River Country

[Tri-circle-D]

River Country was Walt Disney World’s first waterpark. It opened in 1976, and closed for the final time in 2001. Since 2001, the area has sat virtually undisturbed. The slides and pools remain in place.

Here is a map of how the park was laid out:



Here are some photos taken in November, 2009.

These photos begin with photos of the slides which were known as Whoop ‘N Holler Hollow. This is the highest point in River Country. From here, you could choose between two slide, both of which dropped the guest of in rather deep water at the base of the hill. This is the walkway that lead to the higher of the two slides:



This is the slide as it looks today:



This is the view of Bay Lake and the Contemporary Resort in the distance from the top of Whoop N’ Holler Hollow:



Here are some more shots of the Hoop N’ Holler slides:










This is an old water wheel that used to spin around at the top of the hill:



This is one of the sets of stairs that led up to the slide. As you can see, the entire walkway has been obscured by vegetation:



More photos of the slides:







Here is the water wheel from another angle. You can see Bay Lake in the background:



This is the walkway that leads to the lower slide:



Things are continuing to fall and rot:





This is the beginning of the lower slide of the Whoop N’ Holler Hollow:





TCD

[Tri-circle-D]

Another fallen sign:





These are the stairs leading down from Whoop N’ Holler Hollow:







This is the lower slide:







Here are the remains of a barrel that has completely fallen apart:



Another shot of the slide:



And another shot of the stairs:



These shots are taken from the base of the hill on which the Whoop n’ Holler Hollow slides are located:



If you look carefully at the photo above, you will see that the tire swing still sits in place.

This is the life guard stand, looking out into the swimming area:





This is the old boom swing:



Some shots of the swimming area:







If you look along the left side of the bank of the water in this photo, you will see where the two Whoop N’ Holler Hollow slide exited into the swimming area:




TCD

[Tri-circle-D]

More shots of the swimming area. This is where guests could enjoy the boom swing, cable ride and tire swing:









These next photos depict the slide named White Water Rapids. This was a slide on which the riders rode on tubes. Here is the sign for the slide:



This is the area at the top of the slide where you would get into your tube, and get ready to head on down:





This is where the ride would begin:



The area at the very beginning is padded, as you can see:



You can barely see this slide now:





This is the view of the swimming area from the base of the hill on which the White Water Rapids slide is located. This is also the end of the barrel bridge that bisected the swimming area:







These photos show what the Kiddie Cove area looks like now:




















TCD

[Tri-circle-D]

These are some shots from the barrel bridge:











Now we are looking at the pool known as the Upstream Plunge, and the slides known as Slippery Slide Falls:









This is the top of the slide, where guests would get in the water to slide down:



Some more views of the pool:













An old towel return box:




TCD

[Tri-circle-D]

This is the old beach area. It is very overgrown:



















This is the other side of the building that we saw earlier when crossing across the barrel bridge:



This is what remains of the area called Indian Springs on the map:





TCD

[Tri-circle-D]

There is debris outside of the little building that is at one end of the barrel bridge:



This yellow thing is one of the old tubes from the White Water Rapids slide. The banner is, ironically, a banner reminding guests to recycle.



The door to the little shack was securely fastened by a piece of string:



The inside of the shack is full of trash and other artifacts from River Country, including an employee recognition plaque:





This looks like some kind of diorama or something. Notice the random doll head. Creepy!:






A few more shots from inside the shack:







That’s all I have!

TCD

[FlaFortCampster]

Originally Posted by Tri-circle-D

An old towel return box:




TCD

The blue plastic bottle sure isn't 10 plus years old. Think there have been other visitors to RC other than TCD.

[Born 2 Fish]

Dun told'ja, I camp there alltha time.

[916chipndale]

i remember river country i was about 5 when they took it out i almost drowned here lol

[Magic Fanatic]

Tri-Circle,
Great post. From your pictures we now all know where Disney raises those huge mosquitos that are so popular in central Florida. River Country was not forgotten, they just found a new use for it! West Nile for everyone!

[Kevitivity]

Cool photos

[k_null81]

Those are some amazing photo's! Wish I could have visited before it shut down.

I would also LOVE to see some current photo's of Discovery Island.

[Gdad]

Excellent set of very interesting images.

[NomadRip]

This thread was also added as a reference page on the Wikipedia page for River Country.

Great pictures. I've never been there. It really is amazing how fast nature is taking it back. Things grow fast and well out here.

[DisCamper]

Great job Andrew! I think you now have the most views in the least amount of time. Your pics are now on 4 different blogs AND Twitter! Has the Today show contacted you yet to find out how you did this?? I hear they pay for interviews. It will pretty much impossible for me to top this - again, great job!