Great video, George. I was a lifeguard at River Country in the mid-to-late 1980’s. It was a great job for a guy like me, who loved the Florida sun and the water. We rotated 3 lifeguard stands, 30 minute shifts at each different post, then took a half-hour break. We had an “unwritten rule” that any “found money” of small proportions in the water was ours for the keeping, as almost no one ever seriously reported lost money in the Bay Cove lake water. At the bottom of each of the 2 “Whoop & Holler” slides, people would lose small amounts of pocket money, mostly small bills and pocket change out of their swimsuit pockets, and it was all ours for the diving pleasure. I went home with $40 in quarters on a good day. One time, while guarding the bottom of the tube slide, a $100 bill floated right past me. There was no way I was not jumping in to grab it. I turned it in, certain that someone would be missing that amount of money, but after 3 weeks, I got called to the Supervisor’s office and they handed me the $100 bill! They said no one reported any missing cash, and it was now mine. The job itself was probably the most memorable for the camaraderie we had as lifeguards. Management was excellent, and we had a great time cleaning the park up, both pre-opening and after closing time. The place is still very memorable to me, and I hold those memories very tightly as my favorite job of my youth…
This story made my night. We only went to Disney World once, in 1982. River Country was absolutely my favorite day of our vacation. '82 was probably too early for you to be the lifeguard that told me off for doing a flyaway flip off the zipline into the pool. I was a Gen-X middle child, and no one in my family was nearby to film it. 😅
I mean, Goofy being the mascot for River Country makes sense. It's classic America to have a dog swimmin around with you at the local swimmin hole. The inclusion of Pluto makes that point obvious.
We love to hate on Michael, but he gave us all the Disney memories we had as kids. He wasn't the best guy for the job, he was the perfect guy for the job.
@@GlennJimenezI think Michael Eisner would have just put good people in charge of Lucas film and not focused on “the message”. First film would have probably been directed by Brad Bird or something.
Michael Eisner did an amazing job. The one who ran the company into the ground was Ron Miller, Walt’s son in law (who took an executive producer credit on EVERYTHING the studio produced). Eisner saved the company.
It's a shame that they didn't make an nature reserve out of it, as such overgrown culture wastelands provide a great habitat for many endangered species, that may not survive in the modern cultivated landscape around it.
@@Quert_ZuiopueNo, you did great! Also, yes, it would have been nice if they’d handed the area management over to a nature reserve organisation. Plenty of fish, birds (especially wading birds), reptiles and crustaceans might well have been attracted to the area.
@@farfetchdthegamer3810 Disney likes the no take backsies rule when they buy stuff, they REALLY don't like reselling land, I want them to do something with it because it's just sitting there
Disney: bigger, more extravagant and more expensive. As kids we lived in a blue collar town in nj amd but most families could afford to load up the station wagon and camp in fort wilderness and go to disney. Disney has literally priced itself totally out of reach to most families except the very wealthy or singles. What are we at like $150 a ticket for one day ? During covid, they were closing the park at 6 pm and still charging full price. River country was part of old Disney. Disney has gone a totally different direction, catering to a totally different clientele. After going many times as a kid in the 70s , since we had grandparents in Florida , my husband and I honeymooned there in 1994. We paid just under $1200 for nine days in Disney's Caribbean beach resort and park hopper passes for nine days to all the parks and that included air fare both ways!
as funny as it is seeing goofy going down waterslides with guests i can only imagine how MISRABLE it mustve been in that suit. Theyre bad enough when theyre dry but making them heavy with water must have been hell for the actor
The closest Ive ever experienced was belle and beast going on the the carousel together at Disneyland, with Gaston in the foreground flexing to get her attention. It felt really weirdly organic and not scirpted. I kinda miss seeing that sort of thing
Honestly the world needs more places like River Country. Not in the abandoned state, but a small cozy swimming hole with some activities and slides amidst nice landscaping would be really nice to have in more places.
In today's day and age of higher faster bigger as far as water parks, those days of river country are gone. We went there the very first year it opened. I was seven. As a seven year old who had never been to a water park, it was absolutely magical.
If I had a nickel, for every time something around Bay Lake closed because a bigger thing opened elsewhere on property, I'd have two nickels...which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice. Nearby Discovery Island closed because the much bigger Animal Kingdom was built! But seriously, it's wild that nearby Discovery Island has been abandoned too! It would've been interesting if Disney revived Discovery Island by teaming up with Cyan Worlds to turn the island into a replica of the titular island from the video game Myst. Discovery Island's history is just as fascinating. From 1900 to 1937, the island was known as Raz Island, named after the family that lived there. In the late 1930s, it was purchased for $800 by a man named Delmar Nicholson, who renamed it Idle Bay Isle and lived there for 20 years with his wife and pet crane. It was later sold, renamed Riles Island and used as a hunting retreat. Disney bought it in 1965. Delmar lived on the island and grew exotic plants prior to the island's acquisition by Disney. The island's facilities was home to the very last Dusky seaside sparrow, a bird once endemic to Merritt Island where the Kennedy Space Center is, they went extinct because of pesticides and flooding the island to control the mosquito population around the space center on top of highway construction.
I went a few times in the early 90's as a child. I was always a little freaked out that the pools were more natural and sandy bottoms, especially when a lifeguard fished a snake out of the water during one visit. That said Ive seen snakes at Typhoon lagoon too, but the water is clear there and visability is better. I also remember drama around one of the super twisty slides when a woman was taken away on a stretcher with a neck brace after a bad accident.
I was there in 1979 with my family & we had a fabulous time. There was no other place like it then. It's amazing now to think how uncrowded everything was. We went back in the evening & practically had the place to ourselves. We just went round & round on the slides. We also stayed at the Treehouse Villas on that trip - 3 kids to a bed. A great memory for our family!
I was there in 1980. My memory is how dangerous the rapids slide was (I was 8 at the time). The downward pressure of the water was intense on my body, when you got knocked off the tube, chances are you were going down the rest of the way without it. Those rapids were strong enough to fling you off the tube (the video showing the guy trying to fetch his tube was a common experience ). Not shown was hitting the rocky structures at speed or colliding with other riders. I think there was a height restriction for the slide but in retrospect a child my size should have never been allowed on that. I remember swallowing a lot of water after a few attempts and just gave up. No way they could make a ride like that these days, the thing must have been a giant legal liability for Disney.
I was fortunate to visit River Country a few times with my family in the mid 80's. It was before waterparks popped up everywhere and a real treat to spend a day there. I remember a long tram ride into and out of the park and getting my white Wisconsin skin scorched beyond belief, but it was all worth it. My sister and I rode the tube rapids, over and over and over... mainly due to super long slide lines and the ziplines, rafts and other lake fun was over crowded and controlled by bullies. The main huge, very deep pool was also a good time. No one really played in the sand, it always kind of smelled funny, like swamp and mold. My last visit there with my own children in late fall 99, the park was completely empty, the day was cold and we only stayed for a few hours. There were no services and I saw no employees or lifeguards (May have been there, I just didn't see any) It felt as if they were planning on a shutdown. Even the bridge walk area was closed. I'm just glad I got to experience RC! Enjoyed your video.
I went to Orlando in 2000 and went to river country.... It was one of my favourite memories. They really missed out here because that old school American country theme is very desirable to us Brits. If they only closed and just revamped and expanded I reckon it would definitely outdo typhoon lagoon!
We tried to visit River Country in October 2001 only to be turned around by someone at the gate telling us that it was closed. The parks as a whole were pretty quiet, given we flew out at a very, very quiet airport a mere month after 9/11 on October 11th, so they likely figured it wasn't worth the cost to stay open so late in the season with lower tourism.
I grew up in Orlando and remember going a few times as a kid. It was my third favorite park in the area after 1. Typhoon Lagoon and 2. Wet n' Wild. I only went to Blizzard Beach once or twice growing up and I definitely only went to Water Mania once. Good memories!
Great video as usual! So refreshing to see a video on the park that’s not just controversy and abandonment. Also, glad someone finally acknowledged how odd and interesting goofy being the mascot was!
Good job covering this park! You included a lot of information I haven't seen covered in other videos and more up-to-date. I happened to "visit" (stand outside the fence) in 2018 and didn't realize it'd been torn down later that same year!
We stayed in Fort Wilderness in 1980, and it was a fantastic era, the 80s was WDW's peak, imo. We went to the water park on a single occassion, and I mostly enjoyed it. I was 12 years old at the time and I was a puny swimmer, so the deep stuff didn't turn my crank. It was fun, but tbh it wasn't "Disney special". It was like loads of other water parks that are a lot cheaper, and not hogging up premium Disney vacation time. The most outstanding memory I had was going down the wider rapids thing seated in the inner tube, and it would not be too strong to say I hated that part, because the irregular surface intended to stir up water turbulance struck my ass over and over going down, and I'm telling you, it hurt like hell, and my tailbone ached the remainder of the vacation (something I wouldn't let on to my "you sound like you're not appreciating this" type parents). Anyway, I can imagine it's "quite nice but not being particularly special" aspects is what shut it down, especially while it was surely far more expensive than average to upkeep. Despite the nostalgia, if it still existed, I would have zero interest in returning to it.
As someone who went there many times as a child, it blew away any water park I've been to since...the atmosphere was incredibly authentic to an old timey huck finn watering hole... so much fun other than the cold the lake water jn February (yes it was open in the winter months!)
ive always been really interested in how national tragedy tends effects media, so i think its really interesting how disneys reluctance to do anything with river country meant it experienced two deaths as a result of 9/11 and covid, both being literal decades apart from each other.
My family visited Disney for the first time in May 2001 and we had the choice of the Waterparks. I was literally the only one that wanted to go to River Country but was outnumbered, so we went to Blizzard Beach instead. I'm now 34 y/o and never got my chance yo go to River Country ☹️
Hey forcer, the story I could tell you would make your toes curl. I was a RC lifeguard from 1985 to 1988. We were instructed to suspend park opening one rainy morning until “Critter Control” could get to us and remove a 14 foot alligator from Bay Cove that was spotted floating on the surface by me, the opening shift pool chemist, and the opening ticketing cashier. The gator kept going into deeper water, towards the bottom of one of the “Whoop & Holler” slide exits. The Gator Wranglers used an aluminum boat to haul it in, and just like in the nature videos, it did the “death roll” to become ensnared in their netting. The biggest guy in the group actually duct-taped his jaw shut, but it took all four of these guys to carry it to the back of their “paddy wagon,” where it was driven away, presumably relocated elsewhere in the Gator-infested Bay Lake. It was a scene I’ll NEVER, ever forget…and always made me more suspiciously paranoid of that dark water…
@@twoblacklabs904 If you're in florida, it's a decent sized water area, and you can't see it? There's a 99% chance there's a gator in ther, if its not a gator it's a snake
Thank you so much for this! I always remembered going over the lake on the cable ride but I had no idea it was not typhoon lagoon. I went to typhoon lagoon and just thought they had changed it all🤣. I’m glad to know that I’m not crazy and I really do have those memories! It was such a cool place
My only childhood trip to WDW was in late November 1976. River Country was brand new and I wanted to go there so badly. I was very disappointed that it wasn’t open…even though it was really cold the days we were there. I didn’t make it back to WDW until January 2001, when River Country was closed again. I became an annual passholder in December 2002, but River Country was closed for good then… 😔
I would suspect that a full maintenance survey was conducted at River Country, costs calculated, a Cost:Benefit analysis performed, and the annual income vs outlay for maintenance (likely an overhaul/ refit) just wasn't worth it. Hence the comment regarding demand, if a million people had complained, then maybe.
on characters not riding rides: I actually rode magic carpets with jasmine once as a kid! it was completely unexpected, and I got lucky since I was alone up front with my dad and sister in the back. we got little certificates that said that we rode with her but unfortunately they're lost now :( Also, the trip we went on last month we saw Anastasia and Drizella riding the carousel which they seem to do frequently in the mornings from what my mom told me
I just subscribed to your channel. I never knew about river country. I honestly wish that Disney would do something with it besides just sitting there. Your video caught my eye and I was very intrigued.
Read the description ;) It definitely gets a bit blurry about what does and doesn't count as a theme park, so it's totally fine to consider Discovery Island as a closed park, but I've never really considered it a fully fledged park in its own right.
That “vacation kingdom” idea really stuck around through the mid 90s; even at that point all of those recreation options were available and highly promoted. It was a great time to be a kid. 😊
I do have a question about urban explorers, what is, hypothetically, as trespassing smt happens to you? you fall, you step wrong, you run into a rotten bridge. how to proceed?
I remember going to this park just once. I took part in a hula hoop competition and got pretty far in it, but didn't end up winning. Personally, I much preferred Typhoon Lagoon!
When I was four at Disneyland in California, I went on the Autopia ride with Goof! My mom took so many pictures lol. This was roughly around 2004 though so i'm not sure if they still let them do that.
I went to a hotspring that had that brain eating amoeba in it. Of course there were 5 ways to get to the hotsring but only 1 sign @ the big one. I spent half my time worried as I had dipped my head and gotten water in my nose...
id assume a mix of both? discovery island is more jungle, adventure-y and has the abandoned animals, while river country is thought of as the “creepy” one that killed people. the parts on the backlash it received from locals even has some shades of incidents like euro disney/disney paris.
@@MaxEverywhereSystemabandoned by Disney wasnt inspired by discovery island it was inspired by treasure island a Bahamas resort that Disney build in the 90s and abandoned because of how dificult it was to mantain because the whole island is located on top of a sand bank
It closed due to they have 2 big water parks . Economy 2001 crash.. plus 911. .tourists had dropped heavily in 2001 going. Forward..... not enuff demand to keep it open. .. But they should have let it stay open fr part of the yr. It would have been best had they done that..
I've only heard of it, from people I know who live out there. there's a similar place to the river themed park, next to the great America location in Los Angeles. unfortunately, because of the big ameba scare of the early 80s into the early to late 90s, which was later seen as environmental groups and their hatred of all things fun and exciting, the theme part, which was called raging rivers, was shut down. what happened later, is sadly not public knowledge, the park was later firebombed by the rights groups that had it shut down. what's unfortunate, is that those same groups, paid media outlets to keep quiet about it. the only reason I know about this, I was a child in the eighties and was visiting the park at the time of the bombing. someone from that same rights group, tried to pay me, later to not say anything about it. I however didn't take the money, I instead ran from them at the park I was at, full speed. there happened to be a police officer patrolling the area at the time, looking for a strange person, who ironically fit the description of the person who was trying to buy my silence. the officer saw me running and instead of going after me, he spotted who I was running from and called it in. another ironic detail of what happened, I was wearing a flash character hooded sweatshirt, this happened later that same year in the winter, on the thirteenth of October, which was a Friday. I later told someone I know who works for the Sacramento news and review, they told their boss about it and it became an independent news story, thanks to a young man of eight years of age.
![State of Play | September 24, 2024 [ENGLISH]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fVs0suPHAX8/mqdefault.jpg)
![Yailin La Mas Viral, @kreizyk.official - Dale 2 (Remix) [Video Oficial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JaYHBzgqz94/mqdefault.jpg)
why are the pictures of goofy lurking in the background so haunting
he's always watching 👀
for real, right?!
Bruh
Dont let OP play Luigi's mansion.
Goofy told me nobody would ever find out about what happened at River Country. We both pinky promised not tell.
Great video, George. I was a lifeguard at River Country in the mid-to-late 1980’s. It was a great job for a guy like me, who loved the Florida sun and the water. We rotated 3 lifeguard stands, 30 minute shifts at each different post, then took a half-hour break. We had an “unwritten rule” that any “found money” of small proportions in the water was ours for the keeping, as almost no one ever seriously reported lost money in the Bay Cove lake water.
At the bottom of each of the 2 “Whoop & Holler” slides, people would lose small amounts of pocket money, mostly small bills and pocket change out of their swimsuit pockets, and it was all ours for the diving pleasure. I went home with $40 in quarters on a good day. One time, while guarding the bottom of the tube slide, a $100 bill floated right past me. There was no way I was not jumping in to grab it. I turned it in, certain that someone would be missing that amount of money, but after 3 weeks, I got called to the Supervisor’s office and they handed me the $100 bill! They said no one reported any missing cash, and it was now mine.
The job itself was probably the most memorable for the camaraderie we had as lifeguards. Management was excellent, and we had a great time cleaning the park up, both pre-opening and after closing time. The place is still very memorable to me, and I hold those memories very tightly as my favorite job of my youth…
This story made my night. We only went to Disney World once, in 1982. River Country was absolutely my favorite day of our vacation. '82 was probably too early for you to be the lifeguard that told me off for doing a flyaway flip off the zipline into the pool. I was a Gen-X middle child, and no one in my family was nearby to film it. 😅
Why would people just casually have $100 bills in their swimsuit pockets while going to swim there?
@@Spencyclerich people.
@@Spencycle i'm going to guess that disneyworld was expensive in that time aswel 🤣
did you ever swim with goofy though??? DID YOU EVER HAVE TO SAVE GOOFY?
I mean, Goofy being the mascot for River Country makes sense. It's classic America to have a dog swimmin around with you at the local swimmin hole. The inclusion of Pluto makes that point obvious.
Goofy is a cow. Google it.
We love to hate on Michael, but he gave us all the Disney memories we had as kids. He wasn't the best guy for the job, he was the perfect guy for the job.
You don’t know what you got until Disney fucks up Star Wars
makes you miss all the past guys in charge
@@GlennJimenezI think Michael Eisner would have just put good people in charge of Lucas film and not focused on “the message”. First film would have probably been directed by Brad Bird or something.
Eisner is way better than Iger
Michael Eisner did an amazing job. The one who ran the company into the ground was Ron Miller, Walt’s son in law (who took an executive producer credit on EVERYTHING the studio produced). Eisner saved the company.
Michael wrote this for sure
It's a shame that they didn't make an nature reserve out of it, as such overgrown culture wastelands provide a great habitat for many endangered species, that may not survive in the modern cultivated landscape around it.
I hope i didnt use the wrong terms, as translating ecological technical terms into another language is not the easiest thing.
@@Quert_ZuiopueNo, you did great!
Also, yes, it would have been nice if they’d handed the area management over to a nature reserve organisation. Plenty of fish, birds (especially wading birds), reptiles and crustaceans might well have been attracted to the area.
@@farfetchdthegamer3810
Disney likes the no take backsies rule when they buy stuff, they REALLY don't like reselling land, I want them to do something with it because it's just sitting there
@@Quert_Zuiopuesounded reasonable to me.
Its Disney, not the make a wish foundation.
The absolute worst thing to happen to Fort Wilderness is to build a DVC hotel there. No more laid back peacefulness for those who enjoy camping there.
Disney: bigger, more extravagant and more expensive. As kids we lived in a blue collar town in nj amd but most families could afford to load up the station wagon and camp in fort wilderness and go to disney. Disney has literally priced itself totally out of reach to most families except the very wealthy or singles. What are we at like $150 a ticket for one day ? During covid, they were closing the park at 6 pm and still charging full price. River country was part of old Disney. Disney has gone a totally different direction, catering to a totally different clientele. After going many times as a kid in the 70s , since we had grandparents in Florida , my husband and I honeymooned there in 1994. We paid just under $1200 for nine days in Disney's Caribbean beach resort and park hopper passes for nine days to all the parks and that included air fare both ways!
as funny as it is seeing goofy going down waterslides with guests i can only imagine how MISRABLE it mustve been in that suit. Theyre bad enough when theyre dry but making them heavy with water must have been hell for the actor
Ya, i saw goofy trying to hold his head on so it could fill with water. Looked like my breaking point...
The closest Ive ever experienced was belle and beast going on the the carousel together at Disneyland, with Gaston in the foreground flexing to get her attention. It felt really weirdly organic and not scirpted. I kinda miss seeing that sort of thing
Honestly the world needs more places like River Country. Not in the abandoned state, but a small cozy swimming hole with some activities and slides amidst nice landscaping would be really nice to have in more places.
In today's day and age of higher faster bigger as far as water parks, those days of river country are gone. We went there the very first year it opened. I was seven. As a seven year old who had never been to a water park, it was absolutely magical.
If I had a nickel, for every time something around Bay Lake closed because a bigger thing opened elsewhere on property, I'd have two nickels...which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice. Nearby Discovery Island closed because the much bigger Animal Kingdom was built! But seriously, it's wild that nearby Discovery Island has been abandoned too! It would've been interesting if Disney revived Discovery Island by teaming up with Cyan Worlds to turn the island into a replica of the titular island from the video game Myst. Discovery Island's history is just as fascinating. From 1900 to 1937, the island was known as Raz Island, named after the family that lived there.
In the late 1930s, it was purchased for $800 by a man named Delmar Nicholson, who renamed it Idle Bay Isle and lived there for 20 years with his wife and pet crane. It was later sold, renamed Riles Island and used as a hunting retreat. Disney bought it in 1965. Delmar lived on the island and grew exotic plants prior to the island's acquisition by Disney. The island's facilities was home to the very last Dusky seaside sparrow, a bird once endemic to Merritt Island where the Kennedy Space Center is, they went extinct because of pesticides and flooding the island to control the mosquito population around the space center on top of highway construction.
I went a few times in the early 90's as a child.
I was always a little freaked out that the pools were more natural and sandy bottoms, especially when a lifeguard fished a snake out of the water during one visit. That said Ive seen snakes at Typhoon lagoon too, but the water is clear there and visability is better.
I also remember drama around one of the super twisty slides when a woman was taken away on a stretcher with a neck brace after a bad accident.
River Country was such a nice place! I do like Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, but River Country had this laid back, fun and genuine feeling to it.
This is by far the most in-depth video I've seen regarding information on what happened to River Country and great footage too. Strong work!
I was there in 1979 with my family & we had a fabulous time. There was no other place like it then. It's amazing now to think how uncrowded everything was. We went back in the evening & practically had the place to ourselves. We just went round & round on the slides. We also stayed at the Treehouse Villas on that trip - 3 kids to a bed. A great memory for our family!
I was there in 1980. My memory is how dangerous the rapids slide was (I was 8 at the time). The downward pressure of the water was intense on my body, when you got knocked off the tube, chances are you were going down the rest of the way without it. Those rapids were strong enough to fling you off the tube (the video showing the guy trying to fetch his tube was a common experience ). Not shown was hitting the rocky structures at speed or colliding with other riders. I think there was a height restriction for the slide but in retrospect a child my size should have never been allowed on that. I remember swallowing a lot of water after a few attempts and just gave up. No way they could make a ride like that these days, the thing must have been a giant legal liability for Disney.
I was fortunate to visit River Country a few times with my family in the mid 80's. It was before waterparks popped up everywhere and a real treat to spend a day there. I remember a long tram ride into and out of the park and getting my white Wisconsin skin scorched beyond belief, but it was all worth it. My sister and I rode the tube rapids, over and over and over... mainly due to super long slide lines and the ziplines, rafts and other lake fun was over crowded and controlled by bullies. The main huge, very deep pool was also a good time. No one really played in the sand, it always kind of smelled funny, like swamp and mold. My last visit there with my own children in late fall 99, the park was completely empty, the day was cold and we only stayed for a few hours. There were no services and I saw no employees or lifeguards (May have been there, I just didn't see any) It felt as if they were planning on a shutdown. Even the bridge walk area was closed. I'm just glad I got to experience RC! Enjoyed your video.
living legend!
I went to Orlando in 2000 and went to river country.... It was one of my favourite memories.
They really missed out here because that old school American country theme is very desirable to us Brits.
If they only closed and just revamped and expanded I reckon it would definitely outdo typhoon lagoon!
true.
Wake up, the goat uploaded
Honestly, I think it’s so fascinating that Disney is so huge as a business and ahas so much land that they can abandon whole ass water parks
We tried to visit River Country in October 2001 only to be turned around by someone at the gate telling us that it was closed. The parks as a whole were pretty quiet, given we flew out at a very, very quiet airport a mere month after 9/11 on October 11th, so they likely figured it wasn't worth the cost to stay open so late in the season with lower tourism.
Sculpted characters going completely underwater is WILD
Surely there must have been a risk with that
@@Megalania1 There must have been! I can only imagine...
@@Megalania1
The risk of my peaceful swimming dreams that's for sure
As someone who has tried to swim inside a mask, I can confirm it’s very dangerous and I have no idea how they did that safely
Darn, I'm sad it closed. It looked like a fun, digestible size water park. Sometimes, theme parks get too overwhelming and this looked just right.
I grew up in Orlando and remember going a few times as a kid. It was my third favorite park in the area after 1. Typhoon Lagoon and 2. Wet n' Wild. I only went to Blizzard Beach once or twice growing up and I definitely only went to Water Mania once. Good memories!
Great video as usual! So refreshing to see a video on the park that’s not just controversy and abandonment. Also, glad someone finally acknowledged how odd and interesting goofy being the mascot was!
Good job covering this park! You included a lot of information I haven't seen covered in other videos and more up-to-date. I happened to "visit" (stand outside the fence) in 2018 and didn't realize it'd been torn down later that same year!
We stayed in Fort Wilderness in 1980, and it was a fantastic era, the 80s was WDW's peak, imo. We went to the water park on a single occassion, and I mostly enjoyed it. I was 12 years old at the time and I was a puny swimmer, so the deep stuff didn't turn my crank. It was fun, but tbh it wasn't "Disney special". It was like loads of other water parks that are a lot cheaper, and not hogging up premium Disney vacation time. The most outstanding memory I had was going down the wider rapids thing seated in the inner tube, and it would not be too strong to say I hated that part, because the irregular surface intended to stir up water turbulance struck my ass over and over going down, and I'm telling you, it hurt like hell, and my tailbone ached the remainder of the vacation (something I wouldn't let on to my "you sound like you're not appreciating this" type parents). Anyway, I can imagine it's "quite nice but not being particularly special" aspects is what shut it down, especially while it was surely far more expensive than average to upkeep. Despite the nostalgia, if it still existed, I would have zero interest in returning to it.
I’m so damn glad I found your channel, George! Your videos are incredible! Please, keep them coming! 🙏🏻🖤
I dont particularly like disney, have never been to a disney park, not even sure why i watch these videos but shits fire keep it up
As someone who went there many times as a child, it blew away any water park I've been to since...the atmosphere was incredibly authentic to an old timey huck finn watering hole... so much fun other than the cold the lake water jn February (yes it was open in the winter months!)
ive always been really interested in how national tragedy tends effects media, so i think its really interesting how disneys reluctance to do anything with river country meant it experienced two deaths as a result of 9/11 and covid, both being literal decades apart from each other.
Also didn't a young boy die at River country because of a brain eating amoeba.
My family visited Disney for the first time in May 2001 and we had the choice of the Waterparks. I was literally the only one that wanted to go to River Country but was outnumbered, so we went to Blizzard Beach instead. I'm now 34 y/o and never got my chance yo go to River Country ☹️
Can confirm goofy in the park - I have a memory of my father splashing him as he pushed our raft down one of the slides.
So many parts of this video cracked me up, but “get out of the way Bob” and “THEN DISNEY CEO” take the top spots
The old fashioned waterhole is a perfect space for a 20 foot gator...
Hey forcer, the story I could tell you would make your toes curl.
I was a RC lifeguard from 1985 to 1988. We were instructed to suspend park opening one rainy morning until “Critter Control” could get to us and remove a 14 foot alligator from Bay Cove that was spotted floating on the surface by me, the opening shift pool chemist, and the opening ticketing cashier.
The gator kept going into deeper water, towards the bottom of one of the “Whoop & Holler” slide exits. The Gator Wranglers used an aluminum boat to haul it in, and just like in the nature videos, it did the “death roll” to become ensnared in their netting. The biggest guy in the group actually duct-taped his jaw shut, but it took all four of these guys to carry it to the back of their “paddy wagon,” where it was driven away, presumably relocated elsewhere in the Gator-infested Bay Lake.
It was a scene I’ll NEVER, ever forget…and always made me more suspiciously paranoid of that dark water…
@@twoblacklabs904Wow, that's quite a story! Scary.
@@twoblacklabs904
If you're in florida, it's a decent sized water area, and you can't see it? There's a 99% chance there's a gator in ther, if its not a gator it's a snake
Love this video man. I love learning more about Disney and river country. ❤❤❤
Thank you so much for this! I always remembered going over the lake on the cable ride but I had no idea it was not typhoon lagoon. I went to typhoon lagoon and just thought they had changed it all🤣. I’m glad to know that I’m not crazy and I really do have those memories! It was such a cool place
I went to River Country with my family as a kid. It was a blast!
I’m curious about how they kept the gators out of the park. It’s Florida and they’re affectively on the beach.
I thought I freaking made this place up in a dream as a kid
Yoooo same 😂
Was there in 1980. The pools and the RC experience was awesome. I always miss it.
In 1994 back when Walt Disney World in Orlando, had grad night. I rode the mine train with Goofy. He was the best ride partner I ever had.
When I was a kid, River Country and Wet N Wild were the only two water parks available I think. Got to visit both happily.
Never been to Disney (hope to at some day… maybe next year) but I love videos about Disney pass Disney attractions and history. Love it
My only childhood trip to WDW was in late November 1976. River Country was brand new and I wanted to go there so badly. I was very disappointed that it wasn’t open…even though it was really cold the days we were there. I didn’t make it back to WDW until January 2001, when River Country was closed again. I became an annual passholder in December 2002, but River Country was closed for good then… 😔
This place was wicked. Went there as a kid and loved it!
I would suspect that a full maintenance survey was conducted at River Country, costs calculated, a Cost:Benefit analysis performed, and the annual income vs outlay for maintenance (likely an overhaul/ refit) just wasn't worth it.
Hence the comment regarding demand, if a million people had complained, then maybe.
on characters not riding rides: I actually rode magic carpets with jasmine once as a kid! it was completely unexpected, and I got lucky since I was alone up front with my dad and sister in the back. we got little certificates that said that we rode with her but unfortunately they're lost now :(
Also, the trip we went on last month we saw Anastasia and Drizella riding the carousel which they seem to do frequently in the mornings from what my mom told me
1:20 you forgot to mention The Villas, aka what DVC could have been...
Ya know what? The Villas and The Village need their own video.
I just subscribed to your channel. I never knew about river country. I honestly wish that Disney would do something with it besides just sitting there. Your video caught my eye and I was very intrigued.
I remember River country very well. It was a BLAST
You mentioned that only one theme park at Disney has closed. Not true, there’s a second one! Discovery Island closed too.
Read the description ;)
It definitely gets a bit blurry about what does and doesn't count as a theme park, so it's totally fine to consider Discovery Island as a closed park, but I've never really considered it a fully fledged park in its own right.
How the hell did they keep the goofy mask from filling with water and drowning the performer?
River country was our favorite water park growing up. Super chill, no one went, it was a trek to get to and I love fort wilderness.
Was very early WDW
I remember going as a child in the late 70's
Fort wilderness is the best and needs river country back.
That “vacation kingdom” idea really stuck around through the mid 90s; even at that point all of those recreation options were available and highly promoted. It was a great time to be a kid. 😊
i like watching videos explaining this
was looking for the urban exploring video of river country
I do have a question about urban explorers, what is, hypothetically, as trespassing smt happens to you? you fall, you step wrong, you run into a rotten bridge.
how to proceed?
I remember going to this park just once. I took part in a hula hoop competition and got pretty far in it, but didn't end up winning. Personally, I much preferred Typhoon Lagoon!
I can't imagine going to something like that it looks like torture.
River country looks fun
That's crazy cuz this is the first time I ever heard of it course I live on the other side of the United States
I loved River Country. Closing it was a huge mistake and ridiculous
GEORGE IS BACK! TIME TO GET MY MOM!
Great vid!
I rode Gadgets Go Coaster with Goofy at Disneyland. He sat next to me in the front row, somewhere around 2006? Only time ive ever seen it.
the musical sting and "then C-" gave me anxiety
If you've been at the park when it was open, you are a true Disney OG
When I was four at Disneyland in California, I went on the Autopia ride with Goof! My mom took so many pictures lol. This was roughly around 2004 though so i'm not sure if they still let them do that.
They probably don't do this anymore cuz people don't control their kids anymore. Just wild.
Rode Splash Mountain with 2 Country Bears back in the 2000s (maybe late 90s).
Wow
My moms been there when she was a kid
He lives!!
i like the text that's a lil bit behind the rock
Really interested video thanks
Love making fun of river country its like my personal disney meme along with the carousel of progress
Idk if im just dumb but how did the person in the goofy suit swim in that. I'd definitely drown
Your voice reminds me of Matthew Holness so much! Do you hail from the Kent area?
i saw the thumbnail saying "Abandoned by Disney" and thought of the creepy pasta.
I remember going to this park in January 1992
They filmed camp out at walt disney world sing along there to at river country
I went to a hotspring that had that brain eating amoeba in it. Of course there were 5 ways to get to the hotsring but only 1 sign @ the big one. I spent half my time worried as I had dipped my head and gotten water in my nose...
I often swam there as a very young man and I'm still alive. I think it simply didn't make enough money to survive.
Nice
This was good 😊
I forget, was this or another park that inspired Abandoned By Disney?
id assume a mix of both? discovery island is more jungle, adventure-y and has the abandoned animals, while river country is thought of as the “creepy” one that killed people. the parts on the backlash it received from locals even has some shades of incidents like euro disney/disney paris.
@@MaxEverywhereSystemabandoned by Disney wasnt inspired by discovery island it was inspired by treasure island a Bahamas resort that Disney build in the 90s and abandoned because of how dificult it was to mantain because the whole island is located on top of a sand bank
You forgot Discovery Island. That's two Disney theme parks that have closed
Some how fiuger out way make add side walks to land
With all the gators down there it'd be a cold day in hell before I hit a water park.
It closed due to they have 2 big water parks . Economy 2001 crash.. plus 911. .tourists had dropped heavily in 2001 going. Forward..... not enuff demand to keep it open. .. But they should have let it stay open fr part of the yr. It would have been best had they done that..
One day I will redo it
How do these companies drop a major park and just leave it to rot? It’s basically littering and they don’t even get fined?
River County wasn’t that cheap considering that fact a ticket to Magic Kingdom in the 70s was like 7 dollars
I've only heard of it, from people I know who live out there. there's a similar place to the river themed park, next to the great America location in Los Angeles. unfortunately, because of the big ameba scare of the early 80s into the early to late 90s, which was later seen as environmental groups and their hatred of all things fun and exciting, the theme part, which was called raging rivers, was shut down. what happened later, is sadly not public knowledge, the park was later firebombed by the rights groups that had it shut down. what's unfortunate, is that those same groups, paid media outlets to keep quiet about it. the only reason I know about this, I was a child in the eighties and was visiting the park at the time of the bombing. someone from that same rights group, tried to pay me, later to not say anything about it. I however didn't take the money, I instead ran from them at the park I was at, full speed. there happened to be a police officer patrolling the area at the time, looking for a strange person, who ironically fit the description of the person who was trying to buy my silence. the officer saw me running and instead of going after me, he spotted who I was running from and called it in. another ironic detail of what happened, I was wearing a flash character hooded sweatshirt, this happened later that same year in the winter, on the thirteenth of October, which was a Friday. I later told someone I know who works for the Sacramento news and review, they told their boss about it and it became an independent news story, thanks to a young man of eight years of age.
It closed just discovery island they clean up reopen them
That’s not true, because discovery island was closed permanently too
I feel so sorry about the Goofy cast actors, how could they breathe with than big head on?was it really necessary ?😮
DarkExplorationFilms stole Buzzy
None of these rides looked safe in any way 😟