A report from Growthspotter states that a new resort is going to be built on the land previously used for the River Country Water Park. The new resort, going by the name Project 89, will be adjacent to Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campgrounds. Permits have been filed for geotechnical borings for the land.
GrowthSpotter states that the property will feature 1340 "bays" and 940 will be reserved as Disney Vacation Club villas. GrowthSpotter claims that both an architecture firm and constrution manager have been selected for Projet 89. WATG, who has been chosen to design the resort, has an extensive history of building beautiful large scale resorts throughout the world including Atlantis Dubai, Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney hotels in Paris, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. Balfour Beatty has been picked as the construction manager. The company is currently developing the 15-story tower at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort and has previously worked on the Polynesian Resort and the large Avatar project at Animal Kingdom.
River Country, which opened in 1976, was considered the first official water park within the United States, according to the Travel Channel. River Country was open for over 20 years but attendance started to decline when Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach opened and in 2001 the water park was closed. The land has since been vacant and multiple permits have been taken out over the years to develop the land but were cancelled shortly after.
We will consider this a rumor until we hear something official from Disney.
News Source: Growthspotter
Media Source: South Florida Water Management District