Monday, May 23, 2011

In Search of River Country Souvenirs

River Country has long faded from the Walt Disney World landscape.  Now close to a decade removed from the resort, the old fashioned swimmin' hole has been largely forgotten in the wake of its newer water park siblings Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach.  It also sadly suffers in regard to having produced very little in the way of lasting souvenirs or memorabilia.  In the few years that I actively visited the park in the late 1980s, very little was offered in the way of branded merchandise beyond t-shirts, beach towels and postcards.  The park never had a formal merchandise shop; cast-members typically manned a small souvenir cart just past the entrance.

My own personal River Country souvenir collection is rather pitiful to say the least.  Beyond a few postcards, all I possess is a rather mundane and unimaginative panel-style button.  Created to resemble a comic book cover, it features Goofy and poses the question, Who's Making a Big Splash?  If memory serves, the design was also featured on an oversize beach towel.  An eBay search turned up a pin with the same design, but with an Established 1976 caption across the bottom.

It seems apparent that River Country was the neglected child of Disney World branded merchandise.  Are there 2719 Hyperion readers who have any other River Country treasures squirreled away?  Let us know!

3 comments:

Jess said...

We've got a beach towel with that Goofy scene on it somewhere...though the design feels a bit more recent than the one you've got pictured. I am nearly certain we have River County mugs in the collection too.

Amanda said...

I have a Goofy towel also, but it also has Chip and Dale on it also. It says Adventures in River Country on the top, "Guess who's making a big SPLASH?" on the bottom as Goofy is about to land in the water where Chip and Dale are floating... Chip is saying "Ho hum... just another LAZY day in River Country!"

I've kept this towel my whole life since the comic on the towel's date is June 12, my birthday. I can send you pics if you would like to see it better. Just shoot me an email to broadsourcebud@yahoo dot com.

Unknown said...

I have the same pin ;), a River Country cup with floating mickeys in it - a River Country Disney pin and a rather rare Mickey River Country t shirt in a youth size I altered to fit I still wear to Disney World today. Wish I could post pictures for you. I think I have a few of them on my recents Instagram posts (smarterthanuthinkiam)