Recent photos of River Country

[CatLady]

I mentioned this thread last night to a CM who is a 15 year lifeguard with Disney who has worked at Typhoon and several different resorts, including FW and did some fill-in guarding at River Country. He said that one of the things that makes any refurbishment of River Country very unlikely is erosion. This was his explanation: If they were building River Country today, they would start with buildings for the pumps and motors for the slides, build the "rocks" over the building, then pile on dirt to fill areas so that they appeared to be a proper hill. (Think about how they built Everest, for example.) The big slides at River Country were built differently. A big dirt hill was created, and the motors and pumps were covered by the "rocks." The result is erosion around the bottoms of the rockwork. He said that they kept up with it when River Country was open, but he suspects that the whole hill would be unsafe for guests after it sitting untended and having erosion undercut portions of the rockwork. Not to mention unsafe for CMs who have to go inside the rocks to access the pumps!

He also mentioned that they did treat the lake water -- at least somewhat -- with bromine. Not enough to guarantee safety from the amoeba that live in Florida lakes.

 

[Tara Stone]

Just wanted to say thanks to you guys for the pics and the map....
River country was my favorite water park. I loved it as a child!!! and an adult!! I love water slides but am afraid of heights. At RC you didn't hav to climb up tower steps to ride you just meandered up paths thru the woods. I have never seen any other park like this. The pictures made me mist up. Thanks for sharing

 

[Main Street USA]

Opening only the pool would still require quite a bit of work. It's in pretty bad shape, as you can see from the photos. The rockwork is in worse shape than the pool, too.

Also, there's no way they could open that pool next to the rest of that HUGE mess. So, cleaning up the rest of the River Country area would be required. I just don't see it happening.

 

[Master Yoda]

From your link:

"Although Naegleria is commonly found in the environment, infection occurs rarely.

Only 24 infections were documented in the U.S. between 1989 and 2000."

Considering I've got a better chance of being struck by lightning; I'll take my chances, bring back my water park!

Very true, but do you think a jury would buy it the case of a wrongful death suit. Quite a few public and privately owned swimming lakes have been closed to swimmers due to this. Hanna Park's lake here in Jacksonville was closed more than a decade ago due to this.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

I agree with whomever said it is reminiscent of one of those movies where people "discover" some forgotten treasure.

Didn't River Country operate just for Fort Wilderness guests for awhile, before it closed permanently?

That yellow tube looks so lonely.

Regarding the lifeguard issue...I work summers as a lifeguard, and the part about seeing the bottom of the swimming area is true. It's not considered safe otherwise, and lifeguards are actually supposed to close the area if they can't see the bottom (this becomes an issue at swim club type places that are open at night, but generally have poor lighting).

 

[wedway71]

Ive been going to WDW since 1971-first year it opened.I have only gone to RC once around 10 years ago when my daughter was 1. We had a great time.Was it as cool as BB or TL??? NO but well worth it in my opinion.

My biggest question isnt why did they close RC but why in the HELL did they just leave it like some Nuclear bomb hit WDW??? Didnt Disney which takes sooo much precaution to keep the parks squeeky clean and has an image to uphold think just to plow it down to the ground or something besides leaving it to rot like some bad "Day After " movie??

 

[Zummi Gummi]

Well, I think clearly these pictures were not meant to be seen. Obviously, this is an area that most guests will never see. It's not as if you can walk around Fort Wilderness and stumble upon this.

 

[wedway71]

About a week ago, RC was discussed on another thread and contained some other great pictures of the site...

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=108466

Also, take a look at how the whole site looks now...

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=nr1nyb862nzv&style=o&lvl=2&scene=3929698

Anybody else notice on the local live site the amount of cars parked at RC now ????-wonder whos cars are parked there and why???
Imagineers maybe planning something new?????

 

[v_misses_epcot]

You guys got me really excited now and I feel like going exploring on my days off this week. *trails over to Fort Wilderness* >_>;

And has anyone else noticed the abandoned water slide over at Typhoon Lagoon on the right hand side when getting into the park? Now what is that monstrosity?

I'd like to know.
Those shots you took were amazing and made me shiver inside. I could only image what was going through your head while taking those pictures. Hopefully you were joined by a few friends? I'd think I'd die being alone taking pictures of abandoned places. But it still brings a chill and exciting feeling to me. In other words, my favorite emotion is fear.

And here's a picture I found while searching for RC....Just a random thought but I want my shoes to be up there one day.

http://www.westcoaster.net/wcPhoto.php?upd=1&image=3613

 

[CHAPPS]

You guys got me really excited now and I feel like going exploring on my days off this week. *trails over to Fort Wilderness* >_>;

And has anyone else noticed the abandoned water slide over at Typhoon Lagoon on the right hand side when getting into the park? Now what is that monstrosity?

I'd like to know.
Those shots you took were amazing and made me shiver inside. I could only image what was going through your head while taking those pictures. Hopefully you were joined by a few friends? I'd think I'd die being alone taking pictures of abandoned places. But it still brings a chill and exciting feeling to me. In other words, my favorite emotion is fear.

And here's a picture I found while searching for RC....Just a random thought but I want my shoes to be up there one day.

http://www.westcoaster.net/wcPhoto.php?upd=1&image=3613

There is something about exploring an abandoned water park that does have an eerie romanticism to it, but it wasn't scary. As much as everyone is saying they should just tear it down, I'm actually kind of glad I had the opportunity to document it in photos before that happens.

 

[slappy magoo]

Ive been going to WDW since 1971-first year it opened.I have only gone to RC once around 10 years ago when my daughter was 1. We had a great time.Was it as cool as BB or TL??? NO but well worth it in my opinion.

My biggest question isnt why did they close RC but why in the HELL did they just leave it like some Nuclear bomb hit WDW??? Didnt Disney which takes sooo much precaution to keep the parks squeeky clean and has an image to uphold think just to plow it down to the ground or something besides leaving it to rot like some bad "Day After " movie??

First of all, as other people have said, nobody's really supposed to go into the River Country location, so they might not feel a rush to raze an area that's off-limits to the public.

Second of all, because anything they do might affect runoff into the lake, they'd have to proceed very cautiously and with thought to the surrounding enviornment (which might make it difficult to drive giany bulldozers into the park to start pounding everything down.

Finally, WDW might have figured it would be cheaper to first decide what to do with the park, and hire one crew to demolish and rebuild, rather than hire someone now to demolish, and another crew eventually to rebuild.

 

[joel_maxwell]

You guys got me really excited now and I feel like going exploring on my days off this week. *trails over to Fort Wilderness* >_>;

And has anyone else noticed the abandoned water slide over at Typhoon Lagoon on the right hand side when getting into the park? Now what is that monstrosity?

I'd like to know.
Those shots you took were amazing and made me shiver inside. I could only image what was going through your head while taking those pictures. Hopefully you were joined by a few friends? I'd think I'd die being alone taking pictures of abandoned places. But it still brings a chill and exciting feeling to me. In other words, my favorite emotion is fear.

And here's a picture I found while searching for RC....Just a random thought but I want my shoes to be up there one day.

http://www.westcoaster.net/wcPhoto.php?upd=1&image=3613

wow, that is so funny.... but at the same time, reminds me of mean kids in elementary school and play ground time.

 

[gabroccoli]

anyone for a float on the yellow tube!

 

[CHAPPS]

anyone for a float on the yellow tube!

LOL! Seeing it made me think of the final scene in the first Friday the 13th movie, where the mutant kid leaps out of the water and grabs the girl!

 

[cmor42180]

i never got to experience river country... on my last trip me and my fiance ate at the california grill and we were trying to see it, i think she found it but these pics are much better. It looks like it was a fun park, they should really just try and block off the lake water and replace it with pool water and reopen it....i know that sounds much easier than it probably is

 

[Fievel]

Wow...I don't even know what to say...it's creepy, and part of me wants to disappear.

I guess it's like a carwreck. You don't want to look, but you can't turn away.

 

[SunriseSunset]

awesome pictures!

thanks for sharing!

 

[phillydave]

I can remember being 8-9 years old (late 70's-early 80's) and absolutely loving riding the 'rapids' at RC. Probably one of my top 5 memories of all time disney memories. I can still remember going down the stairs to the little holding pool and going down the waterfall into the 'rapids'. What a great time for a little kid that was, I felt like Huck Finn.

 

[kangaand2roos]

Those pictures were so sad I remember going to RC as a child. I also remember being petrified that an alligator was somehow going to end up in the water :animwink: Really sad but I guess it's alot easier to keep a pool park clean than a lake water park clean.

 

[erasure fan1]

Great pics! It is sort of strange seeing it that way. When I look at each pic I can see myself at that part of the park from my last trip. I am sad that it closed but it was past its prime. I have my memories and thats good because I LOVE typhoon and blizzard just as much as I did RC. I would like to see a 3rd water park and if they bring back RC or not I am fine with it.