Abandoned River Country

Pocahontas

Pocahontas

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
 
THEMEPARKPIONEER

THEMEPARKPIONEER

Well-Known Member
I remember when it first closed. They had a construction wall blocking the place and there was picnic tables near them so I was able to stand on one and get a good look in there. The place was in tact still, just allot of brown puddles in the pools. Now it's an urban ruin.
 
BiffyClyro

BiffyClyro

Well-Known Member
Think it's sad that it's just abandoned and left to rot. I know they left it for some technical tax mumbo jumbo, but still.... Just sitting there polluting the water and rotting.
 
taz0162

taz0162

Well-Known Member
I was there a couple weeks before it closed right around the same time Discovery Island (Animal- mostly birds walking path accessible by boat) closed. I'd love to see River Country open again. Tubing through the "rapids" and the drop off slides into the pool were great.
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
WDWVolFan said:
On that website they mention rumors about what will happen to it...does anybody know which rumors are out there?
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About the closest thing to fact I have hear was a possible repurposing of parts of it for the pool feature for a DVC resort that would go between WL and FW. In all likelihood it will just be bulldozed if and when that DVC gets built.
 
The Empress Lilly

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
unkadug said:
Because we all know that there is no rotting wood anywhere else in that swamp that is Bay Lake and surrounding area.
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Ah, but the very first thing construction did at WDW was to dredge Bay Lake, and remove all the mud and rotting organic manner.

You could swim in Bay Lake, and in Seven Seas Lagoon!

But then, this was forty years in the future and we haven't the technology and means to perform such feats yet.
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
The Empress Lilly said:
Ah, but the very first thing construction did at WDW was to dredge Bay Lake, and remove all the mud and rotting organic manner.

You could swim in Bay Lake, and in Seven Seas Lagoon!

But then, this was forty years in the future and we haven't the technology and means to perform such feats yet.
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It would be all but impossible to remove all of the organic material at the bottom of a lake. You dredge to allow for boats to proceed unencumbered.
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
The Empress Lilly said:
Ah, but the very first thing construction did at WDW was to dredge Bay Lake, and remove all the mud and rotting organic manner.

You could swim in Bay Lake, and in Seven Seas Lagoon!

But then, this was forty years in the future and we haven't the technology and means to perform such feats yet.
Click to expand...

Are you suggesting that Disney should destroy the ecosystem that has developed in Bay Lake so that they could re-open River Country?
 
The Empress Lilly

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
Master Yoda said:
It would be all but impossible to remove all of the organic material at the bottom of a lake. You dredge to allow for boats to proceed unencumbered.
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Bay Lake was drained and eight feet of mud removed until they hit the white sand at the bottom:

Across the Water Bridge from the Seven Seas Lagoon and behind Disney's Contemporary Resort is the beautiful Bay Lake. A natural body of water with two small islands Bay Lake is about one mile across and 35 feet deep. When Walt Disney and his staff were searching for property in Florida to but Walt Disney World, Bay Lake was one of the reasons that they chose the spot they did. Walt believed that it was an attractive feature that would add amenities and value to his guests.

However Disney believed that the lake needed to be cleaned up before it would be suitable for the Lakeside retreats that he envisioned. The muddy lake with poor water quality was drained and dredged of 8 feet of mud, before they came across the lovely white sands on the bottom. Then they refilled the lake and those powdery white sands now offer 5 miles of sandy shores around the Magic Kingdom Area Resorts.
http://www.wdwforgrownups.com/articles/walt-disney-worlds-bay-lake​
 
The Empress Lilly

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
Bairstow said:
Are you suggesting that Disney should destroy the ecosystem that has developed in Bay Lake so that they could re-open River Country?
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Why, yes, of course.

I also think the entire area can be turned into the world's number one holiday resort, ecosystem or not. And the forests of Manhattan can make way for farms and human settlement.
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
The Empress Lilly said:
Bay Lake was drained and eight feet of mud removed until they hit the white sand at the bottom:

Across the Water Bridge from the Seven Seas Lagoon and behind Disney's Contemporary Resort is the beautiful Bay Lake. A natural body of water with two small islands Bay Lake is about one mile across and 35 feet deep. When Walt Disney and his staff were searching for property in Florida to but Walt Disney World, Bay Lake was one of the reasons that they chose the spot they did. Walt believed that it was an attractive feature that would add amenities and value to his guests.

However Disney believed that the lake needed to be cleaned up before it would be suitable for the Lakeside retreats that he envisioned. The muddy lake with poor water quality was drained and dredged of 8 feet of mud, before they came across the lovely white sands on the bottom. Then they refilled the lake and those powdery white sands now offer 5 miles of sandy shores around the Magic Kingdom Area Resorts.
http://www.wdwforgrownups.com/articles/walt-disney-worlds-bay-lake​
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That might have been what they intended, but it still does not make it work. To have what they described would have involved concreting the bottom and adding a filtration and chemical system thereby turning Bay like into a gigantic swimming pool.
 
The Empress Lilly

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
And yet, people were allowed to swim in Bay Lake / SSL until the late nineties...

I think they still are for triatlons.

It may not be financially feasible or sensible to maintain BL, but it can be done. Save perhaps for those nasty bacteria.
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
The Empress Lilly said:
And yet, people were allowed to swim in Bay Lake / SSL until the late nineties...

I think they still are for triatlons.

It may not be financially feasible or sensible to maintain BL, but it can be done. Save perhaps for those nasty bacteria.
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People were allowed to spray asbestos all over new buildings. Lead was once used in paint. Cobalt-60 was once used in golf balls. Radium was used in makeup. New info changes the way we do things.
 
D

Donfan

Active Member
Master Yoda said:
About the closest thing to fact I have hear was a possible repurposing of parts of it for the pool feature for a DVC resort that would go between WL and FW. In all likelihood it will just be bulldozed if and when that DVC gets built.
Click to expand...

I just recently returned from a visit to Castaway Cay. The new waterslides called "Pelican Plunge" look to me to be very much like the two waterslides that were in River Country. Could they have already been repurposed there?
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Donfan said:
I just recently returned from a visit to Castaway Cay. The new waterslides called "Pelican Plunge" look to me to be very much like the two waterslides that were in River Country. Could they have already been repurposed there?
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Possible, but doubtful. Those are pretty much off the shelf fiberglass water slides and I do not remember seeing anything on the plans about them being repurposed. Granted, it has been a few years since I looked at them, but "River Country" would have stuck out like a sore thumb to a Disney geek like myself.
 

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