From: Rich_Koster@agwbbs.new-orleans.LA.US (Rich Koster)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.disney
Subject: Disneyana - Dixie Landings - Add
Distribution: world
Date: 3 Oct 92 05:51:31 CST
Organization: The Amiga GateWay BBS * New Orleans, La.

I've been asked a few follow-up questions via private mail to my post
about Dixie Landings (referred to as DixL here for short, and not DL
which might be confused with Disneyland).
 
I think DixL is a fine resort for families with kids of all ages, or
even for couples without kids.  It is both a romantic place and a fun
place for kids and the kid in all of us.  The biggest surprise I had
was that Disney did not skimp on the Disney quality, even though it is
a moderately-priced resort.
 
It has its own full-service restaurant, a complete food court, and
large theme pool area as well as five other pools in between the
lodging buildings.
 
There are three bus stops scattered along Sassagoula Circle, the DixL
perimeter road.  While I never took any of the buses from DixL (because
it was our first time at WDW with a rental car and we wanted to
experience this form of getting around ), I can tell you that we often
saw buses at DixL and when we were at the parks we saw many buses with
the Port Orleans/Dixie Landings destination on them. The buses are the
same type as used at other areas of WDW, even the expensive Yacht &
Beach Club!  Four separate bus lines serve DixL: the MK (Magic Kingdom),
ST (Disney-MGM Studios), EC (Epcot Center), and V (Village Marketplace,
Pleasure Island, and Typhoon Lagoon).  DixL is close to all the Disney
theme parks, so the bus rides shouldn't take too long.  There are two
bus depots near the main DixL building complex, and these are called
the Mason Platform and the Dixon Platform.
 
There is a boat launch that takes you along the Sassagoula River,
stopping at Port Orleans on its way to the Village Marketplace/Pleasure
Island complex.  This is a fun way to go, just as long as your boat
operator shows up for his shift on time!  We saw a long line of people
at the boat launch area of Port Orleans waiting about 30 minutes or so
for a late boat operator.  This could have happened at any area in WDW
where there are boat launches, but it just so happened at Port Orleans.
The boat operator assigned to pilot the boat from PO toDixL made us
wait about 10 minutes while he was in radio contact with the Disney
folks in charge of boat transport, but after doing all he could to
help these other people out (and making his own schedule run late while
doing it) he then got in his boat and took us back to DixL.  We had
been at PO to try out the pool.  The people at PO were waiting to go
to the Marketplace and Pleasure Island.  The bus ervice seems to be
much more reliable.
 
If you are driving your car from DixL to the Magic Kingdom, or to River
Country or the Hoop-De-Doo Revue in Fort Wilderness, remember to ignore
the sign along the road at the entrance/exit to DixL that tells you to
turn left for all guest areas.  If you turn right instead and then make
a left at the next intersection, you will save a lot of time going to
these lcations.  Just show your resort I.D. at the guardhouse you'll
come to just before you get to Fort Wilderness and he'll let you go
through.  If you're going on to the Magic Kingdom, make a right at the
next stop sign and then take the first left.  This is also the way to
go if you're heading to the Polynesian, the Disney Inn, or the Grand
Floridian.  If you're heading to the Contemporary or want to drive
pat the site of the new Fort Wilderness Lodge, make a right at that
stop sign and keep going straight.
 
You can walk to Port Orleans via the "Carriage Pathway" along the
Sassagoula River -- takes about ten minutes, about the same as waiting
for and then taking a boat launch to PO. BTW, the "carriages" are the
standard Disney electric-powered vehicles that transport you and your
luggage from the main chek-in building to your lodgings (or you can
just drive your car to where your lodgings are and park nearby).
 
Sassagoula Circle is the perimeter road that surrounds DixL.  Along it
are 3 bus depots and inside the loop are parkings lots convenient to
the lodgings.  These lodge buildings are grouped into two sections:
Alligator Bayou with its quaint Cajun country dwellings, and Magnolia
Bend with its statel mansions reminiscent of the beautiful plantation
homes of Louisiana and Georgia.  As you travel clockwise around the
road the buildings will get more and more stately-looking.
 
The buildings are grouped into rambling lodges in Alligator Bayou and
more formal "U" and "H" shaped groups in Magnolia Bend.  Acadian
House is right in the middle of the lodging area and is the first of
the Magnolia Bend grous you'll come to going clockwise along the road.
It is the newest group in DixL, finished at the end of June, and DixL
is now complete.  It is the one that we stayed in, and the room had a
king size bed, two pedestal sinks, and a tile bathroom.  The Sony TV is
hidden in an armoure which also has drawers to put your clothes in.
The walls have pictures of steamboats.  We requested and got a room
refrigerator, making sure that we only would get one if they had any left
after requests had been made by people who needed them for medical
reasons.
 
The other mansions you'll see as you drive around are Magnolia Terrace,
Oak Manor, and Parterre Place -- each getting more and more stately
than the other.
 
Thre is no room for expansion at DixL, as a golf course and Port Orleans
are right next to it.  DixL is the resort that many of the visiting media
were lodged in for the grand opening of Splash Mountain on October 2nd.
 
Going further inside the circle, you'll find the Sassagoula River.  It
winds along, and fully encircles Ol' Man Island -- site of the Muddy
Rivers pool bar, the main themed pool, the fishi' hole (where you
throw back in what you catch), and a kids' playground.  Footbridges
connect Ol' Man Island to the lodging areas, and the island is in turn
connected by bridge to the main building complex.  It is a short walk
from any of the lodgings to Ol' Man Island and the main DixL complex.
 
The main theme pool is the only area that pool towels are available,
other than your room.  The five pools in the lodging area each
contain laundry facilities for the guests, and it is very pleasant
using them.  They are large, bright, air-conditioned rooms
containing brand-new washers, dryers, and tables to fold your
clothes on.  Washers and dryers cost a dollar each, and a small
sample size box of laundry soap is 75 cents.  You can lounge nex
to the pool or take a dip while waiting for your clothes to get
clean.  The main pool area also has lounge chairs.  Also here is a hot
spa, a kids' wading pool, a twisting water slide that goes into the
main pool, and a bridge across the pool.  You can get wet under water
which falls into the pool from a wood trough high above. Take a look
at the detail in the custom tilework along the edge of the pool and
you'll see floating alligators, jumping frogs, and southern plants
and flowers depicted in the tile.  I don't know if the pools are
heated in the wintertime.  The main pool appears to be the only one
that has a lifeguard.  Muddy Rivers is next to the main pool and is
an open-air bar where you canget a cool drink or a snack. The
walkways on the island have "fossils" of reeds, palms and other
plants imprinted in them.  The concrete walkways at Magnolia Bend
look like brick and the concrete sidewalks at Alligator Bayou have
the look of wooden planks.
 
Take the bridge South of Ol' Man Island to the main DixL building
complex.  First you'll see the Colonel's Cotton Mill with its large
red waterwheel.  Go inside and you'll see that the waterwheel powers
a large cotton press, using a series of wooden gears and rods.  The
entire interior of this place is filled with beautiful wood and plenty
of sunlight coming though the windows.  The carpet's pattern was made
by photographing real wood shavings nd chips and then incorporating
this into the carpet. DixL's food court is in this building, perfect
for a simple meal, a late-night snack, or a quick breakfast.  Here
you'll find the Southern Trace Bakery, File' Cajun Broiler, Riverside
Market & Deli, Bleu Bayou Burgers & Chicken, and Acadian Pizza n'Pasta
(which is where your pizza comes from if you order it from room service
-- and pizza is the only ting that room service delivers at DixL).
None of the pastry from the bakery comes warmed, not even the chocolate
croissants, so you might want to see if the folks at the pizza place
will warm them for you in their oven.  Breakfast here can range from
cereal, juice and milk that you grab yourself to a freshly-made short
stack of pancakes and bacon or eggs and biscuits.
 
Next door is the Boatwright's Dinng Hall, DixL's full-service
restaurant.  Look above you and you'll see a boat being constructed.
Look towards the outside and you'll see the large doors which completed
boats go through, across the boardwalk, and then down the gangplank
to the harbor and out to the Sassagoula River.  The quality of detail
will make you believe boats have been built here for over a hundred
years!  Also take note of the wall above the hallway leading to the
Cotton Co-op -- the plaster has fallen away revealing the brick wall
behind it, and the pattern it makes is a flower. Nice!
 
The Cotton Co-op contains a lounge and restrooms.  The restrooms here
as well as in the food court have toilets with wooden seats and lids,
and a pull chain operates the wooden tank above.  The lounge has a
section filled with comfortable couches (just ask the many people we
saw who fell asleep on them!) and another section with a bar serving
people at small tables and chairs.  There is musical entertainment
here in the evenings, as well as a large-screen TV.
 
Next door is Fulton's General Store, a Disney merchandise shop which
also has foodstuffs for sale.  Next to the store and the lounge is
the central lobby of DixL, which also connects to the boardwalk
around the harbor, the large carport (which has luggage service and
laundry dropoff/pick-up), and the Sassagoula Steamboat Company.  The
central lobby is a large, round room with a tall ceiling.  Its wood
floor has been stained with an outer band of clear country blue,
inside of which is a wood floor stained in brown tones with a compass
design.  You can see the wood grain in the floor.  Round benches here
have poles coming up in the middle which have large, dark green metal
medallion icons attached.  The large icons are of things like a
steamship and a buffalo nickel.
 
Step out of the central lobby into the Sassagoula Steamboat Company
where as you book passage on the steamboat you are really checking
into your room.  The front desk is a huge semi-circle and Guest
Services is a large desk across from it.  There are two huge old-
fashioned fans above you.  They are white wooden paddles shaped like
lyres, waved to and fro by rods going into the ceiling.  Pretty
Mickey Mouse logo shapes are slyly incorporated into the decorative
moldings above.  Directly below them is a beam running around the
entire room with golden words giving the destinations that the
steamboat sails to: Chalmette, Gretna, Port Orleans, Dixie Landings,
Baton Rouge, Natchez, Vidalia, Vicksburg, Greenville...
 
Down the hall from the Sassagoula Steamboat Company is the Medicine
Show Arcade, a large game room.  It has the latest in pinball machines
and video games, including a 3D hologram-type video game.  Take a step
outside and you're on the boardwalk which goes along the harbor.
 
Nearby is Dixie Levee, where you can rent boats and bikes (although I
didn't see any tandem bikes there).  It is here that the boat launch
loads and unloads.
 
As you can tell, I really like Dixie Landings.  Now please forget
everything that I wrote about it, otherwise all of you might make
reservations there and I won't be able to stay at y favorite
resort again! ;-)

-- Via DLG Pro v0.992

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