46' Lugger

Boatwright’s Dining Hall opened with the resort known as Dixie Landings in February of 1992. Dixie Landings would, of course, go on to be rebranded as Port Orleans: Riverside, the sister resort to Port Orleans: French Quarter. The restaurant itself, with its roots stretching deep into the workman mentality of the south, is situated between the main entrance of the resort and the more laid back establishment known as Riverside Mill Food Court. Inside Boatwright’s guest clean their faces with shop rags and use their toolboxes to store their indispensible implements, salt and pepper. However, the real attraction grabber of this dining hall is the large ship under construction above guests heads.The construction project in question is a 46’Lugger, and was commissioned to be built, at least to a degree by the Brewers Dauntless Ship Yard. The minds behind Boatwright’s Dining Hall wished for the rustic boat shop to be covered in historical tools of the trade from corner to corner, but no shop would feel true to form without a project in the works. With the ’46 Lugger on their minds, Imagineers acquired detailed drawings of the ship and had the craftspeople of the ship yard apply their expertise to the vessel. When finished, the staff of Brewers Dauntless Ship Yard were confounded, as it has been described, they “had completed a boat before it was finished.” The unfinished finished ship was raised into the rafters for all guests to enjoy the workmanship, and there it has stay, a perpetual work in progress, since 1992. Let’s hope this ship never sets sail.