Why was River Country Closed ??

[JPG]

I have always wondered what the real reason for closing River Country was. Does anyone know ?

 

[Laurafoster]

I believe the official line was something about hygiene? As it was a natural lake it was harder to clean and keep to health and safety standards.

 

[Minniespal]

There was also talk at the time that they were going to put another park there.

I really miss River Country and haven't visited another water park since it closed.

 

[tim5055]

Only Disney knows for sure. I would assume it was a combination of things including

• Health issues: (water quality) While I can see Disney's point in his, I'm sure it is not insurmountable.
• Transportation: The original design for River Country had guests using the FW Railroad as the primary transportation method between parking and the attraction. While the train was great, many guests wanted a quicker way to get to River Country. This then caused them to add parking lot style trams, which added to the traffic on the FW roads
• Size: River Country was jsut not large enough to support a stand alone attraction
• Staffing: This ties in with size, with only a few more people you can staff a much larger attraction like Blizzard Beach
• Competition: Other water parks

I guess what I am saying with al of this is that Disney was probably not making as much money from this attraction as they could make with similar resources elsewhere.

JMHO

 

[CapeCod53]

We love the wdw water parks. River Country was our favorite. I understand the water quality issue & even transportation. Altho when not staying at FtW or WL we used to leave a gym bag with swim stuff in the MK lockers & take a mid-day break over to RC via the boat from the MK. That was easy & relaxing. I do wish they had kept the actual swimming pool at RC open to FtW guests, drain the rest & screen it off with a row of tall thin evergreen trees & or a fence.

 

[F4disneyfan]

Never saw RC but my wife did and she says it was nice when they stayed at FW but the new waterparks are 100 times better so I have to take her word for it but from teh pictures I can't see ever having used it with BB and TL on property.

 

[JPG]

Thanks for the replies and opinions. I went to RC as a small child, but barely remember it. I am a big fan of the newer style waterparks like TL and BB, but it would be nice to have one at FW.

 

[MrKTI]

Not sure who knows about this site, but if you goto www.virtualearth.com, you can poke around and find FW. You then can do a "birdseye" view of the cg, including a fairly close look at RC.

It's like flying over in a ballon. RC looks pretty wasted. Pics were taken before any hurricane action, so lots of trees, but you can make out most loops.

John

 

[stillh2o]

I really miss River Country. When I was a kid, riding down a river on tubes was the greatest. We went there every summer, but I went there in the mid 80's as a teenager and it was not the same tube ride. It was not as fun as I remember and the park seemed dated. I sometimes wish I didn't go back. My childhood memories of River Country where great, But going there as teen changed my old time memories. We snuck in last month, and it was really sad to see that the park that I loved as a kid is so run down.