Disney's PORT ORLEANS FRENCH QUARTER RESORT Information & Questions

[mom2AidanAndEli]

I booked the bounce back for free dining while I was at POFQ last summer. For our family of four, all considered adults and including one teenage boy who can eat me out of house and home, the free dining is ABSOLUTELY the best deal! We're not military, so would rely on the 25% discount for a moderate room only reservation. That would save me about $50 a day. No way I can feed all of us on that budget at Disney! Free Dining may not be the best deal for everyone, but it certainly is for some--my family included!!!

As for the ADRs, many people booked them a long time ago, anticipating the free dining would be offered.

 

[pumpkin_tx1]

I booked the bounce back for free dining while I was at POFQ last summer. For our family of four, all considered adults and including one teenage boy who can eat me out of house and home, the free dining is ABSOLUTELY the best deal! We're not military, so would rely on the 25% discount for a moderate room only reservation. That would save me about $50 a day. No way I can feed all of us on that budget at Disney! Free Dining may not be the best deal for everyone, but it certainly is for some--my family included!!!

As for the ADRs, many people booked them a long time ago, anticipating the free dining would be offered.

I definitely understand that! We do get a larger discount with the military and we are just a family of three (DS4), so the free dining just doesn't save us anything. I could definitely see how it could save some quite a few bucks if a family is used to eating a lot every day. I'm sure once my boy hits his teen years, I'm going to go broke trying to Keep up with how much he will eat. I hope you were able to get everything you wanted and yall have a great time!

 

[bookgirl]

We did free dining at POR a couple of years ago, and it didn't save us any money. It also didn't fit the way we typically eat on vacation or at home. It was okay as far a convenience or using the snack credits at F&W but not a bargain by any means.

We do much better at RO and paying OOP for food.

I will try later today to see if they have a good RO discount at FQ. Right now I have a decent rate at BB but I'd prefer a different room view.

This might be a different story if I had kids or did character meals but for two adults who are not foodies and eat fairly normally even on vacation (not dessert eaters, not much interested in the refillable cup, happier with breakfast in the room, will sometimes share entree's, etc) the dining plan is just not workable for us.

 

[pwdebbie]

ANDRE! I am sitting in the laundry area right now and the prices on the machines were just changed from $2.00 to $2.50 (washers and dryers). The techs came in after I put my laundry in the washer. When I went to the dryer, the tech said the system was rebooting so he gave me a free dryer load using his codes for the machine. Literally, this price increase happened ten minutes ago.

 

[JamiLeigh1913]

Anyone else NOT get FD and 100% okay with that?
I am!

When I booked I planned on taking my son out of school for at least one day just in case we would qualify. We booked at POFQ knowing it may not be available. My agent tried for 2 hours yesterday to move us to POR but since my mom is staying in a room by herself and the only room available was a Royal Room, it didn't save her. It would have saved my family of 4 but we have two boys and I wasn't thrilled with the possibility of a Royal Room. Plus we have done POR twice, before kids, and I was looking forward to POFQ and my 7 year old likes the look of the slide.
Long story short... If stinks but I'm excited to try POFQ for the first time. And since it's excluded maybe it won't be as crowded as others.

 

[andrewilley]

ANDRE! I am sitting in the laundry area right now and the prices on the machines were just changed from $2.00 to $2.50 (washers and dryers). The techs came in after I put my laundry in the washer. When I went to the dryer, the tech said the system was rebooting so he gave me a free dryer load using his codes for the machine. Literally, this price increase happened ten minutes ago.

I assume this will be for all of the machines across Port Orleans, I'll update the site again, thanks for the info. Oh, and is the $2.50 fee for 30 mins or 60 mins of dying time?

Have you tried the new internet laundry access feature by the way? (Hmm, they add a new free feature one week... and the next week, completely unrelated of course, there's a 25% price increase... )

While you're there, could you maybe let us know the current situation with the POFQ bus stop? A visitor to my site mentioned that they phoned last night and a CM said that "the bus station is running as normal". However I do wonder if this is the usual level of information that we get from phone calls...

And while I'm being cheeky, any info you can glean on the evening entertainment front at Scat Cat's (names, dates, anything at all really) would be very welcome.

Hope you are enjoying your stay, between research queries anyway!

Andre

 

[Cndrsgrl]

Yesterday, booked first time rooms at POFQ. I was hoping to get a royal room at POR- but it wasn't available. I have a question re: food court there. How does it compare to riverside? I'm bringing my granddaughter who will be 3. Last time I stayed at POR, was 6 years ago for DD wedding..

 

[totallytigger]

I really think it is quite funny to watch everyone lose their minds trying to book to get the free dining. We save much more a day purchasing a military room only reservation and mil tickets. I doubt there are any ADRs left for those dates anyway for people. I hope everyone trying to get in is able to get what they would like, but you wouldn't find me in that crowd.

I'm right there with you!! I feel soooo lucky and thankful for the military discounts as they save me alot of planning headaches!! Thank you Disney!!

 

[mac3mpc]

Anyone else NOT get FD and 100% okay with that?
I am!

My TA called and asked if we wanted to switch to Coronado and change our dates to save $300 with free dining. It seems POR isn't eligible for FD at the end of October. I told her thank you for checking but we are happy with what we have. Between having to change flight reservations and dining reservations, the $300 savings just wasn't worth it for us. Besides, we have our hearts set on POR. So looking forward to it.

 

[firstwdw]

Just returned from a week at POFQ~ our third stay. We were in building 1 overlooking the fountain and absolutely loved the location! We adore POFQ~

the only complaint/lesson learned is to lay on the beds before unpacking everything! We checked for bed bugs, wiped down the room with clorox wipes, unpacked everything and headed out to the parks. However, we quickly learned that we had the LOUDEST beds ever! EVERY SPRING must have been broken. We couldn't even move an inch without loud squeaky noises coming from the bed (and we are 2 small adults and small child). No one got much sleep and we debated saying something. I went to the front desk to make them aware of these worn out mattresses and they were so wonderful-they moved us down a few rooms so we were still in the awesome location but with less squeaky beds!

The temp bus stops were fine-they have benches and shade. There was always a bus monitor there and if they saw us running to catch a bus they would hold it for us. They had iPads and could tell us exactly when the next bus was coming. We decided we actually liked the construction because the bus monitors were there and we liked that! Never saw much work being done on the old bus stop-they are replacing concrete where the buses drive/pull up to the stop.

Gift shop was out of French Quarter ornaments but did have a few resort specific items for sale.

All in all.....great trip!!!!!! Went to look at Coronado and Carribbean the day we had the rental car and I just don't know if I can go anywhere else other than POFQ!

 

[PeaMuff]

Yesterday, booked first time rooms at POFQ. I was hoping to get a royal room at POR- but it wasn't available. I have a question re: food court there. How does it compare to riverside? I'm bringing my granddaughter who will be 3. Last time I stayed at POR, was 6 years ago for DD wedding..

The food court at Riverside is loud. busy and messy (and personally, I didn't enjoy the smell of wet wood all the time), and I far prefer the one at POFQ. It's smaller, but I think they have a better selection of food. I did love the make-your-own pasta station at Riverside, but that was the only thing that I prefered there. If you can get past the scary parade float heads and figures staring down at you (I know, they are authentic and all, but they are still kinda creepy! ), I think you will very much enjoy the POFQ food court.

 

[Ozzygirl]

Just got back Monday night and spent out last night at POFQ and really loved the resort. We had Building 5 which was awesome right across from the food court and the pool. Our room was gorgeous and clean and quiet. I appreciated the small size after being at the BWV for 5 days. The food was good at the food court and I think it was open until 11pm. The mornings were very hectic and crowded.

The bus situation was kind of a nightmare though. I thought the backyard BBQ party tents set up in the parking lot was a mess. There was a single bench and the man with the Ipad really didn't seem to know when what bus was coming until it pulled in. The boat to DTD was cancelled due to winds so there were only buses. We waited through a MK and 2 AK buses for 40 minutes before giving up and deciding to eat at the hotel. You'd think they would add buses if they close the boats. All in all I really liked it. Not sure if the bus thing was a glitch.

 

[little miss minnie]

We will be staying at FQ for the first time this September/October. We had originally planned on Riverside, but when we couldn't get free dining, we checked out the room discount pricing at FQ, and saved enough money to add an extra day to our trip! I'm so excited!

 

[TempleOT]

We will be at POFQ in 10 days for our first stay there! Woot-woot! can't wait!

 

[Cndrsgrl]

The food court at Riverside is loud. busy and messy (and personally, I didn't enjoy the smell of wet wood all the time), and I far prefer the one at POFQ. It's smaller, but I think they have a better selection of food. I did love the make-your-own pasta station at Riverside, but that was the only thing that I prefered there. If you can get past the scary parade float heads and figures staring down at you (I know, they are authentic and all, but they are still kinda creepy! ), I think you will very much enjoy the POFQ food court.

Thanks so much for your input. I remember the make your own pasta but not much else. Too overwhelmed with wedding stuff at the time..

 

[andrewilley]

The May 2015 Recreation Activities and Movie Schedules are up on the site if anyone wants to check them, see http://www.portorleans.org/news.php?first=290415&limit=6.

The evening campfires will commence at 7pm this month and the Movies Under the Stars will be screened at 9pm daily at both resorts. The feature swimming pool opening hours start out at 9am—10pm, and should be extended to the full summer hours of 9am—11pm from 24 May.

Andre

 

[karly05]

Just got back Monday night and spent out last night at POFQ and really loved the resort. We had Building 5 which was awesome right across from the food court and the pool. Our room was gorgeous and clean and quiet. I appreciated the small size after being at the BWV for 5 days. The food was good at the food court and I think it was open until 11pm. The mornings were very hectic and crowded.

The bus situation was kind of a nightmare though. I thought the backyard BBQ party tents set up in the parking lot was a mess. There was a single bench and the man with the Ipad really didn't seem to know when what bus was coming until it pulled in. The boat to DTD was cancelled due to winds so there were only buses. We waited through a MK and 2 AK buses for 40 minutes before giving up and deciding to eat at the hotel. You'd think they would add buses if they close the boats. All in all I really liked it. Not sure if the bus thing was a glitch.

Last week, we had a good "Bus Boss" one morning who was watching the buses come through the gate and calling out what they were - but even at the normal POFQ bus stops, I don't think we've ever known what bus was coming until it got there. I know some of the other resorts have had the display boards showing the expected bus waits, but AFAIK POFQ hasn't had those (yet). I know what you mean about seeing multiple buses you don't want while waiting for the one you do want. One morning, waiting for an Epcot bus, we saw a couple of buses for everywhere else (including DTD) before Epcot showed up. There were even 2 Hollywood Studios buses, one right after another, and not that many people waiting for them.

I will say, I haven't been to DTD a lot, but invariably, no matter what resort I'm at or traveling from, DTD By Bus is the biggest transportation pain of the trip!

 

[andrewilley]

I know what you mean about seeing multiple buses you don't want while waiting for the one you do want.

The buses system is hub-based, where each hub (e.g. each theme park) sends out its own series of buses, so that can happen if (for example) Epcot buses are running smoothly but there have been delays at MK. They can't easily switch a seemingly spare Epcot bus over to a different route without it being planned centrally.

Of course there's also the psychological side of it too, along the same lines of when you hear someone mention about finding some lost item "in the very last place they looked" - of course you find things in the last place you looked, because you stop looking at that point.

Andre

 

[pwdebbie]

I assume this will be for all of the machines across Port Orleans, I'll update the site again, thanks for the info. Oh, and is the $2.50 fee for 30 mins or 60 mins of dying time?

Have you tried the new internet laundry access feature by the way? (Hmm, they add a new free feature one week... and the next week, completely unrelated of course, there's a 25% price increase... )

While you're there, could you maybe let us know the current situation with the POFQ bus stop? A visitor to my site mentioned that they phoned last night and a CM said that "the bus station is running as normal". However I do wonder if this is the usual level of information that we get from phone calls...

And while I'm being cheeky, any info you can glean on the evening entertainment front at Scat Cat's (names, dates, anything at all really) would be very welcome.

Hope you are enjoying your stay, between research queries anyway!

Andre

That would be $2.50 for 60 minutes. Didn't know about Internet laundry access.

Bus stop is as described before -- two tents in the parking lot for Building 3. We have not seen any work being done at the real bus stop but it is still closed off. A driver told us the road there was sinking and had to be replaced.

Because of the current bus stop location, we have not gone through the main building to know if there is any music in the evenings. I was looking yesterday to see if any entertainment was listed but only bar hours were posted.

 

[jenny105]

Anyone else NOT get FD and 100% okay with that?
I am!

I'm completely fine with it. We're booked under a travel agent rate so it works out to be a better deal for us anyway! Free dining would've cost us a couple hundred more and we would have had to switch resorts.