Disney's Abandoned Lakeside Water Park Will Thrive Again As A Waterfront Resort Opening In 2027

One of the more gruesome urban legends surrounding Walt Disney World is that its original water park, River Country, had brain-eating amoebas that caused death and forced it to close. When juxtaposed with that legend, it might seem cause for concern that a new deluxe villa resort, Disney's Lakeshore Lodge, is opening on the former River Country site in 2027. However, River Country's closure came in 2001, over two decades after the real incident that spawned that legend. Its history nonetheless provides some interesting context for the redeveloped property on the shore of Bay Lake, where Lakeside Lodge will begin welcoming guests on July 1, 2027.

It was back in 1980 when an 11-year-old boy who had visited River Country succumbed to a rare brain infection caused by the Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba that turns up in warm freshwater lakes like Florida's. As tragic as it was, this was an isolated incident that occurred early in the park's 25-year operational run. Themed to an old-fashioned swimming hole, River Country first opened in the summer of 1976, with President Gerald Ford's daughter, Susan, riding down a 260-foot water slide at the grand opening. Three years earlier, Ford's predecessor, President Richard Nixon, had delivered his infamous "I'm not a crook" speech at Disney's Contemporary Resort, just across the water from Lakeside Lodge's future home.

Together with Wet 'n Wild Orlando (which opened in 1977), River Country helped pioneer the modern water park. By 2001, however, Disney's current water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, had eclipsed River Country in attendance. The post-9/11 travel slump may have contributed to its demise, since it never reopened after making its regularly scheduled seasonal closure that year. Disney left the park abandoned until 2019, when it finally demolished it to make way for a new waterfront resort. Just as national park hotels inspired Disney's Wilderness Lodge, this resort would also draw inspiration from the great outdoors.

Only two Disney parks have ever closed permanently: River Country and Discovery Island, a nature preserve that still sits abandoned in Bay Lake. For its part, River Country will be a distant memory when Lakeside Lodge opens near Fort Wilderness, Disney World's budget-friendly camping accommodation. The resort is already accepting reservations for July 2027 and beyond, though you may want to wait for Disney to include it in the seasonal hotel discounts it offers. Room rates are currently upwards of $500 a night, even for the lowest tier of "duo studios" (rooms with a single, queen-size pull-down bed for two adults).

Those studios are "Encanto"-themed, while the regular resort studios and presidential suite (for would-be Gerald Fords) take their design cues from "Pocahontas." Other Disney animated movies with nature settings, including "Bambi," "Brother Bear," and "Fantasia," inform the décor of the hotel's deluxe studios, suites, villas, and lake houses. A one- or two-bedroom lake house, with a private patio and picture-perfect A-frame, fetches well over $2,000 a night.

In a throwback to River Country, Lakeshore Lodge will feature its own lazy river and a lagoon with a spiral waterslide. The Dandelion Terrace lounge could be one of the best spots to watch Magic Kingdom's fireworks or the nightly Electrical Water Pageant. During the day, plenty of natural light will stream in through the hotel lobby's floor-to-ceiling windows. Though Lakeshore Lodge is officially a Disney Vacation Club timeshare property, it could take years for it to fill up all 967 of its rooms. In the meantime, they're available for anyone in the general public to book. If the hotel is out of your price range, its lakeside restaurant, Moonglade, might still be a good excuse to visit it once advance dining reservations open up. Guests will also be able to drink and dine in the lobby lounge, a quick-service market, and a poolside bar and grill at Lakeshore Lodge.