River Country?

[amycakes]

I saw this on a map of the campground. What is it?

 

[Newcastle]

It used to be a water park. If I recall correctly, it was the first water park on the property. I remember going there quite a few times as a child. It has been closed for a number of years now and maybe some others can comment as to what they are or aren't going to do with that space.

 

[Contemporary_Man]

Walt Dated World has a nice page about River Country.
http://waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/id220.htm

 

[ntsammy5]

It's been closed since 2001 IIRC. It was officially announced a few years ago the Disney wasn't planning to reopen it. It is just sitting there. You can look through the fences at FW and still see it and you can see it if you take the boat from FW to WL. It's depressing to see it in this state of disrepair.

 

[wdw4us2]

It's been closed since 2001 IIRC. It was officially announced a few years ago the Disney wasn't planning to reopen it. It is just sitting there. You can look through the fences at FW and still see it and you can see it if you take the boat from FW to WL. It's depressing to see it in this state of disrepair.

I agree.

This was a great starter water park for kids. Not as extreme as Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach.

 

[minnie61650]

River country was once a well enjoyed water park.

WDW opened River Country on June 20,1976.
It was closed in November 2001 because of problems with the water quality (it was reported that some of the Bay Lake water contaminated 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 the above mentioned 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 :

What a shame!

 

[amycakes]

That's too bad.

 

[Piglets Mommy]

I loved River country and am so sad to see it falling apart now. It was the first water park I ever went to, and it holda a lot of great memories for me.

 

[monorailsilver]

That was a great place! We used to go every trip. One time it was raining there so we hopped on the boat back to the Poly where it was sunny! Go figure that Florida weather.

I bet there is a $20 bill in the middle of all that muck. My cousins cousin lost it sometime in the 80's. He had it in his swim shorts & well it fell out. His parents were not happy.

The pully things were so much fun (the things you held onto & then dropped in the water). The pool slide..talk about butterflys in the stomach.

And I remember it was always crowded so we go there early & got our chairs for when we were ready to lounge out.