How dare you commit the cardinal sin of starting a thread on a topic that has occasionally been discussed before!
![Eek! :eek: :eek:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Gasp!!
Seriously, pay no attention to people who get bent out of shape about that. Your questions are relevant and perfectly appropriate. :wave:
All that aside, here you go...
River Country opened in 1976. At the time, WDW was still just a few years old. And even the concept of a water park was not as well established as it is today. It stopped operating in 2001 and officially closed in 2005.
There have been a couple of different theories expressed over why exactly it closed. Some will swear that they are giving the definitive answer and others will admit that they are just providing their best educated guess. As far as I'm aware, the company has never publicly given an "official" reason for closing the park. It could be either of the following or possibly both (or neither of these at all)... One reason that's been suggested is that it no longer made financial sense to operate the park once Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach were both running. River Country was a minor water park by comparison, and located in a much lower traffic area. Another speculated reason was due to some sort of parasite that lives in Bay Lake and which somehow managed to (reportedly) creep into the waters of River Country, thus posing a serious health risk. Amazing that all the people who visited River Country in it's 25 year history all managed to survive!
As far as what was the park like? I can only speak from personal experience, but I thought it was a great park. If it were still open today, I would probably make it a regular part of my visits to WDW. It lacked the grandeur and size (and CROWDS) of the other two water parks, but I thought it's slides were better than any found at the other two parks. And I loved the setting! Unlike Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach where, when you leave the park you basically just walk out to the parking lot and to your car, at River Country there were other things to explore and see that were all within walking distance of the park. It was great! I have many fond memories of it!