page_title: Disney's River Country
section_title: Closure
hierarchical_section_title: Disney's River Country / History / Closure
caption_attribution_description: English: Slides at the abandoned River Country Water Park
context_page_description: Disney's River Country was the first water park at Walt Disney World. Located along the shores of Bay Lake and near Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, the park was themed as a rustic, old-fashioned swimming hole. It opened on June 20, 1976, and closed indefinitely on November 2, 2001, with The Walt Disney Company later announcing on January 20, 2005 that the park would remain closed permanently. This made the water park the second of only two Disney parks in the company's history to close permanently, with nearby Discovery Island on the lake closing in 1999. A new hotel, Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge, would be built at the former site of Disney's River Country starting in 2019, and is set to open in 2022.
context_section_description: In 1989, Disney opened a second water park, Typhoon Lagoon; it had much more parking, many more slides, newer amenities, and was much larger. Six years later in 1995, Disney opened a third water park, Blizzard Beach, which was also much bigger than River Country.
  The park closed on November 2, 2001, with the expectation that it would reopen in spring of 2002. On April 11, 2002, the Orlando Sentinel reported that "Walt Disney World's first water park, River Country, has closed and may not reopen." Disney World spokesman Bill Warren stated that River Country could be reopened if "there's enough guest demand".
  In 2005, Disney officially announced that River Country would be closed permanently. River Country then sat abandoned for 17 years, rotting and gradually being reclaimed by nature. The water park was fenced off with signs up reading "Sorry, River Country is closed." The park was a popular site amongst urban explorers who climbed over the green fence, or even walked in through the backstage driveway.
  On August 25, 2016, Disney announced that they would drain and fill in Upstream Plunge, the 330,000 gallon pool. There were no immediate plans to tear down any other part of the park.
caption: The abandoned Slippery Slide Falls attraction in 2013
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