Port Orleans Riverside FAQ thread --- 2012, Part Three --- NOW FULL / CLOSED

[Cinderumbrella]

Originally Posted by firstwdw

I am trying to figure out the logistics of a character breakfast at the Beach Club. We are staying at POR without a car. If I got a very early breakfast time(7:30)....how would I get there? If I did a later time such as 10:45ish and had it correspond with our DHS day-then could we be at 9am rope drop of HS, have time to get Toy Story Mania fastpass or ride it and then be over to Beach Club on the Water Taxi in time? I'm just trying to determine if it's worth the hassle. We just want to have breakfast with Goofy and the beach club looks so cute! But it also seems like a "you can't get there from here" kind of place. Maybe we'll stick to Tusker House for our AK day instead.....

We enjoy Cape May for breakfast, but admit we only eat there when staying BC, YC or BWI. The logistics of using WDW transportation for any resort to resort hop is time-consuming at best.

However, a taxi would be another alternative, if you are willing to go that route.

[andrewilley]

Originally Posted by HLAuburn

A GV still might be a good distance from the main building and/or a bus stop. Another option might be to see if there is a Royal Room available - at least you know you will be in one of two buildings, and both are pretty close to the main hall.

RGR's won't necessarily guarantee all that much, as you could just as easily be on the far side of Parterre Place which are some of the furthest-away rooms.

If you can't get Preferred, then regular River View would help a little, as those all overlook the walkway around the island and so are among the closest rooms (including some in 14 and 27, which are the same buildings that have the preferred rooms). But personally I'd stay with Garden View to keep the cost down, and put in a request on medical grounds.

Originally Posted by firstwdw

I am trying to figure out the logistics of a character breakfast at the Beach Club. We are staying at POR without a car. If I got a very early breakfast time(7:30)....how would I get there? If I did a later time such as 10:45ish and had it correspond with our DHS day-then could we be at 9am rope drop of HS, have time to get Toy Story Mania fastpass or ride it and then be over to Beach Club on the Water Taxi in time?

The 7:30 breakfast would be a little uncertain by Disney transport, I'd suggest geting a taxi as your safest bet. The 10:45 option would be very do-able though. You'd have ample time to get to DHS, get a fastpass (and even ride TSM too, if you're there at rope-drop) and then head over to the Beach Club. As long as you're out of the Studios exit and heading for the boat dock by about 10am, you should be fine for a 10:45 breakfast at the BC.

Andre

[HLAuburn]

Originally Posted by andrewilley

RGR's won't necessarily guarantee all that much, as you could just as easily be on the far side of Parterre Place which are some of the furthest-away rooms.

If you can't get Preferred, then regular River View would help a little, as those all overlook the walkway around the island and so are among the closest rooms (including some in 14 and 27, which are the same buildings that have the preferred rooms). But personally I'd stay with Garden View to keep the cost down, and put in a request on medical grounds.


Andre

I agree that your best bet (IF you can't get a preferred room) is to put in a request noting your medical reasons for a particular location. It also couldn't mention that you *tried* to book preferred, but it wasn't available.

But I still think RRs would be a good option. We were on the far back side of Parterre, and I still thought it was MUCH better than a regular AB room or other MB buildings. Most of those buildings require you to walk across OMI or around it and that can be quite a trek!

Just my 2 cents!

[PISCESANGEL]

Subbing! There is a lot of great info on here and we are heading to POR in a week!

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Originally Posted by Missytara

I have not stayed at CSR, but I have read up on their thread and POR will be very similar to CSR.

CBR is totally different in that its shear size is exasperated by the layout of the site. It is much more elongated, so rooms tend to be farther from main building.

In addition, unlike CBR, where your walk back from the bus stop through the parking lot is completely out of shade until you arrive at your separate building, POR is different. Once you exit the bus stop and walk around the sidewalk to the building (you don't have to walk across pavement), you are under the walkways of the building until you reach your room.

I have stayed in Acadian House, standard view a few times and the walk was no more than five to six minutes to the main building. Same with Parterre Place and Oak Manor before they went to RR's.

Originally Posted by Missytara

You will get different answers to this question.

I travel solo and go at off-times, so I never had trouble getting a bus. Even with a group, you should not see any issues, unless it is a truly busy time of year.

People who tend to go at rope drop and travel at the busiest times of days will tell you that POR bus transportation is a "nightmare", but I have never experienced it.

One of the great advantages of staying at POR is you have alternate ways to return to the resort in the evening. I always end my evening at a resort for dinner and a leisurely stroll before getting on the DTD bus. Then you can either transfer there right to a POR bus, or walk over to the Marketplace boat dock (you can see the top of the volcano of RFC from the bus hub - just walk towards it) and take the water taxi. While the buses run every 20 - 25 minutes at the hub, the water taxi runs every 10 minutes after 4 pm, so I am never waiting long for a water taxi. It is a nice way to end the day.

Thank you so much for your input. I for one absolutely hate the layout of CBR. CSR doesn't bother me. Yes it is big but I enjoy walking the grounds.

POR seems very quite and serene to me. Which I like after the hustle and bustle of the park. As of now we are leaning toward POR for our stay I think. I think I sort of like the Bayou section of the resort the best, So most likely will book a preferred section there. But if I don't can you recommend any standard section that is most convienent?

[caa1277]

Never stayed here at POR. I am seriously considering moving our stay from CBR to POR for June of this year. The only rooms that they have available for this resort and our dates are the royal rooms. I have two kids, a son who will be 17 by travel date and a daughter who will be 12. Are these rooms to "juvenile" for my kids ages?

[Venomhatch]

OK here is a new revised Fax Template For those of you that may need it. This Fax below is just one way to word the fax and has a very good success rate at achieving a little extra magic when trying to achieve room requests. This may have some things you may need it may not. If you have Medical reasons add those to this. If your celebrating something let the CMs know! Every little bit helps generate you some extra pixie dust. Everything in BOLD and sized bigger are things to either draw attention to or you need to change to reflect your own info. If you have any other needs feel free to PM me and ask for assistance.

Also I have this in Microsoft Office Word format for easy editing, just ask!

Copy below this line-------\/

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

Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort
Attn: Room Assignment Manager (David Elg)
Friday, February 15, 2013
Resort Confirmation# ????????


Hello, and good day to you and your staff!

On March ??, my Family and I will be spending our annual vacation in Walt Disney World at your Port Orleans Riverside resort. We are all looking forward to this trip from March ?? – ??, with much excitement. We would be most grateful if you could possibly send a little Pixie Dust our way and accommodate a room request for Oak Building perhaps a corner room, maybe either Rooms ????, ????, or ???? we really like the ????. I have also paid extra for a “River View”. The reason I have this request is that one of us in our group will be celebrating a Birthday there Jane and she has always wanted that corner room and we never seem to get lucky enough to have one. Jane and myself (John) will be celebrating together an engagement there! She doesn't know but I plan to propose to her on this trip!!! So it would be very magical to receive this pixie dusted surprise upon arrival. It would be the most magical experience to achieve that one time for her. We will be arriving at your resort in just under two weeks, and would greatly appreciate any assistance you can provide in making our wonderful vacation more enjoyable and magical.

Sincerely,

John and Jane Doe
Home Address: 1234 Walton Avenue, Wally World, FL 32830
Home Phone: 407-936-5778 and Cell Phone: ???-???-????
Email: ?????????@yahoo.com

• Building requested Oak Manor, Rooms ????, ????, or ????, Preferably room “????”.
• Paid for River View and Royal Guest Room Theme
• Must be Second Floor please we are very sensitive sleepers and would be easily woken by passing traffic.

[Missytara]

Originally Posted by DevonsDisneyMom

Thank you so much for your input. I for one absolutely hate the layout of CBR. CSR doesn't bother me. Yes it is big but I enjoy walking the grounds.

POR seems very quite and serene to me. Which I like after the hustle and bustle of the park. As of now we are leaning toward POR for our stay I think. I think I sort of like the Bayou section of the resort the best, So most likely will book a preferred section there. But if I don't can you recommend any standard section that is most convienent?

If you loved walking the grounds at CSR, then you will equally love POR.

Since my favorite building Oak Manor went to RR's, I just love Acadian House. Close to transportation and a quiet pool. Lovely walk to the main building.

I stayed my first year at CBR and never went back. Forgive me, I am an architect and from day one, I noticed how it was laid out and I could just see all the issues with it.

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Originally Posted by Missytara

If you loved walking the grounds at CSR, then you will equally love POR.

Since my favorite building Oak Manor went to RR's, I just love Acadian House. Close to transportation and a quiet pool. Lovely walk to the main building.

I stayed my first year at CBR and never went back. Forgive me, I am an architect and from day one, I noticed how it was laid out and I could just see all the issues with it.

Thank you! Well it looks like we will eb staying at POR! YAY!!!

I was the same way. I stayed at CBR for my 1st visit and never considered staying there since!

[andrewilley]

OK, just for quick-reference purposes, here are the best case / worst case walking distances from ground-floor rooms in the various mansion buildings at POR (as calculated using Google Earth imagery, and taking the best walking routes into account).

Acadian House > Food Court: 307 yds / 499 yds
Acadian House > South Bus Depot: 482 yds / 674 yds
Acadian House > Ferry Dock: 454 yds / 646 yds

Magnolia Terrace > Food Court: 245 yds / 458 yds
Magnolia Terrace > South Bus Depot: 420 yds / 633 yds
Magnolia Terrace > Ferry Dock: 392 yds / 605 yds

Oak Manor > Food Court: 286 yds / 488 yds
Oak Manor > South Bus Depot: 303 yds / 505 yds
Oak Manor > Ferry Dock: 275 yds / 477 yds

Parterre Place > Food Court: 249 yds / 456 yds
Parterre Place > South Bus Depot: 266 yds / 473 yds
Parterre Place > Ferry Dock: 238 yds / 445 yds

Acadian and Magnolia's shortest distances are walked via Ol Man Island, Oak and Parterre's are via the alternative bridge to the south of the marina. The best-case distances are all from River View rooms, the worst-case distances are from Standard or Garden View rooms.

So, based on an average walking speed of 3mph - and assuming you don't get lost or stop to smell the roses en route - that gives the shortest Magnolia Bend walks to the food court as about 2' 45", and the longest ones as 5' 40".

Andre

[fadingjamie]

Originally Posted by andrewilley

No reason why not, there are lots of King Beds in the mansion buildings (OK, there are more in AB but that's only because there are more rooms in total in AB - and proportionally to the overall rooms, the mansions get a larger percentage of Kings). I assume you've booked a King Bed room already, so just put in a request for the mansions and most likely you'll do just fine.

A little late, but thank you! That is very reassuring. I was trying to count how many king rooms there are on the map on the POR website and it didn't feel like a lot but I'll take your word for it. I'm even more excited now!

[FigmentChick]

Venom,

Awesome fax, as always! Thank you so much for taking the time to help all of us. I'm usually a lurker, but I love to read everyone's thoughts on POR because we do consider it "home" now. I'm going to be doing consulting over the next two months and we could very well afford the Poly, but I think we'll stick with our favorite.

[Indy Denise]

If anyone is going from July 10-16th ( or coming in during those dates ) I would be more then happy to purchase bottled water ( or other things ) and bring it to the resort for you.

I will be stopping in my mini-ish RV and stocking up on water, soda, chips/snacks. and Coors Light..so it would not be a problem if I picked extra supplies up.

I would love to help my " roomies " out!

[pigletto]

Hi all! I have an either/or question for you.
A few months ago I booked our resort with a 35% off code at POR in a gardenview room. Fast forward to now and our dates are switching around a bit as we have some extra time and decided to go to Universal after Disney instead of before.
I can't keep the room we have as the extra days we need are no longer available.

However I have choices.. oh boy do I have choices

I'll try to be as concise as possible.

StayPlayDine is working out to be the cheapest because we are knocking it down to a one day ticket because we have AP's. (Free Dining actually comes in higher funnily enough)

So that being said all that is left at POR (where I really want to stay) is a Royal Garden View room for our dates.

I could also book a Garden View at POFQ for 200 dollars cheaper under the same discount.

I love POR and have wanted to go back for a long time. However, I don't have little girls ( I do have a 15year old girl and an 8 yr old boy). They would think the Royal Room was cute but it's not necessary.

So would you go for POR in the Royal Room .. when you know you love the resort? OR would you save the 200 for tips and go to POFQ where you have never stayed before?

I personally love the themeing of POR but I don't know if it's worth the extra 200. I don't think we'll get to use the pool much in February no matter where we stay, and we'll have a car so buses from either don't really matter. All opinions appreciated.

[Venomhatch]

Originally Posted by FigmentChick

Venom,

Awesome fax, as always! Thank you so much for taking the time to help all of us. I'm usually a lurker, but I love to read everyone's thoughts on POR because we do consider it "home" now. I'm going to be doing consulting over the next two months and we could very well afford the Poly, but I think we'll stick with our favorite.

Thank you very much!