 disney's river country was the first water park at walt disney world. it opened on june 20, 1976 and ceased operations on november 2nd, 2001. on january 20, 2005, the walt disney company announced that river country would remain closed permanently. along with discovery island, it is one of only two disney parks in history to close permanently. both parks were abandoned rather than demolished. ==history== positioned on the shore of bay lake, near discovery island in bay lake, florida, near orlando, florida, river country featured a rustic wilderness theming, complete with rocks and man-made boulders. it was described as an "old-fashioned swimming hole" with "a twist of huckleberry finn". the original working title was "pop's willow grove". river country was featured in a musical number from the 1977 the wonderful world of disney episode "the mouseketeers at walt disney world", which included a song titled "river country" and featured the then-current mouseketeer lineup from the late 70s incarnation of the mickey mouse club enjoying the at
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