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View Full Version : Was New Orleans Ever Like New Orleans Square?



Klutch
07-24-2003, 05:52 AM
NOS is by far my favorite part of Disneyland. I often wondered why Walt Disney and his family were so enchanted by the city of New Orleans. I've been through there and while I understand there is some great food and entertainment to be had, I found the atmosphere to be pretty sleezy and trashy.

There's a commentator on NPR occasionally who lives in New Orleans. One of his commentaries last year talked about the New Orleans of a hundred years ago. The atmosphere he described resembled a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean. Perhaps this was the inspiration for the attraction(?).

What was New Orleans like in the 1950s and 1960s when Walt Disney visited? Was this a unique time of cleanliness and tranquility? If not, it seems surprising that Walt would enjoy such a place.

sjc
07-24-2003, 06:36 AM
To anecdotally answer your question, my wife's mother (who is 60) lived in the French Quarter when she was in her 20's and from what I understand, it was much different from the current "girls gone wild" Mardi Gras 365 days a year, tourist haven that it has become. If you go there today and can manage to get away from Bourbon Street and the ever present smell of urine, some of the charm that was once there, can still be seen if you use your imagination. I think part of the problem with the current New Orleans is the decline of the downtown and the rise of the suburbs (just like in most parts of our country.) The French Quarter hangs on primarily as a tourist draw... steve c

smd4
07-24-2003, 07:45 AM
sjc has it prety much correct, but remember--NOS is meant to represent New Orleans as it was "100 years ago" (i.e., 1866), which, of course, would have been different from even the New Orleans Walt knew. But he and his Imagineers had a fine grasp of the historical, and were able it "imagineer" a very credible image of the New Orleans of the 1860's.

hbquikcomjamesl
07-24-2003, 07:56 AM
Actually, last November, on my second WDW vacation, the first time I actually got off the train in New Orleans (and stayed for two days in a hotel only a few blocks away from the edge of the French Quarter), I was struck by just how much the Quarter DOES look like NOS, even today, and therefore by just how good of a job the Imagineers did of capturing the look and feel of the place. Of course it's different; NOS is a tiny section of a theme park, while the Quarter is a much larger (but still relatively tiny) section of a real city. Then again, I've often said this about San Francisco (and it also applies to New Orleans): the principal reason why tourists get hurt is because they forget they're in a real city, and start treating it like an amusement park re-creation of one.

Speaking of which, if you're ever in New Orleans, even if you never stop at Cafe Du Monde for chicory coffee and beignets, you absolutely MUST make it to Preservation Hall for at least one set.

Not Afraid
07-24-2003, 08:22 AM
I LOVE the contemporary NOLA - but I say faaaar away from Burbon Street. That is a tourist trap and doesn't come close to exuding the charm NOLA has.

NOS does a decent job of capturing the flavor and the charm of the real thing. The archecture is correct, the narrow streets reseble the Big Easy. Unfortunately, DL has done more to hurt the NOLA feel by removing the unique shops with the unique merchandise. Pressler may gave been a merchandising genius, but he know nothing about charm.

Allison
07-24-2003, 08:52 AM
You are so right!

But of course, they probably didn't sell as much of these unique NO items, so they went to the standard big sellers.

Not Afraid
07-24-2003, 08:55 AM
Originally posted by Allison
You are so right!

But of course, they probably didn't sell as much of these unique NO items, so they went to the standard big sellers.

Is it about the sale or the show? One day, we are going to wake up and wonder why we all look alike.

Klutch
07-24-2003, 06:17 PM
I was pretty disappointed on my first and only visit to WDW Magic Kingdom years ago. I couldn't believe there was no New Orleans Square. Liberty Square is pretty ho-hum.

Is Disneyland the only park with a New Orleans Square? If so, why? Was it too expensive to recreate elswhere?

Not Afraid
07-24-2003, 06:40 PM
I know for Florida, the idea of putting in an area so close to Florida didn't seem to make sense. The Mansion archecture is also very different in Florida.

It's sort of like building a theme park about California in California.;)

SuperDry
07-24-2003, 08:50 PM
I grew up in SoCal, going to Disneyland every year with my family as long as I can remember. After becoming an adult, I've been going back regularly, but perhaps a little less than once a year since I don't live in California any more.

Anyway, about 5 years ago, I made my first visit to New Orleans. I visited some friends who were staying at a quaint guesthouse right off of Bourbon Street. We went through an iron gate, and there was this wonderful courtyard off of which the rooms were located.

I made the comment at the time, "Man, this place looks just like New Orleans Square in Disneyland!" We all looked at each other, and started laughing at the same time. Of course, we realized that it was the other way around: NOS was a good replica of the real thing.

Realizing this, I marveled at the detail. It was very similar to staring at detail at Disneyland, except with the relization that this was not an aritificial set, and was not really done this way for show - it's just how things were done there. It gave me an amazing perspective as to how people view reality. My reality of New Orleans for 30 years had been NOS at Disneyland.

hbquikcomjamesl
07-25-2003, 08:14 AM
I LOVE the contemporary NOLA - but I say faaaar away from Burbon Street.Now I'm a bit confused. To stay far away from Bourbon St. would require one to avoid the Quarter entirely, and to completely miss out on Preservation Hall. And while there are plenty of other things to do in NOLA besides going through the Quarter (like a really good zoo, and a number of famous restaurants, including at least two owned by Emeril, and a historic trolley line still using restored antique cars exclusively), going to New Orleans and avoiding the Quarter seems kind of like going to San Francisco without venturing North of Market, or East of Van Ness.

Not Afraid
07-25-2003, 08:26 AM
Originally posted by hbquikcomjamesl
Now I'm a bit confused. To stay far away from Bourbon St. would require one to avoid the Quarter entirely, and to completely miss out on Preservation Hall. And while there are plenty of other things to do in NOLA besides going through the Quarter (like a really good zoo, and a number of famous restaurants, including at least two owned by Emeril, and a historic trolley line still using restored antique cars exclusively), going to New Orleans and avoiding the Quarter seems kind of like going to San Francisco without venturing North of Market, or East of Van Ness.

Burbon St is just one little street the crosses the Quarter. It is full of bars and smells like stale beer and pee. There is nothing charming about it with the exception of a Voodoo shop and PH. You can't help but cross Burbon St going N/S but traveling E/W Chartres, Decatur or Royal Streets are much nicer. By faaaar away, I was talking about faaaar in the Quarter, which is not really far at all. There is absolutely no reason to avoid the Quarter, just Burbon St. I have stayed exclusivly in the Quarter when I've traveled there and will do it again. It is a great city with some of the best food in the US.

hbquikcomjamesl
07-25-2003, 09:19 AM
That makes more sense. And if you approach Preservation Hall from Royal St. (at least based on MapQuest and my memory), you barely come within half a block of Bourbon St. Also, if I remember right, most of the other places in the Quarter worth visiting are riverside of Bourbon.

Loved the St. Charles streetcar line (though I found the Riverfront line to be rather a pointless tourist trap).

Lani
07-25-2003, 09:31 AM
Hey, where y'at!


Originally posted by Not Afraid
Unfortunately, DL has done more to hurt the NOLA feel by removing the unique shops with the unique merchandise. Pressler may gave been a merchandising genius, but he know nothing about charm. Also missing from NOS: Hucksters and scam artist kids who tell you for $5 they'll tell you "where you got dem shoes."

But more importantly, where's dem red beans 'n rice?

Lani
07-25-2003, 09:35 AM
Originally posted by hbquikcomjamesl
And while there are plenty of other things to do in NOLA besides going through the Quarter (like a really good zoo, and a number of famous restaurants, including at least two owned by Emeril, and a historic trolley line still using restored antique cars exclusively)Don't forget the award-winning aquarium right near Riverwalk... oh, and Anne Rice's home in the Garden district.

Not Afraid
07-25-2003, 10:02 AM
Yes! The Aquarium is Fabu, the entire Garden District is sooooo amazing, the Zoo is incredible for it's small size (albino gators), the food delish (red beans and rice ROCKS). This is really, really, really making me want to go to NOLA again. This is the ONLY place I can go and stand the heat - somehow it seems OK there.

hbquikcomjamesl
07-25-2003, 10:58 AM
Trying to fit an organ crawl, a walk around the Quarter, church, Preservation Hall, the zoo, and an organ recital into two days, I never quite made it to the aquarium. Then again, I still haven't made it to the one in Long Beach, either. And I didn't make it to Cafe Du Monde for beignets (I don't drink coffee, with or without chicory) until I grabbed a quick round-trip cab ride there during the layover on the way home.

The New Orleans zoo may be relatively small compared with, say, San Diego or Seattle, but it's plenty big compared to, say, Santa Ana. And the white alligators (one of whom has visited the San Francisco Zoo at least twice) aren't albino; they're leucistic.

Not Afraid
07-25-2003, 01:31 PM
Originally posted by hbquikcomjamesl
And the white alligators (one of whom has visited the San Francisco Zoo at least twice) aren't albino; they're leucistic.

True. And they are working very hard to educate people about the ptoper name, but, to most people, the word leucistic means nothing to them. Albino is a much better marketing term.