Abandoned By Disney – River Country

For those that don’t know, River Country was once a Disney water park, that opened on June 20th, 1976.  Because of multiple deaths, and other rumors, the park’s last operating day was November 2nd, 2001.  Finally, in January of 2005 Disney announced that the park was going to be closed for good.  Here is what I know about the park, with an interview with Blossom at Disney World guest services.

River Country had many attractions including the Upstream Plunge (a kidney shaped clean water pool), Slippery Slide Falls (two water slides that fall into the Upstream Plunge), Kiddie Cove (kid zone with 2 large water slides), Barrel Bridge (bumpy bridge with barrels of water under it), White Water Rapids (330 foot inner tube river), Bay Cove (sand bottom lake with a tire swing, boom swing, rope climb, and T-bar drop), Indian Springs (small splash sone with fountains spraying kids), and Cypress Trail (a tree trail among Bay Lake).

As far as we can tell, most of these attractions are still there today.  We have not ventured out onto the island, however we have friends that did and with some research, we can tell most of the stuff has just been left there to rot.  One really creepy fact is that lights were on at River Country until about 2009 (8 years after the park closed).  The picture below is a picture of the map of River Country.

In 1980, an 11 year old boy was killed from an infection that he received at the park.  The infection is caused by an amoeba, which is found in warm bodies of fresh water.  As I said, there were multiple deaths, but unfortunately there is no record that I can find with information about these deaths.

Earlier this week, we talked to someone at Disney World guest services via online chat.    Here is a copy of the chat, for you to see.  It includes some questions asked by me about River Country.

Blossom: Thank you for contacting Disney’s Guest Services.  How may I assist you?

Chase: Hi! I was wondering if you could answer a few of my questions regarding River Country

Blossom: Hi Chase.

Blossom: I can try.

Chase: Ok. First off, I was wondering how you accessed it. Obviously its closed, but I know there is a public walking area around it.

Chase: Basically where is the public walking area at is my first question.

Blossom: There really isn’t a public walking area around it and we don’t let guests access it. 

Chase: Ok. Question #2, why did it close?

Blossom: That is a great question. Let me see if I can find out for you. 

Chase: Thank you

Blossom: I’m sorry for the delay. I’ll be right with you.

Blossom: It looks like the park was very popular and we had plans to build our other two parks to acommodate more people.

Chase: Ok.. Have there been any plans to do something new to it, or have there been and major refurbishments, for outside appeal?

Blossom: We have not plans to reopen it. Right now we are allowing it to go back to nature.

Chase: Ok. Is it considered trespassing if someone was to go explore it?

Blossom: Yes, you are correct!

Chase: Ok. 1 last question. Have all elements from River Country (like slides, water towers, picnic tables, etc.) been removed?

Chase: And if not, are there any plans to remove them?

Blossom: I apologize, I do not know if they have removed them or if there are plans to do so if we have not.

First off, I was surprised the cast member answered my questions.  Typically, if you ask someone working at Walt Disney World, they are not allowed to tell you about the island, or if they do it is very brief.

Based upon what the cast member said, they are turning the park over to nature.  Basically they are saying they are going to let it rot, and most likely do nothing to the park (at least not in the near future).  Also, there is an area where you can look over the fence and see the park.  If you are adventuress, go over by Mickey’s Backyard Barbecue, and there is a little walking area with fences saying do not trespass.  Look over the fence, and you should see River Country.  While I can’t stop you, I do advise you do not trespass as it is illegal and Disney could have you arrested, and you would not be allowed on Disney property again.

Another thing I find interesting is that she said they closed it, because of the other 2 water parks.  However, what I find interesting is she also said that the park was very popular.  Could it be that they really did close the park due to the water containing hazardous material, and that Disney is trying to cover up?

This concludes my story about River Country.  If you have any other fun facts about the park, please let me know in the comments.  One last thing that I can’t stress enough.  Please don’t trespass into the park, it is 100% illegal and you can get in trouble.