here's how to get to the Dino Mines area, a large arena: http://youtu.be/YGjcMaUAjNE?t=37s

oh yeah, and then there's this and this, but i don't count them. something from Spyro 2.

originally, the Super Bonus World portal was going to be there, but the guy who designed that part left for a while (i want to say for vacation time?), but when he got back the rest of the guys had moved the portal to its current location, but left the island there.

there was supposed to be a giant whirlwind that took you over to it, but they took that out of the playable game (though supposedly it's still in the game's data somewhere?), but if you use GameShark codes to get over to the island, you'll find 3 extra lives.

kind of random, but do you know about the secret areas in Dino Mines or Fireworks Factory?

No i don't. But I'm curious now, where are those secret areas?

there was supposed to be a giant whirlwind that took you over to it, but they took that out of the playable game (though supposedly it's still in the game's data somewhere?), but if you use GameShark codes to get over to the island, you'll find 3 extra lives.

kind of random, but do you know about the secret areas in Dino Mines or Fireworks Factory?

Picture:

http://img48.exs.cx/img48/843/hrjfgj002.jpg

(note that i didn't take this photo but this is the island im talking about.)