It was once a sparkling jewel Disney World’s crown – the first water park the company ever built and perhaps the first themed water park in the world.
But now River Country lies rusting and abandoned, shuttered after a troubled history that saw three young children killed, including one who contracted a rare brain-eating infection from an amoeba found in the water.
These spooky shots were taken by an urban explorer known only as as Abandoned Southeast who explained the park’s tragic past.
Disney opened River Country, the company’s first ever water park and perhaps the first themed water park anywhere in the world, in 1976 before it closed its doors in 2001
The park was designed as an ‘old-fashioned swimming hole’ next to Bay Lake. Designers wanted to give the impression that visitors were actually in the lake, and so created a huge artificial mountain to filter lake water and pump it into the pool
When River Country opened in 1976 the ceremony was attended by 700 newspaper reporters and their families and enjoyed a hugely successful year, attracting 4,700 customers per day on average
But tragedy struck in 1980 when an 11-year-old boy died from a rare brain infection contracted from an amoeba which breeds in fresh water, damaging the park’s reputation
In 1982 a 14-year-old boy drowned at River Country while coming off the end of one of the slides. His family sued and was awarded $375,000 after a life guard told how dozens of children got into trouble there every day
The water park, located on the shores of Bay Lake in Orlando, Florida, first opened in 1976 and was marketed as an ‘old-fashioned swimming hole’ of the kind that Huckleberry Finn might have enjoyed.
Its creators wanted to give the impression that visitors were actually swimming in the lake and to that end created a huge artificial mountain to suck up lake water, filter it, then empty it into the pool down the park’s slides.
A large rubber ‘bladder’ also allowed water to flow out from the pool and into the lake, but stopped any from passing in the other direction.
The park opened with 700 news reporters and their families there to witness it and was initially a huge success, drawing an average of 4,700 guests per day during its first year of operation.
But in 1980 the park suffered a major setback when an 11-year-old boy contracted amebic meningoencephalitis, an infection of the nervous system and brain caused by an amoeba in the water.
The rare disease is almost always fatal and he died shortly afterwards, though Disney was largely absolved of blame since the amoeba can breed in almost any fresh water in hot weather.
Then, in 1982, disaster struck again after a 14-year-old boy drowned after dropping into the lake at the end of the Whoop ‘n Holler slide.
Disney was sued by the family which claimed there was no warning posted about how deep the water was, and after hearing from a lifeguard that dozens of people had to be rescued from the slide per day, a court handed down a settlement of $375,000.
Then in 1989 another 13-year-old boy drowned at the park, but despite the many setbacks it continued to operate throughout the Nineties, though visitor numbers dwindled
On the first day of September 2001 the park shut for seasonal maintenance, but just ten days later the Twin Towers were attacked in New York. Amid a country-wide fall in tourism, River Country never reopened
The fate of River Country hung in the balance for several years before Disney announced its official closure in 2005. The company has never given an official reason for the closure
River Country could about to be reinvented as a themed hotel and timeshare resort under the mysterious name of ‘Project 89’, with construction slated to begin at some point next year
Another 13-year-old boy then drowned in 1989, but despite this the park kept operation for more than a decade afterwards.
However, the terror attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001 saw tourist revenue to the US plummet and Disney was forced to cut opening hours at all its parks to cope with the loss.
River Country had closed its door in September of that year for seasonal maintenance and was expected to open again in 2002, but that never happened.
For the next three years the park sat abandoned before Disney announced its permanent closure in 2005.
The company has never given a reason, though likely falling revenues and the fact that it had since opened two larger water parks at Disney World persuaded them there was a better use for the land.
However, the park could soon be about to come back to life, with the Orlando Sentinel reporting in May this year that Disney is planning to develop the land into a new themed hotel and timeshare resort.
The construction, mysteriously dubbed Project 89, is due to start at some point next year though no opening date has been given. Disney has refused to confirm the project.
Eerie images have revealed the abandoned remains of Disney’s cursed Water Park where two children died with a $375K settlement paid by Disney to the family.
The haunting pictures show what’s left of River Country which was the first water park to open at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Described as an ‘old-fashioned swimming hole’ with ‘a twist of Huckleberry Finn’, the murky lake now lies still, plants have grown over some of the attractions and buildings have begun to crumble.