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

[amybaud]

You are not alone.. I think my husband is on Disney overload from me right now.. We are on spring break so I have had a lot of time to indulge myself with planning for the past few days.

Me too!! My husband grounded me! I can only talk about Disney once a week and on Fridays!

 

[germ539]

I just don't want to be to "requesty" on stuff, I'm just happy that we can go (keeping fingers crossed), we had everything paid for last year and then ended up with medical issues/surgery with DS and had to cancel, luckily we had bought the insurance and got the majority of the money back. So we are knocking on wood and all that other stuff to hopefully get us to the end of May without any issues.

 

[Venomhatch]

I just don't want to be to "requesty" on stuff, I'm just happy that we can go (keeping fingers crossed), we had everything paid for last year and then ended up with medical issues/surgery with DS and had to cancel, luckily we had bought the insurance and got the majority of the money back. So we are knocking on wood and all that other stuff to hopefully get us to the end of May without any issues.

Well my fingers crossed for you! You can request, whats the worst they say, "I am sorry we couldn't accommodate that but we got you this lovely room."

 

[germ539]

I look at it this way, at least we're at Disney, we have a room, no matter where it will be at POR, just happy to be there.

 

[Venomhatch]

I look at it this way, at least we're at Disney, we have a room, no matter where it will be at POR, just happy to be there.

Gooooooood Point!

 

[jacobjennasmom]

I have a strange question...I read on here a day or two ago that the ac at POR is not the motion sensor kind like at ASM, where we stayed last year. My husband is a loud sleeper and my whole family sleeps with a (loud) fan running, no matter what the weather is. I am debating on bringing the fan with us (we are flying) because last year at ASM it was a nightmare with the fan turning on and off on the ac unit. Drove me nuts and I had to run my iphone all night with a white noise app playing. My quesiton is, are the fans on the ac units loud and do they run constantly? I don't want us to freeze either but just need to make sure we will have some sort of "fan" sound running and it not, I will try and figure out a way to pack ours into our luggage.

Thanks so much for the info! Everyone here is so helpful!

 

[lillykat]

Well I have heard that some say check in but don't put anything in the room request portion at the bottom that may conflict with your fax that's all.

I didn't do online check in for just in case.

About the two room part... Have both confirmation numbers on this fax and names of all staying, you know the details for them.

We just would like to have connecting rooms, upper floor, close to main building. I don't want to request room numbers bc would like them the have leeway to give the closest options rather than limit them. We have rgr gv booked.

 

[lillykat]

But there is much less work to be done for the online checkin folks (almost just pick up your Welcome Pack and go) so the line should move a lot quicker in theory. It does depend on how many CMs are available at the time of course.

But definitely do online checkin BEFORE sending any faxes - that way, any requests you make in your fax will take precedence over anything from the online form.

Andre

You two are the experts. So you suggest checking in now that I am in the 60 day window, then faxing at the 10 day mark? I notice Venom feels the other way. Is there a reason why one of you suggests faxing then chen in vs checkin before fax? We did online checkin last time and it was actually much quicker so we definitely want to do online checkin. Just very different advice so not sure which is best?

We will be there mid may. I know no one really knows but saw here people mentioned fastpass+ might be at POR by the time we go. Does one have to have done online checkin to take advantage of it? If so would that change the above advice in anyway? Sorry I ama type A planner. My DD has been sick a lot this year and has had a rough year. The girls have been begging to go back to disney so this trip is a birthday trip to them both. I am trying to make it really special.

One last question...our flight arrives 940am at mco on a monday. What drop is POR usually? What other resorts does ME usually drop off before POR? Realistically, what time would we be at the hotel? 11, 1130, 12? What time do you think we could make it over to the MK by?

 

[moparop]

We are a family of 5 staying at POR for the first time. I am looking for suggestions to maximize storage space in our room. Since we are 5, I know the drawers under the Murphy bed will be challenging to use.

I read the ideas of the sweater hanger for the closet, and we always do a popup hamper. Is there storage under the bed?
Any other ideas? We are driving so packing practical pieces for the room should not be an issue.

 

[Venomhatch]

We just would like to have connecting rooms, upper floor, close to main building. I don't want to request room numbers bc would like them the have leeway to give the closest options rather than limit them. We have rgr gv booked.

Good call, I agree!

 

[Venomhatch]

We are a family of 5 staying at POR for the first time. I am looking for suggestions to maximize storage space in our room. Since we are 5, I know the drawers under the Murphy bed will be challenging to use.

I read the ideas of the sweater hanger for the closet, and we always do a popup hamper. Is there storage under the bed?
Any other ideas? We are driving so packing practical pieces for the room should not be an issue.

No storage space under the beds, They are boxed in frames so no crawlspace. The only thing other than living out of the suitcases like we do when there or the hanging organizers we took just one for the three of us and the pop up hamper.

 

[andrewilley]

Is there a reason why one of you suggests faxing then chen in vs checkin before fax?

One last question...our flight arrives 940am at mco on a monday. What drop is POR usually? What other resorts does ME usually drop off before POR? Realistically, what time would we be at the hotel? 11, 1130, 12? What time do you think we could make it over to the MK by?

I suggest doing online checkin first just because you can do it much earlier, and then that info is already available to anyone checking your details if a fax is received later. And I suggest 3-5 days for sending faxes as that's what the Room Assignment Manager at POR specifically suggested would be the ideal time frame for most bookings (much longer than that and there's a danger your fax will get put in a tray until they start working that time period, which could result in something being missed). Oh, and address your fax to the department, not to any individual (even the manager) as if that one person is off duty or on holiday your message could get overlooked for a while.

If your flight arrives at 9:40am (and it's an internal flight) then you could well be at Port Orleans via M.E. by 11am, but I'd allow up 2 hours to be on the safe side. If you go straight to the park rather than heading to your room first, you could probably be in the MK by 12:30.

Andre

 

[monicajonathan]

My family and I will be heading back to POR on June 8th. We will be driving and should arrive there on that saturday in the late afternoon. I would like to surprise my family with a carriage ride. I saw them the last time we were there but we didn't get a chance to do it. Would I have to make a reservation for a carriage ride and how far ahead can I make a reservation?

 

[andrewilley]

Would I have to make a reservation for a carriage ride and how far ahead can I make a reservation?

You can book up to 180 days out (though there's no need to do it anywhere near that far out) via 1-407-WDW-PLAY. For more details, see www.portorleans.org/recreation.php#Carriage

Andre

 

[monicajonathan]

Thanks so much for info.

 

[just teachin]

You can book up to 180 days out (though there's no need to do it anywhere near that far out) via 1-407-WDW-PLAY. For more details, see www.portorleans.org/recreation.php#Carriage

Andre

We'll be there the first week of June... is it necessary to make a reservation? I'd like to do it, but I also don't want to overplan our stay...

Thanks for ALL the great info, everyone!

 

[Venomhatch]

I suggest doing online checkin first just because you can do it much earlier, and then that info is already available to anyone checking your details if a fax is received later. And I suggest 3-5 days for sending faxes as that's what the Room Assignment Manager at POR specifically suggested would be the ideal time frame for most bookings (much longer than that and there's a danger your fax will get put in a tray until they start working that time period, which could result in something being missed). Oh, and address your fax to the department, not to any individual (even the manager) as if that one person is off duty or on holiday your message could get overlooked for a while.

Andre

Not trying to argue on this, but did you speak with him after I left? Because I mentioned to him about this and he told me in person to send them in 7-10 days out because of the traffic of faxes.

I can agree on the check in now. I asked him after speaking to Lillikat earlier, and he said when it comes to the online check in people can do it if they want first but don't fill out requests on it that will conflict with their faxed in requests.

--------------------------------------------

But to anyone that needs the fax details then they can come to me and I will help. I am always willing to go the extra mile for our guests.

 

[siskaren]

One last question...our flight arrives 940am at mco on a monday. What drop is POR usually? What other resorts does ME usually drop off before POR? Realistically, what time would we be at the hotel? 11, 1130, 12? What time do you think we could make it over to the MK by?

The ME buses don't have set routes or even set resorts for a particular bus.

 

[ALD85]

The ME buses don't have set routes or even set resorts for a particular bus.

They don't? I read somewhere (another thread here, I believe) that each resort has its "own bus" is that not true?

 

[Venomhatch]

The ME buses don't have set routes or even set resorts for a particular bus.

The current bus for POR goes to POR first then three other resorts. They usually do 3 or 4 resorts to a bus.

They have several buses that have routes preset but change every so often but I don't know how often but it does change.