As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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I know years ago there was a waterpark on Bay Lake by Fort Wilderness. I don't think it has been used in a long time but you can still see it on satelite pictures. Does anybody remember this and was it open to the public as a water park or was it more of something for the resort?
River Country was open to all and was a lot of fun. If you stayed at Ft. Wilderness you received a discount on admission. The park closed in 2001.
The area was themed to be an old-fashioned swimming hole with several waterslides, tire swings and a lazy river. The pool areas had a sandy bottom that were actually part of a filtration system that worked to clean water from Bay Lake - and that was the undoing of the park. Florida passed a law that water in pools & water parks had to "originate from a municipal water system", not natural bodies of water. Besides, by that time TL & BB were open. It wasn't worth the cost to upgrade the old park.
You can still easily see parts of it from the water as you approach the Ft. Wilderness docks.
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All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. 2010 - Polynesian ~ We're going back!
The announcement that River Country was closed permanently was made on 1/20/05.
Here is a somewhat old FAQ about River Country from All Ears, fun to read:
When I stayed at the WL Villas with my friend's family, we were taking the boat from MK to the hotel and River Country looked terrifying! It seems like WDW kind of gave it back to nature. I am not exaggerating when I say there had to be at least 400 birds perched all over the place and the noise was deafening!
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Those are the bird from Discovery Island. Most of the critters from there were moved to AK, but the birds flew home. I was told this when I asked at AK a few years ago about whatever happened to Discovery Island.
I loved going to RC as a kid. The tube ride was the best, even though it took you forever go get through it because you kept getting stuck. I also loved the fact that there were little fish in the water swimming around with you...it was just a peaceful place.
River Country - so many good memories! Went there as a kid on my first trip to WDW (when the only other thing there was the Magic Kingdom), and then went again when I took my DH to WDW for his first trip. I was a little sad that my kids never got to go - it was such a cute spot. Much smaller and more lowkey than BB or TL. Guess more people were demanding thrills over this replica of an old watering hole.
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I went to RC a few times as a kid. I don't remember it much since i was so young. Like mayb no older than 5 or 6. RC was my dads favorite water park even though he got experience TL. he wasn't lucky enough to experience BB. We did it for the first time in 09 and we loved it.
My mom will always remember RC and being there with me as a baby -toddler.
River County was and still is my favorite water park anywhere! I loved it as a kid and only got to take my Son, (now 18) a couple of times before it closed. I wish I could take my DDs (8 & 5), there. It was the perfect WP for me because even though I LOVE water slides, I am deathly afraid of heights. At RC all the slides were sort of built into the hills and you wandered up the paths to the top of the slides...it was brilliant!
It's funny, even thoughn we spent many years at FW, we never went to River Country. The first time we ever did a water park was after Typhoon Lagoon opened.
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I visited RC as a kid in school. A few years back, we took a Wishes fireworks cruise and the CM gave us all kinds of tidbits about the birds, why it closed, and what's left now.
We did Mickey's BBQ later in the trip, and it was all I could do to keep my oldest son from trying to find a way in! His curiosity was definitely piqued!
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I also loved the fact that there were little fish in the water swimming around with you...it was just a peaceful place.
. We did it for the first time in 09 and we loved it. 
bridget 
His curiosity was definitely piqued!
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