Abandoned Disney: Disney's River Country

That was an awesome read! Now I wanna do it! ha ha ha

I tried to check an overhead view on Google Maps... but there are just too many trees.

I know, it's so sad to look at! I can't look at the other ones.

I wouldn't be stupid and broadcast it over the internet... thats just stupid. I would just start a secret society... heh

Oh... and then in 5 years... broadcast it to the world.

I never went to River Country, but this whole thread piqued my interest. So I found an old WDW map online, located River Country, and then checked the vicinity using Google Maps. I can't be sure since, as I said, I've never been there, but just west of the Fort Wilderness buildings there's stuff that looks suspiciously like waterslides and the docks pictured in the photos of the abandoned park.

I think I found what you found...

Okay, last map image. This is just cool because you can actually see how close it is to where the Hoop-Dee-Doo and Backyard BBQ are held!

Yup. That's what I saw. Assuming that is the old water park, it's amazing that folks are having fun over at Ft. Wilderness and some of them have no clue this is just a short walk away. Also really amazing that Disney had this attraction so convenient to the campground and they abandoned it. Maybe it's not as fancy as the newer waterparks, but it would still be a really nice way for people staying at the campground to spend a hot afternoon without having to hop on a bus or in the car.

The trouble with River Country was primarily it's source for the water which just happened to be the lake which it adjoined. There is NO SWIMMING in just about any lake or pond in FL. this is due to some nasty bacteria which is present in all natural and man-made bodies of water which is not filtered and treated. Can you picture the size of the filter that would be needed for Bay Lake SO Disney was kinda forced into shutting down River country. BUT why they just let it rot away and dis not dismantled everything is anyone's guess. Unless the water was so bad that Disney did not even want their people in there. (Just my thought)

Gross! My first visit was in 2003, so it was a few years after it was shut down. I've heard that they re-purposed a few decor pieces (isn't the water tower from the park at the Fort Wilderness pool now?) but other than that...ick. With the amount of bacteria that was probably growing in there, maybe the cost of cleaning it and refurbishing the property just hasn't been worth it at this time.

Just has to be... but with that guy going over there... its almost like it was straight up abandoned like from some kind of horrific event that was so dangerous they had to leave there belongings and such.

Check this out:

http://www.imagineeringdisney.com/blog/2009/12/19/abandoned-disney-river-country-part-1.html

These are then/now photos.

All these google maps had me looking at Discovery Island as well. You can make out a few roof tops. Pretty cool, gotta love google

Agreed, the problem with River Country was not a lack of popularity, it was that most of the attractions were in the lake portion of the park. From what I recall, it's an amoeba, not a bacteria which lives in lakes and ponds around Florida. It actually swims up your nose and then proceeds to eat your brain. In the past 5 or 10 years there have been several deaths in Florida from it. It was all over the news a few years ago, it's called Naegleria fowleri. Pretty much by the time you show symptoms it's too late for the doctors to do anything, it moves fast and there's a 98% death rate.

Holy crap! Well, I can't blame the Disney folks for wanting to close the place if brain-eating amoebas were anywhere near the vicinity.

I love that site. I remember seeing these posts on there, but never looked at them.... lol

So very sad

Wow that's crazy. I would never imagine something Disney-affiliated would end up like that. I'm too young to have ever been there. I've been to both of the new water parks though and love the Typhoon Lagoon wave pool. Best wave pool in the world.

That's crazy. Why did the park close down? I did a Google search and nothing came up..

http://www.wdwforgrownups.com/forum/abandoned-disney-disneys-river-country?page=1#comment-92193

That video of the abandoned WDW is beyond creepy. I never want to see it like that ever! The River Counrty thing is very creepy, too. Imagine the things that are in those lakes.

Nothing any different then any other lake in Florida.

I agree with this a lot. This was the orginal Disney Water Park, long before anyone other one opened. And it had such classic down at the old water hole feeling. It was basicly like a an extreme swiming pool, but in good ways. It reminds me of simpler times. I spent my childhood in Florida lakes and was never got anything from it, just saying.

This was posted on Yesterland today.

http://www.yesterland.com/rivercountry.html

Thanks for the link, Joann. This abandoned park has become a favorite of mine to read about.