Return to River Country . . . And More! A New TCD Trip Report- April 2010

[Shan-man]

If I recall correctly, the shoe tree was populated in '04 and was denuded in my next trip in '07.

 

[DisCamper]

Des1954 the trams ran until the late 80’s. The same trams that ran FW went to the Disney/MGM studios to being guest to the park

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Thank you TCD. Great report!

And as Bert said to Mary Poppins...."Don't stay away too long".

Thanks, Dave. I will try to not be a stranger.

Here are some pics of the 1900 CS the last to be remodeled

Todd- Thanks for the photos! I had forgotten how the old-style comfort stations looked. These will make great before photos to compare with after the renovations are done.

Well sir, you have done it again. Great photos, and report. I am thinking that now we need to start a 'Post Your Picture from the Pioneer Hall Balcony' thread.

Thanks, Tony. I am thinking the idea of the new photo location might not be such a good idea.

No Cassette Potti onboard...jest a little too little space (ie, air space...) for um, a CP. This is why you stay at campgrounds with fine CS facilities... We've taken our p/u all over the south and have enjoyed it as well.

Good job-you are correct on the CP designation. I actually did not want a CP, but when we went to look at trailers, the dealer only had Utah CP's, so we got it. It has ended up being a really great feature.

TCD I am pretty sure some of the guys on the roof were plumbers. The reel on the roof is a camera reel for looking in the sewer lines. They had to be running the camera down the vent pipe. Also like you I have a little girl she is now 8 months old and she is awesome.

Mike- I will defer to you on all plumbing-related issues. I am sure you are correct. I don't see why they would do the roof now too. And, sorry about calling your daughter a boy. I should have remembered that- her name is Miley, right? I was confusing you with someone else. I can't believe it has been 8 months already. Fun times are ahead for you, my friend! Enjoy every moment.

[ Two thumbsup, just in case you missed that. I doubt you missed it with your superb super hero/spy/detective skills! Thanks for the great energy and effort in putting this together. A job well done!

My faves: The FWRR, Shimming up the TE balcony, everthing else and my personal fave.... (you know!)

Thanks!

If we cheer really loud, will there be an encore?
I really enjoyed reading your report - it makes me even more excited for our trip to the Fort this summer!

The Good Lord willing, there will be an encore. The only question is when.

Thanks so much for some great reading! Do you have plans to return soon so that we hopefully can look forward to a sequel for some interesting summer reading?

I have no current plans to return before the Fall. But I doubt I will stay away from the Fort for that long. Time will tell.

hey thanks for all the tips. everytime we go i take my ds 5 exploring. with his age and stuff we will not be hunting down swap trail. but he loves the train ties. so to show him the complete train tracks he will be ecstatic. thanks for the report it was awesome

Thanks for your comments. I hope that you and your son have a great time exploring!

I greatly enjoyed the report, TCD. You have been sorely missed my friend. My favorite part? The rails!

I have a theory as to why these rails remain while they were removed everywhere else. Given the use of extra measures (bolted spike plates and gauge rods) I suspect that this was a troublesome section of rail, probably due to the swampiness. The crews who were recycling the rails may not have been equipped to handle the frozen bolts and rods used on this section of track and opted to just leave it. It would seem, from the photos at least, that they took all the spikes and spike plates that were not bolted... even on light rail projects there would be more plates than shown (on heavy rail it is spiked at every tie). It seems unlikely that they would take the plates and skip the rails unless they were just too much trouble for the return. Anyhow, it's a theory. I can't be there to see them myself, so I'll do what I can... theorize!

Thanks again

Thanks, Shannon. Your theory makes sense to me- it is very swampy back in this part of the Fort. There could have been access issues, too.

Great trip report. I can't wait to my next visit. Thanks.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks TCD - your post brought back so many fond memories. But I have a few questions. Maybe someone can help me out.

Okay, realistically I knew Minnie Moo wouldn't live forever...

But, you're telling me the goats are GONE?

as are the peacocks?


And what happened to the shoes in the shoe tree?

And why is the lawnmower tree a lawnmower stump?

What about the guy that drove around in his little delivery truck banging on his skillet who brought eggs to your campsite if you forgot them? Or the elf that hung Christmas stockings on your camper door on Christmas Eve? And the fresh air-conditioned tram?? Okay, I know - they're gone too.

Oh, it has been way too long since I have taken a trip to the Fort!!

WOW! Thank you for sharing those photos! They are great! Since it appears that we have quite a few newbies reading along on this TR, I will post a couple of informative posts about the Shoe Tree and the Lawnmower Tree below.

If I recall correctly, the shoe tree was populated in '04 and was denuded in my next trip in '07.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! The shoes did disappear in 2007. For more information about this, please read on.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

For those of you wondering about the shoe tree, this is another Fort attraction which has disappeared.

Like a lot of things that have already been mentioned, this was not that exciting of an attraction. In fact, it was probably as low tech as you can get.

It was just a cypress tree, growing in Bay Lake, just off the shore near River Country. Over the years, someone threw tennis shoes which had been tied together into the branches. Most stories attribute the source of the shoes to the boat captains who drove the boats that went back and forth to the Fort.

Here are some photos of the shoe tree in its prime:

I took this next photo in October, 2007. The shoes were gone, and have not returned:

As far as losses go, this can't be considered to be that big a deal.

But, it was a little something special about the Fort.

And it is now gone.

But the tree is still there . . .

With its empty branches waiting . . .


TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

While we are talking trees, let's talk about the lawnmower tree.

Again, we are talking about a low tech attraction.

I don't know if the lawnmower tree has been at the Fort since day one. I suspect that it has been. I know it was always there since I first visited the Fort in the mid '90's.

The tree was a big pine tree. These trees are susceptible to a lot of things. I had a big one in my yard at home that we lost to some kind of beetle.

And, the poor lawnmower tree died in 2007.

I believe that Disboard member Stacktester was actually there when they cut the top part of the tree off. Here is what it looked like then:

(I found the photo posted above here on the Disboards-I believe that it was originally posted by Lisa8200).

I took this photo in November 2008:

Less than a year later, in August, 2009, I took these photos:

While we are at it, I found these photos from August, 2009 which shows the building which has now been removed from River Country:

This trip report is still over, but I thought some of you might want to know a bit more about the shoe tree and lawnmower tree.

If anyone is looking for any other info, just ask.

Otherwise, I will see you on the next TCD trip report.

TCD

 

[liv luvs disney]

Otherwise, I will see you on the next TCD trip report.

TCD

And I can't wait!

 

[datgrt@fw]

Hello and Good Morning TCD,
I really enjoyed your 'Outstanding' trip report and I appreciate you taking the time to share it with us!


Doug / datgrt@fw

 

[DisCamper]

Is it funny how the lawnmower tree was right next to a sidewalk on the way to MK? I think Walt planned all of Disney World around this tree

 

[itch1]

Speaking of the shoe tree.....................
While we there the first week in April there was one pair of boat shoes on the tree. I will dig and see if I have a good picture.
I wished when FW or Disney realized they were going to lose the lawnmower tree the would have cultivated a new tree and lawnmower and just replaced it.
Not like that would have cost a ton just time.
itch

 

[Disneylitch]

Maybe the shoe tree needs to be replenished!!!!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Since there were some folks reading along with knowledge about construction and cleaning up contaminated sites and such, let’s take a look at something new I discovered.

Another Disboard member provided a link to the Orange County Property Appraiser’s website. This website has some great aerial photography, including the River Country area.

Back in March, another Disboard member posted these photos:

I took these last week. I connected four pictures together and smoothed the edges for better viewing. The scale is very close to correct buy not exact. The thing I hadn't seen in other pictures were the blue containers at the right of the picture. These looked like 10-12 of those blue miniature swimming pools. I'm guessing they were for draining the river country pool but why so far from it. Also why not just pump water out to the lake. Any ideas?

And that picture alone:

This Disboarder described the blue things in his photo as resembling mini swimming pools. He or she speculated that these were for draining the pool. But the pool has not been drained.

You can see these things from the air:

Here’s a shot from high up. I have labeled some of the buildings so you can see where we are. The green circle is where these blue tanks are:

And here are shots zooming in on this area:

These tanks, whatever they were there for, were placed here sometime between January and March 2010. They were still there in mid-April.

Does anyone know what they are and why they are here?

I don't think they were there to drain the pool. For some reason, I am guessing that maybe they are like a portable fish hatchery or something being used by the fishing guides. But, I really don't know.

This is a mystery that needs to be solved!

TCD

 

[BigDaddyRog]

I am guessing that maybe they are like a portable fish hatchery or something being used by the fishing guides.

That was MY first thought....it would make perfect sense. I know that SOMEWHERE on property, they DO INDEED have live bait....Ive seen it hand delivered to some of the Forts more "charming" guests.

 

[I'mDownWithDisney]

My slightly educated guess would be a portable fish hatchery. Looking at the photos it seems that vehicles are routinely driving up to them, and they also appear to have an aeration system in place.

 

[BradyBz12]

Finally found time to read the rest of this report. Just hafta say...

BEST. TRIP REPORT. EVAH.

Thanks for all the great info., the feats of daring-do, the amazing photos and especially all the laughs!!

Well worth the wait.

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

I would agree that it might be bait tanks or even growing tanks for fish to stock the lake with. However, it may also be an experiment to do with the water quality in the area and the algae/bacteria.