River Country

[AnnaS]

My family loved going to River Country. It's a very sad picture now. I wonder why they have not cleaned it up (if there is a reason besides money of course).

 

[rotlex]

Wow, what an awesome set of photos! The memories these just brought back, even viewing it in this state of disarray, are truly heart warming. What a shame though. So hard to believe Disney would just let an area like this totally decay.

Either way, thanks for this!

 

[michellem1118]

Is this thread linked on another board or something? I swear 24 hours ago there were about 3,000 views. It's now up over 40,000 and climbing fast. Seems odd for our little camping board. Unless the Feds are onto this little excursion you guys took and are doing surveillance. We better all scatter and change our usernames. From now on I'll go by DaveFromTN...that'll throw 'em off the trail!

This link was also tweeted by TheDIS late last night, which is how I found it. These are some GREAT photos, I wish I'd had the opportunity to go to River Country on my trip in '99.

 

[jfinke]

Never got to go myself.

Of course, at that time, I doubt I would have remembered much of it. I don't remember going on Mr. Toad's.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Excellent pics! Thanks for sharing!

 

[starbuc71]

Maybe all this exposure will get Disney to finally consider leveling it and building something worthwhile since they will never reopen this great little park.

 

[DC7800]

Obviously Disney never had plans to use the place again, but it still seems awfully irresponsible to simply let it go to ruin. Seriously, how much could it have cost to provide a very minimum of occasional maintenance and upkeep? You would retain an asset for which a use might someday be found, rather than wasting millions to bulldoze the place and start over. Just keep the brush trimmed back and generally keep things from deteriorating quite so badly.

At the very least, they could pick up the trash. That building with the CM recognition plaque is apparently a garbage dump.

 

[Hydani]

It's sad to see what has become of that place. I hope Disney does something productive with it rather than let it rot anymore.

 

[desparatelydisney]

My husband and I have talked about this sort of thing soooo many times.....one day, will all of WDW look like this??? You have to wonder....in time, everything becomes abandoned.....and so it must be one day with WDW...50 years from now, 100 years, 200 years....one day... try to imagine these pictures being of Stormalong Bay, or Blizzard Beach....it's eerie to think about....

 

[frtchr]

They're not going to tear it down. It wouldn't be ecologically sound for the animals and birds who have made homes there. At least, that's what a CM told us in March while we were on a chartered boat. It would be nice to see it cleaned of debris, though.

 

[princesswendy720]

It's sad to see it like that...I did have a chance to go there as a kid. My strongest memory is coming off of the White Water Rapids ride and getting pooped on by a bird!

It was the second time that day that I was targeted. The first was that morning in the parking lot of CBR.

Ahh memories...

 

[ynottony99]

Now you're famous on the whole internet, not just on the DIS!

I haven't seen any posts from Andrew in a few days. Maybe he's making the rounds on the morning shows, and Late Night talk shows???

 

[tiggrbaby]

Amazing pics! I remember taking my boys there when they were young. Loved the rope swing and the Slippery Falls!

 

[Donna]

Not sure if this was posted here or not:

http://www.imagineeringdisney.com/

 

[LindaBabe]

I LOVED River Country since the one day I went there. It turned out to be the last day it was open I was alone, but never had so much fun at a water park, before or since. The slides were scarey enough to give me a thrill, but not so scarey I was afraid to try them. Perfect, in fact, for water park beginners or water park elders. SO sad to see these photos.

 

[Minnie&Nana]

We loved River Country from our first visit in 1981 - have missed it and have never gone to another WDW water park.

These pics are sad, but bring back many happy memories. Thanks so much!

 

[BradyBz12]

I haven't seen any posts from Andrew in a few days. Maybe he's making the rounds on the morning shows, and Late Night talk shows???

Or he's entered the Witness Protection Program

 

[OK!]

In a way, I both loved and hated seeing these photos. I have many fond memories of going to River Country when I was a child and have always wondered about the sudden "disappearance" of the park. I know it was closed when we were there in Nov. 2001, but they still had the purple signs up with arrows directing guests how to get there on the various roads throughout WDW.

On my last trip, in Dec. 2008, I took the Ft. Wilderness Segway tour and was able (thanks to some tour guides who decided to "look the other way") to take a couple of quick pics through the fence and a few over the fence when my friend climbed up on one of the huge rocks. It was just a view of the pool with the tall slides that dropped off into it, but it was very creepy. It, however, looked much better than the rest of the place now does, apparently. Sure, the pool looked like a bit like hell, but it really just looked like a pool that had been through a rough winter and needed some prep work before reopening. There was even a freshly-painted RC trash can just outside the fence!

In talking to a cast member later that night, I found out that the reason that the park was never demolished was because Disney had had plans to refurb it and reopen it. However, they found that there's a harmful bacteria present in Bay Lake that (obviously) made it be present in the non-pool swimming areas of RC, too. It can make humans very sick, and as of right now there's no way to control it without doing severe damage to the environment, so that's why the park has never reopened.

...and here's a "live" pic:

I'm the one with the pigtails climbing out of the water, and my brother's the one taking the flying leap. I miss that place.

 

[caribear]

Thanks so much for sharing those pictures with us! I remember going to River Country with my parents in 1983! I was 9 years old and the kiddie slides still scared me!!! If you look at some of the signage it looks like the "drop-offs" after the slides was pretty deep....6-10ft in some places! At the parks today the water isn't nearly that deep.

I also have several photos from Discovery Island as we went there also in 1983 (while staying at the Poly for the 1st time too!). I have some photos of parrots on my arm...along with a family photo by a "shipwreck."

 

[WDW Fan]

Awesome pictures!!! I never got a chance to visit River Country when it was open but I can imagine how beautiful itmust have been back then. Thank you for sharing these pictures. How did you get inside to get them?