Just back from Riverside - quick thoughts

[nkereina]

What other resorts have you stayed at? I'm curious because we found the walking to be minimal from POR preferred rooms, as compared to other ones.

I agree about mousekeeping. They were less than stellar on our last POR trip - finger prints on the mirror (not ours), rings from previous guests' drinks on the armoire, crumbs by the window seat next to the air conditioner that weren't ours, no soap/shampoo on our first day.

On our first stay at POR, the food court was nuts. It seems like everyone else was there at the same time we were. Did not experience this on our last trip and didn't have to struggle to look for a table either. The time of day makes a big difference - we were there about 7:30-8:00 every morning trying to make rope drop and it was pretty empty. On the trip before, we were there later and it was packed. I'd imagine this is par for most food courts because we experienced this at POFQ as well. POFQ's food court is much smaller than POR's so the situation was worse. POR actually has one of the bigger food courts so I don't know if you'll find a solution elsewhere, unless you change your time.

[princessallegra]

Originally Posted by eastcarolinafan

WOW! Goes to show you how different our experiences can be at WDW. I love -- absolutely LOVE -- Port Orleans Riverside. We have stayed in all three mods and this is my absolute favorite. My wife's favorite is CS, but POR is a close second, and my daughter agrees with me about POR. Go figure.

We were in Alligator Bayou, room 1458, I think and the location was ideal. I mean, I could not have been happier. We were two minutes away from two bus stops, and a five minute walk from the pool. Our experience was entirely different than apparently many here.

Not only would I reccommend POR, I hope to stay there again soon! Great Mousekeeping, friendly staff, convenient location, frequent buses ... what else do I need?

Could have written this myself! So funny!

[I Love Pluto]

Originally Posted by princessallegra

Could have written this myself! So funny!

Originally Posted by eastcarolinafan

WOW! Goes to show you how different our experiences can be at WDW. I love -- absolutely LOVE -- Port Orleans Riverside. We have stayed in all three mods and this is my absolute favorite. My wife's favorite is CS, but POR is a close second, and my daughter agrees with me about POR. Go figure.

We were in Alligator Bayou, room 1458, I think and the location was ideal. I mean, I could not have been happier. We were two minutes away from two bus stops, and a five minute walk from the pool. Our experience was entirely different than apparently many here.

Not only would I reccommend POR, I hope to stay there again soon! Great Mousekeeping, friendly staff, convenient location, frequent buses ... what else do I need?

I agree with BOTH of you! We LOVE POR!

[nigel-bigel]

Originally Posted by nkereina

What other resorts have you stayed at? I'm curious because we found the walking to be minimal from POR preferred rooms, as compared to other ones.

For Mods, we have stayed at Port Orleans and Coronado Springs. It is true CS is bigger but we stayed preferred in the Cabanas section and for some reason we felt closer to the main building, I don't know why. Maybe becasue the paths are more direct and don't meander as much???

I must admit that the landscaping at Riverside is beautiful, and those meandering paths are quite pleasant if you are in the mood for a long stroll.

We have also stayed at Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club, Yacht Club, Dolphin and both the Boardwalk and the Boardwalk Villas (and those Villas entailed a LOT of walking as well.)

Nicole

[Amy&Dan]

Thank you for the review, I am sorry you had bad housekeeping. I'm afraid that's a Disney wide problem right now and one they need to get a serious handle on.

As for the size, I can see how that might be a problem for some people. Many of the resorts at WDW are large. We actually prefer those and have learned we would never spend a whole trip at a resort that wasn't as large or even larger than POR. That probably seems weird to you OP!

I am amazed you liked CSR although the buildings being situated around the lake are easier to navigate and you said you were in cabanas. Had you been in Rancho's, you might have felt differently. While POR is probably very near the same size as CSR, its situated differently. At CSR you can see almost all the resort from the beache's and to me its easier to get around. Same with CBR.

Its good you tried it out and thank you for the review!

[Aidanself]

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside in October last year. DH and I were in a room that connected to my DS's room and we both had Royal Rooms. We had no remote control for our TV and in DS's room there was hair in the vanity sink, it didn't look as if it had been cleaned other than a quick sweep and wipe and she'd paid for a water view room but ended up having a great view of the back of the stairs. While looking for our remote I found stickers and large chunks of crumbs under our bed. While walking to the vanity I stepped on something that ended up being someone's hair clip. (I don't wear them.)

We did call and mention the condition of my sister's room and how her view wasn't of the river, even if the windows faced that direction. She was credited a small amount (which was great, we weren't expecting that!), and the next day her room was cleaned. It did take us 2 days to not only get a remote, but batteries for it. (I actually had to go to the front desk and ask for a remote...but they failed to give me batteries.) I know...I know, it's Disney, do you really need the TV? Yes, we do, especially in the morning while getting ready or when we're unwinding at night.

After all that, things were fine. Mousekeeping improved greatly! Even made characters out of towels for us each day. The walk wasn't awful, but we were pretty close to the footbridge. The food court is AMAZING! Honestly, I could have eaten breakfast and dinner there every day and I wouldn't have been upset. I recommend the "create your own pasta bowl". It was wonderful!

Would I stay there again? Probably. Would I recommend it? Yes, but I wouldn't rate it as high as say the Yacht Club. It's a nice moderate rate hotel. The Royal Rooms are nice, but there's only so many times you can watch your headboard explode with fireworks. It was nice for a one-time thing. Also, with a river room view - you also are subjected to the water traffic which includes the shuttle boats - which are required to blow their horns until 11:00 pm.

The grounds are very pretty, and there are 4 bus stops which makes getting around pretty easy.

[Srbright]

I am always intrigued by the subjectivity of things like this.

We stayed in POR in September and are going back next September (69 days until I can make ADRs!!!). We loved the resort. We stayed in building 16 which was not preferred but was less than 5 minutes to the main building, pool or bus stop.

Google Maps (for the geeks out there) has a distance lab that lets you connect points.

Furthest Preferred to middle of main building:

POR: Building 18 - 876 ft
POFQ: Building 5 - 586 ft (furthest pool room, no preferred)
CBR: Building 34 - 1214 ft
CSR: Casita 2 - 1156 ft


I did some for the values a few days ago but they are just as bad. I enjoy from an analytical perspective that it depends on the person. Time is, as we know, relative. A 1200ft walk in an enjoyable place is quicker and more pleasurable than a 600 ft walk in somewhere that you might not like.

Just ask people that work in Detroit in the winter time when they race the sun to their cars at 5:00 PM. The 3 minute walk to the parking garage in the winter is much worse and scarier than it is in the summer.

Stacy

[disnut8]

Originally Posted by dminnie

As to this comment that someone made: "It looked like who ever stayed in the room decided to take a shower after the room had been cleaned on checkout day. Can't blame mouse keeping for that." ...I would say that IS mousekeeping's problem. They should clean the room after the party is checked out. Lots of people go for a swim or something and then want a quick shower right before they check out.

But it's different at Disney World. You don't "check out" necessarily. If the party in the room had Express Check-Out, the housekeeper would have gone in there when the room didn't have a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door or after 11:00 if the DND sign was still on the door. With Express Check-Out, you never have to return to the front desk and turn in your room keys so therefore, housekeeping has no idea when you actually leave.

I had this happen to my mother-in-law's sister. She took her Do Not Disturb sign off her door, went down to the Magical Express check-in site to give them her luggage and returned to find her room completely cleaned out and another family moving in. At 9:00 AM.

If you don't want housekeeping coming into your room until you are totally finished, keep that Do Not Disturb sign on your door until you are 100% done.

[Sweettears]

Originally Posted by disnut8

But it's different at Disney World. You don't "check out" necessarily. If the party in the room had Express Check-Out, the housekeeper would have gone in there when the room didn't have a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door or after 11:00 if the DND sign was still on the door. With Express Check-Out, you never have to return to the front desk and turn in your room keys so therefore, housekeeping has no idea when you actually leave.

I had this happen to my mother-in-law's sister. She took her Do Not Disturb sign off her door, went down to the Magical Express check-in site to give them her luggage and returned to find her room completely cleaned out and another family moving in. At 9:00 AM.

If you don't want housekeeping coming into your room until you are totally finished, keep that Do Not Disturb sign on your door until you are 100% done.

This pretty much sums up what happened. It would have been nice of the guest to at least call down to housekeeping to let them know. However I highly doubt that they cleaned the room while there was luggage and other evidence of occupancy.

[MrRomance]

We have stayed at CBR, POR and SSR, we also had family staying at POFQ for our wedding vow renewal last year. I have to be honest, I really didn't like POR at all. I can't say we had a bad experience, there were no big issues or problems, but I just didn't like the place.

It is a massive resort, but I don't think it was as big as SSR and I didn't find that to be an issue, but at POR I just didn't like the feel of the place. It had some good points, liked the food court etc., but I just wouldn't stay there again. It's strange because we read so many positive things about it before we booked it. I think it's one of those places you either like or you don't.