River Country

River Country is a former water park at the Walt Disney World Resort. It is a southern themed "swimming hole" themed to Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and located on the shore of Bay Lake, adjacent to the also abandoned Discovery Island. It was closed for multiple reasons and issues, and currently is in a "standing but not operating" state.

History
River Country opened on June 20th, 1976, five years after the resort's official opening, as well as the resort's first water park. It had a pool that connected to Bay Lake (all the dirt was filtered out), a few water slides, and a tire swing that can swing one into a pool.

The "natural lagoon" had a flawed filtering system that did not keep microscopic life out. In 1980, an 11 year old boy was killed by an amoeba (Naegleria fowleri) that attacks the central nervous system, a disease known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare disease with a 95% fatality rate. The pool then closed, and even today there are signs warning trespassers to not go into the water.

In 1989, Typhoon Lagoon opened, causing more attendance at the new water park, which had much more to offer than River Country. River Country's attendance started to decay.

Finally, on 2001, the infamous September 11th attacks happened, causing park attendance to remain shallow for some time, leaving River Country nearly emptied. It closed on November 2nd, 2001, despite Disney saying that it will open again soon, later they announced it would not open again. River Country never got demolished and still stands today, highly guarded and off-limits.

Attractions

 * Upstream Plunge, a kidney shaped clean-water pool.
 * Slippery Slide Falls, two water slides that emptied into Upstream Plunge.
 * Kiddie Cove, a kids zone with two large water slides and a cove. This area was targeted toward preteens.
 * Barrel Bridge, a bumpy bridge with barrels under it, similar to the one at Tom Sawyer Island.
 * White Water Rapids, a 330 foot (100 m) long inner tube river.
 * Bay Cove, a half-acre (2,000 m²) sand-bottom lake which featured a tire swing, boom swing, rope climb, and T-bar drop.
 * Boom Swing
 * Cable Ride
 * Tire Swing
 * Whoop 'n' Holler Hollow, two water slides, 260 ft (79 m) and 160 ft (49 m) long, that emptied into Bay Cove.
 * Bay Bridge
 * Indian Springs, a very small splash zone with fountains spraying kids. This area was mainly designed for guests under age 8.
 * Cypress Point Nature Trail, a trail among trees beside Bay Lake.
 * Pony Rides
 * Mercury WaterMouse Rental