River Country

Hi All

Silly question time. Why did River Country close??? I know its been closed
for quite some time so was just windering WHY. It was an excellent water
park. Loved it.

Cheers
Gary

In article <JsRLj.1491$NU2.90@news01.roc.ny>,
"NY Teacher" <Teach@you.com> wrote:

> I got this from Wikipedia:
> "Swimming was also allowed in the lagoon until it was discovered that the
> lagoon was harboring very dangerous bacteria that grows in the very warm
> still waters throughout Florida..."
>
> I also know that there have been a few gators who have meandered into Seven
> Seas.
>
> I bet WDW decided the laibility was too high.

Not just the liability, but the fact that the bacteria in question has
actually killed people in Florida. And I think samples taken from Disney
lakes verified the bacteria's presence. Given the options, Disney chose
well.

What I find puzzling is, if my understanding that the bacteria is in
fact present in Disney lakes, why do they still offer water skiing and
jet skiing?

jt

On Apr 11, 6:50 pm, jt august <starsa...@net.att> wrote:
> In article <JsRLj.1491$NU2...@news01.roc.ny>,
>  "NY Teacher" <Te...@you.com> wrote:
>
> > I got this from Wikipedia:
> > "Swimming was also allowed in the lagoon until it was discovered that the
> > lagoon was harboring very dangerous bacteria that grows in the very warm
> > still waters throughout Florida..."
>
> > I also know that there have been a few gators who have meandered into Seven
> > Seas.
>
> > I bet WDW decided the laibility was too high.
>
> Not just the liability, but the fact that the bacteria in question has
> actually killed people in Florida. And I think samples taken from Disney
> lakes verified the bacteria's presence.  Given the options, Disney chose
> well.
>
> What I find puzzling is, if my understanding that the bacteria is in
> fact present in Disney lakes, why do they still offer water skiing and
> jet skiing?
>
> jt

Its not a bacteria, but rather an amoeba. They are found in most, if
not all, Florida lakes. They tend to stay at the very bottom of
lakes, however, very warm weather can draw them up to the surface
where swimmers can easily get infected. If not diagnoised and treated
early, it can lead to death.

"jt august" <starsabre@net.att> wrote in message
news:starsabre-66796C.17505311042008@inetnews.worldnet.att.net...
> In article <JsRLj.1491$NU2.90@news01.roc.ny>,
> "NY Teacher" <Teach@you.com> wrote:
> What I find puzzling is, if my understanding that the bacteria is in
> fact present in Disney lakes, why do they still offer water skiing and
> jet skiing?

The bug lives in the sand and sediment obn the bottom. It may travel up to
6' or so above the bottom. So if you are in that water that is between the
bottom and 6-8' up you run the risk of getting this bug. And it is
particularly nasty. It invades by any cut, scrape, or natural orifice in the
body. But it would be fairly safe (from this bug at least) if you are in the
mid lake areas where you won't be inhabiting the bottom 6-8'. If you can
figure how to have a swimming beach with no shallow water less than 14' deep
(the 8' of the bug plus the 6' of potential body length) lots of people will
be joining you in the swim.

There is one other solution. If the sand is able to dry out for a week or
two each year the bugs either die out or are so reduced in number that they
no longer pose a problem. But it would be very difficult to drain 7 seas/bay
lake for a couple weeks each year. And if they were drained, it could take
months (or years, in some years) for enough water to flow in to fill them
back up.

Randy

>
> Not just the liability, but the fact that the bacteria in question has
> actually killed people in Florida. And I think samples taken from Disney
> lakes verified the bacteria's presence.  Given the options, Disney chose
> well.
>

But they also chose LATE... it was known for years, that deaths were
caused by amoebas in the lakes in Florida, before Disney decided to
ban swimming.

> 4. River Country was a first gen "themed" water park. I don't remember
> there being many water parks in the late 70's.

In April of 1979, I took my first trip to WDW with my family. We got up
early one morning specifically to go to River Country, because other than
the MK, it was the only other option for Disney fun! We were turned away at
the gates about an hour before the park actually opened because the parking
lot was already full. My dad turned the car around, and we went to Wet 'n
Wild which was across from our hotel. We had a blast, it was our first
water park experience...my sister was 9, my brother was 13 and I was 18. My
dad had also tried very hard to get us a room on property, at the time
either the Contemporary or the Polynesian, no luck there either!

Ellen :)

> I don't know for certain, but I believe the water in RC was separate
> from Bay Lake. �I have read several articles by people who seem to know
> and they all mention a "bladder" that kept the lake water out of the
> treated water in RC. �As for the color, it had a sand bottom, so even
> treated water would look "murky".
>
> - RODNEY

I seem to remember water slopping over the top of that rubber curtain,
and there were little contraptions on the bed of the sand bottom.of
the water of RC. I'm guessing those were the sanitizers.

In article
<435677f6-a38d-4c7b-abf7-497c0b97600c@l64g2000hse..com>,
"Peteygold@" <Peteygold@> wrote:

> > I don't know for certain, but I believe the water in RC was separate
> > from Bay Lake. ?I have read several articles by people who seem to know
> > and they all mention a "bladder" that kept the lake water out of the
> > treated water in RC. ?As for the color, it had a sand bottom, so even
> > treated water would look "murky".
> >
> > - RODNEY
>
> I seem to remember water slopping over the top of that rubber curtain,
> and there were little contraptions on the bed of the sand bottom.of
> the water of RC. I'm guessing those were the sanitizers.

I have pics somewhere of water from the larger lagoon cascading over
rocks back into the lake. The smaller pool was a treated pool, but I
remember reading in brimbaum's that the main lagoon was filled with
water that was filtered but not treated. If someone might be sensitive
to the algae and particles found in lake water, they would need to avoid
the water slides and main lagoon.

jt