Disney's River Country

Opening in 1976, River Country became the first water park built at Walt Disney World. The water park did not just have slides and pools, it would follow a rustic wilderness old-fashioned swimming hole theme, tied to other attractions in Disney, including Frontierland and Thunder Mountain. Located directly on the south shore of Bay Lake, the six-acre plot was developed in a way where guests would be able to swim in real lake water, suggested by its incredibly unique filtration system. The water park pumped fresh cleaned water from Bay Lake from a filtration pipe to supply the water to its slides and swimming hole. Meanwhile, River Country’s water would remain at an inflated level compared to the lake to ensure dirty and unsafe lake water would not enter the park’s water.

The park included 12 different attractions, including pools, slides, bridges, swings, and a splash zone. It also included pony rides, boat rides, nature paths, and kid zones. One of the main attractions, known as Bay Cove, was a sand-bottom lake that featured a tire swing, rope climb, and boom swing. The “Whoop ‘n’ Holler Hollow” would be one of the featured attractions where two water slides would empty into Bay Cove. Another slide attraction, known as “Slippery Slide Falls”, would be two water slides that would empty into a kidney shaped clean-water pool known as Upstream Plunge. These featured slides would put one of the very first Imagineers of River Country, Fred Joerger, to work where he would build the mocked clay rocks scattered around the park and its slides. During construction of these slides, it was mentioned that Vice President of Walt Disney, Dick Nunis, would become a “slide tester” and let them know which corners needed to be higher so guests would not fly over the edges.

While the park became incredibly popular, Disney itself would become a major part of its closure. Disney began opening two other water parks from 1989 to 1995 named Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. These new parks contained way more attractions and utilized a freshwater filtration system. Resulting to a major decline in attendance and interest for River Country, the park closed in 2001 temporarily for the cold weather. However, without the guest demand the park remained closed until 2005, where Disney officially announced it wouldn’t ever open again. While this remained Disney’s reason of closure, there were also many theories surrounding its closure due to the several deaths that took place at River Country. Most notably, an 11-year-old boy who would have a severe case of amoebic meningoencephalitis found in the park’s water. There were also two boys around 13 and 14 who had drowned at the park where they were not spotted quick enough because the darker filtered lake water made it harder to spot someone. Another theory about the park closure was that it could not meet the demands of Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach because the 9/11 attacks would cause a massive travel slowdown throughout the country

While River Country had remained closed, there was no demolishment straight away. It was instead just covered with fences and abandoned. These led to many urban explorers to trespass and document the broken-down slides, pools, and other attractions. Until 2016, where Disney began to fill in the Upstream Pool and over the next years would continue to demolish the land. Although the demolishment had begun, it was not until October of 2018 where Disney would announce that Reflections, a Disney Lakeside Lodge vacation club resort, would take over the site. The new resort was said to open in 2022 and would include more than 1700 hotel rooms and villas that would feature theming based on films such as Bambi, The Fox and the Hound, Brother Bear, Pocahontas, and The Princess and the Frog. In the meantime, some of the park itself is technically in use at Fort Wilderness. The former entrance gate now acts as the gate for the Mickey’s Backyard BBQ Dinner Show, and you can still see ticket booths on your arrival that advertise the water park. Additionally, River Country’s main service building now provides public restrooms for the guests that attend the BBQ dinner show. 

Delpozo, Brian. Whatever Happened to River Country? The History Behind Disney’s Abandoned First Water Park, Allears. January 29th 2020. Accessed January 31st 2021. https://allears.net/2020/01/29/whatever-happened-to-river-country-the-history-behind-disneys-abandoned-first-water-park/.

-This article, created by Brian Delpozo, delves into the history behind River Country. Delpozo describes the opening of the park, some attractions, and its unique filtration system. This article also discusses the downfall of the park, created by Walt Disney itself. Furthermore, it provides some theories about why the park may have actually closed, involving deaths and travel slowdown following the attacks of 9/11. This article also provided a look into the future of the demolished River Country. Delpozo also includes many pictures depicting the park before and after demolition. Altogether, this site is significant in portraying the history behind River Country and the impact it has on water parks today. 

Abandoned: The Rise, Fall and Decay of Disney’s River Country, Theme Park Tourist . March 29th 2015. Accessed January 31st 2021. https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20150323/30074/abandoned-rise-fall-and-decay-disney-s-river-country.

-This article portrays River Country and its revolutionary concept of an amusement park. It begins by examining the beginning of the concept of a waterpark in Walt Disney World. Then it depicted the concept of River Country and its supposed theme, a swimming hole, at the time. The article also mentions the Imagineers working on the River Country project who reveals a behind the scenes of the creation of the park. Additionally, it mentions the boom, the fall, and the abandoned River Country. Finally, it displays incredible pictures throughout the whole article creating a sense of experience. In all, this article proves to be particularly important to the conversation of River Country because it provides many details and information revolving around the amusement park. 

Disney’s River Country – Walt Disney World’s Abandoned Water Park, World Abandoned. Accessed February 27th 2021. https://www.worldabandoned.com/disneys-river-country.

-This article delivers a look into the rustic wilderness River Country water park. The article discusses the theme being tied to attractions in Magic Kingdom with elements of the wild west. It also examines the closure of the park in 2001 due to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. Additionally, the article provides a list of attractions in the park before its closures. Furthermore, it offers images and videos taken of the park when it remained opened. In all, this article is substantial to include in the discussion of River Country because it provides images and videos of the water park and remains unbiased when discussing the portrayal of the River Country. 

The Mouselets. River Country: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know About Disney’s Abandoned Water Park., The Mouselets . April 26th 2020. Accessed March 28th 2021. https://themouselets.com/river-country-5-fast-facts-about-river-country.

-This article provides a list of detailed facts of Disney’s Country. It starts by describing Disney’s focus on becoming the “Vacation Kingdom of America” with many different fun recreation activities, adding the water park as another big leap in this direction. It then mentions the decreased popularity of the park due to other attractions and possible dangers. Furthermore, it examines people who snuck into and documented the abandoned place. The article also offers a look into the future of River Country, the now active construction site, as a new vacation club resort. Additionally, this article provides incredible detailed pictures and maps of the waterpark before and after it was abandoned. Overall, this site is important to include in discussion of the waterpark because it presents valuable information of the future and past of River Country. 

The Mouselets. My Visit to River Country, Disney’s Abandoned Water Park. , The Mouselets. June 1st 2020. Accessed March 28th 2021. https://themouselets.com/river-country-disneys-abandoned-water-park.

-This article looks into someone’s visit into the abandoned River Country. The account starts off by describing their visit to Mickey’s Backyard BBQ, a restaurant located in the front half of the abandoned waterpark. The author then explains the park’s history by including vintage pictures and a list of the 12 attractions from 1976-2001. Following its history, the article analyzes the deaths of a few boys from the dangers of the waterpark. Moreover, it offers an image of a newspaper article that discusses amoeba, a rare and deadly disease, and River Country. Finally, this author provides information from his 2014 visit, including some pictures of the empty pool through the green fence covering the abandoned park. This would be helpful to include in the exploration of River Country because it delivers someone’s actual perspective and visit of the waterpark.