Why the name change from Dixie Landings?

[Jaybrad]

All you Anti-South folks keep raving on!!!

 

[Taja]

Here in Germany a "Dixi" is the most common word for a "portable toilet" used on festivals, outdoor events etc.

I don't know if you have Dixi's in the US, too.

But I can tell you that 95 % of every German inhabitant would think about those toilets when he hears "Dixie Landings"

I bet that's not the reason why they changed the name, but that was just my thought about "Dixie"

They're usually called porta-potties in the US. *LOL* There can be some regional variations, though.

The thought of Dixi Landingss could be unappealing, couldn't it?

 

[wcpamotm]

Loony Tunes made the brave decision to release their classics, but put a disclaimer at the beginning of the disc, "this is not appropriate today, but is part of our history" when the disc contains Speedy Gonzales cartoons.

And yet, somehow, I think "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips" is not likely to ever see the light of day again. With good reason.

 

[pixie08]

All you Anti-South folks keep raving on!!!

No in all honesty I don't think it's about that, or at least I hope not. I am a New Yorker, but my mother and her whole family is from Mississippi and Louisiana. I am proud of my Southern hertiage, and I love hearing all the stories and speaking and visting with my family in the south. Even though I live up North, it's still a large part of me (ask my friends who tease me when I say y'all or yella). I just think it's the word "Dixie" itself. It is a hurftful and offensive word and honestly in this time and day has no place in Disney World.While we can not ignore our past or where we come from, and we can celebrate the positives of it, we do not have to reinforce the negatives, that's all.

I think they did a good job by keeping it a southern themed resort after all ....didn't they? They didn't up and change the whole theme, they just chamnged the name. No southern hating, just "Dixie" removal

 

[Kurby]

in July when we were there we were staying at FQ and took the boad over to PO.

someone asked the captian about this and his response was the following

at some point Disney hired the first black president/ceo/cfo or someone like that (sorry don't really remember who he said he was just know he was way up on the food chain). anyways he said one of the first thinks he did was take a stand about the name and protrail of "the old south" and was the one to get the names of the resort and the restaurant boatwrights changed. apparently boatwrights was called Col. Someone who was huge in the south. He also said something about calling the "Plantation" section of hotels something about them now being called Manors or something else but people still refer to them as the plantation section but i dont' think cm's do.

he said the wife of the ceo/cfo/ whoever was threatening a lawsuit which played part with the change.

i have no idea how much truth there is in that story but there ya go.

 

[Kurby]

What will they do with dixie cups?

Dixie style coleslaw

Winn-Dixie (we don't have this in Canada but i understand it's a huge store in the states)

The Dixie Chicks (i know there's a huge controversy because of them or one of them speaking out about Bush but they haven't changed their name)

Dixie Carter (i think she passed away a few years ago)


i'm not saying it shouldn't have been changed just that you can't hide from history or it will be repeated.

 

[Lynne M]

Looking back at an old Birnbaum's guide from before the name change, Boatwright's has always been Boatwright's, and there was never a Plantation section of the resort, it's always been Mansions and Alligator Bayou. The only name change that I'm aware of is that the food court used to be Colonel's Cotton Mill, and now it's Riverside Mill.

WDW boat captains are known for spinning fanciful tales for the guests.

 

[Kurby]

Oh it was the "cotton Mill"

sorry not the restaurant.

and maybe it's just people calling it plantations - i dont know.

like i said - i don't know what if any truth there was but it sounded like a good story.


also if that's the case why hasn't disney told them to stop making up stories like that since it's not just saying oh mickey is working somewhere else - saying what he said is a big deal

 

[allonte]

I think its actually pretty smart.

A conservative estimate is that African americans (of which I'm one) spend ~45 billion bucks on vacation. Now if I own a company as a vacation destination, the smart thing would be for me to try to rake in some of that disposable money. Why do you think companies have target advertisement? So they can pinpoint a specific demographic. If changing a name of a hotel to some thing a little less offensive to a large part of the population helps me get some of that revenue, I'd be stupid not to do it.

And personally, I can tell you when my family and I travel to Charleston or Savannah, I do not ever stay at a place with the word "plantation" in it. NO matter how great the place or the deal. Why would I?

Another African American here. I have to agree. When looking at the resorts trying to decide where to stay, I suggested POR. Hubs immediately shot back that he didn't like it because it looked to plantation-ish, lmo. All bets would have been off if the name had Dixie in it. Why in the world would we want to land in Dixie? We eventually chose CBR and then I made the executive decision to stay at POP and add an extra day, lol.

All you Anti-South folks keep raving on!!!

southern girl here. Straight from good ole Tennessee.