BY RAIN BLANKEN
A
search for River Country online will instantly fill your screen with green boggy water , twisted branches clawing at leaf-encrusted waterslides , and the word ABANDONED ( always in all caps ).
Trespassers searching for internet fame have long documented the former waterpark for personal gain , operating under the guise of “ urban exploration .” So much digital media exists of these illegal excursions that they fully eclipse home video footage or scanned photos of the park during its 25 years of operation . It is an imbalance that welcomes mystery and rumor .
It ’ s true that River Country has rested quietly without guests since 2001 . But it ’ s also true that this waterpark was an innovative WED Enterprises undertaking . Like so many Imagineer creations of the time , it offered adventure the likes of which we may never see again . It ’ s cheap and easy to film an empty pool and whisper something spooky , so let ’ s do one better — dive much deeper and bring the life of this park to the surface .
BUILDING THE FIRST THEMED WATERPARK Mark Twain stories like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn inspired River Country , so it was themed as the swimmin ’ hole where everyone was welcome to take a dip , a dive , and maybe even brave the rapids . With an original working title of the cozy “ Pop ’ s Willow Grove ,” the waterpark was always meant to be as humble as its neighboring Fort Wilderness Campground . The theme used and imitated natural materials — think Tom Sawyer ’ s Island in Frontierland .
ABOVE & PREVIOUS PAGE : A River Country postcard circa 1976 . SCAN AND RESTORATION BY RAIN BLANKEN