In 1976, Walt Disney World opened their first water park: River Country. 25 years later the park closed and few have seen what remains in the area since. Now a photographer/activist armed with a rented boat and a drone has taken shots of what remains of Disney’s River Country. The images were recently run by UK-based news site the Daily Mail.
The photos show plenty of overgrown vegetation and decaying slides but also highlight some areas of the park in considerably decent shape:
According to the Daily Mail, photographer Seph Lawless “hopes his photos bring awareness to the issue of a huge corporation like Disney failing to clean up what they left behind.” The former park, which sits off of Bay Lake, is still currently owned by The Walt Disney Company even if Walt Disney World guests cannot access it. Lawless also claims that has he has now been banned from Walt Disney World after capturing these images of the deserted water park, although he said he wouldn’t return regardless due to the resort’s rising ticket prices.
As noted in the Daily Mail article, River Country was blamed for the death of a young boy who fell victim to a rare amoeba that entered his body in the 1980s. However, the park remained open until around September 2001 when it closed for the season and never reopened.
Many more of Lawless’ photos of River Country can be found on the Daily Mail website.