The River Country water tower towards the entrance was removed a few years after closing and moved. Lights are also turned on automatically as Disney appears to not have cut off power to the Water Park. The River Country Closing Theme still plays even in the abandoned park. The water park was fenced off with signs up reading "Sorry, River Country is closed." The park was a popular site amongst urban explorers who climbed over the green fence or even walked in through the backstage driveway. River Country then sat abandoned for 17 years, rotting and gradually being reclaimed by nature. In 2005, Disney officially announced that River Country would be closed permanently. The abandoned Slippery Slide Falls attraction in 2013 On April 11, 2002, the Orlando Sentinel reported that "Walt Disney World's first water park, River Country, has closed and may not reopen." Disney World spokesman Bill Warren stated that River Country could be reopened if "there's enough guest demand". The park closed on November 2, 2001, with the expectation that it would reopen in the spring of 2002. Six years later in 1995, Disney opened a third water park, Blizzard Beach, which was also much bigger than River Country. In 1989, Disney opened a second water park, Typhoon Lagoon it had much more parking, many more slides, newer amenities, and was much larger. "River Country / Big River Country / It's a hoot / It's a holler / It's a water jamboree / River Country /īig River Country / If you're hot around the collar, it's a cool place to be." Closure The theme park had a well-known theme song because of a successful television advertising campaign. The other two deaths were from drowning, in 19. Three other children had died similarly in Florida in the same month. Park officials noted that similar amoebic infections also occurred relatively frequently elsewhere and said it was an inherent problem with freshwater lakes in warm weather and thus could not be blamed on the park's water system. The first was of an 11-year-old boy who contracted an amoebic infection of the brain from the water in 1980. There were several deaths that took place at River Country. The park's water was at a higher level than the lake's, which was an effort to prevent lake water from going into the park. 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 artificial lagoon. 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 original working title was "Pop's Willow Grove". It was described as an "old-fashioned swimming hole". Positioned on the shore of Bay Lake, near Discovery Island, the park featured a rustic wilderness theme, complete with rocks and man-made boulders. On March 15, 2022, Walt Disney World Resort announced that the hotel was cancelled to make way for new DVC villas at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. A new hotel, Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge, was set to be built at the former site of Disney's River Country starting in 2019 and was planned to open in 2022, but construction was halted during the COVID-19 pandemic. This made the water park the second of only two Disney parks in the company's history to close permanently, with nearby Discovery Island on the lake closing in 1999. It opened on June 20, 1976, and closed indefinitely on November 2, 2001, with The Walt Disney Company later announcing on January 20, 2005, that the park would remain closed permanently. River Country was located along the shores of Bay Lake and near Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, the park was themed as a rustic, old-fashioned swimming hole. Former water park at Walt Disney World Resort
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