Disney's River Country
| Disney's River Country | |
|---|---|
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| Location | Walt Disney World Resort, Bay Lake, Florida, United States |
| Coordinates | 28°24′41″N 81°33′53″W / 28.411325°N 81.5646805556°WCoordinates: 28°24′41″N 81°33′53″W / 28.411325°N 81.5646805556°W |
| Theme | Old-fashioned swimming hole |
| Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
| Operated by | Walt Disney Parks and Resorts |
| Opened | June 20, 1976 |
| Closed | November 2, 2001 |
| Status | SBNO |
| Pools | 2 pools |
| Water slides | 5 water slides |
| Children's areas | 2 children's areas |
Disney's River Country was the first water park at Walt Disney World. Located near Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, it opened on June 20, 1976, and closed indefinitely on November 2, 2001, following the September 11 attacks. On January 20, 2005, The Walt Disney Company announced that River Country would be closed for good. Since then, the park had become severely overgrown with trees, and is in extremely poor condition.
Along with Discovery Island, it is one of only two Disney parks in their history to close permanently. Both were left to deteriorate rather than be demolished.
Positioned on the shore of Bay Lake, near Discovery Island, the park featured a rustic wilderness theming, complete with rocks and man-made boulders. It was described as an "old-fashioned swimming hole" with "a twist of Huckleberry Finn". The original working title was "Pop's Willow Grove".
The park was featured in a musical number from the 1977 Wonderful World of Disney episode "The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World", which included a song titled "River Country" and featured the then-current Mouseketeer lineup from the late 70s incarnation of The Mickey Mouse Club enjoying its attractions.
The park 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. The park's water was at the higher level than the lake's, which was an effort to prevent lake water from going into the park. But even with the filtration system, the water was not completely purified. In 1980, an 11-year-old boy was killed by a deadly infection caused by an amoeba (Naegleria fowleri), which is found in warm bodies of fresh water, such as ponds, lakes, rivers, and hot springs.
Besides the amoeba death, there were two drownings at River Country, in 1982 and 1989.
In 1989, Disney opened a second new water park, Typhoon Lagoon. It had much more parking, many more slides, newer amenities, and was much larger. In 1995, Disney opened a third water park, Blizzard Beach. River Country was much smaller than the other two parks, yet it remained, surviving the competition.
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