As it's located near Punggol, no way we're gonna travel there by public transport, we cabbed there.
Visiting the island has become a trend this few weeks/months (friends visiting too, random people sharing posts/articles about Coney Island recently), owing to the fact that it was officially opened to the public not long ago on 10 October 2015 by the Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure Khaw Boon Wan. It's said that before that, there's a "NO ENTRY" sign at the island entrance.
The island has two entrances, one due west and the other due east. From The Punggol Settlement, we entered the island from the its West Entrance. We only managed to visit approximately 40% of the island, having no bicycle. Therefore I'd recommend that you rent a bicycle from Punggol Point Park and ride into the island for a vaster coverage.
So how did Coney Island get its name? I learnt that the island inherits rich history, after reading a few articles and blog entries, where one of them is from Remember Singapore. It was once owned by the Haw Par Brothers in the 1930s, but sold to Ghulam Mahmood, an Indian businessman in the 1950s. He then named the island after the Coney Island amusement park in Brooklyn, New York, with the intention of transforming the island into a pleasure resort.
According to a news article from The Straits Times, on 4 April 1950, the island 'is to have facilities for swimming, boating, fishing, all kinds of outdoor and indoor sports, a skating rink, and will contain a main building with a restaurant and bar, a dance hall and rooms', alongside with six cottages for honeymoon couples or families. Wow...