Whatever will become of River Country?

Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash

Member
Original Poster
I stumbled upon some 'abandoned themepark' videos on YouTube earlier this evening, and ended up finding a video of some older men (I think..) breaking into the old River Country water park, and showing what all was left of it.. I read the stories online and it sort of concerned me. The park from the map looked nice, and from what I know, I've never heard the park's name before besides from after that video. I did my research, and from what I discovered I couldn't figure out a reason why it had closed in the first place, aside from some kids getting a brain-devouring bacterial infection which took their lives. But, the one thing about that theory was that the cases were almost 20 years before the park's closure, and seemed sort of 'irrelevant'. I know for sure that when I go in June I will scope this out, and stay in the guest areas, to see what I can see in-person, as I never got the chance to visit in during it's peak in history.. But, what if Disney went in and fixed it all up and brought it back? I for one am not a very big fan of the current waterparks, besides the big wave-pool at Typhoon Lagoon, and think that a 3rd water park would be nice to have, considering the other ones are packed FULL of people during the summer.

If you have any pictures or video, I would LOVE to see them. :D

Link to the YouTube video:
 
HatboxGhost

HatboxGhost

Well-Known Member
Rainbow Dash said:
I stumbled upon some 'abandoned themepark' videos on YouTube earlier this evening, and ended up finding a video of some older men (I think..) breaking into the old River Country water park, and showing what all was left of it.
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The guy in the video is Adam the Woo. You might have heard about him recently because he was kicked out of WDW for life. Even though he IS technically tresspassing, I love his videos on YouTube and have become a fan of his adventures.
 
Macca250

Macca250

Well-Known Member
Rainbow Dash said:
I for one am not a very big fan of the current waterparks, besides the big wave-pool at Typhoon Lagoon, and think that a 3rd water park would be nice to have, considering the other ones are packed FULL of people during the summer.
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I don't mind TL and BB personally, but they're just too crowded to be fully enjoyed. A 3rd water park is desperately needed. And I don't mean one thats the size of River Country because that was built way back before the Resort handled the amount of guests WDW deals with nowadays. We need a brand new one that's far more spacious (with more deck chairs!) to spread out the crowds.
 
Spikerdink

Spikerdink

Well-Known Member
I remember going there in the early 90's... what I remember of it was there wasn't a bunch of things to do. There was a cliff jump, a slide and a large pool type thing...but other than that I am drawing a blank.... plus I remember it being very small. Disney most likely said they could do something bigger and better and Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach were born. So, I can see where they would decommission the park and let it go to the elements...
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
I'd bet that you could come back here in 20 years and ask the same question. There was talk of building a DVC there, but I think I read somewhere that the plan was shelved, for now. So, what you see is what you will get in the foreseeable future.:(
 
Cosmic Commando

Cosmic Commando

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
I'd bet that you could come back here in 20 years and ask the same question. There was talk of building a DVC there, but I think I read somewhere that the plan was shelved, for now. So, what you see is what you will get in the foreseeable future.:(
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Well DVC is a beast that has to constantly be fed. GF DVC is coming, then after that the Poly is the only deluxe without DVC (assuming you count BCV for Yacht & Beach). So after the Poly DVC comes... ?
 
George

George

Liker of Things
Premium Member
hakunamatata said:
Most likely nothing will be done with it given its location and cost to address.
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Correct. It has already sat around for more than a decade.

Rainbow Dash said:
I stumbled upon some 'abandoned themepark' videos on YouTube earlier this evening, and ended up finding a video of some older men (I think..)

This made me laugh. If they weren't men, what were they? I really wanna know the other options you were considering.

breaking into the old River Country water park, and showing what all was left of it.. I read the stories online and it sort of concerned me. The park from the map looked nice, and from what I know, I've never heard the park's name before besides from after that video. I did my research, and from what I discovered I couldn't figure out a reason why it had closed in the first place, aside from some kids getting a brain-devouring bacterial infection which took their lives. But, the one thing about that theory was that the cases were almost 20 years before the park's closure, and seemed sort of 'irrelevant'.

The bacteria/RC thing has essentially become a WDW urban legend. I think they did have trouble from time to time with the filtering system they had for the Bay Lake water. I've seen insiders state the real reason for closure before but I've kind of forgotten.

I know for sure that when I go in June I will scope this out, and stay in the guestareas, to see what I can see in-person, as I never got the chance to visit in during it's peak in history.. But, what if Disney went in and fixed it all up and brought it back?

My guess is that it won't happen. I think it would be less expensive to build a new water park if that is the route they went.

I for one am not a very big fan of the current waterparks, besides the big wave-pool at Typhoon Lagoon, and think that a 3rd water park would be nice to have, considering the other ones are packed FULL of people during the summer.

One advantage of living north of the mason dixon line is that almost any time of the year I'm at WDW, a water park is an option.

If you have any pictures or video, I would LOVE to see them. :D

The video in your youtube post is pretty hard to beat. RC closed right before almost everyone could record video with small video cameras, flip phones, cameras, shoelaces, disposable styrofoam coffee mugs, pamphlets, odd strands of nasal hair, etc.

Link to the YouTube video:
Click to expand...


Macca250 said:
I don't mind TL and BB personally, but they're just too crowded to be fully enjoyed. A 3rd water park is desperately needed. And I don't mean one thats the size of River Country because that was built way back before the Resort handled the amount of guests WDW deals with nowadays. We need a brand new one that's far more spacious (with more deck chairs!) to spread out the crowds.
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea. I would actually love two more RC sized water parks. Maybe 2/3 the price point of the big ones. Include both in the premium AP and include the one that will be so crowded you can't move in the regular AP. :lookaroun
 
Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash

Member
Original Poster
ASJHLJ said:
Correct. It has already sat around for more than a decade.





Not a bad idea. I would actually love two more RC sized water parks. Maybe 2/3 the price point of the big ones. Include both in the premium AP and include the one that will be so crowded you can't move in the regular AP. :lookaroun
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know. But we're talking about Disney here.. Everything is possible. ;)
 

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