River Country was a water park located at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It opened on June 20, 1976 and last operated in November 2001. On January 20, 2005, The Walt Disney Company announced that River Country would remain closed permanently. It is said to have been the world's first fully themed water park. These days no one is plunging into the swimming hole or relaxing under a
sunbrella after hours of tubing and splashing. River country is no
longer an enjoyable water park of fun as it has been taken over by
nature. Brush and trees have infiltrated the slides, the lake and wading
areas, like an umbrella of gloom.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Country
Disney's River Country has been abandoned since 2005.
Disney's River Country was unlike any water park we have today. Did you have the chance to visit before it closed? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments below.
Google Earth Images
2004
2005
2006
2010
2012
http://disneyhippy.blogspot.com/2011/01/right-before-our-eyes.html
MDR Photos
Photos copyright 2009, MDR
View more photos taken in 2008 here: River Country 2008
Videos
Nice video tribute of before and after the park closed.
Video from a 1981visit to the park.
Links
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2344523Great photos and walk through from 2009.
http://www.intercot.com/themeparks/waterparks/rivercountry/default.asp
Information about the water park.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=28.411044~-81.564762&style=o&lvl=2&scene=3928986
Great aerial views.
http://www.explorethemagic.com/images/maps/disney-world-river-country-map.jpg
Moderndayruins.com is seriously neat!
ReplyDeleteI love your website! I love reading about abandoned places and things. Although, the feeling I got when I heard about Disney World's River Country made me feel much different! Like a certain sadness like my childhood was ripped away. I couldn't believe Disney had abandoned it. Its the first place that I know of that has been a place I've been to. Its cool that you have information about it on your site though :)
Sam from over at samearthabandoned.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteI had the chance to visit this park in November of '98, and had THE most memorable incident of 2 weeks in Florida happen there.
There was a sort of "tarzan" jump into the lake, and we were waiting on the ladder to the wooden platform that you jumped off of... when two park employees showed up with long plastic bags, gloves, and metal clamps. We were told to climb onto the platform and stay there, no swimming. They then proceeded to pull out a huge snack, that was wrapped around the pole under the platform. Wasn't poisonous, and based on the equipment they had, pretty standard. But a 6 foot long, foot wide snack was pretty memorable for two girls from Quebec :)
I think my dad or my friend's parents have some pictures from RC.
Why didn't the people waiting just eat the huge SNACK? Or, did you actually mean a huge SNAKE?
DeleteI might have a park map from '98 lying around that I'll try to find.
ReplyDeleteMy family and I were at Disney and River Country the summer of 1978! We had a blast. My dad still has pictures he took of us that day. I have ones on the Slippery slide falls. I will have to find them. The pictures of the ruins are heartfelt, made me a little sad like taking a piece of me. I went back to Disney in October of 1982 but we didn't go to River Country, wish I did :(. Well you can't go back!
ReplyDeleteDiana