Walt Dated World

[BigDaddyRog]

Im sure many of you have already seen this site, but I just stumbled on it the other night for the first time and spent hours on it. It an ALL THINGS VINTAGE DISNEY type of site with some very interesting facts about Old River Town and FtW, and land development, as well as tons of other stuff. Hope ya like it

http://www.waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/

 

[Shorty82]

I love that site. It is quite enjoyable to read about the history of WDW.

 

[loveDmouse]

Cool. Thanks for the link.

 

[Colson39]

Man what an absolute great site! My mom is coming up to stay with us before we head to Disney this weekend, I'll have to show her this site. Thanks so much for the link!

I've been looking for an original Fort Wilderness pricing picture from back in the day, and that site had it. They really had some great pictures, and great info on that site. Some of the stuff took me way back into the late 70's, early 80's of Disney, seriously a great site.


Gotta love the $11 bucks a night to camp This was in 1972. Also, does anyone else notice the part at the bottom of this sheet? About no pets allowed in the campground? Here is a trivia question, and I don't have the answer, when did the Fort begin to allow pets?

 

[BigDaddyRog]

Did ya notice the 305 area code?
I really like the Contemporary in the 70s....GROOVEY MAN!!

 

[Colson39]

Yea, I noticed the 305 area code, that was another thing that was is hilarious. I forgot that back in the day, pretty much all of Florida was 305. Now only parts of Miami are.

And yea, gotta love the 70's Contemporary. The best thing they ever did was remodel that resort, it desperately needed it. Now their rooms are some of the nicest in all of Disney, I think even nicer than the Grand Floridian (as far as how it's layed out). It really is a great resort, it just was getting so dated, love that they're updating it (although the move of the arcade from the bottom floor to the concourse was a travesty in my opinion, too many memories!).

 

[loveDmouse]

That site is really cool.

Does anyone here remember a breakfast with Melvin the Moose from the Country Bear Jamboree at the Fort?

 

[ntsammy5]

http://www.waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/

This site is great!

 

[Shannone1]

Im sure many of you have already seen this site, but I just stumbled on it the other night for the first time and spent hours on it. It an ALL THINGS VINTAGE DISNEY type of site with some very interesting facts about Old River Town and FtW, and land development, as well as tons of other stuff. Hope ya like it

http://www.waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/

Very cool, thanks for sharing it We are new to FW so it's neat to see pictures of River Country and other events that used to be hosted at FW.

It's too bad they got rid of the breakfast show at Pioneer Hall. It makes sense to me to use that building for something other than just the HDDR.

I feel left out sometimes because I never went to River Country, or was there for the big petting farm, train rides, marshmellow marsh, etc. I guess at least I don't miss it though, which would be worse I think. Hopefully they don't continue to take things away from the fort...

 

[Colson39]

Don't worry Shannone, 20-30 years from now some of the stuff that is there now won't be there anymore, and someone will be on the internet wishing they too once got to see those things. Just feel lucky that we have the Fort to go to!!

I feel Fortsick (the equivalent of homesick...lol)

 

[ntsammy5]

I feel Fortsick (the equivalent of homesick...lol)

Don't feel bad. I haven't been there since December 2005!

 

[Shannone1]

Don't worry Shannone, 20-30 years from now some of the stuff that is there now won't be there anymore, and someone will be on the internet wishing they too once got to see those things. Just feel lucky that we have the Fort to go to!!

I feel Fortsick (the equivalent of homesick...lol)

Yeah, one day we will be saying...we used to love the campfire program, HDDR and Electric Water Pagent and new campers will be clueless.

As far as you feeling homesick....I do not feel one bit sorry for you, lol. Have you seen my ticker recently ?!?!

 

[BigDaddyRog]

This my first trip to the fort also, other than seeing a little of it when we went to the BYBBQ in 2003. In fact this is the first time staying on Disney property at all. And I feel the same way, like I've already missed all the good stuff...but I feel more excitement going at 39yrs old than I did for my first trip at 13yrs old in 82.
I saw on mouseplanet a mention that River Country was a great place to swim during the day. Im sure this is very outdated info...but it got me to thinking...can you still get to river country, you know just to kinda walk through and see what it was like, or do they have completely closed off to where you cant even sneak in for a peek? Not that I would tresspass or anything, but if I happened to get lost while out enjoying the beauty of the Fort and tripped over a fence or two...

 

[Shorty82]

There are pictures online where somebody snuck into River Country and looked around. Let me do some Googling for them and see if I can find them. I'll post a link if I do.

EDIT: Found them a lot faster than I epxpected. Here you go!

And here's a satellite image of River Country.

 

[BigDaddyRog]

Wow...what a waste of beautiful theming.....seems like they could at least clean the pools and let campers swim there even if they dont have the beach like areas. hmmm.....what a shame. Thanks for the link...oh,and...jeeeeez, the fort is freakin HUMONGOUS when you see it on the satellite image. Much larger than most LA State Parks!!!

 

[Colson39]

The problem is all the water comes from the lake, which is the most rumoured reason why it was shut down. Too many issues with swimming in lakes now a days it seems....

 

[BigDaddyRog]

Right, thats why I think if they just re-opened the actual swimming pools....with regular pool filtration and the slide,etc, the health issue wouldnt be a problem...and the could use the former beach like area as a peacock sanctuary!!!
ok, I gotta know.....did the peacocks just run away, did they die off, or were they removed by Disney, I have to assume that Disney bagged them all. Was THAT another health concern? When I first started planning my upcoming trip, most of the sites had pictures of the peacocks and the petting zoo was a big help in selling this idea to the wife for our 5yr old dd. It wasnt till I started paying extra attention to this forum (cause you guys are demented!)that I realized they were gone...I havent built up the nerve yet to tell them that BOTH of those no longer exist. I know they'll have a great time once we get there anyway, but at some point, SOMEONES gonna ask me whe the dang peacocks are!!!

 

[ntsammy5]

...did the peacocks just run away, did they die off, or were they removed by Disney, I have to assume that Disney bagged them all. Was THAT another health concern?

They annoyed every one because they were too loud! Especially when they got into the beer!

There are lots of rumors as to why River Country closed -- one of them involves health concerns which makes some sense since all the other beaches closed about the same time. BUT, I think they still occasionally use River Country for some special events. I may be wrong about that but I know I saw it mentioned somewhere. One of the other reasons given for the closure was that they couldn't compete with the other two water parks which also makes sense. Whatever the reason, it was a neat place to go and I miss it.

 

[Shorty82]

I doubt that River Country is used for special events. The pictures I've seen of it makes it look like no CM has been in there in a long time. The buildings are getting run down looking and dirty, the paths are dirty, the old pools are full of moldy, nasty water, the central pond is full of algae and the paths over it are rotten and dangerous looking. All in all, a very run down place and I don't see anybody wanting to hold any special events there, except maybe a haunted tour (hey, there's an idea Disney could make use of).

 

[ntsammy5]

Yeah I know it's a mess and it's unlikely that they would or even could use it. I wish I had book marked the site where I saw that.