River Country: Disney's Abandoned Water Park

Out of Disney's many theme parks around the world, only one has ever permanently closed. River Country was Disney's first water park, built on the shore of Bay Lake at Walt Disney World. While the park achieved moderate success during its lifespan, the real story only began after the park closed its doors. Let's take a look at River Country's life, closure, and 2 decades it sat abandoned, an icon of Disney's abandoned attractions, and a symbol of Disney's urban exploring history.

Ok, I know some people regard Discovery Island as being a closed Disney park, but I don't really count it. It wasn't really a park, more of an attraction. The lines of what is and isn't a theme park start to get kinda blurry.

But the story of Disney's River Country is so interesting to me, I thought I'd take a crack at it. From the abandoned Discovery Island, to Wonders of Life, DisneyQuest and beyond, River Country is by far Disney's most iconic abandoned location. Such an interesting story of being forgotten and slowly rediscovered. And with recent developments such as Reflections: A Disney Lakeside Lodge, it seems the history of Disney's River Country hasn't yet reached its final chapter.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:42 Walt Disney World's Early Years
2:27 The Life of River Country
8:34 The Closure of River Country
10:00 The Abandonment of River Country
11:11 The Urban Explorers of River Country
14:30 The Replacement of River Country
17:24 Why Did River Country Close?

[faithmahoney]

why are the pictures of goofy lurking in the background so haunting

[twoblacklabs]

Great video, George. I was a lifeguard at River Country in the mid-to-late 1980’s. It was a great job for a guy like me, who loved the Florida sun and the water. We rotated 3 lifeguard stands, 30 minute shifts at each different post, then took a half-hour break. We had an “unwritten rule” that any “found money” of small proportions in the water was ours for the keeping, as almost no one ever seriously reported lost money in the Bay Cove lake water.
At the bottom of each of the 2 “Whoop & Holler” slides, people would lose small amounts of pocket money, mostly small bills and pocket change out of their swimsuit pockets, and it was all ours for the diving pleasure. I went home with $40 in quarters on a good day. One time, while guarding the bottom of the tube slide, a $100 bill floated right past me. There was no way I was not jumping in to grab it. I turned it in, certain that someone would be missing that amount of money, but after 3 weeks, I got called to the Supervisor’s office and they handed me the $100 bill! They said no one reported any missing cash, and it was now mine.
The job itself was probably the most memorable for the camaraderie we had as lifeguards. Management was excellent, and we had a great time cleaning the park up, both pre-opening and after closing time. The place is still very memorable to me, and I hold those memories very tightly as my favorite job of my youth…

[drdewott]

Honestly the world needs more places like River Country. Not in the abandoned state, but a small cozy swimming hole with some activities and slides amidst nice landscaping would be really nice to have in more places.

[presidentfrog]

I mean, Goofy being the mascot for River Country makes sense. It's classic America to have a dog swimmin around with you at the local swimmin hole. The inclusion of Pluto makes that point obvious.

[doriangray]

I remember visiting River Country with my wife and daughter. Arriving to find no seats/loungers available, they were all in use. A lovely American family gave us a couple of their loungers and it really made our day.

[downfromtheattic]

Always stings seeing River Country in such a horrendous state of neglect and disrepair because it's not how I experienced it nor remember it.

My family and I went to WDW for the 2000 celebrations Aug 2000. River Country was one of the first parks we visited. As you approached the park, near to the water tower, there were stable and farm animal, a petting zoo of sorts and I'm almost certain you could rent ponies there to go pony trekking around camp wilderness.

River Country itself had an atmosphere all of its own, completely different feel to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon lagoon. The overall feel was relaxed fun, carefreeness and being silly, Goofy being the mascot absolutely fit this. We saw goofy taking the slide down into the plunge pool and there's family photos with us with Pluto, there were covered picnic tables, a large hall of them really, and the characters would walk round and play jokes on people eating their lunch.

The rubber ring slide was by far the most popular with guests and the advantage of it being a smaller capacity water park to the other two? barely any queues. I managed to get on the slide plenty of times. The rubber ring ride had a splash pool of sorts halfway along the slide and with the current of the jets you could find yourself getting stuck spinning in circles in there!

We went twice to River country, each for a half day and loved our time there. Really is a shame what happened to the park, I do miss it. The closest the other parks come to the feel of River Country is the lazy rivers, they're relaxing and fun but interspersed with silliness, like the sneezing chalet in blizzard beach that sprays ice cold water over you, it's that daft, goofy, carefree approach that I River Country for

[Quert_Zuiopue]

It's a shame that they didn't make an nature reserve out of it, as such overgrown culture wastelands provide a great habitat for many endangered species, that may not survive in the modern cultivated landscape around it.

[seventeen_nights]

as funny as it is seeing goofy going down waterslides with guests i can only imagine how MISRABLE it mustve been in that suit. Theyre bad enough when theyre dry but making them heavy with water must have been hell for the actor

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

More on the Fort Wilderness Railroad: It only lasted from January 1974 to February 1980. The 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow-gauge Fort Wilderness Railroad (FWRR) began operating on a trial basis in late 1973 and officially opened on January 1, 1974. It had a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) loop around Fort Wilderness, utilizing four 2-4-2T steam locomotives and twenty passenger cars built in 1972 by WED Enterprises in Glendale, CA. 2-4-2 means the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. It debuted in the UK in 1863 and was showcased at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Due to issues with track maintenance, pedestrian safety, noise concerns, and its locomotives' low fuel capacity, the railroad only operated occasionally after 1977 and closed permanently in February 1980. After the railroad closed, railroad ties remain in place along certain sections of the railroad's former right-of-way, the FWRR's roundhouse was also converted into a laundry facility, and two of its passenger cars were used as ticket booths for Pleasure Island before said cars were sold to a local railway museum.

[presidentfrog]

We love to hate on Michael, but he gave us all the Disney memories we had as kids. He wasn't the best guy for the job, he was the perfect guy for the job.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

If I had a nickel, for every time something around Bay Lake closed because a bigger thing opened elsewhere on property, I'd have two nickels...which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice. Nearby Discovery Island closed because the much bigger Animal Kingdom was built! But seriously, it's wild that nearby Discovery Island has been abandoned too! It would've been interesting if Disney revived Discovery Island by teaming up with Cyan Worlds to turn the island into a replica of the titular island from the video game Myst. Discovery Island's history is just as fascinating. From 1900 to 1937, the island was known as Raz Island, named after the family that lived there.

In the late 1930s, it was purchased for $800 by a man named Delmar Nicholson, who renamed it Idle Bay Isle and lived there for 20 years with his wife and pet crane. It was later sold, renamed Riles Island and used as a hunting retreat. Disney bought it in 1965. Delmar lived on the island and grew exotic plants prior to the island's acquisition by Disney. The island's facilities was home to the very last Dusky seaside sparrow, a bird once endemic to Merritt Island where the Kennedy Space Center is, they went extinct because of pesticides and flooding the island to control the mosquito population around the space center on top of highway construction.

[richantonelli]

This is by far the most in-depth video I've seen regarding information on what happened to River Country and great footage too. Strong work!

[lauraholmes]

Imagine going to an abandoned place and hearing music in the background. I’d be noping right out of there and never looking back

[damski]

I went a few times in the early 90's as a child.

I was always a little freaked out that the pools were more natural and sandy bottoms, especially when a lifeguard fished a snake out of the water during one visit. That said Ive seen snakes at Typhoon lagoon too, but the water is clear there and visability is better.

I also remember drama around one of the super twisty slides when a woman was taken away on a stretcher with a neck brace after a bad accident.

[campizzapasta]

The closest Ive ever experienced was belle and beast going on the the carousel together at Disneyland, with Gaston in the foreground flexing to get her attention. It felt really weirdly organic and not scirpted. I kinda miss seeing that sort of thing

[berndk.]

River Country was such a nice place! I do like Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, but River Country had this laid back, fun and genuine feeling to it.

[ShenmueAtheist]

God, I miss old Disney so much. This video reminded me how much I used to love them, something I haven't felt in over a decade.

[martind]

The absolute worst thing to happen to Fort Wilderness is to build a DVC hotel there. No more laid back peacefulness for those who enjoy camping there.

[sunnydayzie]

Disney: bigger, more extravagant and more expensive. As kids we lived in a blue collar town in nj amd but most families could afford to load up the station wagon and camp in fort wilderness and go to disney. Disney has literally priced itself totally out of reach to most families except the very wealthy or singles. What are we at like $150 a ticket for one day ? During covid, they were closing the park at 6 pm and still charging full price. River country was part of old Disney. Disney has gone a totally different direction, catering to a totally different clientele. After going many times as a kid in the 70s, since we had grandparents in Florida, my husband and I honeymooned there in 1994. We paid just under $1200 for nine days in Disney's Caribbean beach resort and park hopper passes for nine days to all the parks and that included air fare both ways!

[weston]

I grew up in Orlando and remember going a few times as a kid. It was my third favorite park in the area after 1. Typhoon Lagoon and 2. Wet n' Wild. I only went to Blizzard Beach once or twice growing up and I definitely only went to Water Mania once. Good memories!