Port Orleans Riverside Q&A Thread 2013, Part One [Thread now FULL and closed]

[4butlers]

We walked up that pathway several times a day during Presidents Week to get from our Royal River View room to the parking lot or the East Depot bus stop.

Andre

This was a great location. We had a rental car, so we really liked the proximity to the parking lot.

 

[Gorechick]

The south depot was more convenient for RR's in Parterre, particularly if you are in a courtyard or wing room near POFQ.

 

[Venomhatch]

The south depot was more convenient for RR's in Parterre, particularly if you are in a courtyard or wing room near POFQ.

Yeah plus if you say ate breakfast in the room you can cross that foot bridge and go right down the front of the main building to the South Depot or stop at the FC then down to the SD.

 

[lillykat]

Yeah plus if you say ate breakfast in the room you can cross that foot bridge and go right down the front of the main building to the South Depot or stop at the FC then down to the SD.

So would it be fair to say if you are in Parterre the south is closer or just more convienent bc you ate at the FC, and if you are in oak then east is easier? Or does it matter what side of the buildings you are in. We will probably eat in the room. We have a RGR garden view and are requesting upper level close to the main building as possible.
We will be there 61 days from now

 

[Mouskemom]

I was looking at room diagrams for the alligator bayou and it seems there is really no place to keep your clothes. Is there really no dresser? Just the e little drawers under the Murphy bed?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Venomhatch]

So would it be fair to say if you are in Parterre the south is closer or just more convienent bc you ate at the FC, and if you are in oak then east is easier? Or does it matter what side of the buildings you are in. We will probably eat in the room. We have a RGR garden view and are requesting upper level close to the main building as possible.
We will be there 61 days from now

I am just saying heading to the parks the south depot is the best way to go.

 

[allboyhouse]

Hi all! I have a couple questions....we have always stayed in Alligator Bayou being a family of 5. This year my sister and her girls are going so we have two royal rooms booked. What would I need to request to be a close distance to walk over to main building to food court? And how many days from arrival should we request? I'm a little confused. Also, I should know this one but I'm blank.....the boat to DTD can also be taken back to POR, correct? For some reason we have always taken the bus back. Lol

 

[Gorechick]

IIRC, if you are staying in Oak or Parterre, you will have to walk through the Parterre, Oak, and Magnolia parking lots to get to East depot. We were in the center of Parterre and South was more convenient for us (and a prettier walk).

 

[dawgsgirl]

Hi all!

I'm currently booked at CBR for early May and while I LOVE the look/idea of the resort, the not so great things I keep hearing about it make me nervous...

I'm curious about POR...I really like the look & rooms in Magnolia Bend but really do NOT like the theme of Alligator Bayou. Aside from booking a Royal Room (I have 2 young boys who would not be fans of that lol) is there a way to ensure I end up in MB?? By booking certain views??

I looked on Port Oleans.org and maybe I missed it

Any advice given would be much appreciated

Be very careful...there is no way to guarantee the mansions unless you are in a royal room. I finally gave in and booked POR with a request for the mansions. Our request was not met and we ended up in the AB section--or the swamp as we called it. I did not care for it at all!! Such a shame, as I really wanted to like POR!!

 

[Koh1977]

What do this year's refillable mugs look like? Anyone have a pic?

 

[dansdad]

What do this year's refillable mugs look like? Anyone have a pic?

From the "One and Only Refillable Mug FAQ and Question Thread" at the top of the resort board.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2447967&page=102

 

[Venomhatch]

From the "One and Only Refillable Mug FAQ and Question Thread" at the top of the resort board.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2447967&page=102

Ha ha you beat me lol.

 

[Kenney Klan]

Any suggestions of what rooms are better? Better view, better room? We are staying this May 2013 at Port Orleans for 4 days, just not sure what room to book. Any advice you an give me on the Port Orleans would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dansdad]

Any suggestions of what rooms are better? Better view, better room? We are staying this May 2013 at Port Orleans for 4 days, just not sure what room to book. Any advice you an give me on the Port Orleans would be greatly appreciated.

That's kinda tough to answer because different people like different things. I would start out by looking over this awesome site.

http://portorleans.org/


And especially this page as it has great descriptions of all the different views and categories.

http://portorleans.org/room-requests.php

 

[amybaud]

It's getting really close to my 60 day mark and am trying to decide about online check in. I am booked in a river view room. My understanding is that they are fairly close to the food court and pool etc because they are at the front of their respective buildings and therefore on the main path. I'm thinking my only request would be AB section which has been noted on my original reservation. Trying to decide if I need to request anything else - close to main building(?). We aren't landing at MCO until 6:45 pm. Do I do online check in or not? Send a fax 5 days out or not? What's everyone's opinion?

Thanks in advance,
Amy

 

[dansdad]

It's getting really close to my 60 day mark and am trying to decide about online check in. I am booked in a river view room. My understanding is that they are fairly close to the food court and pool etc because they are at the front of their respective buildings and therefore on the main path. I'm thinking my only request would be AB section which has been noted on my original reservation. Trying to decide if I need to request anything else - close to main building(?). We aren't landing at MCO until 6:45 pm. Do I do online check in or not? Send a fax 5 days out or not? What's everyone's opinion?

Thanks in advance,
Amy

Whether you do online check-in or not has zero affect on whether you get your requests met.

Definitely send a fax 5-6 days out. POR and POFQ are the only 2 resorts that still accept, or actually read, faxed requests. So might as well take advantage of that fact.

 

[bumbershoot]

It's getting really close to my 60 day mark and am trying to decide about online check in. I am booked in a river view room. My understanding is that they are fairly close to the food court and pool etc because they are at the front of their respective buildings and therefore on the main path.

So....just to be really really specific, we had a corner room in Parterre (so not just river, but Royal river, and this might not pertain to your situation b/c I haven't looked at all types of rooms), and if we could have had a slide coming down from outside our room we would have been really close to the path. But the fact is, you have to walk *back* from where those rooms are, in order to get to the stairs to get to the path to get back to the front of the building to get to the path. Honestly I would have rather had a room away from the river view but closer to the staircases, especially since DH was injured, using a cane, and refusing a scooter.

That said, it was a really pretty view.

Whether you do online check-in or not has zero affect on whether you get your requests met.

Well, the online checkin form has specific things you can request; when I did it I requested a corner room, and that's exactly what we got, despite getting in well after 1am. I did not do the fax, by the way.

 

[andrewilley]

I am just saying heading to the parks the south depot is the best way to go.

That had always been my general advice too, but I tried one of the outer stops last trip and found it actually worked very well. If your room gives you easy access to one of the outer stops then they are definitely worth trying - especially for buses which have not already visited the South Depot (such as the MK service). Of course if we were having breakfast first and then heading straight off, South works best.

Coming back you need to weigh up the walking distance to your room versus the time saving from using whichever stop the bus gets to first. If the bus arrived at South first, we'd get off there; if it got to East first we'd use that one.

All I'm saying is if one of the outer stops is convenient (and you'll very often find that's the case) give it a try, they are usually a lot less crowded.

I was looking at room diagrams for the alligator bayou and it seems there is really no place to keep your clothes. Is there really no dresser? Just the e little drawers under the Murphy bed?

Correct. There is quite a bit of space in those three drawers though, and some extra shelf-space on top of the banquette seat and beside the fridge. It was better than we expected, and we coped with four people in the room anyway. Five adults would struggle though!

This year my sister and her girls are going so we have two royal rooms booked. What would I need to request to be a close distance to walk over to main building to food court? And how many days from arrival should we request? The boat to DTD can also be taken back to POR, correct? For some reason we have always taken the bus back. Lol

You'd request "close distance to walk over to main building to food court". Don't overthink it, just ask for what you want (rather than a specific location) which gives them the widest scope to help you. Send a fax 3-5 days before you arrive, but also make sure your requests are listed in your original booking too. See the FAQ in the first post.

The boat to DTD goes both ways, yes. It operates up to 11pm.

What do this year's refillable mugs look like? Anyone have a pic?

Same as last year so far.

It's getting really close to my 60 day mark and am trying to decide about online check in. I am booked in a river view room. My understanding is that they are fairly close to the food court and pool etc because they are at the front of their respective buildings and therefore on the main path. I'm thinking my only request would be AB section which has been noted on my original reservation. Trying to decide if I need to request anything else - close to main building(?). We aren't landing at MCO until 6:45 pm. Do I do online check in or not? Send a fax 5 days out or not? What's everyone's opinion?

You can't add much using online checkin, just a few tickboxes, but it's a good idea to go ahead and do it anyway, and it won't stop you faxing further details later. So yes, do online now and then send a fax if you wish at 5 days out. By all means ask for a room close to the main building - you might even get building 14 which would be great - but it's also worth having that added to your original booking.

So....just to be really really specific, we had a corner room in Parterre (so not just river, but Royal river, and this might not pertain to your situation b/c I haven't looked at all types of rooms), and if we could have had a slide coming down from outside our room we would have been really close to the path. But the fact is, you have to walk *back* from where those rooms are, in order to get to the stairs to get to the path to get back to the front of the building to get to the path.

Well, the online checkin form has specific things you can request; when I did it I requested a corner room, and that's exactly what we got, despite getting in well after 1am. I did not do the fax, by the way.

Too late now I know, but did you try walking the other way? From the 'wing' or building-end rooms in Parterre that you describe there are stairs at both ends of the wing block, so the absolute worst case should that the stairs are 4 rooms away.

I'm not sure how long 'Corner Room' will stay on the online request forms. It's a great idea, but so great that apparently pretty much everyone now selects it - and as there just aren't enough corner rooms to go round it might mean more people are disappointed rather than getting their requests met.


Andre

 

[amybaud]

Thanks everyone for the quick replies. This threaded great!!

 

[loganjared]

I had a CM tell me that resorts make room assignments 2 days before check in and to call the front desk of the resort at that time to make room requests.