Does anyone remember River Country Waterpark

[Guest]

the park closed in 2001 and is still sitting there unatended which i s a shame really, it was the 1st water park to open at WDW and i have fond memories of going when i was young. Do you think this area would be an area diseny could look to expand/develop in the future? curios on peoples opinions

[MOUSEMARSH]

Originally Posted by Floridamad19

the park closed in 2001 and is still sitting there unatended which i s a shame really, it was the 1st water park to open at WDW and i have fond memories of going when i was young. Do you think this area would be an area diseny could look to expand/develop in the future? curios on peoples opinions

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I too remember this with some fondess. We went during our first trip. I found this
wdwfanboys/blog/gone-...river-country/

There are loads of articles if you look.

[Greyfriars]

We first visited on our first Florida trip in 1993. It was my favourite park but they closed it due to hygiene and "critter" issues.

The only thing the present management seem to be interested in are hotels so they might use it for that.

[pamela1960]

It was sooooooo good

[Guest]

It's still there:



It was located on the shore of Bay lake not too far from Wilderness Lodge. It was described as an "old-fashioned swimming hole". The original working title before being changed was "Pop's Willow Grove" and featured a sandy bottom and unique water filtering system using confluent water from adjacent Bay Lake, which was dammed off creating a natural-looking man-made lagoon. It was much smaller than the resort's other two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, with the latter nearly four times the size of River Country.

[Guest]

The remnants are still visible if you take the ferry across Bay Lake from MK to WL/FW. We have fond memories of it from our first trip in 1998 including characters appearing there. It closed due to changes in the regulations relating to water supply in swimming pools which it could no longer meet as it's supply was direct from the lake. Rumour has it that Disney has plans to redevelop the area perhaps as a DVC resort.

[Big Belle]

Me too, first went there in 1986! I remember it quite vividly as my mother had to be rescued by a lifeguard,

[Guest]

Have a look at THIS THREAD

[xAimeex]

I loved River Country, we only visited once before it closed but I still have such great memories of it! The pictures of how it looks now disturb me, I saw a video on youtube of these 2 guys climbing the fence and looking around, it's all just a bit eerie. There's something about a deserted abandoned theme park that gives me the creeps. It is a real shame it had to close.

[evergreen]

we have a fab picture of Goofy riding up on a horse brill, my dh won the bomber in the pool and still had the badge,
we took the ferry on purpose last trip to see the remains of it