River Country was positioned on the shore of Bay Lake, next to Discovery Island and near Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground. The design evoked a backwoods water hole: lush landscaping, large rocks, man-made boulders, and sandy beaches dotted with lawn chairs and daybeds. The park drew its water from Bay Lake through a unique filtration system, damming off a section of the lake to create a natural-looking freshwater lagoon. The water level in the park sat higher than the lake's to prevent untreated lake water from flowing in. Attractions carried homespun names -- Whoop 'n' Holler Hollow, Barrel Bridge, White Water Rapids. The Mouseketeers from the late 1970s incarnation of The Mickey Mouse Club even filmed a musical number here for a 1977 episode of The Wonderful World of Disney, complete with a song titled "River Country."

The park's connection to natural lake water brought real danger. In 1980, an eleven-year-old boy died after contracting amoebic meningoencephalitis -- a brain infection caused by amoeba in the warm freshwater. Park officials noted that similar infections occurred in freshwater lakes across warm climates and said the problem could not be blamed on River Country's water system specifically. But the death cast a long shadow. Combined with other incidents over the years, the park's rustic charm carried an undercurrent of risk that its newer, larger competitors did not share.

Disney opened Typhoon Lagoon in 1989 -- bigger, more modern, with more parking, slides, and amenities. Then Blizzard Beach arrived in 1995, bigger still, with more thrilling attractions. River Country, the original, suddenly felt small and dated. Attendance declined. When the park closed in November 2001, Disney said it would reopen in spring 2002. It never did. By April 2002, the Orlando Sentinel reported that spokesman Bill Warren would only say the park "could be reopened if there's enough guest demand." In January 2005, Disney made it official: River Country would remain closed permanently.

What followed was one of the strangest chapters in Disney history. The company removed the entrance water tower but left everything else standing. For seventeen years, River Country sat abandoned behind a green fence, rotting and being reclaimed by subtropical vegetation. The closing theme music still played from the speakers. The lights still turned on and off on their automated schedule. Disney never cut the power. Signs posted at the perimeter offered a polite apology: "Sorry, River Country is closed." Urban explorers climbed over the fence or walked through the backstage driveway to photograph the decay -- waterslides choked with vines, pools turning green, structures slowly collapsing under the weight of Florida's humidity and hurricane seasons.

In 2016, Disney drained and filled Upstream Plunge, the park's 330,000-gallon pool. Then in March 2018, permits appeared for a mystery development called "Project 89" on the River Country site. The resort hotel was confirmed in May 2018, and on April 20, 2019, most remaining structures were demolished. Disney announced a nature-themed resort called Reflections -- A Disney Lakeside Lodge, planned for 900 rooms with a 2022 opening. The COVID-19 pandemic halted construction, and in 2022 Disney scrapped the project entirely. But the story took one more turn: in November 2024, Disney announced the resort would be built after all under the name Disney Lakeshore Lodge, with a planned opening in 2027. The old swimming hole is gone, but the shoreline it occupied is being reimagined once more -- Disney's way of proving that no site stays abandoned forever, even if it takes a quarter century to figure out what comes next.