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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Does anyone remember going to River Country? I spent a lot of time there as a child and now we can't even put a toe in the water there. What changed? I have been wondering about this for a few years. Not sure if this is the right place for this question but I was curious and I figured if anyone would know it would be someone here!
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WDW closed River COuntry on November, 2001, oficially it closed several years later, but it never reopened after it closed in Nove 2011. Its closure was due to high amoeba levels (Naegleria fowleri) from Bay Lake which Walt Disney World was built on. The water from Baylake feeds into that waterpark. This why you can't swim in Baylake or any "fresh waters" in WDW. River Country is abanonded and slowly decaying and being taken over by vegetation. You can Youtube and find where peope have snuck in there and supposedly the music,plumbing and power are still on inside, Its really creepy.
SO sad that it could not have been saved as even a Waterpark for the Campgrounds. It must really be in bad shape to not even clean it up or tear it out.
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Last edited by coffeechef; 02-26-2012 at 09:31 AM..
Did no one know about the amoeba levels before this or did it get worse over time? I am wondering why we didn't all get sick before. I know my brother and I swallowed a lot of that water back in the day!
There was a law passed in FL back in the early 2000s, which no longer allowed public places (waterparks, resorts, etc.) to use natural lake water for guests to swim in because there is a potential for a certain type of amoeba to be present in the water. If they are, and somehow enter into your mouth or nose, you can get very ill. Some people have even died from it. It was because of this law that River Country closed. I wish that they were able to convert it to a waterpark that didn't use the lake water, I remember going there as a kid and loving it!
I'll have to have a look on YouTube for those videos - I remember the one someone shot of the Legendary Years at Pop Century before they started Art of Animation and that was very spooky.
That's basically what I heard about River Country too. I was very sad when it closed as I remember going there all the time as a kid.
I saw on of those videos on you tube a few years ago. Very sad!
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My kids have looked it up on You tube and are obsessed with it! The videos are very creepy. I just can't imagine why they don't demo it. (and I agree it is sad)
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We went to TL in 1999, BB in 2000, and RC was on our list for our 2001 trip....which of course didn't happen. We wish we'd done them in a different order.
There are several possible reasons to not demolish it. One is that there's a possibility that some of the facility could be re-used for another purpose, so why pay to demolish and build new later on. The other is that I suspect that, if demolished, it comes under current environmental regulations. Considering its wetlands nature, a wetlands restoration may be required following demolition, which is fairly costly. It's also possible that, as long as the site is standing, the land can be re-used without going through parts of the current environmental approvals process.
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