River country was once a well enjoyed water park.
WDW opened River Country on June 20,1976.
It was closed in November 2001 (it was reported that some of the Bay Lake water contaminated the water ,others say it closed because of the 9/11 slowdown and still others claim that new safty laws required clear water so life guards to see all the swimmers who were swimming under the water ).
Our family went to River Country October of 1976 when it was brand new and
returned several times after that. It was a favorite of our family and our son age 25 still talks about how that was his favorite water park.
Because of the water issue I do not think they will ever restore River Country the way it was.
However River Country had a really nice themed pool with a water slide and I always wondered why Disney did not at least keep the pool open for FW guests.
Upstream Plunge Pool and Slippery Slides
At the back of this clear water pool are two steep slides that drop swimmers off in a free fall splashdown.
Here is a photo:
There was a pool as part of River Country.
Here is the photo from another website:
http://waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/id220.htm
The pool is in the lower right corner of the photo.
River Country also had a sand bottom contained pool which was cleverly set up to make guests feel like they were swimming in "an OLE swimming hole."
River Country was 6 inches higher than Bay Lake and set up so that any overflow of water would spill into bay lake.
Here is another photo from:
http://waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/id220.htm
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Some recent photos of River Country from another forum:
What a shame!
word I got from a few CMs and Managers was that it was closed once AK became a reality and most of the animals were moved. It is still a protected wildlife refuge and Disney Vets and Florida Wildlife Reps still visit the island for bird tagging, etc. but the island itself has been left to "return to its natural state."
