Rumor on Riverside

[rip109]

I have just read a rumor on 2 other boards that PO Riverside will be closing
on Dec. 5th. Now I have reservations there starting on the 6th so I am very
curious. Anyone on this board heard anything about this?

[disney queen]

have not heard.....sure hope it is not true! i have friends who love riverside and are going to wdw for the first time ever at christmas time. they will be disappointed if they have to leave their lovely riverside! keep us posted please!:p

[Ona]

I also hope not. We are booked for 10 nights over Christmas. I don't fancy any changes at this point. I'm already bummed about the cancelationa of the boat to dd.

Ona

[All Aboard]

Well, I did my "test" on the WDW on-line booking system. Unlike the results I got when the POFQ rumor surfaced, I was able to get POR for several dates beyond December. Doesn't really mean anything, but for now you can still book it.

[King Triton]

Riverside is my favorite place to stay!! Nothing better than taking a boat ride to downtown Disney from Dixie Landings at night. I hope this is only a rumor.

King Triton

[decemberdisney]

My husband and I just got off the phone with Disney! We had reservations for POFQ for early December. They called to give us a choice: either cancel our vacation or take a room at the Caribbean Beach resort, which we know nothing about. They refused to offer any bumps or upgrades of ANY kind, even when I explained to them that this trip is very important to us(we booked it back in 1999 so that it would fall over my birthday and anniversary, both on Dec. 5). I spoke with a Zoe tonight who did not even apologize for the inconvenience. She said Port Orleans FQ and R will both be closed for "awhile" and that they were very disappointed about it! DISAPPOINTED??? I AM MORE THAN THAT!! So, just wanted to put my 2 cents in and see if anyone else is in the same boat I'm in.

[Iago]

Originally posted by decemberdisney
I spoke with a Zoe tonight who did not even apologize for the inconvenience. She said Port Orleans FQ and R will both be closed for "awhile" and that they were very disappointed about it

Are you sure you didn't misunderstand her? Since your ressies were at POFQ, it's understandable that you would be getting the call to reassign your room. The reason you were not offered the option of PO-R could just be that it is now fully booked because so many of the FQ guests have been moved there.

I'm at a loss to explain how she could say that *both* POFQ and PO-R are closing. That really seems bizarre.

[decemberdisney]

Yes, I'm at a loss, too. Zoe from Disney said that there are too many people they are changing things around on so that they are "not offering any upgrades or bumps to anyone." What I am most upset about is that we didn't even get an "I'm sorry we are putting an inconvenience on your trip." She just flat out told us, if we wanted to upgrade to a resort like Poly or WD which we were more familiar with, it would be several hundred dollars more to upgrade. Even if we wanted to change over to another moderate, CS, they only had "water view" available and it would be a $120 upgrade charge for that, since our rooms at POFQ were "standard" rooms. They were not even willing to budge on that small upgrade fee. I am just very disappointed in the service we received tonight and can only hope that it will be better at check-in.

[disney queen]

decemberdisney, check your private messages!

[MaggieMouse]

I just booked PO-R yesterday for Christmas week. I don't think it will be closing.

[Tiggeroo]

but the boats from POR and DTD are now cancelled. I try to remain upbeat but POFQ is my family's fave resort. Some of my dd's fondest memories are of taking the boat from there to DTD, and renting boats to go all around the area then to lunch with her daddy.

[snoopy two]

We finally received our call, in reference to POFQ closing, two days ago.
The only option we were offered was CS. She said all other moderates
were full! I said I would have to speak to my husband and make a decision,
to which she said that I'd better not wait long because that, too, may fill up.
I said it sounded like they were doing better than what I had thought, and she
said they were doing great! When I called back PM, I got a different reservationist
who said the only available moderate was Carribean Beach. No upgrades available
and no passholder discounts and any other resorts. Frustrated, I let my husband
call back the next day to see what came up for him. He was offered any
moderate and a possible upgrade to WL. She would have to check on the upgrade and
call him back later in the day. She did not call, so he called her. She was unavailable,
but another reservationist saw the info she had about our ressies and informed him
that she had no business offering an upgrade the was "unauthorized." As expected,
we are still awaiting a return call. I am leaning toward cancelling because I am
tired of the games.

[YoHo]

We've already heard storys of upgrades. I don't think CRO even now has a complete handle on what's going on.

[DVC-Landbaron]

We've already heard storys of upgrades. I don't think CRO even now has a complete handle on what's going on.GOOD GOD!!! Don't you think they should!!!???

[YoHo]

Yes, I do. I don't know what to say to that. I also don't understand Disney's corporate sturcture at that level. I would hope that CRO knows where to try and rebook people. (how many people can possibly be misplaced that they can't afford to spread them out amoung the Deluxe resorts?)

[EUROPA]

Sorry I'm more of a lurker on this board..but does any of this make sense? Why close a resort if the other resorts are full? Then tell the cusomter that basically they don't want their money by offering them a take it or leave it choice ? There is no way that Disney has that much money invested in a room at a deluxe resort that they can't offer the customers a good rate. I've worked in a couple of major hotel chains. I was told several times that the company still makes a profit(not much) by renting the room at 25.00 bucks a night. Something sure smells fishy. I would call back and ask to speak to a manager. If that did not work then I would sure be writting a couple of letters and booking my vacation down the road a few miles.

[DVC-Landbaron]

I didn't mean to single you out YoHo, my good man. But it is just thisa type of thing that lands me in car #4. (There's room if the cycle breaks down! ;))

Maybe I have been fooling myself. Or maybe Ei$ner has changed the thinking so radically that the "old" way doesn't apply anymore, but I would have thought it would be a no-brainer. An upgrade, at the very least, would have been the 'Disney' way to handle the situation. How sad things have gone this far. :(

[YoHo]

Well, Like I said, they were offering upgrades if you pushed enough. I have a sneaking suspicion that they are trying to fill moderate rooms since those are being hit the hardest right now. So it might not be so much that there isn't space, or that they aren't thinking of the consumer per se' But they are trying to save the rest of the resorts.

Personally, I think they need to let the moderates go at this point and concentrate on keeping your Deluxes which provide the most bang for the buck and are likely the most stable, and your Values which get the most people in the place. The moderates have all of the hassles of the Deluxes (from a managment point of view) with less payoff.

[Another Voice]

There’s “full” as in “all the rooms in the hotel are booked”.

There’s “full” as in “all the rooms in the buildings and floors we have open are booked”.

There’s “full” as in “all the rooms we’re selling at the price range are booked”.

There’s “full” as in “I’ve got a profit margin to maintain and I’d rather make THAT than allow in a boatload of castoffs from another resort – I know which numbers my boss looks at!”.

Take your pick.

[KaraJade]

the more i think about all these changes, the more i think i can live with them.We stayed at POFQ in September and when i heard it would be closing, i thought, what a shame i really loved it there and would like to go back. then again, I'd also like to try CBR, POR, and CR. How to choose??? i've been thru all the options so many times its making me dizzy. So now i just move FQ down to the bottom of the list, we'll go there again when it gets opened back up someday. Then i find out the boat ride to DTD is being discontinued. :( that was one of my favorite things about port orleans.... the romantic little boat ride along the river at night. OK, so going to POR is goign to be held off for a while until they decide closing the boat ride was a silly idea!Now my choices are really narrowing down! ;) LOL

[disneyluv4]

The last thing they should do is close POR!!!! My gosh it is the only one below deluxes that can hold 5 people! We love that resort. We do not want to get two rooms at the all stars, plus the kids enjoy the slide at the pool. And we can not afford the deluxes right now. Our only one would be POR. And I know so many people on these boards just love it. I just pray they do not close it, that would be the last straw and I WILL take my business elsewhere!!!:(

[MK Familystone]

While in my last year at business school in 1989,
My investment professor told my class good luck in the recession in 1990.
And suggested the following options: get married and start a Family, get your masters degree,
or rebuild or put an addition on your house.
I think Disney is taking advantage of the recession time period to modify the grounds and
buildings at POPQ so the two properties would blend.