Current Status of River Country and Disc. Island?

Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
cdunbar said:
Yeah Yoda I brought up the water thing b/c for some reason I remember reading a article my local newspaper after it was closed, I think the health dept might of been involded as well but don't quote me on it...
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The biggest issue with lake water is a type of amoeba called Naegleria fowleri. This amoeba can exist in pretty much any body of fresh water if the conditions are right and the conditions in the summer in central Florida are ideal for it. This amoeba will enter through the nasal membranes and will cause an almost always fatal brain disease with flu like symptoms called Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis. Infections are quite rare as conditions pretty much have to be perfect, and I don't recall one ever occurring at WDW, but Disney wisely followed suit with nearly ever other fresh water lake in the state of Florida and closed their door to swimmers.
 
jonabyte

jonabyte

Active Member
Well I would love to see what RC looks like now, anyone have any current pictures?
I had a lot of fun when I was younger with my Dad, we both loved the park and every year we went to WDW we went there.
Now I have a new favorite that I will share with my son, when he grows up...Typhoon Lagoon!!
 
BuzzComplexCM

BuzzComplexCM

New Member
jonabyte said:
Well I would love to see what RC looks like now, anyone have any current pictures?
I had a lot of fun when I was younger with my Dad, we both loved the park and every year we went to WDW we went there.
Now I have a new favorite that I will share with my son, when he grows up...Typhoon Lagoon!!
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If you look on the first page of this thread, someone posted a link to a different RC thread that has some pictures.
 
Lauraldove29

Lauraldove29

New Member
It looks like once apon a time it would have been great to experience. Years ago when my family took its first trip to disney together i was interested in going there but it had already closed not sure if offically or not, but the cast member that i spoke to on the phone at the time when booking my trip said that it had lots of problems with water quality and being part of the lake it would be hard to clean aup and maintain. this was just a partial. he didnt say much more then that. This was at the time when they still used rc as one of three water parks on the video and dvd that they send out. Its a shame that they cant find some way to fix the problem and seperate it from the lake to reopen it or use it for fw guests.

on another note. if they turned TSI at MK into the pirateland like they did in california DI could be a really neat TSI if done right.:animwink:
 
lilmizpixie3

lilmizpixie3

New Member
Is it true that they might reopen river country? I never got a chance to go there even though i stayed at Fort Wilderness almost all of my trips to Disney. I think they should update it and open it again!
 
Figment82

Figment82

Well-Known Member
lilmizpixie3 said:
Is it true that they might reopen river country? I never got a chance to go there even though i stayed at Fort Wilderness almost all of my trips to Disney. I think they should update it and open it again!
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No chance - unless they decide to dredge the pool, and cut off its water source from the lake. If they somehow could cement the bottom, and fill it with chlorinated water, maybe. But I doubt they'd want to spend the $$$ to do such a task. Not to mention that would completely destroy the original concept of the place.
 
hrcollectibles

hrcollectibles

Active Member
garyhoov said:
It was like a little mini-zoo with birds, reptiles etc.

Once Animal Kingdom opened, it didn't seem to make much sense to keep it, but it was a fun, relaxing place to go while it was there.

I wonder what they would do if you rented a mouse-boat, docked it and went exploring?:lookaroun
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Shoot first.. asks questions later
 
BuzzComplexCM

BuzzComplexCM

New Member
lilmizpixie3 said:
Is it true that they might reopen river country? I never got a chance to go there even though i stayed at Fort Wilderness almost all of my trips to Disney. I think they should update it and open it again!
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After seeing those pictures I doubt it. It appears that RC is in need of some SERIOUS work just to get it back to a decent looking place. I guess it's kind of sad but you never know if the Imagineers have some magic up their sleeve for this land.
 
Krozar

Krozar

New Member
Won't reopen because attendance was so low when it was open. Probably be easier to build a park from scratch rather than fix RC. But personally, to me, it looks like a horrible water park.

Difficult to staff things at WDW these days.
 
P

phillydave

Member
I can remember being 8-9 years old (early 80's) and absolutely loving the 'rapids' at RC. One of my greatest memories is walking down the stairs into the holding pool and going under the waterfall into the 'rapids' on my innertube. Of the 30+ trips to Disney that is probably one of my top 5 memories of all time. Great park if you were a kid back then!!
 
mep517

mep517

Member
RC was a great low-tech park. Went there when I was a kid and it was really cool. Lots of things to climb, swing from, etc. I understand why it lost favor and wasn't appealing to people compared to TL or BB, but I always thought it was a shame that it closed. It had an innocence and simplicity to it.

That being said I REALLY hope they turn it into a Pirates themed water park. That would rock :)
 
D

drei

New Member
Master Yoda said:
The biggest issue with lake water is a type of amoeba called Naegleria fowleri. This amoeba can exist in pretty much any body of fresh water if the conditions are right and the conditions in the summer in central Florida are ideal for it. This amoeba will enter through the nasal membranes and will cause an almost always fatal brain disease with flu like symptoms called Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis. Infections are quite rare as conditions pretty much have to be perfect, and I don't recall one ever occurring at WDW, but Disney wisely followed suit with nearly ever other fresh water lake in the state of Florida and closed their door to swimmers.
Click to expand...

http://www.cwfund.org/services/wq_mgt/swimbeaches.htm
 
Figment82

Figment82

Well-Known Member
I've got two words for you: Boom swing.

If anyone remembers or has a copy of the in-room video that has the woman describing RC, that has to be one of the funniest things I've ever heard. It was that video that made RC for me. :) I used to love that park - great memories.
 
scottnj1966

scottnj1966

Well-Known Member
Nothing at all is being done with both those places. I took one of the mouse boats close to the island. All overgrown and a mess, then I caught in the weeds and stalled. hahaha

Took a walk near river country.
It is pretty run down also.
You can see how bad it is using live search maps.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=nr1nry862nts&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=5219469&rtp=null~null&encType=1

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=nr244j862hrh&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=5219469&rtp=null~null&encType=1
 
C

chevymalibumn

New Member
This past weekend we went Fishing and I asked our guide about RC. He said that the rock structures they built in the park were getting to the point where they couldnt keep them up. He said the cracks inside of them were getting really big so they decided to close it down because it was so aged. He also told us that sense they have put up a chain link fence to keep boats away from RC, he now throws all of the injured bass caught on his boat in there. I guess it would be a good place to catch one eyed bass.

As for Discovery Island it is covered in birds. No one likes going there because the smell is so bad now. They only clean up some of the brush when it is apsolutly needed.

Final thought. The fishing in Bay lake is awesome. We had an awesome time and its a great way to bond as a family for a couple hours.
 
Disney4648

Disney4648

New Member
Original Poster
Those pictures are so disappointing. I wonder if anyone will go and steal some of the memorabilia thats still left there...:shrug:
 
scottnj1966

scottnj1966

Well-Known Member
River country used the lake water in the main pool.

You can no longer swim in the lakes, which in turn meant you could not swim in River Country.

It would be nice if they would rebuild it. It gave Ft Wildernesss another reason to stay.
 

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