Port Orleans French Quarter Q&A Thread, New for 2012 (thread now FULL and CLOSED)

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I have a problem and I'm wondering if it's a UK issue, or something else.

I've been doing dummy bookings for POFQ, to try and compare prices, etc.

This is the site I'm on:
http://www.disneypackages.co.uk/

I want to go POFQ 13-27 May 2014, Standard view.
This should also give me free dining, 14 for 7 tickets, etc.

But I can not get a standard view room.
It shows the options to select Garden and Water view and has the faded box for standard kingsize (our party is too big so not an allowed option), but no sign at all of Standard.

If I cut off the second week it works, so is there something going on with Standard rooms that week? Or is it a computer glitch? Or something else?

Slightly confused :confused:

You have to remember that with any special offer there are a limited number of rooms, room types, at each resort. I am guessing that since that is a UK ok promotion, there are very few rooms available in any one category/resort combination.
 
Thanks Shaden and mom2taylorandemily - I feel like an embarrassed fool now, I don't know why I couldn't figure that out for myself. Completely new to this I guess (DH did it all last time) and kind of thought the website would tell me what's going on!

If I move it to 11-25th May it works, so it's either going to be that or change resort I guess. Not keen on either idea really.
Also slightly worried as we need to book two rooms - what I if I get one but that's the last?! I'm going to phone tomorrow and hopefully someone will be able to help? Really hope so...


I thought you couldn't book packages yet for 2014? Maybe that's why things are showing "unavailable". :confused3

Actually, it's telling me I only have 9 days to go - I need to get moving!

And if things were showing as 'unavailable' I'd have understood, but it's not showing at all which is what confused me.

Thanks again for the help people :)
 
Thanks Shaden and mom2taylorandemily - I feel like an embarrassed fool now, I don't know why I couldn't figure that out for myself. Completely new to this I guess (DH did it all last time) and kind of thought the website would tell me what's going on!

If I move it to 11-25th May it works, so it's either going to be that or change resort I guess. Not keen on either idea really.
Also slightly worried as we need to book two rooms - what I if I get one but that's the last?! I'm going to phone tomorrow and hopefully someone will be able to help? Really hope so...




Actually, it's telling me I only have 9 days to go - I need to get moving!

And if things were showing as 'unavailable' I'd have understood, but it's not showing at all which is what confused me.

Thanks again for the help people :)

The person who thinks it should say dates unavailable, its because they are checking the north American website, we can't book dates in 2014 yet.

No reason to feel foolish at all, I have learned a TON here in the last year, I knew nothing before hand.

Not sure why the 11-25 isn't as appealing, but I am guessing you have a good reason ;) But all in all, it might be a better time ... the earlier days are much less busy in may and the Crowd levels will spike for the week of the 24th+

The 26th is memorial day in the US so the 24, 25, 26 and to a lesser extent 27th the parks will be packed.
 
Ahh, thanks for that bit of information - Once upon a time in my youth I thought I knew about America. I now know I was wrong! :laughing: I will keep the memorial day in mind.

Apologies if I sounded snarky at all bas78173 - I didn't mean to :)

OK my reasons for that date - one silly, one not so much.
1) I want it as close as possible to my youngest's birthday. We'd be cutting it very fine before he turns two and bumps up the flight cost, but I want to celebrate it there! (I know we can celebrate there a bit earlier, like I said, kind of silly)
2) If we do manage to catch a Star Wars Weekend, it's likely to be the one with Sunday 25th. So if we move our dates to the one that's allowed, we'd be missing out on a day (or most of a day) at SWW.

I have a new problem(!)
The dates issue has forced me to shop around some more - I hadn't realised that other resorts such as CBR would work well in our budget. For less than POFQ in fact... I'm now wondering if we should go there even if the dates aren't an issue.
Argh - too much to think about and it's 1:37am here! Bed calls.

Thanks again for the help :)
 


Ahh, thanks for that bit of information - Once upon a time in my youth I thought I knew about America. I now know I was wrong! :laughing: I will keep the memorial day in mind.

Apologies if I sounded snarky at all bas78173 - I didn't mean to :)

OK my reasons for that date - one silly, one not so much.
1) I want it as close as possible to my youngest's birthday. We'd be cutting it very fine before he turns two and bumps up the flight cost, but I want to celebrate it there! (I know we can celebrate there a bit earlier, like I said, kind of silly)
2) If we do manage to catch a Star Wars Weekend, it's likely to be the one with Sunday 25th. So if we move our dates to the one that's allowed, we'd be missing out on a day (or most of a day) at SWW.

I have a new problem(!)
The dates issue has forced me to shop around some more - I hadn't realised that other resorts such as CBR would work well in our budget. For less than POFQ in fact... I'm now wondering if we should go there even if the dates aren't an issue.
Argh - too much to think about and it's 1:37am here! Bed calls.

Thanks again for the help :)

POFQ is a great resort, but often the rooms aren't as discounted as others, even within the same promotion. For instance we booked Port Orleans Riverside for May 5-17 this year. We got 30% off our room. At POFQ we would only have gotten 5% off the room.

Over two weeks, I think we saved like 600 or 700 by staying at POR

Check POR, CSR and CBR. They are all great resorts as well, unless you are completely set on French Quarter.
 
I'm not completely set - just had got used to the idea after months of thinking about it IYKWIM.
CBR looks gorgeous, but I'm worried about how big it is. I was hoping to give my older children some more freedom, which I'd feel more comfortable with at a smaller resort.

More decision making tomorrow.

And yes, I really am going to sleep now!
 
We arrive in 31 days. Do you think the lobby well be done by then?

According to the first post in this thread, it's supposed to be done by mid-July.

Hi all. I have a strange question to ask. Last night I had an awful dream where we arrived back at our room one night to a note on the door that stated due to lower capacity at the resort, the pool would be closing every night at 8:00 pm. Please tell me that this won't happen in August during Free Dining! We are planning to be there from Aug. 21 thru Aug. 28, and now my teen daughters are freaking out because they over heard me telling DH about my dream. So, I promised them I would ask and see what time the pool closes. We like to swim at night, especially after we've been at the parks all day in the summer heat! I'd hate to have to walk over to the quiet pools at POR. In the past we've stayed at CBR and been able to swim until almost 12:00 at the main pools and certainly at the quiet pools. So we are making sure before we arrive.

According to http://portorleans.org/doubloon-lagoon.php, the pool is open until midnight every night, although lifeguards are generally only on duty until 10:00.
 


I did think this - but wow, a whole year in advance?
I guess I just thought it would still show on the screen, but not be selectable, IYKWIM.

I'm gutted sad if that is the case though :(

They are not booked full for May 2014. A certain number of rooms is set aside for different offers. With it being so early I'm sure very few are available. Once 2014 packages ate released you will see more options.
 
Last night I had an awful dream where we arrived back at our room one night to a note on the door that stated due to lower capacity at the resort, the pool would be closing every night at 8:00 pm. Please tell me that this won't happen in August during Free Dining.

Well I can't guarantee that you won't have a dream about it in August :) but I can tell you that the real pool will definitely be available for you. It doesn't really 'close' at 10pm (or 8pm off-peak) anyway, that's just the time that the lifeguards go off duty so the slide and water features are shut down. There will still be people swimming until well after midnight though.


I want to go POFQ 13-27 May 2014, Standard view.
This should also give me free dining, 14 for 7 tickets, etc.

But I can not get a standard view room.
It shows the options to select Garden and Water view and has the faded box for standard kingsize (our party is too big so not an allowed option), but no sign at all of Standard.

If I cut off the second week it works, so is there something going on with Standard rooms that week? Or is it a computer glitch? Or something else?
I thought you couldn't book packages yet for 2014? Maybe that's why things are showing "unavailable".

As others have said, the problem is most likely a UK one. The UK Disney website does not really make direct bookings with WDW in the way that the USA site does. It acts rather more like a Travel Agent which is wholly operated by Disney UK, and a such has 'packages' and 'products' pre-allocated for its sales teams to sell, just like any other outside agents.

They have their own pricing structure, offers and even ticket types which are not available to US guests - and these are often better than the US deals (e.g. free dining is available for most of the year, and our 14-day and 21-day tickets & prices are far better than any of the US alternatives). Also, booking dates for packages are released a lot sooner in the UK than for US guests as brochures have to be printed and sent out a year in advance (US confirmed bookings only go up to 31 December 2013 at the moment).

This does NOT mean that no Standard View rooms are available for your dates, merely that the packages that The Walt Disney Travel Company in the UK can sell do not (at present, anyway) include that option. Also, as POFQ is a smaller and very popular resort, the amount of deals and offers applied to it are sometimes fewer than for other resorts where they might struggle more to fill rooms.

Also, the final week in May is both a US and a UK public holiday week (Memorial Day in the USA is the last Monday in May, and it's also UK bank holiday and school half-term week). This will reduce the options for that week, and likely increase the prices too.

Have you checked POR as well as POFQ? As it's a bit larger you might find better availability there, and it's only a few minutes' walk along the riverbank to POFQ if you want to use the pool or other facilities there. And that way you still get all the amenities and fun of Port Orleans, but at perhaps lower cost to you.


Edit: I also have no idea how the UK pricing structure is worked out by the way, it does not seem to reflect the per-night rack scale that the resort normally quotes. When I did a check for POR on a random off-season date in November for example, on the UK site Preferred Location rooms showed as being more expensive than Water View but cheaper than Garden View, and River View was the SAME as Garden View! Also standard Royal Rooms are meant to start from the exact same base point as regular River View rooms, but in the UK they started at £30/night more expensive:
UK-POR-13Nov.png


Andre
 
Apologies if I sounded snarky at all bas78173 - I didn't mean to :)

No worries. I don't offend easily ;)

POFQ is a great resort, but often the rooms aren't as discounted as others, even within the same promotion. For instance we booked Port Orleans Riverside for May 5-17 this year. We got 30% off our room. At POFQ we would only have gotten 5% off the room.

Over two weeks, I think we saved like 600 or 700 by staying at POR

Check POR, CSR and CBR. They are all great resorts as well, unless you are completely set on French Quarter.


See, this is me. I'm set on POFQ, UNLESS, I can get a really good discount at an Epcot resort (YC, BC or BW)....then I'll get wishy washy again and want to change resorts! I was booked at the Dolphin, but the full beds and fees made me change my mind. Decisions, decisions!

As others have said, the problem is most likely a UK one. The UK Disney website does not really make direct bookings with WDW in the way that the USA site does. It acts rather more like a Travel Agent which is wholly operated by Disney UK, and a such has 'packages' and 'products' pre-allocated for its sales teams to sell, just like any other outside agents.

Did not realize that. Thx.
 
Hi, just wanted to check in on this fab thread. We are booked for FQ for August 2014. We haven't been to FQ since 2010 so looking forward ( with some trepidation) to seeing the new rooms, as I'm just not sure that I like the new look :confused3. Last year we stayed at Yacht Club (and got married there) so I'm concerned about space and storage at FQ especially with the new drawers there seems so little storage for a 12 night stay
 
I've stayed at POFQ 3 times, and always found the offerings at the food court to be very good. Nothing fancy, but good.

Me as well. I like the chicken quesadilla nothing fancy but tastes good and is easy. (in fact that may be the ONLY main dish I've had at POFQ, I tend to find something dependable and stick with it). Oh wait I had a hot dog.:rotfl:

I will say that I don't actually do much eating at the food courts. Maybe one meal, more likely a drink, a snack, or maybe some bread or a bagel. I think they do lack in the breakfast department. It's completely on the level of a fast food quality, maybe even a little less. That's just based on the basic egg/potato/bacon type platter. Liquid egg scramble, really thin bacon, and bland unseasoned potatoes (that goes for any of the food courts not just POFQ). I don't eat pancakes or waffles so I couldn't tell you about those. Last two trips I just brought stuff to make a sandwich in the room and used that as breakfast, or I schedule a TS breakfast. We may try the biscuits and gravy this time.

I've seen it as about 50/50 on the food court is good/bad from folks. I do see lots of people eating there and I think if it were really bad it' would be a lot less busy at dinner.
 
Hi, just wanted to check in on this fab thread. We are booked for FQ for August 2014. We haven't been to FQ since 2010 so looking forward ( with some trepidation) to seeing the new rooms, as I'm just not sure that I like the new look :confused3. Last year we stayed at Yacht Club (and got married there) so I'm concerned about space and storage at FQ especially with the new drawers there seems so little storage for a 12 night stay

How many are in your party? I haven't stayed at the Yacht club so I can't compare exactly, but I have stayed at other Deluxe resorts. There is less room then a typical Deluxe resort, but it was fine. We thought there was plenty of room at FQ, for 2 adults with lots of stuff. The drawers are large, and there also the hanging/shelves areas near the sinks. The other thing I can't say is that we're from the states, so you may pack more items since you're coming from the UK. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think the dressers/drawers changed that much from the earlier design. So if you've been to FQ before, it should be pretty similar.

I've seen it as about 50/50 on the food court is good/bad from folks. I do see lots of people eating there and I think if it were really bad it' would be a lot less busy at dinner.

I was worried about the FQ food court because of all the bad reviews. I also wasn't a huge fan of the menu (not a lot of choices we would like). But I was pleasantly surprised. We only ate dinners there, but we loved the pot roast and fish. I'm actually looking forward to having that pot roast again. The thing you really need to ask yourself is how much you expect to eat at the resort. We've found over the years that we prefer to eat breakfast in our room (groceries) and we often eat the other meals in the parks. So we really only need to find one or two items we like at the food court.
 
I thought you couldn't book packages yet for 2014? Maybe that's why things are showing "unavailable". :confused3


Thanks!
The UK Disney website already has prices for the whole of 2014. If you live anywhere in Europe you can book a package up to December 2014. They only accept CC issued in Europe though. I know because I tried booking a package!
 
How many are in your party? I haven't stayed at the Yacht club so I can't compare exactly, but I have stayed at other Deluxe resorts. There is less room then a typical Deluxe resort, but it was fine. We thought there was plenty of room at FQ, for 2 adults with lots of stuff. The drawers are large, and there also the hanging/shelves areas near the sinks. The other thing I can't say is that we're from the states, so you may pack more items since you're coming from the UK. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think the dressers/drawers changed that much from the earlier design. So if you've been to FQ before, it should be pretty similar.
.

Thanks, there are 3 of us, and us Brits might try to, but don't manage to, travel light :rotfl:

I saw on Allears that the drawers had changed. There used to be 3 wide drawers and 2 smaller on top but now the drawers are much narrower and part of a combi fridge unit. I'll have to remember to pack some clothes hangers, or pick up some cheapies at Walmart :lovestruc
 
Thanks, there are 3 of us, and us Brits might try to, but don't manage to, travel light :rotfl:

I saw on Allears that the drawers had changed. There used to be 3 wide drawers and 2 smaller on top but now the drawers are much narrower and part of a combi fridge unit. I'll have to remember to pack some clothes hangers, or pick up some cheapies at Walmart :lovestruc

Call housekeeping they will bring you all the extra hangers you want.
 
Thanks, there are 3 of us, and us Brits might try to, but don't manage to, travel light :rotfl:

I saw on Allears that the drawers had changed. There used to be 3 wide drawers and 2 smaller on top but now the drawers are much narrower and part of a combi fridge unit. I'll have to remember to pack some clothes hangers, or pick up some cheapies at Walmart :lovestruc

It looks from the pictures that all PO rooms have three drawers now. In most they are in the cabinet with the fridge, in AB of POR they are under the fold down bed.

http://portorleans.org/gallery-POFQ-Rooms.php

You could purchase cheap Walmart plastic draw units and put them in the closet area. That is what we are going to do, but we drive. Driving would be somewhat problematic for you.
:duck:
 
There are three drawers in the chest/TV/fridge unit and the drawers are large and deep drawers. Also small drawers and some shelf space in night stands, shelf on top of hangers was quite useful and there is a coat hanger shelf with pegs that would help also.
 
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