River Country Water Park opening in Central Florida, but not at Disney World
River Country Water Park will open in 2025 at Westgate River Ranch Resort & Rodeo, borrowing the name of Disney World’s abandoned water park.
River Country is returning to Central Florida, but not how you might think. In summer 2025, River Country Water Park will open at Westgate River Ranch Resort & Rodeo in River Ranch, Fla., about 66 miles south of Walt Disney World and the Orlando area.
Using “River Country” as a water park name will be familiar to longtime Disney World vacationers and history buffs. Long before Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, River Country was Disney’s first water park. Located near Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, the water park closed in 2001 and infamously sat abandoned for years.
River Country at Westgate will include:
- a tube slide
- an open slide
- a free-fall slide
- a pool
- a water play area with mini-slides and a water bucket
- Bar’n, a sheltered bar
- lounge chairs
- cabanas
Today, the cleared property of Disney’s River Country is an active construction site (pictured below). Disney announced Reflections – A Lakeside Lodge for the land in 2018, but paused the project in 2020. Disney has not commented on if the recently resumed construction is for the same Reflections plans or something different.
Photos by Matt Roseboom
Learn more about Westgate River Ranch’s upcoming water park on the resort’s website.
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