Port Orleans French Quarter Q&A Thread, New for 2012 (thread now FULL and CLOSED)

[spacemountainmom]

I know this info is probably somewhere I have seen it but I can't seem to find it. Does anyone have the address to ship a box of stuff to for our check in? Has anyone done it before? Was your box readily available? I would like to ship down a box with our toiletries so I don't have to worry about checking them or putting them all into little tiny containers for the airline. Any info would be much appreciated.

We arrive in 11 days...I can't wait!!!

We ship everything FedEx Ground when we stay POFQ. We use big totes to ship instead of boxes. We generally ship in on Monday for a Saturday arrival. It usually gets there on Wednesday or Thursday and they hold it for us.

We pre-pay to ship home at the same time. I bring the return shipping labels with and a roll of tape. We pack everything back in the totes, remove the POFQ shipping labels and replace it with the labels to send them home. We leave the totes with the concierge and the next time FedEx is at the resort, they get picked up.

I will never travel to WDW with checked luggage ever again.

 

[minnie mum]

We have typically stayed at cbr. When leaving the parks- is the stop for pofq closer or further than cbr?

Resort bus stops are in different places at different parks. Not only that but they aren't always in the same spot at the same park- they can and do shuffle them around.

 

[peanmunch]

HI..we will be at pofq november 30-December 4th We are DVC members and will be going on our DVC long trip in April. Jet Blue will start flying out of our airport in november and i couldn't resist the 75.00 fares the first week they are flying out....sooooooo..all that to say this is a short surprise for the kids trip. I was wondering if the hairdyers are still the old stuck on the wall ones or if they have switched them out since the refurb like they did at BWV's.

Thanks
Lori

 

[scjo68]

HI..we will be at pofq november 30-December 4th We are DVC members and will be going on our DVC long trip in April. Jet Blue will start flying out of our airport in november and i couldn't resist the 75.00 fares the first week they are flying out....sooooooo..all that to say this is a short surprise for the kids trip. I was wondering if the hairdyers are still the old stuck on the wall ones or if they have switched them out since the refurb like they did at BWV's.

Thanks
Lori

THey are stuck on the wall and tend to "burn out " quickly. I had to keep resetting it.

 

[peanmunch]

THey are stuck on the wall and tend to "burn out " quickly. I had to keep resetting it.

Thanks...and YUCK ..those kind don't work well on my hair..thought maybe they switched them like they did at BWV! Looks like one more thing on my packing list...lol

Lori

 

[lttlmc3]

We stayed at POFQ from 8/24/2012-9/2/2012, here is a quick review.
Me, DW, DD(9),DS(14)

Room A-: I faxed a request 4 days in advance for a corner room in building 3,4,5 or 2. Due to our arrival on 8/24 and Free Dining starting on 8/25 we actually had a 1 night room only followed by our 8 night package. We did not need to change rooms which made it easier for us. We were given Room number 4234, which is obviously on the 2nd floor of the building 4. It was in fact a corner room but it was an inside corner with only 1 set of windows, so it was exactly what we asked for. Although we were forced to pay for a garden view to get the free dining, our view was of a tree. This was no problem as a view at a moderate is no big deal and the location was prime. We were in the building right next to the food court, which was convenient for refilling our mugs, especially while it was raining.
The room was very good, it was our fourth stay here but our first since the refurb. We loved the queen beds and there was plenty of room for the 4 of us. The only misses were the toilet dripping, and the fact that our Travel Agent Dreams Unlimited requested VIP cleaning due to my sons dust/mold allergy and either it was not performed or it was not done very well. My son doubled up on his medication and for the most part was okay.

Mousekeeping A: Beds were made, towels, toilet paper and toiletries replaced as needed. We tipped $5/day and although my daughter commented that there were no towel animals, the room was always ready for us.

Transportation A: This time we never used the boat to DTD, but the bus service was the best we ever experienced. I would give the bus service back to the resort an A++, we never waited more than a few minutes for a bus, even at park closing or after the fireworks. After a full bus left another would roll up shortly thereafter. Unfortunately some buses shared with POR and those did take a while to get to Epcot/DHS.

Thanks for all the info. I've been seriously wondering about the bus service.

 

[Danascraps]

Hi everyone! Just got back last night from DisneyWorld... back to the real world. We had a wonderful time, and LOVED POFQ, would definitely stay there again. Here are a few thoughts.

Hotel is lovely. Grounds are beautifully maintained and so clean.

Pool was great. Perfect size and never too crowded (we went to the Riverside pool once and it was packed!).

Room was terrific. Really clean and plenty of space for the 4 of us. Mousekeeping did a great job. I left a tip in an envelope every day, a few times with a note on the envelope for special requests... which were always fulfilled. Great service.

CMs at gift shop, food service and desk were super friendly.

Bus service was wonderful! After hearing all the complaints I was worried. We only waited more than 10 minutes one time for a bus (from Downtown Disney, around 20 mins.) Only shared the bus with Riverside twice, coming home from TL and DTD. Busses were mostly full, but the waits were short. Magical Express was on time and super easy to deal with.

Food at FQ was fine. Breakfast was very good, lunch was fine. We prefered to eat elsewhere.

We love Disney, but boy are we tired!!

 

[alicia080979]

We ship everything FedEx Ground when we stay POFQ. We use big totes to ship instead of boxes. We generally ship in on Monday for a Saturday arrival. It usually gets there on Wednesday or Thursday and they hold it for us.

We pre-pay to ship home at the same time. I bring the return shipping labels with and a roll of tape. We pack everything back in the totes, remove the POFQ shipping labels and replace it with the labels to send them home. We leave the totes with the concierge and the next time FedEx is at the resort, they get picked up.

I will never travel to WDW with checked luggage ever again.

Thank you so much for this info. That is tempting to just ship our clothes, extra shoes, toiletries, etc. down ahead of time and not even worry about checking a bag. I never even thought about not using a box. How big/what kind of totes do you use? Do you know about how much it cost to do each way? I would have to get everything ready and in the mail by the end of this week I think since we arrive next Thursday. Just trying to figure out what is going to be best.

 

[Queila]

We just got back from 9 days at Disney yesterday and we already got the Disney blues. Why does time have to pass so fast when we are having fun?!?

This was our first stay at POFQ and we L-O-V-E-D it.

My husband and I were saying that we have found our match. We have stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and Pop Century before but POFQ seemed to be the perfect match for our family.

I have always said that I would like to experience every Disney hotel at least once but it will be hard not to stay at POFQ else from now on...

I think what I liked the most is the fact that the resort is comparatively very small and easy to manage. Even though our room was on building 1 (by the river) we never felt we were too far from anything. Specially when we figured we could make our way to the pool through the path by the river.

We walked to Riverside once for a meal at Boatwright's (which is amazing BTW) and took the boat back to FQ. We were planning to use the boat once again to go to DTD but ended up using the bus instead.

The bus system was good. I had heard rumors that it was supposed to be a nightmare but it was seamless. We shared it once or twice with Riverside but it wasn't a big deal. We never had to wait long for it, 10 minutes tops.

One night when we were getting back from MK after Wishes we got to the bus stop and there were tons of guests waiting. It looked like they had been waiting for quite a while. So the first bus came, filled up and left. We had to stay behind and wait for the next one. Wouldn't you know they sent a Magical Express coach to pick us up. Everybody got to sit down and watch cartoons on the way to the hotel. The bus driver called it a "magical moment".

The rooms are beautiful and spacious and mousekeeping was A1. The wifi in our room was not the best though. It can get frustrating after a while.

We also ate at Sassagoula Floatworks a couple of times (shrimp po boy, creole burger, fish with collard greens, gumbo, jambalaya and a ridiculous amount of beignets). Everything was delicious and made fresh.

The staff was friendly and kept a smile on their faces even on the Monday (Aug.27) when we felt the effects of Isaac and most people stayed at the resort because of the heavy rain. Sassagoula Floatworks was extremely busy the whole morning but it never got chaotic.

We also loved the swimming pool and my daughter who is 4 years old couldn't get enough of that slide. The pool never felt too crowded and we never had trouble finding chairs. We also got to enjoy some games by the pool one afternoon and the CM's were very good with the kids.

On the Saturday night we got to go to sit at the Scat Cat's and listen to Elliot Dyson play for a while. We ordered a gyn tonic at the bar which totally hit the spot.

All in all it was a wonderful vacation and POFQ played a huge part in it. If you are reading this because you are still trying to figure out where to stay on your next Disney vacation I would highly recommend giving POFQ some serious thought.

Q

 

[dansdad]

We stayed at POFQ from 8/24/2012-9/2/2012, here is a quick review.
Me, DW, DD(9),DS(14)

Room A-: I faxed a request 4 days in advance for a corner room in building 3,4,5 or 2. Due to our arrival on 8/24 and Free Dining starting on 8/25 we actually had a 1 night room only followed by our 8 night package. We did not need to change rooms which made it easier for us. We were given Room number 4234, which is obviously on the 2nd floor of the building 4. It was in fact a corner room but it was an inside corner with only 1 set of windows, so it was exactly what we asked for.

You sure got lucky. Faxed room requests now end up in the garbage without being looked at. The best way to inform WDW of a room request is to call the main reservations line and have the requests added to your reservation.

I just want to save somebody else from faxing their requests.

 

[darrengs]

You sure got lucky. Faxed room requests now end up in the garbage without being looked at. The best way to inform WDW of a room request is to call the main reservations line and have the requests added to your reservation.

I just want to save somebody else from faxing their requests.

Interesting, the VIP cleaning was added to my reservation and did not happen, yet I got the room request I faxed. Go figure.

 

[jamnich314]

Just got back from a stay at the French Quarter from 8-25 through 9-3. I think AWESOME just about sums it up for us. This was the first time staying at anything other than a value resort for me and the first time staying at a moderate since she was a child for DW.

We had the best room location. Room 5123. Ground floor, corner room, water view, King bed. It was great.

Bus service was stellar the whole time and we only shared a bus with Riverside in the afternoons. The opening and closing buses were almost always strictly French Quarter.

The entire resort was so beautiful and quiet and closer. That was the biggest thing. Even though we were somewhat in the back of the resort (where is was very peaceful and quiet) we could be in the food court filling up our mugs in about 3 minutes.

So many great things to say about the resort. I took a ton of pictures too so if anybody has any specific questions about anything to do with French Quarter fire away while it's still fresh in my mind.

 

[andrewilley]

You sure got lucky. Faxed room requests now end up in the garbage without being looked at.

No they do not.

I can't speak for all resorts, but at least at Port Orleans faxes ARE read by the room allocations team, and are actioned whenever possible (remember, there still no guarantees though!). I understand they even have a little wall of fame for the best ones (by the way, there are no Magic Kingdom views at Port Orleans...).

Andre

 

[dansdad]

No they do not.

I can't speak for all resorts, but at least at Port Orleans faxes ARE read by the room allocations team, and are actioned whenever possible (remember, there still no guarantees though!). I understand they even have a little wall of fame for the best ones (by the way, there are no Magic Kingdom views at Port Orleans...).

Andre

Thanks Andre, I stand corrected as far as Port Orleans is concerned. I have a cousin that works as a room assigner and stated that the faxed room requests were getting to hard to handle due to the sheer volume. She said a decision was made to have the CRO agents add requests to the reservations as they come in. I even asked what happens to the faxed requests that still come in and she said they went right in the garbage.

She has only worked as an assigner at the Epcot area resorts.

 

[slyster]

Wow...thanks to those who posted mini reviews! We leave in just under three weeks and we can't wait! I appreciate the feedback, especially on the bus transportation. We will have a car with us, but we have been on the fence on using the bus or using our car. Thanks again!

 

[jamnich314]

Wow...thanks to those who posted mini reviews! We leave in just under three weeks and we can't wait! I appreciate the feedback, especially on the bus transportation. We will have a car with us, but we have been on the fence on using the bus or using our car. Thanks again!

Take the bus to all of the parks and drive to DTD. The bus to DTD is somewhat of a nightmare and even the ferry can take upwards of a half hour, although it is quite peaceful and you get to check out the Saratoga Springs Treehouse Villas on the way.

The bus trip to EPCOT is about 5 minutes. Hollywood Studios is maybe seven. Magic and Animal Kingdom are about 12 minutes or so. The trick is getting there when a bus is already loading. If you get to the station just after a bus pulls away it can be a good 10-15 minutes until another arrives. It still beats getting the family in your car, driving yourself, parking, taking the tram, walking from the tram drop-off, taking the tram back, getting in your 120 degree car, navigating our of the gigantic parking lot, driving yourself back and finding a parking spot.

 

[Kathy Z]

You sure got lucky. Faxed room requests now end up in the garbage without being looked at. The best way to inform WDW of a room request is to call the main reservations line and have the requests added to your reservation.

I just want to save somebody else from faxing their requests.

dansdad, oops, sorry I had replied that the above was not true for POR or POFQ before realizing that there was 1 more page of posts that I had not yet read. I see you have been brought up to date.

 

[Queila]

Oh... I forgot to mention that one evening we had an encounter with a cockroach in our room. It was a huge one and it was an unpleasant surprise. I never mentioned anything to the staff because I don't think I can really hold it against Disney considering the heat and the location of the resort.

Just thought I should add this "detail" to the review I had posted in the previous page.

Q

 

[BearcatsFan]

Oh... I forgot to mention that one evening we had an encounter with a cockroach in our room. It was a huge one and it was an unpleasant surprise. I never mentioned anything to the staff because I don't think I can really hold it against Disney considering the heat and the location of the resort.

Just thought I should add this "detail" to the review I had posted in the previous page.

Q

You sure it wasn't a palmetto bug? Those are very common in Florida.

 

[Queila]

You sure it wasn't a palmetto bug? Those are very common in Florida.

It is possible. Can't really tell the difference between the two.