Disney's River Country

I was looking at a brand new (or latest) Diseny World brochure, and nothing was mentioned at all about River Country. I looked on the map, and it didn't even show River Country anymore!What is going on? Did Disney close it?

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http://community.webshots.com/user/cpbubba

Yes, Disney closed and demolished River Country.

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If you don't have anything nice to say don't say ANYTHING at all.

It's cool though - go to Blizzard Beach. It's an amazing waterpark, and has the most theming I've ever seen in any waterpark.

~me

Blizzard Beach is a great waterpark. My personal favorite in Disney World, but Typhoon Lagoon has the best wave pool. Make sure you check that out.

I presume River Country was a victim of the other two waterparks success. Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach are reputed to be excelent water parks with loads of Disney Magic (read theming) and innovative attractione, whereas River Country was themed in its day to be a good ole fashioned swimming hole with a few slides and stuff. Not that it was bad or anything, but its kind of hard to sell it to the waterpark guests when you have two stellar waterparks.

Also closed is River Country's counterpart, "Discovery Island" which was kinda like a bird sanctuary/ animal park which you had to access via ferry.. Which was made obsolete with the introduction of Animal Kingdom.

Both of those parks were real bargains ticket wise comapred to other Disney ventures in their final years, and I doubt they added much if anything to the bottom line while being expensive to run.

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David Bowers
Mayor, Coasterville

River Country has not been demolished. It is closed but there is some talk that they might open some, if not all, of it for the people who camp at Fort Wilderness.

You have to remember that River Country was the first full waterpark ever. Its time had come...

Word around the campfire (at least the one I sit at) is that it may become an oversized pool for Fort Wilderness campground/resort.

There was a rumor going around for some time that Discovery Island would be turned into some sort of real-life Myst Island. Don't know if anything ever came of that...

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http://www.rockandrollconfidential.com

I heard the same rumor about two years ago but haven't heard anything since.

I always wanted to go to River Country, but the last four times I went to WDW (`93-`96), and was old enough to even remember going, I was with the family and no one else wanted to go. I never had much interest in Discovery Island though.

Isn't there a camper village near River Country? Why not just make it a River Country Resort? Otherwise, the Wilderness Lodge idea sounds good. I hope they keep it open so I can enjoy someday.
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-Matt in Iowa
195 coasters ridden -- Faves: Shivering Timbers, Ghostrider, Twister, Hershey Wildcat, Lightning Racer

WOW, I had no idea that Disney had closed River Country, but then again with the success of Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, It was probably struggling to attract people and most likely closed due to low visitor numbers????

I must say River Country was only OK as I have been there before, but its nothing Special, I know its an old fashioned Water Park, but there is definatly not enough there to keep you oppupied, so no wonder it closed.
BTW when did this happen because I didnt hear anything about this until now????? Anyone know??

River Country has been closed for about 3 years, I think.

One of it's main problems was the "pool" that the slides ended in was actually part of WDW's man-made lake - and therefore was unheated.

that place rocked!

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The Beast, at night, Nothing better.

kip099 said:

River Country has been closed for about 3 years, I think.

Nope. It was open in September, 2001. My wife and I debated between River Country and Blizzard Beach, and chose the beach. :)

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"Getting on Iron Wolf is kind of like going in a blender and pressing PUREE"

kip099 said:

River Country has been closed for about 3 years, I think.
One of it's main problems was the "pool" that the slides ended in was actually part of WDW's man-made lake - and therefore was unheated.

It closed less than a year ago. I remember being on the Disney website one day browsing for some info, and the next day I wanted to check something, and River Country was gone. Too bad though... it wasn't great, but was kind of historic since it s the first realy waterpark.

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If I am not mistaken, wasn't River Country all freshwater?

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http://community.webshots.com/user/cpbubba

You guys are right - it has only been "closed" for about a year... a few trips ago it was only "closed for the season".

River Country had 2 "pools" - one was freshwater (the main one - the one that the bodyslides and tube slide ended in. It also had a beach and a some rope swings), and the second was a regular pool. The second pool had a couple of short slides and (I think) the kiddie area.