Positive POR Experiences???

[schwaa]

I am getting really worried about my upcoming stary at Port Orleans Riverside. I am reading SOME negative exeriences on the internet, here and other places, and I would like to hear from all the people who have stayed at POR over the last few months who had a wonderful time there.

Thanks.

[safetymom]

We have stayed at POR several times. The last time was in November. It is a great resort. If you have a problem when you get there Disney is great at "fixing things." They will do what it takes to make your visit a magical one.

[schwaa]

Thanks Safetymom,

I know that disney is great at fixing things. Everytime I read a negative post about POR, I think "well, did you complain about it?" I'm just still a little worried, even though I know things will be ok.

[safetymom]

Also keep in mind when folks have a great vacation at WDW they don't usually post about it. You are more likely to see the negative reports rather than the glowing ones.

I know I don't post trip reports because my vacation was what I expected and received.

[RickinNYC]

We've stayed at both Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside. We have absolutely nothing but positive things to say about them. In fact, Riverside is my favorite in the moderate/value class. Enjoy your stay!

[anny_c_99]

We stayed at Port Orleans Rivierside last year, and had a very enjoyable time.. Everything we had hoped it would be...

The food court was good too...We ate dinner there 2 times and the food was wonderful.

I also read some not so good experiences about there, and was worried, it being our first trip to Disney. But when we got there our room was clean, we had no trouble with housekeeping, and the grounds were kept extremely clean. Everyone was nice to us..

Go and have a wonderful time!!

Anny:D

[wdwrich]

We have stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside in each of the last two years, and both time we absolutely loved the place! The landscaping alone would be enough to warrant a stay there- I think the grounds are more attractive than those at the deluxes. Go and enjoy!

[daannzzz]

I spent 4 days at POR in May and had a wonderful time. I stayed in a room in Parterre Place. I had a beautiful view in a quiet room. Yes there was a small stain on the carpet on one on the curtain. We have a couple of those at home too! I know some people would let that ruin their trip but not me! :) Even brand new hotels have problems so if you run into any kind of problem at any hotel ask to have it fixed.
I saw many of the Bayou buildings that had been painted since my last visit and they looked great. I thought POR looked in great shape. Service was good and I am ready to go back.

[mbaker1277]

Unfortunately I was one of those people who had a bad experience at POR. I did report it , and although they wouldn't move me to another room they tried to rectify the situation , but it was beyond help. I am VERY easy to please , and we have stayed at all of the value, moderate, and half of the deluxe properties. This was the only time in over 30 visits that we have had a problem. We have had great previous visits to the POR. We love the grounds, the boatride to DTD, and the foodcourt was nice. I think that our problem will be fixed after the resort completes the renovations. I wouldn't let bad reports worry me though. If you have a problem speak up. Then keep speaking. Have a great time!

[cavepig]

We just got back yesterday from POR. We were there for 2 weeks and stayed in Alligator Bayou. We've stayed 3 other times in the past and thought the resort was as good as it was before.

Parts of it had been closed I guess in May/early June, but it was basically all up and running by the time we left. All bus stops had reopened when we were there, and all of the foodcourt was open. It seemed to be more full the 2nd week than the 1st week since they opened up the closed rooms.

The downtown Disney boatride was nice as usual. The bus service wasn't too bad. Some early entry mornings we waited awhile for a bus, but probably no longer than 20 minutes. Leaving the parks at the end of the day wasn't too bad either, they seemed to always have enough buses out there, even on the 4th of July night at MK.

The differences this trip compared to the last 3 dating back to 1999 was the breakfast selection in the morning. They didn't have as many offerings in the bakery. Also the gift shop didn't open till 8:00 am and it used to be open at 7:00 am.

All in all we enjoyed POR, we even got towel bunnies, birds, and swans from our maid.

[BethC1952]

I love POR. We've stayed there three times so far (twice in two different "installments" on our last trip!). Last trip we were given a free upgrade from POR to the Dolphin. We accepted the upgrade, but I wouldn't do it again. We'll be spending five nights there this December!

We had no trouble with bus service, our room was always clean when we came back at the end of the day. Housekeeping actually woke us up one morning at 8 AM (the "Do Not Disturb" hangtag had blown away).

I can't wait to go back.

Beth

[dawgfan]

I too read the posts all over the net about several resorts in my studies to be a "disneyologist" and saw the same things you have seen. Many people had complained about all sorts of different things. The central theme seemed to be a stain here and there on the carpet and a bit of dust on some piece of furniture now an again. On the sites I checked the negatives seemed to be the first things to show on a large list of posts. It was not until I scrolled down and saw as many of not more great reviews of this resort. The negative posts that were out there seemd to also take on a theme of the "impossible to please" patron. Nothing seemed to be right and no one seemed to be able to help. It is important to remember that anyone can make mistakes and Disney is usually held to a higher standard than most. You also get whatever you want (in most cases ) out of your vacation. I learned that the amount of enjoyment in a Disney vacation is equal to the amount of planning you put into it. If you start out going negative you finish more negative than that. I was very interested in POR and was unable to stay there when I took my kids on their first Disney trip in August 02. I planned to take them again and to stay at POR/FQ August 04. We stayed at ASMu and loved it. My wife and I decided to go back to ASMu on our anniversary (without kids of course) and just got back. During the trip we decided to check out all the resorts we could in an effort to decide which would be the best for us as a family. We went to each resort with the exception of OKW. While many of the resorts were very nice, we loved the POR complex. We did not see a room during the visit, but the grounds, lobby, store, facilities, food court and boat ride sealed it for us. We were very impressed and have decided to go with our original choice, FQ that is. Riverside was fantastic though. Now my only problem is the timing of the POR/FQ opening. Surely it will be open by August 04. I have been told by a CM that it will not be open for two years. Forget the posts that seem too negative. I saw no evidence of problems and I interviewed a guest who said that they had gone to POR ten years running and loved it. I beleive the first hand account and my own eyes.

[SnowWhite33]

We stayed at POR-Alligator Bayou- last October and had a very magical stay. We had a much faster check in than at the All Stars and our room was much closer to the food court. My DH sprained his ankle a few days before our trip and they were more than happy to accomodate our request for a close room upon arrival. My ds loved feeding the ducks and birds. And while the main pool was fun, the quiet pools were very relaxing. As far as our room it was always very clean and our mousekeeper always left the towel animals and extra sops and shampoos for us. The boat ride to DTD was so peaceful and pleasant. I will admit that for us the bus service was horrible in the mornings, but we rarely had to stand for the trip back. I believe that most of the bus problems had something to do with CBR being completely closed for rennovation and POR being close to capacity.

Go and enjoy!!

[LaGaviota]

I've been a little concerned, but I'm glad I read this thread now. My fiance and I are staying there for our entire 5-night stay - we'll be getting married in the middle of our time there. I don't think I'll be too concerned about the room itself, but I wanted the overall plantation/mansion theme that POR seems to provide (I'm a huge DL nut and my favorite place there is the French Quarter.)

Here's hoping that we have a positive experience there! :D

On a side note (and maybe I'll post in a different thread to get an answer), but can anyone recommend an area of POR for a couple on their honeymoon? We've requested a king-size bed and I need to do some research as to what buildings have those rooms in them.

Thanks!
Anna (& Dave)

[Tesabat]

We stayed at POR in Aug 2001...yep, I know that doesn't count as a few months ago. But, I did want to say that at that time, there was a lot of bad press about this resort on the boards. Management had recently changed, POR and FQ had come together under one roof...and I was a little bit worried. We checked in and our first room was bad...and I DO mean bad....BUT, we simply picked up the phone and asked to be moved. It was no problem - they gave us a choice of two other rooms, and we ended up having a great vacation at a great resort... The grounds are SO PRETTY, Bob in the lounge was a lot of fun, food court and restaurant were both good. I loved being so close to a quiet pool, but also having the option to go to the main pool where the water slide could be enjoyed.

Don't worry about negative posts - there arenegative posts about every single resort at WDW because with all the people that go to WDW, odds have got to be that someone's gonna have stuff happen to them. That doesn't mean the same situation will happen to you - or if it does, affect you the same way. You can't control some of what happens to you (like losing your luggage...happened to us last year - or getting a room that someone had been really sick in and hadn't been cleaned very well...like our first one at POR) - but you CAN control the power it has over your vacation. It can put a big damper on it, or it can be something you laugh about over a frosty drink by the pool. GO and have a GREAT TIME! :)

[tiff13]

{using my daughters log in cuz I'm just too lazy to change over to mine!} Anyway, no matter where you stay, you're going to hear the bad {hopefully along with the good}. Our situation...we were originally scheduled at WL. Guess what? All of a sudden there were alot of bad reviews on the boards. So we switched to AKL {not because of the reviews} and you know what? All of a sudden the AKL was inundated with bad reviews. Now we're at POR and ...you guessed it! It seems like whereever we're booked, that seems to be the place that gets the bad reviews at the time. We've stayed at the Poly,AKL,POR, and the BC and we've only had one problem {at the Poly with the manager of all people at Captain Cooks} so you really can't go by what you read.

[Sandi]

POR is our favorite resort. POFQ is a close second. CBR comes next. Anyway, our last visit was in February and it was wonderful. I'm one of those people who wants stuff done right and when it is, I let them know I appreciate it. After our stay last November, I wrote a letter to the POR manager telling him what a great time we had and how especially impressed we were with our housekeeper (Maria) and one of the ladies who worked in the food court (my DD would wait in her line no matter if there was no line anywhere else just because the lady took the time to ask about her day and tell her she was pretty.

I received a phone call from Disney after I sent my letter. They just left a message saying thanks for the nice letter and that they'd be sure to reward the people I mentioned in my letter. I was very happy about that.

You'll have a marvelous time. If you have any problems, ask to have them fixed at the front end instead of stewing about them for your whole vacation.

[arielfan]

It's good to hear all the positive things about POR were going in
December...:jester:

[Pryncess'mom]

We were in AB bldg 26 last August. That was the closest building we could get because they were painting the outsides of the others. Many mansion buildings were closed, but we need an Bayou room for 5 people. That was our 1st time in POR, but we would definately go back!! We loved everything about it. We were only a short walk from the food court, main pool and also a quiet pool and laundry. The walk to the Bus stop wasn't bad either. Mousekeeping did a wonderful job, the little animals and special touches with our DD stuffed animals and sunglasses and hat was great. The grounds are wonderful and we really enjoyed the resort. In fact, we actually spend more time at the resort than any other trip to the World we have taken. Pool several afternoons and evenings, food court in AM and PM (gotta fill the mug!!!;) The CM at the front desk could not have been more helpful and Susan at the restaurant was wonderful. The piano bar is a hoot and everything is just a nice atmosphere! Good luck with your stay. I hope you enjoy!

Deb

[AdventurerKat]

I have stayed at POR five times and have always had a wonderful time. I expect I will stay there this September too. :)

[mbaker1277]

As I was the one voice of dessention in an earlier post I would like to point out that I am not hard to please, nor do I go into the situation looking for the worst to happen. I am a travel agent by business, so I am required to travel alot and I stay in many hotel room throught the year. As I stated before, this visit to POR was the ONLY problem in over 35 visits in the past 11 years. We have stayed in all of the value, moderate, and most of the deluxes. I would definately overlook a spot on the carpet or dust in the room (Because who doesn't have this in their house?}, but the overall cleanliness of this particular room was uncalled for.
We do love this resort for its beautiful grounds, quaint theming, and a wonerful food court. I think that once the renovations are done that it will be a top notch resort. Most of the reports I have heard came from problems in the Bayou rooms, where ours was. I think the best thing to do is to ask for a renovated room. I still think you will have a wonderful vacation, and that you have chosen a great resort!

[melee]

Thanks everybody! Your positive outlooks on POR and vacations in general have got me back on track to enjoy the planning and anticipation for our Feb. trip. I just found out yesterday that our SOG reservations will be switched to POR. I was going to post a request for good news from POR, but you have covered it for me. From now on I'm only going to look for the positives. I may have to change my name to "POR Pollyanna"!

[deb305]

We have stayed in Alligator B. twice, one good stay one bad. Bottom line, every hotel has a few bad rooms. The secret is if you get one, speak up and get moved. Then get on with enjoying the rest of your vacation. For a moderate POR is great. Better pool than some of the Deluxes, relatively quiet rooms, quiet grounds, and the food court allows you to get well balanced meals for the family.
Have fun

[schwaa]

It's nice to see so many positive reviews for POR. Thanks everyone. :)

[melee]

Just bumping this up for displaced Soggers like myself. We need all the good news we can get!

[FOTM_Ring_Bearer]

We stayed at the POR last Thanksgiving in AB building 27. We really liked it alot. The grounds are lovely and the kids had a great time at the pool. The boat to DTD is really nice. It would have been even nicer if it had been a little warmer. The previous year at Thanksgiving was better. The food court is good. My kids loved the trundle bed. They ended up alternating nights.

I had a hard time this year deciding which moderate to select (CBR or POR). We like them both, but we ended up at the CBR. Now that the kids are into the pirates of the caribbean, it ended up being the right choice.

Only4 weeks to go!

:cool: