ABOVE : River Country scale model . PHOTO BY DISNEY ARCHIVES RIGHT : From model to reality , the Whoop- ' N-Holler Hollow slides . PANA-VUE SLIDE RESTORATION BY BILL COTTER
This was a waterpark built by Disney Legends . Imagineer Fred Joerger , famous for creating the rock faces at Magic Kingdom and the rocks of the bygone waterfall at Polynesian Village Resort , sculpted the faux rocky mountain and boulders that shaped the landscape of River Country .
River Country was the first waterpark to use wooden trestle supports ( spaced wooden frames much like a sawhorse ) to support the waterslides . This provided a more rustic look than metal supports . Architect Dick Kline ( the designer behind Fort Wilderness Campground ) worked with Imagineer Pat Burke ( whose projects included Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder Mountain ) to bring the waterslide schematics at River Country to life .
In a 2011 interview with Disney & More , Pat Burke related how he planned out the trestle supports and elevations of the waterslides : “ We had no computers yet , and I was given a flat drawing of the proposed slides … I molded and modeled off rubber hose laid in the position of the plan . They were a lot like snake skins ... I built the slides out of fiberglass just as the real ones would be and figured out the themed wood tower heights needed for a marble to roll down them .”
To make his 3D model fit the waterslide plans and land elevation perfectly , Burke sprayed photo emulsion ( the