The Sassagoula Times is the free handout information sheet which has been issued to guests staying at the Port Orleans / Dixie Landings Resorts since they first opened in 1992. It started as an extremely elaborate eight-page tabloid format (11"x17") newspaper which documented the entire fictional backstory to the two resorts, while also providing guests with relevant information for their stay such as facility opening times and maps.

By 1999, the publication had been reduced to a four-page tabloid format information sheet, dropping all of the backstory detail and concentrating solely on current guest-relevant information and resort maps.

By 2002, The Sassagoula Times was being issued in its current format, a four-page letter-sized (8.5"x11") handout containing Frequently Asked Questions and general resort operating information for guests. Resort maps were no longer included, instead being provided as a separate letter-sized sheet.

Here are some samples from recent years to whet your appetite for what’s to come when you arrive at Port Orleans. Please remember that all information contained within is historical and thus subject to change.

• The Sassagoula Times, 2006 Edition [PDF format, 5.5Mb]
• The Sassagoula Times, 2005 Edition [PDF format, 3.5Mb]
• The Sassagoula Times, 2004 Edition [PDF format, 3.5Mb]
• The Sassagoula Times, 2002 Edition [PDF format, 3.5Mb]

A Look Back in Time...

When the twin resorts of Port Orleans and Dixie Landings were first designed, Disney imagineers crafted an elaborate and highly entertaining backstory for the Dixie Landings location. Every building and every feature had a history linked by the fictional Jonathon “Colonel J.C.” Colby and his family and friends who lived and worked along the Sassagoula River in the mid 1800s.

Much of that wonderful detail was lost or watered down when the two resorts merged, but here is the full history in all its glory, as published in the Sassagoula Times:

• Down the Sassagoula in Port Orleans...
• A Parting of Brothers Leads to Ol’ Man Island
• The Trading Post
• Dixie Landings Takes Root and a Boom Begins
• The Sassagoula Steamboat Company
• A New Era Arrives with the “Dixie Queen”
• General Fulton’s General Store
• Cotton Co-Op Crops Up on Command Ground
• Frenchman Founds the “Wright Place” at the Right Time - Boatwright’s
• The Come-One, Come All, Cure All! The Medicine Show Arcade
• Knee Deep in Danger - Alligator Bayou
• Splendor in the Bayou - the Magnolia Bend Mansions
• The Colonel’s Comfortable Classic - Acadian House
• Magnolia Terrace, the Honeyworths’ Home
• Orderly Oak Manor
• Class & Culture at Parterre Place
• Strong Bridges Better Neighbors Make

The following editions are still to be scanned, but here are some quick digital snaps of the larger format Sassagoula Times newspapers from bygone days. Better scans will be available at this site soon.

• Dixie Landings Guest Information Handout, 1999 Page 1
• Dixie Landings Guest Information Handout, 1999 Pages 2-3
• Dixie Landings Guest Information Handout, 1999 Page 4
• The Sassagoula Times, 1996 Page 1
• The Sassagoula Times, 1996 Pages 2-3
• The Sassagoula Times, 1996 Pages 4-5
• The Sassagoula Times, 1996 Pages 6-7
• The Sassagoula Times, 1996 Page 8

If anyone can help provide me with any early Port Orleans (prior to the French Quarter renaming) newsletters for scanning, that would be very welcome. Please get in touch via the Contact page. Thanks!