More Curious Than Anything. . .

[DancingBear]

Sorry, I missed that. I know Bonfamille's closed, and I've heard they no longer have live music in the French Quarter lobby; any other visible operational changes that anyone is aware of?

 

[indigoxtreme]

They still have the musician several nights a week at the lounge in FQ. They mainly call them Sister Resorts and amenities can be shared between the two.

 

[Cee]

That's because it's flippin sweet.

That really made me laugh. SWEET!

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

It was definately a PC thing. Dixie = South = Slavery . I am not sure how people can make an argument for such things, but they do.

Just a name game, but apparently enough people or groups complained about the name.

In this case it probably helps to be the descendant of a slave to understand. I stayed at Dixie Landings the year it first opened and I have to say it was an extraordinarily weird feeling about it. I liked the resort aspect of it but you had all of the trappings of the old south without any acknowledgement of the true history of the place. It isn't just slavery its also Jim Crow, lynchings, sharecropping, discrimination, segregation. The ghost of all of that was there for me in the original incarnation of the place. A strange sort of pixie dust...or maybe we should say dixie dust...a mix of disney with a touch of fear. Not exactly an image Disney would want to sell.

So you can call it pc or not all you want but a Disney purified version of dixie like it was some sort of garden of eden bothered me the whole week. I'dve been happier if they'd honestly portrayed it closer to the way it was. Of course I wouldn't have been able to stay there. By shifting it over to Port Orleans Disney gets to embrace a more citified version of the old south which is a bit less bothersome.

Soooo...there it is. Do what you will with it.

 

[Alison Wonderland]

I stayed there not long after it opened and I sure didn't feel weird or fearful!!!

 

[Another Voice]

In this case it probably helps to be the descendant of a slave to understand.

Or just to be informed of history. I grew up reading the journals of my great grandfather who fought in the Union Army. It’s always amazed me how people can disconnect the symbols from what they truly represent. The “Old South” was everything that America is not nor ever should have been. Plantation homes are not something to be celebrated.

 

[MJMcBride]

Or just to be informed of history. I grew up reading the journals of my great grandfather who fought in the Union Army. It’s always amazed me how people can disconnect the symbols from what they truly represent. The “Old South” was everything that America is not nor ever should have been. Plantation homes are not something to be celebrated.

I couldn't agree with you more.

 

[ChrisFL]

yet people still shop at Winn-Dixie

 

[Daydreamer]

I think this thread had taken a wrong turn somewhere. I understand that the word "Dixie" does have negative conotations and it is Disney's perrogative to remove it. If I were running the company I would certainly choose to do so to avoid the negativism.

That being said, I don't understand the post about the "Old South" was everything that America is not nor ever should have been. While there were many things about the "Old South" that were wrong, not everything represented by the "Old South" was negative. Or maybe I'm wrong in which case we should immediately tear down Splash Mountain as I'm pretty certain it is about as "Old South" as you can get.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) As mentioned, the resort name was changed due to PC complaints.
2) Disney has changed things previously (eg. Pirates) due to PC complaints.

 

[MJMcBride]

I think this thread had taken a wrong turn somewhere. I understand that the word "Dixie" does have negative conotations and it is Disney's perrogative to remove it. If I were running the company I would certainly choose to do so to avoid the negativism.

That being said, I don't understand the post about the "Old South" was everything that America is not nor ever should have been. While there were many things about the "Old South" that were wrong, not everything represented by the "Old South" was negative. Or maybe I'm wrong in which case we should immediately tear down Splash Mountain as I'm pretty certain it is about as "Old South" as you can get.

You're absolutely right. There is nothing redeeming about the "Old South" and we should tear down Splash Mountain. Or better yet, make it a Pirates log flume.

 

[beck0321]

Plantation homes are not something to be celebrated.

ARRRRRRRRRGGGGHH I am not EVEN going to say what I want to say about this statement for fear of starting some stupid political debate. So, um, yeah....
Sorry for that outburst...

 

[boBQuincy]

The "Dixie" thing is ridiculous, in the DVC resorts the rooms are equipped with Dixie brand paper plates and bolws.

And if the word "Dixie" brings up connotations, what about Coronado's exemplary treatment of native Americans?

The whole PC thing gets to be stupid after awhile, *everything* offends *someone*.

 

[MJMcBride]

ARRRRRRRRRGGGGHH I am not EVEN going to say what I want to say about this statement for fear of starting some stupid political debate. So, um, yeah....
Sorry for that outburst...

Come on say it. Lets fight because AV is 100% right.

Dear Lord, did I just stick up for AV?!

 

[beck0321]

Just because the people who used to live in plantations did un-American things, doesn't mean the caretakers now do, or believe in, that kind of stuff. They are preserving an architectually significant stucture.

My best comparison would be the Roman Coliseum, where people fought to the death. Was it the right and humane thing to do just for entertainment? NO! But it is part of history and should be viewed as such.

ETA: I needed to take out some stuff because I don't want to sound like a B.

 

[Another Voice]

That’s why I deliberately used the word "celebrated".

To show or use a plantation manor as nothing but a pretty house is wrong. It tells an incomplete story; it intentionally ignores the too high a price that was paid for that grandeur. A plantation “hotel”, by necessity, has to remove all the meaning and all the history from the place. It's turned into just another building - an architectural statement that leaves out the real meaning of the place.

There are times when it’s important to talk about the whole truth. All that we are is what we have learned from the past. Some crimes are so horrible that their effects reverberate down through centuries. The pain of correcting those wrongs can last just as long. If we choose to ignore those lessons, then we are bound to suffer all over again.

History matters. Not everything in life should be used as a decor.

 

[sotoalf]

AV is correct.

The objection isn't to the word "Dixie" itself; it's Disney's deliberate appropriation of architecture, motifs, and literature and then recontextualizing them into harmless diversion.

To me this has always been one of Disney's more insidious habits. Look at "Fantasia." Classical music is too complex for you? Let's illustrate it with dancing hippos.

 

[beck0321]

That’s why I deliberately used the word "celebrated".

To show or use a plantation manor as nothing but a pretty house is wrong. It tells an incomplete story; it intentionally ignores the too high a price that was paid for that grandeur. A plantation “hotel”, by necessity, has to remove all the meaning and all the history from the place. It's turned into just another building - an architectural statement that leaves out the real meaning of the place.

There are times when it’s important to talk about the whole truth. All that we are is what we have learned from the past. Some crimes are so horrible that their effects reverberate down through centuries. The pain of correcting those wrongs can last just as long. If we choose to ignore those lessons, then we are bound to suffer all over again.

History matters. Not everything in life should be used as a decor.

Yes I see your point on this. But there are some plantations that people just use as their personal residence. I mean they are not out "celebrating" that they live in a plantation, that's just their house. And if they privately own the home, it's their's to do with as they please IMO.
On the other hand, a major portion of the plantations have been turned into educational tools, where tours are given. I've been to many different plantation tours, and they mostly focus on the history of the place and time it was built, so you're not just going "Oh look at the purty rooms!" the entire time. Others have been turned into tourist attractions, like "Haunted Plantations" and such. (Which reminds me. Isn't the Haunted Mansion in DisneyLand supposed to be a plantation? Never been so I'm not sure) Still others have been turned into retreat areas, like you said, hotels or B&Bs, restaurants, stores and the like.
There are just so many homes that could be considered "Plantation" homes in the South, not every one can be turned into a shrine for the past. I think, however, there is a significant number that are being used for this purpose to get the point accross.
Also there is nothing wrong with admiring something that is aesthetically pleasing. One can not ignore that fact about plantations either. And it's not fair to assume people should feel guilty for doing so.

 

[sotoalf]

But surely owning a plantation home in 2006 is different from staying in a theme park replica, no? After all, Disney used to promote this resort as a Old South getaway, and this promotion was conspicuous in what it omitted about its history.

 

[beck0321]

But surely owning a plantation home in 2006 is different from staying in a theme park replica, no? After all, Disney used to promote this resort as a Old South getaway, and this promotion was conspicuous in what it omitted about its history.

Port Orleans French Quarter seems cheesy to me. And Riverside seems very "backwoods" and kind of freaks me out.