WDW Daily News

At Walt Disney World, the parks are already decorated for the holiday season. As soon as Halloween is over, it’s time for Christmas and all of the special holiday events that take place during this time of year. At Magic Kingdom, you can enjoy Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party on select nights in November and December. At this party, you can enjoy complimentary hot chocolate and cookies as well as the Once Upon a Christmastime Parade. There is also a special version of Wishes fireworks that is themed for the holiday season.

The park is completely decorated for Christmas already! Only through Disney magic could the park be Halloween one day and Christmas the next! This year, there are some new additions to the Christmas décor at Magic Kingdom. Namely, the garlands that used to stretch across Main Street had to be re-worked in order to accommodate the Festival of Fantasy parade.

Now, instead of garland, there are arches that extend from the buildings on Main Street. These arches are a great compromise that still give the feel of the garland but also allow for the fantastic parade to make its way through the park. In addition, Cinderella’s Castle is still covered in the Dreamlights; however, Queen Elsa uses here snowy powers to make them come to life every night! Olaf, Princess Anna, and Kristoff are along for the ride as well! This show is very cute, and it will definitely thrill all of the Frozen fans who visit Walt Disney World.

Speaking of the royalty from Frozen, they are also a part of the Once Upon a Christmastime parade this year! The Christmas magic does not only extend to the Magic Kingdom. You can experience the holiday season by enjoying the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

This holiday treat involves millions of dancing lights throughout the Streets of America section of Hollywood Studios. This beautiful display is hard to describe; it must be seen! Basically, every surface of the Streets of America is covered with millions of lights that dance to various holiday tunes. There are at least 43 hidden Mickey’s throughout the area, and the guests are covered with magical snow every few minutes. This show is one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season.

Every Disney resort is also decked out for the season. If you visit the Grand Floridian, you can see a huge gingerbread house that is actually used to sell gingerbread to guests. Every resort has a beautiful Christmas tree as well as many other beautiful decorations. The Contemporary Resort has a gingerbread display that is in the same style as the Mary Blair artwork in the Grand Can¬yon Concourse. Epcot also gets into the spirit of the season with all of the Christmas storytellers that visit the World Showcase. You can learn about how the holiday season is celebrated in different countries around the world by visiting Epcot.

Overall, Walt Disney World is gorgeous at any time of year, but the holi¬day season introduces a little extra magic that is definitely worth seeing! Until next time, have a magical day, and keep moving forward!

June 20th 1976 Susan Ford, the daughter of President Gerald Ford, took the first plunge down Whoop N’ Holler Hollow at Disney’s Newest Attraction. Some say it was the first water park anywhere, others say it was the first totally themed water park, either way it was Disney’s first water park, and it was a hit. River County USA brought all the thrills of old fashioned lake front summer to Bay Lake and the guests of the new vacation kingdom. Built to appear as part of Bay Lake, using the same water in fact, and attached to the popular Fort Wilderness Campground, the park was a place for the young and young at heart to enjoy splashing in the warm lake waters and soak up the Florida sun on their vacation. Boasting 14 attractions including boat rentals, nature trails, and pony rides, the park was a must do for guest for many years. So why did Disney close the park you may ask.

Some suggest it was due to the story of an 11 year old boy from New York dying from an ameba contracted while swimming there in the early 1980s. Although this is a true story, it was not the reason for the closing of the attractions. River County remained open for another 20 years after the incident. It was ruled that Disney had done nothing to cause the growth of the ameba as it could grow in any warm fresh water environment. After the incident however, Disney took precautions to prevent it from happening again. Already in place was a wall that separated the Bay Lake from the cove where River Country resided. Disney increased the water level in the cove to be higher than the water in the lake so water could go out from the cove but not back in. Also the large pumps that pulled water from Bay Lake to the feed the slides and other attractions were fitted with filters so what flowed into the lake was controlled. This made it easier for Disney to monitor the water for things that shouldn’t be there.

Although the ruling was that Disney did not cause the incident, it was clear they had done everything in their power to prevent it from happening again. Others question the closing of the attractions stating changes in Florida law that mandated any water park use water from a municipal system. Florida laws reads, “Department: Department of Health Division: Division of Environmental Health Chapter: Public Swimming Pools And Bathing Places 64E-9.004 Operational Requirements. (1) Water Quality – The water sup¬ply for all pools shall be an approved potable water system or shall meet the requirements for potable water systems by the submission from the operator of bacteriological and chemical laboratory reports to the county health department. Salt water sources are exempt from the potable water chemical standards except for iron and color requirements.” Basically water must be safe to drink when being used in water parks. There is no requirement the water start from a municipal source verse a fresh water source. These rules also did not go into effect until 2004 so had River County still been open, Disney could have made the needed changes to comply. So if the laws were not the rea¬son and it was not because of a tragic incident, then why would Disney close such a popular area of their Florida destination.

Over the years as Disney World grew, 2 new water parks, more central located to the rest of the resort came into existence. In 1989 Typhoon Lagoon delighted visitors with its tropical theme and over sized wave pool where guest could even get surfing lessons. In 1995 the weather got a little cool and the unthinkable happened. A “blizzard” hit Florida and covered a special area in Walt Disney World with “snow”. But this new ski resort began to loose its attractions as the snow melted in the warm Florida sun, as this happened the snow and slopes became some of the tall¬est, fastest, and most fun water attractions in the world. Blizzard Beach became an instant hit with families and thrill seekers alike. With 2 new water parks both boasting newer attractions, better locations, and more con¬vent bus service, River Country began to lose attendance.

After closing for the season on August 31st, 2001 most every¬one expected the gates to open once again when the weather warmed back up. What no one did expect was the tragedy of September 11th and lasting effects it would have on the county. Disney executives took immediate actions to reduce operating costs across the board. All salary Cast Members were asked to volunteer 20% of their work for a 20% cut in pay, full time cast member’s hours were reduced, the Disney Institute closed all 528 of its rooms and canceled all classes until further notice, the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot was scaled back, even entire resorts were closed to increase occupancy rates at others, and of course, when the weather warmed back up, River County’s gates stayed closed. No maintenance was completed, the pumps were never re¬started, and the pools were never cleaned. Some thought once tourism picked back up, the annual maintenance would oc¬cur and the gates would reopen, but this was not the case.

For 13 years now the gates have remained closed and to even more of a surprise, Disney has taken down little to nothing of the remnants of the park. Take a stroll through Fort Wilderness and you can find areas to peek through the green fence separating the remnants of River Country from the pavilion that is used for Mickey’s Backyard BBQ. Some of the unkempt attractions can be seen as well as dilapidated structures, rusted lamp poles, over grown picnic tables, and any other amount of neglected refuse of what was once part of a beloved Disney destination. Though no one will ever again brave the White Water Rapids, dare to cross the barrel bridge, or face Up Steam Plunge, many will have fond memories of summer fun splashing about at the Ol’ Watering Hole, River County USA.

I live in Tennessee and just wrapped up my year as an Annual Passholder at Walt Disney World. I grew accustomed to hearing, “You doing to Disney again?!” And the odd look that came with it when I explained we owned an Annual Pass.

Disney is a little over eight hours away from us, so I understand the weird looks I received. Distance aside (and that isn’t even a big deal to me), being a Passholder was amazing. The main motive behind buying Annual Passes for us was money. My husband did the math and it worked out to be cheaper for us to buy an Annual Pass instead of daily tickets. We knew we wanted to make three trips this year and as long as we made two of them we saved money. But we also saved money in other ways as Passholders.

We received a nice discount on merchandise, select restaurants, special events and free parking. Yes, discounts at Disney. It’s an amazing thing! Saving money isn’t what made this year magi¬cal though. 2014 was a great year to be a Passholder. I witnessed so many changes in the parks and every trip was different. I was sent a Magic Band in the early stages of the program; I was able to see some attractions in their final days, as well as the opening of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

Yes I went to Disney 4 times within a year, but I was never board. The best part of being an out of state Passholder for me was knowing I would be back soon. For an entire year I didn’t have to feel the post Disney depression. Yes, I always hated to leave, but it was not the full on despair I typically experience. Having an Annual Pass made it feel like 600 miles wasn’t that far away. This year was a whirlwind of packing, driving, and fun. It was magical and I will always cherish this experience. Maybe one day we’ll be fortunate enough to be Passholders again, but if we aren’t, I know I’ll be back some¬day and that helps with the cur¬rent post Disney Passholder depression. Are you an out of state Passholder?

Would you ever do it? I’d love to talk to you about your experiences/opinions! Chat with me @hoodie_life on Twitter.