Yea, most people surmise that the reason for the unthemed pools at the Fort is because of River Country. When the pools were built River Country was still in full swing, and having fully themed pools would have kept people from going to River Country. Of course, now all that has changed.
And I second this:
First of all.... I THIRD the above picture!!
Correction Colson... Fort Wilderness was opened in 1971 with only the Meadow pool. River Country didn't come along until 1976.
When WDW opened in 1971 the only resorts were: Contemporary, Poly & FW. All three had simple, non-desript, non-themed pools. Obviously, the pool at CR & PR have been upgraded and themed. FW only got an additional small pool by the cabins. (Originally, the small pool was reserved for cabin guests, only!)
I believe it is well past time for WDW to do a major update on the pool (s) at the Fort! As far as cost for tearing down River Country, that's really not an issue as they more than made their money off of it, and the demolition would be a tax write-off (loss). Remember, River Country was never included in your FW stay --- there was an additional admission charge. More to the point, there is a contingent of people who would like R.C. preserved as a historical location, as that was the very first water park in the U.S.
When WDW announced they were closing Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at the MK, people crawled out of the woodwork in protest. It actually delayed the change by 2 years. At this point, it's cheaper for Disney to let R.C. rot than to legally fight the "bleeding hearts" who would want it preserved for posterity's sake. If WDW does nothing, then they don't
have to do
anything!
When the R.C. memories fade, it'll be recycled into something else.