Disney's River Country
River Country was the first water park at the
Walt Disney World Resort. It opened on
June 20,
1976 and ceased operations in November 2001. On
January 20,
2005,
The Walt Disney Company announced that River Country would remain closed permanently. It is said to have been the world's first fully themed water park.[
citation needed]
Positioned on the shore of Bay Lake near
Discovery Island, River Country was part of
Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and matched this area in its rustic wilderness theming, replete with rocks and manmade boulders (created by the same man who created Big Thunder Mountain at the
Magic Kingdom). It was described as an "old-fashioned
swimming hole". The original working title before being changed was: "Pop's Willow Grove" and featured a sandy bottom and unique water filtering system using confluent water from adjacent Bay Lake, which was dammed off creating a natural-looking man-made lagoon.
It was much smaller than Disney's other two water parks,
Typhoon Lagoon and
Blizzard Beach, with the latter nearly four times the size of River Country. Fort Wilderness Resort guests were given a discount. It was also far less busy than the other two water parks.
Attractions included:
- Whoop 'n' Holler Hollow, two water slides, 260 ft (79 m) and 160 ft (49 m) long that emptied into Bay Cove, a half-acre (2,000 m²) sand-bottom lake which itself featured a tire swing, a boom swing, a rope climb, and a T-bar drop.
- Slippery Slide Falls, two water slides that emptied into Upstream Plunge, a 330,000 US gallon (1,250 m³) clear-water pool.
- White Water Rapids, a 330 foot (100 m) long inner tube river.
- Cypress Point Nature Trail, a trail among trees beside Bay Lake.
