POFQ or POR?

[xera12]

We have FINALLY made the decision to stay at one of the Port Orleans resorts. We just cant decide which one! Eek! Lol we have never been to disney, so we want it to be awesome. We are 4 adults in our mid to *cough* *cough* late 20s. No kids. We are not big partiers so we really dont care much about that. Any suggestions?

 

[DizDaD7]

POR for sure...Just the main pool enough is to make me stay there. POFQ's pool is a lil on the kiddish side..Slide & all.

POR has a nice lounge to just hang around , w/ YeeHaw BoB, who is very entertaining. POR food court is one of the best...

I'm not a big fan of the bus situation at either, but at least POR has 4 seperate stops.

 

[cecamut]

French quarter has more of the Disney experience and fun and riverside is more relaxed and simple. I have stayed at both and would say frenchquarter

 

[shell8558]

I have only stayed at POR , but I really love it. ( it's my favorite resort ) the good news is that they are so close to each other that you could walk and enjoy both of them. My fav things about POR are the beautiful grounds, pool , carriage rides, boat to dd, food court with make your own pasta - yum -and full service restaurant with yee ha bob. ( think that's his name) good luck !

 

[2 Little Mermaids]

We have stayed at pofq twice and love it. Have stayed standard view in buildings 2 and 6. Very close to pool and counter service. Also love closeness of buses. Yes there is only one bus depot but never had a problem. However this year thinking of trying por. During past trips I have ran from pofq through por and back. The entire distance is quite short. The only thing holding me back from por is that we aren't a rope drop family therefore when we go to the parks we always pick up at all stops. Pofq is alway first then we make our rounds to all por stops. The bus is always full and a lot of those at por have to stand. So I may stay at pofq again but attempt to take advantage of por amenities. Plus if I stayed at por I would still hike to pofq for the beignets. So I guess my vote is for pofq. Thanks for helping me with my decision!

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We've stayed at both and for adults only I would choose POR. As others have posted, with kids I would pick POFQ. POFQ is an easy walk and worth taking; being they are sister resorts you can use facilities of both if you choose to.

 

[karly05]

My advice is to read the FAQ threads for both resorts here, and check out Andre Willey's portorleans.org site. Look at the maps and the pictures and decide which resort is more appealing to you. Last month, I stayed at POFQ for the first time and loved it. I looked at both but chose POFQ for the smaller, more compact size, and because I liked the looks/style of it best. I am not a "rustic, outdoorsy" person, so what a lot of people LOVE about the Alligator Bayou section of POR didn't appeal to me. The mansions look huge, and POR in general is much larger and more sprawling than POFQ.

I'm not a pool person, so that wasn't a factor, and I only used the food court for breakfast, so that wasn't really an issue, either. My experience with bus service at POFQ was fine, but I don't generally have an issue with the buses. I don't think you can go too far wrong with either, but the more time you spend researching and looking at photos and video, the more you'll find you have a preference for one or the other.

 

[pamkat1820]

I think for adult only trip and if I was picking from the 2. I would go with POR. It's larger, it was a larger pool and u have choices with the quiet pools if you didn't want the noise. Food court is great but a little crowded. Pasta station is awesome. Grounds are beautiful only draw back is the resort is large. beautiful but large. Lots of walking

 

[minnie mum]

Karly05 has already said exactly what I was going to say.

They're both great resorts, and you really need to take an in depth look at the resort websites to decide for yourself which is the more appealing for you and your friends. There is no wrong choice here.

 

[nkereina]

We are two adults in our late 20s and we prefer POR. We didn't care for the mardi gras-esque theme at POFQ with the pool being geared more towards kids. Also, we prefer the quiet pools since there are generally less people and there are no quiet pools at POFQ. We grab quick meals in the food court a lot and we find POR's to be bigger with more selections. We like that there are 4 bus stops at POR because the stops are less crowded. And lastly, we go to DTD often and the boat starts from POR so people at POR always have a seat, and never have to wait for the next one.

 

[nkereina]

I have only stayed at POR , but I really love it. ( it's my favorite resort ) the good news is that they are so close to each other that you could walk and enjoy both of them. My fav things about POR are the beautiful grounds, pool , carriage rides, boat to dd, food court with make your own pasta - yum -and full service restaurant with yee ha bob. ( think that's his name) good luck !

FWIW - we found the walk to between POR and POFQ to be just long enough that we did it once and were all set. Never felt like making the trek again between the two. It was also in the heat of September, and the path was blacktop in the direct sunlight.

The full service restaurant, Boatwrights, at POR is good and you almost never need a reservation. Yeehaw Bob plays in the lounge which is adjacent to the restaurant and he plays most nights during the week. His show is definitely geared towards kids so we were not fans. He gets rave reviews, but it wasn't for us. Doesn't hurt to stop by and check it out if you're staying there though!

 

[Sue M]

We've stayed at both, and they are both great resorts, but in the warm weather I'd prefer POR, Mansion section. Great location, and POR have quiet pools too, in addition to the main pool. So if you're not into the afternoon childrens pool party, you can hang out at a quiet pool.

Even though you are going in a slow season, and not into planning, a certain amount of planning is helpful for a WDW vacation if you want to do more stuff other then standing on lines.
Easy Disney has free Crowd Calendars so you can see which park is the least crowded each day. And Touring Plans has one too, and touring plans, which are helpful in avoiding long lines. And well worth the $9 or $10 they charge for a subscription. Up to you.

Also if you want to have any table service meals, you would have to book them ahead. You can book as far as 180 days ahead of check in. And the more popular restaurants do get booked up. If you have some in mind, to avoid disappointment it's good to book ahead. This is where having a plan of which park you plan to be in would come in handy So you can book your res on the day you plan on being in that park/area.

 

[lucyem]

We were at POFQ last fall. Chose it for the smaller size. Our room overlooked the pool and the bar/pool/counter service food/ gift shop were like right out the back door. It was great. Pool was never overly crowded at all. Never had to wait for a second boat as they always had eough room.

Visited POR twice for meals and to check it out. Their main pool was literal kid soup of craziness. I would not let my kids in it. You could not see water. And the noise..... The lines for the boat to get back to FQ and DTD were insane. They would let FQ people to the front to get on knowing they would get off at FQ and leave some room for FQ people to go to DTD. But for DTD you had a looooong wait. It was nice to have different options for meals but once again a bigger cafeteria with tons more people.

I would go back to FQ in a heartbeat but POR is on my not to bother list.

 

[scjo68]

We have stayed at both several times.

We like them both very much.

The main difference is the size. Riverside is much larger, and more spread out. Staying there could involve much more walking to get anywhere. French Quarter is smaller and the buildings are much clloser together. Our first stay at FQ, our room was the last room in the builing the farthest away from the main lobby and food court building, but it still was not a long walk.

If you don't want to do a lot of walkinng to get around at the resort, I would choose POFQ.

Otherwise, theming is the main difference.
Riverside is more natural feeling- trees and plants are the main scenery. We find it beautiful and relaxing, usually serene.

POFQ is themed to New Orleans, and is more "city" in feeling. It did not feel quite as serene. Even though fewer guests stay at the resort, you see more people around because everything is closer together. Not that it was a party hotel or wild and crazy by any means- it's not. I's just a little more urban in feeling than rustic. Attractive architecture is the main decorative element, rather than natural foliage.

In my experience, transportation, cm's, and mousekeeping were about equal at each resort, overall.

I would look at pictures of both, and see which appeals more to you.

I do not think you can go wrong with either!

 

[JanaJohn]

I'll limit my comments to the bus situation. We stayed at POFQ and loved being able to get on the bus first before those getting on at POR. No problems finding a seat! From what I've heard most resort buses stop at another resort before heading to one of the parks. At night on the way back to the resort once again we always stopped at POFQ first. Late at night the last thing I want is to make several stops at other resorts before I get to my stop. I'm tired....I'm cranky and I want to get to the bar and have a late night beer!

 

[nkereina]

I'll limit my comments to the bus situation. We stayed at POFQ and loved being able to get on the bus first before those getting on at POR. No problems finding a seat! From what I've heard most resort buses stop at another resort before heading to one of the parks. At night on the way back to the resort once again we always stopped at POFQ first. Late at night the last thing I want is to make several stops at other resorts before I get to my stop. I'm tired....I'm cranky and I want to get to the bar and have a late night beer!

FWIW, we stayed at POR in September which is a slow time of year and the only times we shared buses with POFQ was in the afternoon when the bus was mostly empty anyway. I don't know how often they share, but it wasn't much in September.

The bus situation was actually one of my gripes with POFQ. Since there is only one bus stop, it got crowded. When a bus pulled up, everyone rushed to the entrance. No one cared who was ther first, etc. There were no set lines like at the values. I didn't encounter this at POR, likely because there were more bus stops.

 

[NateTiff]

I've stayed twice at POFQ with my husband and we love it there. The main reason is the size of the resort. After walking over to POR, we were so glad we didn't stay there. Too big for our taste.

 

[melissarose]

I vote POR. My boyfriend and I (we're 25) just came back from there last month and it was amazing. POFQ is really beautiful too and I would consider staying there in the future, but I just loved POR and I really love the Alligator Bayou rooms, more so than the other rooms at POR and the rooms at POFQ. Also, the pool at POFQ did seem more oriented towards kids.

 

[clapton]

Definitely POR, beautiful grounds, nice pool, good food court and great atmosphere.