diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8631d9776..17edfd88f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
     powerful plugins for Vagrant while providing a backwards-compatible API
     so that plugins will always _load_ (though they will almost certainly
     not be _functional_ in future versions of Vagrant).
+  - Plugins no longer "autoload" by simply gem installing them. This increases
+    Vagrant's initial startup time considerably. To replace this, you can use
+    the `vagrant plugin` interface.
   - Improve the SSH "ready?" check. [GH-841]
   - Human friendly error if connection times out for HTTP downloads. [GH-849]
   - Detect when the VirtualBox installation is incomplete and error. [GH-846]
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/environment.rb b/lib/vagrant/environment.rb
index f6a0459d3..220ddc5f1 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/environment.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/environment.rb
@@ -519,7 +519,7 @@ module Vagrant
       ::Gem.clear_paths
 
       # Load the plugins
-      Plugin::GemLoader.load!
+      # XXX: TODO
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/plugin.rb b/lib/vagrant/plugin.rb
index bbfcdbfe5..de85c72ac 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/plugin.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/plugin.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 module Vagrant
   module Plugin
-    autoload :GemLoader, "vagrant/plugin/gem_loader"
-
     autoload :V1, "vagrant/plugin/v1"
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/plugin/gem_loader.rb b/lib/vagrant/plugin/gem_loader.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index ca95eec60..000000000
--- a/lib/vagrant/plugin/gem_loader.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,82 +0,0 @@
-require "rubygems"
-
-require "log4r"
-
-module Vagrant
-  module Plugin
-    # Manages loading plugins from RubyGems. If a RubyGem has a `vagrant_init.rb`
-    # file somewhere on its load path, then this class will find it and load it.
-    # For logging purposes and debugging, the list of loaded plugins is
-    # stored in the {plugins} array.
-    class GemLoader
-      # The array of gem specifications that were loaded as plugins.
-      @@plugins = []
-
-      # Loads all the plugins for Vagrant. Plugins are currently
-      # gems which have a "vagrant_init.rb" somewhere on their
-      # load path. This file is loaded to kick off the load sequence
-      # for that plugin.
-      def self.load!
-        logger = Log4r::Logger.new("vagrant::plugin")
-        logger.info("Searching and loading any available plugins...")
-
-        # Our version is used for checking dependencies
-        our_version = Gem::Version.create(Vagrant::VERSION)
-
-        # RubyGems 1.8.0 deprecated `source_index`. Gem::Specification is the
-        # new replacement. For now, we support both, but special-case 1.8.x
-        # so that we avoid deprecation messages.
-        index = Gem::VERSION >= "1.8.0" ? Gem::Specification : Gem.source_index
-
-        # Stupid hack since Rails 2.3.x overrides Gem.source_index with their
-        # own incomplete replacement which causes issues.
-        index = [index.installed_source_index, index.vendor_source_index] if defined?(Rails::VendorGemSourceIndex) && index.is_a?(Rails::VendorGemSourceIndex)
-
-        # Look for a vagrant_init.rb in all the gems, but only the
-        # latest version of the gems.
-        [index].flatten.each do |source|
-          # In 1.6.0, added the option of including prerelease gems, which is
-          # useful for developers.
-          specs = Gem::VERSION >= "1.6.0" ? source.latest_specs(true) : source.latest_specs
-
-          specs.each do |spec|
-            if @@plugins.include?(spec)
-              logger.debug("Plugin already loaded, not loading again: #{spec.name}")
-              next
-            end
-
-            # If this gem depends on Vagrant, verify this is a valid release of
-            # Vagrant for this gem to load into.
-            vagrant_dep = spec.dependencies.find { |d| d.name == "vagrant" }
-            if vagrant_dep && !vagrant_dep.requirement.satisfied_by?(our_version)
-              logger.debug("Plugin Vagrant dependency mismatch: #{spec.name} (#{spec.version})")
-              next
-            end
-
-            # Find a vagrant_init.rb to verify if this is a plugin
-            file = nil
-            if Gem::VERSION >= "1.8.0"
-              file = spec.matches_for_glob("**/vagrant_init.rb").first
-            else
-              file = Gem.searcher.matching_files(spec, "vagrant_init.rb").first
-            end
-
-            next if !file
-
-            logger.info("Loading plugin: #{spec.name} (#{spec.version})")
-            @@plugins << spec
-            load file
-          end
-
-          logger.info("Loaded #{@@plugins.length} plugins.")
-        end
-      end
-
-      # Returns the array of plugins which are currently loaded by
-      # Vagrant.
-      #
-      # @return [Array]
-      def self.plugins; @@plugins; end
-    end
-  end
-end