unambiguous: beaches belong to the people. The 2014 Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority Act ensures that no private landowner can wall off the coastline. Disney's operation exists within that legal framework, a corporate enclave on a public island where citizenship rights supersede commercial interests at the waterline. The 190-acre national park donation reinforced that principle, preserving the peninsula's tip as permanently open land. For the communities of southern Eleuthera, particularly nearby Bannerman Town, the development brought jobs and infrastructure investment alongside the inevitable questions about what large-scale tourism means for a place where roughly 11,000 people have built a quiet life far from Nassau's bustle.