Disney's PORT ORLEANS FRENCH QUARTER RESORT Information & Questions

[dansdad]

My TA told me that if we didn't get the room we requested that we should see if it will be available later on in our trip...we will be there for 10 days. I asked for specific rooms about 8 months ago so I hope my chances are at least good on that...if not, we'll just have to wait and see. If you book specific rooms and do an on line check in...how do you know if you get those rooms?

You'll find out when you get there.

 

[scrapple]

how is the pool for kids? I will be staying one night here (before I spend 7 nights at Bonnet Creek) and was wondering what time it stays open till, and if it is heated.

 

[andrewilley]

I asked for specific rooms about 8 months ago so I hope my chances are at least good on that...if not, we'll just have to wait and see. If you book specific rooms and do an on line check in...how do you know if you get those rooms?

You can't book specific rooms, only request something. When you make the request is not taken into account (indeed I rather doubt that even shows up on the system), single-room allocations are mostly done a few hours before your arrival time on a 'Ready Room' basis (i.e. they check what room might be available to assign to you, and try to get you a room ready even if you are arriving early, ideally matching with any requests you may have made). You could also try faxing 3-5 days before arrival if your request is more complex or for some reason might require blocking out in advance (e.g. multiple rooms, etc). You will know the room number when you arrive at the front desk, or sometimes by text message an hour or so earlier if you are taking advantage of the direct to room system. See http://www.portorleans.org/mymagicplus.php#OnlineCheckin

how is the pool for kids? I will be staying one night here (before I spend 7 nights at Bonnet Creek) and was wondering what time it stays open till, and if it is heated.

Pool hours vary seasonally, but it opens at either 9am or 10am and closes at 8pm in the depths of winter, and more like 9pm-10pm the rest of the year. Peak summer months with the longest daylight hours will be 11pm. All WDW pools are heated to around 82 degrees.

Andre

 

[totallytigger]

Thanks. All the buildings have elevators, right? Would a higher room offer a better view? And if I make request, should call central reservations now or contact the resort prior to check in?

They do have elevators--but the elevators are at one end of the building(at least in the building we stayed in) and it is quite a walk to the rooms at the other end of the building. The elevators in our bldg were at the end closest to the river(farthest from lobby) and our room was on the third floor closest to the lobby but farthest from the elevator!! Needless to say, we did alot of stair climbing--or crawling(after a long park day)!!

 

[totallytigger]

Stupid question, but I've been googling and can't find an image of what the single pods look like. Are they flat and round, completely of fabric? Or do they have a round surface on top? smaller than the Kcups? I'm trying to bring my own coffee for our trip but I'm not having a lot of luck figuring out which to buy.

And also just wanted to confirm.., all the rooms come with a fridge these days right?

They are the flat round fabric ones. I brought some Senseo cooffee pods in May and they worked great.

 

[hildae0630]

I'll be staying at FQ Jan 7-10 and again Jan 13-16. Do "The Fifteens" girls from Argentina stay at this resort?

 

[JessicaW1234]

Does the POFQ gift shop sell cases of water? If yes, how many for how much$?

 

[SingingMom]

Does the POFQ gift shop sell cases of water? If yes, how many for how much$?

Not this past January. Had to buy individual bottles.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

I'm thinking of shipping an Amazon Prime order with some bottled water and snacks. It says the shipment time is 1-4 days. If it arrives a few days before I do, will they just hold it? I did an order of water from Staples last year and it arrived the day before we did and there was no problem. Just wasn't sure if it shows up 3-4 days early, if that's okay.

And I use the address listed on the front page of this thread, right? Just include my name, check in date?

 

[andrewilley]

I'm thinking of shipping an Amazon Prime order with some bottled water and snacks. It says the shipment time is 1-4 days. If it arrives a few days before I do, will they just hold it?

Yes, they will hold it, make sure that address label indicates GUEST, name, and your arrival date. Reservation number is not really needed. See http://www.portorleans.org/services.php#Mail for details as the address varies slightly depending on how it is being shipped.

Andre

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Yes, they will hold it, make sure that address label indicates GUEST, name, and your arrival date. Reservation number is not really needed. See http://www.portorleans.org/services.php#Mail for details as the address varies slightly depending on how it is being shipped.

Andre

Thank you so much!

 

[lucas]

Yes, in fact that's the best way round to do it. Aim to send your fax about 3-5 days before your arrival date.

Andre

Don't know if I will try faxing again for our upcoming trip. Last time we stayed at PORFQ, I sent in my fax and when we checked-in they gave us the exact opposite of what we requested! Of course, we asked to be changed (wanted a room close to food court, no pool view, and no connecting doors) and they were able to give us exactly what we wanted.

 

[thiabelle]

Just checked in and want to shout THANK YOU to everyone on this thread. We faxed our room request (just building 4 please) using the online fax thingy that Andre has on page one. When I phoned in my reservation I had requested a corner room and top floor. My fax indicated building 4 was most important and we didn't care about our earlier request. Well guess what we are in building 4- corner room- top floor. Best room ever.
Pool wasn't too crowded at 2 o'clock. Every CM has smiled and said hello.
I'm so happy to be here. Thank you all for your advice and answers.

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

Just checked in and want to shout THANK YOU to everyone on this thread. We faxed our room request (just building 4 please) using the online fax thingy that Andre has on page one. When I phoned in my reservation I had requested a corner room and top floor. My fax indicated building 4 was most important and we didn't care about our earlier request. Well guess what we are in building 4- corner room- top floor. Best room ever.
Pool wasn't too crowded at 2 o'clock. Every CM has smiled and said hello.
I'm so happy to be here. Thank you all for your advice and answers.

Glad you got room you requested! We are checking into POFQ on Thursday (Beach Club Tuesday) so it's nice to hear such a nice review. We have always been happy with CM's and our stays at the French Quarter. We only requested 'ground floor'. Glad you are off to a great start!

 

[thiabelle]

Thank you! I hope you get your ground floor request. It's so quiet here!!

 

[chuckml]

We are checking in Thursday as well. Can't wait to return. It was the first onsite we brought our daughter to, so it is a special spot for us. We haven't stayed since before the refurb so we are looking forward to seeing the new rooms. Thanks for all the info in this thread!

 

[helenm29]

Hey everyone out there, could you please take some pictures of the rooms? ie beds? need some new ones. Thank you!

 

[Born 2B a Princess]

We just got home from our six night stay at POFQ and we absolutely LOVED it! It is now our favorite resort, hands down! It was so gorgeous -- so green and lush, so much shade, so many beautiful trees, shrubs, and plants, and so many beautiful little sitting areas on the grounds. It's lovely being right on the river. We were in a pool view room, building 5, and it was great. We did notice some light from the pool coming in under/through the drapes at night but that was the only indication we had that we were near the pool at night. Next time I'll take a couple of clips with me to close the drapes more tightly. We were concerned about noise from the pool but were very pleasantly surprised that there wasn't any. We did have an issue with a loud neighbor one night around 11:30 pm but my husband poked his head out the door and they were very sweet and apologetic about it and that was the end of it. We could have been the only resorts in Bldg 5 for all we knew -- we never heard any noise at all.

Aside from one CM in the gift/sundries shop who didn't really want to be bothered to help anyone, every single CM we encountered was, without fail, smiling, cheerful, enthusiastic, and very helpful.

The food court was great -- we especially loved the beignets.

The pool was nice -- it never felt really crowded and it was fun watching the children's activities in the afternoon -- the CMs leading the children's activities at the pool were great. The lifeguards were great (one of my daughters is a lifeguard so she notices things like that) and she enjoyed watching them training in the pool in the early morning while we were there.

Our only complaint was that mousekeeping seemed to show up in the afternoons when we were taking our resort break (around 3-4 pm) and so one day we passed on their services and just got clean towels, and another day they were cleaning when we arrived so we went and hung out in the food court until they were done with the room. In addition, my parents' room (adjoining ours) had a bad smell for the entire stay (it smelled bad the moment they walked into the room) but maintenance couldn't figure out what the problem was. Our room was fine.

Our rooms were not ready when we checked in (3 pm on the dot) but my parents got a text as I was finishing up my check-in that their rooms were ready. Our rooms were ready about 45 minutes later, which was fine -- we put our stuff in my parents' room and went down to the pool while we waited. My daughter was scheduled for a phone interview for a job at 4:30 that day and we mentioned that when we checked in so they made sure that at least one of our rooms was available before then so she could do her interview.

The boats to DTD didn't run during the thunderstorms, but we expected that. Bus service was pretty good and there was almost always a bus monitor there to let us know when the next bus was coming, check on buses when there had been a long wait, etc. The longest wait we had was 20 minutes but on average we waited no more than 10 minutes. I had forgotten that POFQ and POR share buses during the day and so a few times it took us longer to get to our destination that I had planned but that was my fault for forgetting and planning accordingly.

We loved their set up for movies under the stars each night -- we didn't have a chance to watch any but every time we walked by when they were doing the movies we said we would watch the next night....but the rain interfered on our last few nights so we never got to. But I think it would be lovely to do that on our next visit, and also to do a carriage ride.

We absolutely loved POFQ and it's our new favorite. We'll definitely be staying there for our next trip!

Thanks to Andre and everyone else for all of the great information provided in this thread and on the website!

 

[Born 2B a Princess]

Hey everyone out there, could you please take some pictures of the rooms? ie beds? need some new ones. Thank you!

We were there last week. The beds and pillows (queen sized) were quite comfortable.

 

[helenm29]

We were there last week. The beds and pillows (queen sized) were quite comfortable.
View attachment 116794 View attachment 116795 View attachment 116796 View attachment 116798

Thank you for the pictures! just wanted to get a gander at what the rooms would look like.