I thought the rumor was that Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon were created with the intention of closing River Country.
It's a complicated history, but from the get go, TL and BB were not created with the intention of "replacing" RC, but ultimately, that is how (post-2001) TWDC ended up viewing them.
People often forget the many difficulties RC struggled with from a day-to-day operations perspective, especially toward the end of its life. Remember that RC was not created or initially marketed as a "water park". That term really hadn't even really caught full wind by that point. Wet 'n' Wild, which touts itself as "America's first water park" (mind you, an often disputed statement) didn't even open until 1977, a year after RC. RC's purpose was to try to draw out a little extra cash from, what were considered at the time, notoriously frugal campers (seems like WDW's philosophy at the time just goes to show that the more things change, the more they stay the same). Weirdly enough, it wasn't uncommon for FW campers in particular to travel all this way to FL and WDW and not splurge for a day at MK. Of course, that became increasingly uncommon as RC neared its end, but it was built with that in mind. TL and BB both were built as water parks from the onset. They were much larger, had more attractions and capacity, offered actual parking lots in front of the park, had more facilities, and were more accessible.
The press clipping in that article was from 1980... RC continued to operate for
another 21 years after that happened. It also incorrectly states that Florida law require pools to use municipal water sources. The Yesterland link that I posted cited the actual sections of relevant Florida law and it does not require the water to be from municipal sources, but instead only must meet state "potable" water standards... regardless of source. The bottom line is that all that the Martin County Time piece does is repeat the myth without providing any sources or evidence.
When people ask about why RC closed, it's a complex answer. There is no one overarching answer why it closed, but a lot of it has to do with TL and BB actually. Early WDW visitors may remember the capacity problems RC suffered from. Guest feedback at the time apparently indicated that one of the top complaints from RC day guests was that the park seemed "overcrowded," and more to the point, they often had to stop admitting guests at some point in the day because RC had reached capacity. Imagine if BB had to stop admitting guests 60-70 days a year rather than the 3 or 4 it has to nowadays (something I actually don't think it's had to do this summer). Now couple that with the logistical challenge. Day guests usually had to take a bus to get to the park and have to repeat that process in their wet bathing suits to get back to their cars. Anyone who's been in that afternoon TL bus to Epcot can tell you how unpleasant of an experience that can be. It also proved to be a costly one. WDW had thought that building TL would potentially alleviate these logistical issues, but to be honest, they never really got substantially better.
That said, the updated FL laws played a role as well. To make any significant update to RC, Disney would also need to make a number of changes to its pipework and water systems, another costly endeavor. That combined with a string of stories about various bacteria-born illnesses coming from FL's bodies of still water (I'll try to find some news clippings about these tomorrow) didn't help. This became a growing pain for RC and one that TWDC didn't quite know how to address.
And then there was 9/11. This, to me, has always seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. People forget that when RC closed, it was closing for what Disney called "seasonal refurbishment," similar to what they do today during the cooler months with TL and BB. Of course, they weren't really planning on updating or refreshing much. This was a "refurbishment" more similar to the one we saw at POFQ, basically just shuttering the whole thing to save money. With revenue down so drastically, RC served as a high cost that could easily be cut with, it turned out, little guest pushback.
Disney ultimately seemed to decide that their newer parks made RC seem obsolete, thus in a weird way, TL and BB sort of became de facto replacements for RC. It wasn't really one huge thing that led them to that choice but rather an accumulation of lots of little things. That decision, remember, wasn't even official until 2005 when a Disney rep finally admitted RC wouldn't be reopening (I assume, up to that point, it was still considered "under refurbishment").
