It seems like Disney may finally be looking to do something with the area near Ft. Wilderness which is still home to the former rustic waterpark — now abandoned — known as River Country. According to permits filed Monday they are looking to do some geotechnical borings in the area which could indicate new development for the area. What could it be!?
According to the new permits filed with the South Florida Water Management District, Disney is looking to “Conduct geotechnical investigation to assess the suitability of subsurface soils”. In layman’s terms, they are asking for permission from the state to drill and evaluate the soil conditions at the River Country site.
Specifically, the applicant is evaluating current conditions in Wetlands 7.1G, 7.1K and 7.22. and they are requesting the ability to permit temporary wetland impacts to allow for entry by sub-aqueous geotechnical drill rigs to collect data and assess the suitability of subsurface soils, documents state.
Known as Project 89, the documents also say the type of authorization being requested is “Construction or operation of new works, activities and/or a stormwater management system; or a new Conceptual Approval”.
This process is usually used to find out if an area is suitable for a new construction project. This could be anything from a new theme park to a new resort, but at this point there is no telling what Disney is up to. However these types of permits often indicate the first stages of future development and since Disney probably isn’t considering any type of new theme park anytime soon, the most likely answer could be a new Magic Kingdom area resort.
Disney’s River Country was the first water park at Walt Disney World. It opened on June 20, 1976, and closed indefinitely on November 2, 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 their history to close permanently. Both were left to deteriorate rather than be demolished. Take a look at the video below to get a sense of what it looks like today. Keep in mind that it’s in a restricted area and trespassing is strictly prohibited. It can also get you banned and it’s not a bright idea to go exploring if you want to be able to keep going to Disney World.
You can still catch few glimpses of the old park from non restricted areas of Ft. Wilderness and you can see some of it when traveling by boat on Bay Lake. It’s a bit of an eye sore, but even in its current state it’s still hidden jewel for Disney history buffs.
One rumor for the closure was that it closed down due to rare but deadly disease, amoebic meningoencephalitis, caused by an amoeba which lived Florida’s fresh-water lakes.
In 1980, a child died while swimming at River Country. The amoeba entered his nose, traveled through his naval passage and attacked the nervous system. There were no other deaths from amoebic meningoencephalitis linked to River Country and it remained open for another 21 years!
Health officials stated that there was no reason to blame Disney World for the tragedy, because the amoeba can breed in almost any freshwater lake during hot weather.
The real reason the park didn’t reopen was because of low attendance and two new bigger water parks that had opened on Disney World Property. In 1989, Disney opened a second water park, Typhoon Lagoon. It had much more parking, many more slides, newer amenities, and was much larger. In 1995, Disney opened a third water park, Blizzard Beach, which was also much bigger than River Country.
As it did every year, River Country closed at the end of the warm-weather season in November 2001, with the expectation that it would reopen in spring of 2002. That never happened.
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.
The attraction may also have been affected by a change in Florida laws, which prohibited unchlorinated natural water bodies from being used for water park attractions. River Country never reopened.
Although it’s mostly out of sight from the public, it was only a matter of time before Disney decided to start exploring its options and imagining a new future for the area is really exciting. Whatever Disney is planning for the area, we can’t wait to find out, so keep checking back because we will be following this one closely.