10 Extinct Disney World Attractions You Need To Know About
RIP Maelstrom.
The Walt Disney World Resort has seen many rides come and go over its 45 years of existence. With new technology and changing guest preferences over the decades, some rides simply fall out of favour, are no longer relevant or just break down to the point they don't become cost-effective to fix.
Given so much time has past since WDW first opened its doors, there have been a few fan favourites that have been lost along the way to make way for new attractions and others attractions have simply been abandoned and left to rot by Disney.
Let's take a look at some of the attractions that have met their demise at the place where dreams come true...
10. River Country
Next time you take a boat across Bay Lake make sure to spot a closer look at the passing water's edge and you might just see the rotting remains of a water park.
Located just outside of Fort Wilderness stood Walt Disney World's first water park, River Country which was themed to look like a rustic watering hole with slides, swings, plunge pools and nature trails for guests to enjoy.
The water park first opened its doors in 1976, where it made a big splash but it regularly hit its 5000 person capacity and simply was too small to function efficiently, causing it to shut down in 2001 when it closed for the off-season and never reopened.
Many reasons were cited for the closure including safety concerns, declining visitor numbers, poor capacity and with Blizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon, Disney simply no longer needed it.
Disney never dismantled the slides and the features of River Country. Instead they remain right where they were when the park closed, slowly being overgrown by plants. Some have trespassed into the closed water park to get photographs of the abandoned slides and pools.
River Country is completely off limits to visitors and you can be banned from Disney property for straying onto it. If you don't want to become person non-grata at the house of mouse, you can catch glimpses of it as you travel across the water.