River Country gone for good?

[ToTBellHop]

Yes, Bill was banned. Clearly, he DID do something, you don't get banned for doing nothing. What he did is none of our business. I trust Steve's judgement. This is his site.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Sorry, I didn't mean to seem like I was butting into other's business. I trust Steve too, I just didn't know he did anything.

 

[yodathefrog]

I was just gonna ask that same question...I saw people's responses to his posts but never his posts. Thought I was going insane.

 

[ArchiDanDisney]

For the record...that construction wall has been there for a short time. There is a new wall that closes of the lake part of the park from the pool part of it. Also...As early as November and December the beach was cleared of the weeds and tall grasses that had been growing uninhibited. There were also 2 or 3 very large loads of the sand used for the beach deposited around the cresent to be spread around. As I haven;t worked in disney for 2 months, its hard to say what became of all this, but when I worked at Easter it was all there, and looked as though it had been replaced a few times.

 

[Journey]

When we stayed at Ft. Wilderness, my daughter and I spent some time looking for peacock feathers. One day down on the beach to the far left I saw a cast member working near the water. I told him I had seen a walkway the night before on the boat back from the MK that had lights working that ran the walkway. I asked him where this was and can we walk on it?

He pointed and said it was around that way , pointing farther to the left. He also did not say it was WC or that it was closed.

We followed the pathway around and came to the entrance or "a" entrance to WC.. there was no sign to keep out just a Log that came up or down to allow entrance...

We walked around that area some and tried to find feathers from the peacocks. After venturing in far enough to start seeing small buildings, some one spoke up and said this area is off limits.. At which time I apologized and we turned around and left.

The funny thing was the people I saw and spoke with were Boy Scouts.
Could they be using that area for something like Scout meets or something!

 

[MissM]

I can't remember where I read it but I did read something about River Country being rented out for corporate parties/events kind of thing. It may or may not be true, but I recall when I read about it's closure that information was part of the article.
-m

 

[Sean23]

This sign is new. I go back to River Country area every few weeks and have not seen it before last weekend.


<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/sean23/RIVERCOUNTRY.jpg">

 

[MartyMouse]

I don’t understand the thinking at Disney! For years the area around Fort Wilderness has been almost a sanctuary from the hustle of the rest of WDW (just as the shopping village once was) but now they seem to be destroying it. Its like Disney is killing all the small quite areas in favor of larger flashy attractions, and I for one don’t like it. But on the flip side if they are going close all of these areas then for God’s sake do something with the land instead of leveling more property, use what has already be developed. :brick:

 

[BeachClubVillas]

I don't understand why, if there are two waterparks that are full by 10:00 in the morning, and not reopening until at least 2:30 in the afternoon, and you have a perfectly good third waterpark just sitting there, you wouldn't use it. I always agreed with the people who said there was something wrong with the water,etc. But, if Disney is using RC for private functions while regular guests can't get into water parks (and would LOVE to go to RC again) then that's just not right!

 

[KUNZEWORLD]

Anyone have any pics of rc in its current condition?

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Before contamination

Man am I feeling old. Not only did I spend a number of years visiting River Country. Just a great swimmin' hole type environment, tire and rope swings, a couple of flumes (usually managed to get scraped on them), but nothing too special.

Then again, I also used to swim in the lake off of the Poly beach.

Wonder how slow the incubation period for ameobic infection is?

 

[Journey]

I can't remember where I read it but I did read something about River Country being rented out for corporate parties/events kind of thing. It may or may not be true, but I recall when I read about it's closure that information was part of the article.
-m

That may be the why I saw the Scout Leaders! Maybe they were primitive camping!
Although, remembering back when I was a scout, I would have made every effort to explore a closed water park!

Does Disney have the actual park swimming areas boarded with a construction wall?

Inquiring minds ...

 

[BalooChicago]

I cannot imagine that it would be all that difficult to separate out RC from Bay Lake completely... Sure there would be some infrastructure investment, but I have to imagine that it would be relatively minimal. The thing that bothers me about RC and Discover Island being closed is the bad show of it... Patti and I stayed at WL in May, and each time the boat looped around to FW it was sad to see these two attractions sitting lifeless.

 

[Mickeyrulz]

I can't believe anyone can call IOA a coaster park when it only has what, 4 coasters? 2 of which are for kiddies. That's not a coaster park.

I love IOA but it does need something new..it's been since 2001 (? maybe 2000 ?) since they've had a new ride.

 

[prberk]

I was really sad to see River Country close. I was never able to visit, but it looked like so much fun. My family was never interested in the water parks and now that I go by myself it's closed. Plus it was America's first themed water park. I know the water wasn't really clean, but the amoeba infections seem rare. According to the articles posted earlier, they are very rare (like 1 every 20 years or something). For 25 years River Country opperated and had no problems (at least I don't think so). But I guess this way there are guaruntees that no one will get sick.

I agree. I did not get to visit, either, though I always wanted to.

I really wish that I had been able to visit. I also think that we are over-sanitizing childhood, for goodness sakes. The younger generations miss out.

Disney itself is a somewhat "sanitized" version of reality. Sometimes things like River Country, though, offered city kids and others a real chance play and have fun at least remembering "the old swimmin' hole."

It should remain.

 

[Orian7]

On what facts do you base bay lake has a water quality problem?

 

[peter11435]

On what facts do you base bay lake has a water quality problem?

The fact that ALL fresh water lakes in Florida have water quality problems.

 

[Orian7]

Do you have any facts to back up what you are saying? I find it hard to believe that every fresh water lake in FL has a water quality problem.

 

[Legacy]

Do a search on Lake Apopka... you will find out about water quality problems.

 

[peter11435]

Do you have any facts to back up what you are saying? I find it hard to believe that every fresh water lake in FL has a water quality problem.

Not so much a water quality problem, but just about every fresh water lake in Florida contains an amoeba that lives on the bottom of the lake. Most of the time the remain on they floor of the lake, however when you come in contact with them it can be deadly.