There were a number of reasons why River Country closed
Among them were new state safety regulations involving water quality that would have required additional investments in the property to get it into regulatory compliance, another was a liability concern regarding said water quality (an amebae proliferates in Florida's rivers and lakes that causes a form of meningitis and there have been some deaths from it.) River Country's water was sourced from Bay Lake, so this was a concern.
There were other business and logistical reasons for its closure too. It had low capacity, was in a remote part of the property inaccessible to visitors, and was largely obsolete compared to Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, both of which boasted state of the art attractions that frankly made those on offer at River Country pale in comparison.
There has been talk of salvaging elements from River Country to compliment, or expand, the resort pool area for those staying at Ft. Wilderness. It would not be a reopening of River Country. But a third waterpark was on the drawing boards as recently as last year according to Blue Sky Disney. A third water park was planned for opening during the "Disney Decade" of the nineties, but was shelved, it may now be coming to fruitition. At one point it had a space theme, but later morphed into a concept called Ragin' Cajun Lagoon which shared a similar sort of back woodsy theme with River Country, but with a bayou twist. TL and BB reach capacity before noon in the summer, and Aquatica is generating huge crowds, so the need for a third water park is there.
The nostalgic part of me just wishes they'd leave the RC site alone and let it be reclaimed by nature little by little, like an old barn, or an abandoned railroad track. River Country invented the modern water park, it was twenty-years ahead of its time. The thought of them ripping it apart, even to use elements of it elsewhere, just doesn't sit right.
