On this week's feature discussion episode, Bryce Yelverton joins us to talk about Disney's Port Orleans Riverside resortl in Walt Disney World. This is one of Disney's most uniquely-themed resort and, what many people don't realize, is it comes with an extremely detailed backstory involving 2 brothers who settled in rural Louisiana and brought civilization, entrepreneuralism, and a profitable boating industry to the area. If you enjoy Imagineering at its best, you don't want to miss this episode of the All About the Mouse Disney podcast!

You can find out more about Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter, including the backstory and much more, at www.portorleans.org.

• The “Sassagoula Steamboat Company” lobby, which houses the registration desks and guest services, is themed after the inside of an actual riverboat and you can see the ports of call listed around the tops of the decorative columns: Riverside, French Quarter, Gretna, Chalmette, Port Eads, St. Louis, Sainte Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, Cairo, New Madrid, Caruthersville, Memphis, Helena, Greenville, Vicksburg, Vidalia, Natchez and Baton Rouge.
• The Riverside Mill food court was themed after an old Southern cotton mill and houses a cotton press powered by an authentically reproduced and working 35 foot water wheel. 
• Fulton’s General Store is named after real-life steamboat pioneer Robert Fulton who in 1807 built the first commercial steamboat, the North River Steamboat, later known as the Clermont.
• Ever wondered why they chose the mottled green carpeting for the Alligator Bayou rooms? It’s meant to represent an alligator-skin texture.
• The 3½ acre Ol’ Man Island, formed in the middle of the Sassagoula River, serves as the recreational area for the Port Orleans Riverside Resort. The main pool is 12,980 square feet and contains 158,000 gallons of water. The feature slide is 95 feet long.
• The Fishin’ Hole on Ol’ Man Island is stocked with Catfish, Blue Gill, and Bass.
• It took hundreds of people working over 48 hours to re-plant the live oak tree (Quercus Virginiana) on Ol’ Man Island. It is the largest living oak tree ever to be transplanted, with an original height of 55 feet and a weight of approximately 85 tons (including box and dirt). This live oak, and its sister tree in front of Port Orleans Riverside, were transplanted from the site that now contains Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. A wooden plaque on the island reads as follows:
  “On Earth Day April 22, 1991 this majestic Live Oak was placed in its new home before you, The Oak and its companion at the entrance of Disney’s Port Orleans Resort Riverside each weighed 85 tons and were transplanted from a wooded location 13 miles away. Cypress boxes 22 foot square were constructed around and beneath each Oak, and after months of preparation, the transportation took three days. Ol’ Man Island was then constructed around this Oak as you see it now.”
• The Sassagoula River is themed after the mighty Mississippi River, the word Sassagoula is the Indian term for “Mississippi.”
• The waterways surrounding the Riverside Region are all man-made and were originally woodlands. They are actually a constant-level canal system linked to Lake Buena Vista at Disney Springs.

Source: www.portorleans.org