Today's episode - River Country

[WDWFantasmicFan]

Following up from the news story from today's episode... I went on a Keys to the Kingdom tour yesterday, and it was said that River Country is likely to never be developed, and that it is just being left to nature. There is pipework under the abandoned water park for Fort Wilderness, and if work was to happen at River Country, the Fort Wilderness camp ground would have to be shut for a whole year to allow pipe work changes to be changed.

Just wanted to pass on this following todays news story...

 

[rteetz]

Not doubting you or anything but that CM on the tour was likely misinformed about that. River country was slated and had in depth plans for a resort on the site. If they had such plans, which do exist on the Internet, I can't see them having such work that would require the whole FTW resort to be shut down.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I was told this too on Keys to the Kingdom but don't recall the part about Fort Wilderness.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

It's just sad to see it rot away like that...renovate it and make it something nice.

 

[rteetz]

I was told this too on Keys to the Kingdom but don't recall the part about Fort Wilderness.

It would make complete sense for them to take out the pipe work but to shut down ft. Wilderness just seems strange. You should be able to block or stop those pipes at some point and the majority of River country water came directly from the lake.

 

[disneysteve]

I can understand Disney closing River Country but I've never understood why it was just left abandoned to rot. Why couldn't they actually demolish it and remove everything from the site? Even if it was just to return the land to nature, that would have made sense.

 

[rteetz]

I can understand Disney closing River Country but I've never understood why it was just left abandoned to rot. Why couldn't they actually demolish it and remove everything from the site? Even if it was just to return the land to nature, that would have made sense.

Maybe they originally thought they could someday reopen it but obviously that can't happen now. And now demolition costs are probably what's holding them back from demoing the whole thing.

 

[jetdoctor]

I like the fact that they haven't completely taken it down. It leaves a mystique about the place. I love taking a boat over there and relive my memories of the place. Like when I got the worst sun burn of my life 2 days in the hospital.

 

[pjweaver]

Maybe they originally thought they could someday reopen it but obviously that can't happen now. And now demolition costs are probably what's holding them back from demoing the whole thing.

Blame Shanghai

 

[MikeTaylor]

I know they made(/are making) more campsites at the Fort, but if any further expansion happened, anything north of W Wilderness Rd would be allocated for Wilderness Lodge expansion. Anything west of Cinnamon Fern Way and Jack Rabbit Run up until it runs into Frontier Way would probably make more sense for the Fort.

If that area is designated for horse trails, pardon my lack of knowledge, but I'm sure there could still be some way to work it out. I'm sure there'd be a way to sell it as well... have premium hook-ups and a River Country-inspired 3rd pool at the Fort in that new area with dual water slides and kid-friendly splash area. It'd be easier to just build from the ground up than to renovate an area that only gets attention during special events.

*PS
I also feel like with the new location for hook-ups, folks would be more inclined to take the short, New Balance walking trail to Wilderness Lodge to have a bite to eat there (I don't think you can take your golf cart on that path, but maybe on the actual road that runs parallel).

 

[*NikkiBell*]

It's just sad to see it rot away like that...renovate it and make it something nice.

Ugh. Reminds me of Spectro.

 

[Accident]

Following up from the news story from today's episode... I went on a Keys to the Kingdom tour yesterday, and it was said that River Country is likely to never be developed, and that it is just being left to nature. There is pipework under the abandoned water park for Fort Wilderness, and if work was to happen at River Country, the Fort Wilderness camp ground would have to be shut for a whole year to allow pipe work changes to be changed.

I've had tour guides that couldn't explain what disney has announce publically. Don't go by anything that just any old cast member says. They just offered their opinion.

The truth is that it costs money to remove things so if they can, they don't touch it. When they have something that would work in that space, then it'll be touched (or health risk/safety but they will do the minimum needed in that case).. Most probable use of that land will be more dvc villas with high price tags.

 

[gmboy95]

correct me if i am wrong, but i thought pre 9/11, that the site was going to be for a possible Ft Wilderness DVC resort.....in fact I think they had a whole video presentation made up for the project....i also had heard that that project was possibly still a future consideration?

 

[gmboy95]

keep in mind the number of years they just let the treehouses sit there in plain sight for anyone playing golf on LBV course....in fact, after hurricane Charlie, many of the treehouses sat there with fallen trees leaning up against them

 

[limabeanmom2003]

I've had tour guides that couldn't explain what disney has announce publically. Don't go by anything that just any old cast member says. They just offered their opinion.

The truth is that costs money to remove things so if they can, they don't touch it. When they have something that would work in that space, then it'll be touched.. Most probable use of that land will be more dvc villas with high price tags.

Exactly.

 

[Accident]

keep in mind the number of years they just let the treehouses sit there in plain sight for anyone playing golf on LBV course...

there's been videos that everything on discovery island is still there (mainly signs, it wasn't much there to begin with). Also if you take a boat semi-close to the island across from poly beach you can still see the wave machine that used to make waves to surf on in the lake. The runway for the airport next to contemporary is there.. the list goes on an on for things that are no longer around but still there.. Most of them you can find on youtube of someone sneaking over to it and is generally followed up by a why they were banned from disney video

 

[OKW Lover]

There is pipework under the abandoned water park for Fort Wilderness, and if work was to happen at River Country, the Fort Wilderness camp ground would have to be shut for a whole year to allow pipe work changes to be changed.

Sorry, but this doesn't hold water. (yes, pun intended - but I'm also serious) There would be no need to make changes in the pipes for FW in order to use the RC property. FW currently gets water just fine even though the pipework under RC is abandoned.

 

[rteetz]

correct me if i am wrong, but i thought pre 9/11, that the site was going to be for a possible Ft Wilderness DVC resort.....in fact I think they had a whole video presentation made up for the project....i also had heard that that project was possibly still a future consideration?

Well it was a serious proposal about 4ish years ago as wel. The video that is online is from post 9/11 if I'm not mistaken.

 

[rteetz]

there's been videos that everything on discovery island is still there (mainly signs, it wasn't much there to begin with). Also if you take a boat semi-close to the island across from poly beach you can still see the wave machine that used to make waves to surf on in the lake. The runway for the airport next to contemporary is there.. the list goes on an on for things that are no longer around but still there.. Most of them you can find on youtube of someone sneaking over to it and is generally followed up by a why they were banned from disney video

Pretty much everything on discovery island is still there. Buildings and all. They of course took out equipment and the animals but the infrastructure is still there.

 

[andyman8]

FWIW, I saw plans (believe parts of them were actually leaked online at one point, so many saw them) for a proposed DVC on that property. Those have since been put on hold, but the last reason I heard for that didn't have to do anything with pipework. Keep in mind that if they were to follow through with that plan, it would obviously require ripping up the ground anyways, so removing pipework would not be prohibitive. I don't think closing FW would be required in any way.