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

[Disneylvr]

So excited! This morning I noticed that preferred rooms became available for our dates with the spring promotion so we upgraded from the garden room we had booked. We really wanted a Bayou room for the first time (our 4 previous stays at POR have been mansion rooms which we love but wanted a change) and now it is guaranteed unless they are overbooked.

[nancy drew]

FWIW, for those talking about Be Our Guest, You can go in before they open for lunch and take photos. You can only see the foyer and main ballroom, but that was enough to satisfy my curiosity such that I didn't feel the need to stand in line for lunch. I realized I just wanted to see what the place looked like. I know we will be back many times, and we can eat there once the hype has died down. Just thought I'd share.

Now on to my own question:

What room type should I book??? We will be spending one night at POR and really won't be in the room much. However... it will be myself, my 2 kids, and my mom. I don't sleep well in a shared bed, but I will make do if needed. We will have a car, but might just use the bus system anyway. We have never stayed at POR before. Assuming the price difference doesn't exist (it does, but for one night the difference is so minor it doesn't matter) what room type would you book?

[siskaren]

The only way you could avoid sharing a bed with four people is in an AB room, which has a Murphy bed (so one child in the Murphy bed, the other with your mother in one of the queen beds, and you in the other.) You can guarantee getting an AB room by booking a preferred room since all preferred rooms at POR are in AB.

[ksromack]

Originally Posted by debedo

Has anybody tried "Be our Guest Restaurant" yet? I tried making ADR for May and they are booked already.....

We ate there in December. Woke up at 5am to call when they opened up reservations for the first time! In my opinion, I would recommend the table service lunch over the dinner anyway! The slow simmered pork they have at lunch was one of the best things I ate on the trip and the green beans that came with it were superb! Warning.....be prepared to be in line at 10 am. They open up at 10:30 for lunch and that's exactly what we did. Believe me, you will be happy you did that. We were done before 11:30 and the line was all the way down by Little Mermaid ride at that point. At least when we went you could pick which room you wanted to eat in for lunch . Now if getting a picture with the Beast is important to you, you will have to get dinner ADRs as I believe that's the only time you can get pictures with him.

[oasispaul]

Luvamouse, Venomhatch & Backstage Girl:

Thanks for the quick & informative replies re: the boat rides & schedules!

[5mouseketeersforus]

Woohooooo!!!! Just talked to one of the most incredible CMs EVER on the reservation line. She was so helpful & such a joy to speak with. She knew her stuff and just made the whole experience so magical!

We changed our room only rez to the Stay/Play/Dine package and are staying in our Royal Rooms!!!!

I really thought we would have to give those up since they weren't avail on the website! But the CM managed to sprinkle pixie dust our way and we are now in a Garden View RGR.

Don't want to share details here - but it has been a rather difficult time since our little one arrived so this is AWESOME!!!

[Venomhatch]

Originally Posted by oasispaul

Luvamouse, Venomhatch & Backstage Girl:

Thanks for the quick & informative replies re: the boat rides & schedules!

That's what makes this thread the best on here, lol! Informed Members/Guests!

[nancy drew]

Originally Posted by siskaren

The only way you could avoid sharing a bed with four people is in an AB room, which has a Murphy bed (so one child in the Murphy bed, the other with your mother in one of the queen beds, and you in the other.) You can guarantee getting an AB room by booking a preferred room since all preferred rooms at POR are in AB.

There is no option for preferred rooms, but I think the river view room description says some rooms have the murphy bed.

If the Royal Rooms are really that much more awesome than the regular rooms, I can suck it up and sleep with one of the kids for one night. But if the room really isn't that much better than a regular room, I think I'd prefer a regular room for cost purposes and the possibility of a murphy bed. So are the RR really that awesome?

[lucifie]

This thread has been busy the last days!

We just checked in at POR in AB. Thank you Venom!!! I faxed my room request on Friday and we got everything we asked for. We requested 1st floor as close as possible to the main building and said that we would like a corner room, but stressed it isn't as important as the first two requests. We got 1st floor, corner in bldg. 18. We booked Garden View and they put us in a preferred bldg! I was worried about space, but there's plenty of room for the 6 of us.

We drove down and stayed in a hotel with all 4 kids for the 1st time. It was a little rough at first but once they settled down it was fine.

Thank you to everyone! I haven't seen it in the daylight, but so far I'm very happy that we chose POR!

[Venomhatch]

Originally Posted by lucifie

This thread has been busy the last days!

We just checked in at POR in AB. Thank you Venom!!! I faxed my room request on Friday and we got everything we asked for. We requested 1st floor as close as possible to the main building and said that we would like a corner room, but stressed it isn't as important as the first two requests. We got 1st floor, corner in bldg. 18. We booked Garden View and they put us in a preferred bldg! I was worried about space, but there's plenty of room for the 6 of us.

We drove down and stayed in a hotel with all 4 kids for the 1st time. It was a little rough at first but once they settled down it was fine.

Thank you to everyone! I haven't seen it in the daylight, but so far I'm very happy that we chose POR!

Glad to hear Amy!!! Enjoy and hope you have a magical visit!

[pigletto]

Originally Posted by 5mouseketeersforus

Woohooooo!!!! Just talked to one of the most incredible CMs EVER on the reservation line. She was so helpful & such a joy to speak with. She knew her stuff and just made the whole experience so magical!

We changed our room only rez to the Stay/Play/Dine package and are staying in our Royal Rooms!!!!

I really thought we would have to give those up since they weren't avail on the website! But the CM managed to sprinkle pixie dust our way and we are now in a Garden View RGR.

Don't want to share details here - but it has been a rather difficult time since our little one arrived so this is AWESOME!!!

Wonderful!!!!
And you leave so soon! You know it's funny. I booked with a pin code last week (free dining) and when I called they were able to give me a category that wasn't showing on the website for that promotion too. I've never had that happen before. I was actually checking while she was and she pulled it up and I couldn't. I wonder if it's all this Candian website nonsense preventing us from seeing some things. Oh well. I won't question it too much.
Enjoy your stay and we want to hear all about it when you return.
33 days until we are in a Royal Room ourselves!!!

[momof2gr8kids]

Originally Posted by quietgirll

The only other request we had was upper floor, and we got that too...we just enjoy upper floors so we don't have to hear anyone over us, and there's not much traffic outside our door. We thought the location was GREAT! We went with the standard view, which was convenient to our car when we drove a couple of days, but we were also close to the bus stop/food court/main building. There was a quiet pool right beside us,many the laundry room was there, so it was perfect! As a matter of fact, the night I did laundry, I put the clothes in the washer, walked down to food court to fill my mug, walked around the main area some sightseeing, walked back to laundry room, then back to room, relaxed a bit, then headed back down and picked them up out of,dryer. It was VERY convenient!

I think we will request that building too. Need to be close to laundry and the quiet pool would be a bonus. LOL

[sunnydays28]

Just curious, is there any building/walkway at POR that the Epcot fireworks can be seen from?

[PixieDust1928]

Originally Posted by RubySlippers

Yea!

[lucifie]

Originally Posted by sunnydays28

Just curious, is there any building/walkway at POR that the Epcot fireworks can be seen from?

I think I saw that you can see some of them from certain rooms on the 2nd floor of certain buildings. When we were arriving tonight we could see the sky lighting up, but couldn't see any actual fireworks