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

[hollygolitely93]

The boat from POR and POFQ only docks at one dock over by Rain Forest Cafe. To get over to other docks there in the lagoon, you will have to take a different boat to get there. But the good news is you can switch boats right there on the same dock they drop of at from the resorts.

Great thanks. One more question...what size are the boats? We are a party of ten...will we have any issues?

 

[Venomhatch]

Great thanks. One more question...what size are the boats? We are a party of ten...will we have any issues?

No problem. Id say you could maybe fit 54 people on board fully loaded. There is an area that seats can fold up and you can get a powered scooter or wheel chair in there also. As to if a boat is loaded pretty good already as you are trying to board boats come under 15 minutes from each other. Depends largely on if someone holds up the boat or asks the CM a question while at dock. But they have a lot of boats making that circuit at all of the docks.

 

[Butterflygirl35]

Checking in on Friday for last minute. I am hoping someone could help me with a few questions.... (First time POR)

We are in Royal Room - Are these in a good location? Are they far from pool?

Busses - we are driving up - How are the busses, should we rely on our car? or is bussing to MK decent?

What is your best tip or must see?

TIA!!!

 

[Lisadaa2]

How many are staying with you family? Because those area tend to be more for the families of 5. Unless you book preferred category. Those rooms have been in operation since Dec/Jan of this new year and no one has reported a child falling off that we know of.

There are 4 of us that's why I said hoping. I requested building 16 and I'm crossing my fingers! I may send a fax like others but we'll see. I am more concerned with my mother getting a room close to the main building and on the first floor because she has bad knees. My requests aren't as important as hers. As far as my daughter falling out, I may put some pillows on the floor. She falls out of bed at home and gets up and says "I'm ok". So I'm sure she'll be fine. Thank you!!

 

[Venomhatch]

Checking in on Friday for last minute. I am hoping someone could help me with a few questions.... (First time POR)

We are in Royal Room - Are these in a good location? Are they far from pool?

Busses - we are driving up - How are the busses, should we rely on our car? or is bussing to MK decent?

What is your best tip or must see?

TIA!!!

Well if you look at the pic below the Royal Rooms are in the two buildings in red and there is a "quiet" pool between them. Just basically a smaller pool circled in yellow. Now there is a bigger pool on the island in the middle of the resort and even has a slide and kiddie wading pool, hot tub, etc. That is circled in yellow also.

I wouldn't rely on the car. But surely it is an option. Transportation from Disney is free and they have a pretty good schedule. Sometimes it can be trying but the south depot by my preference and many others I know on here swear by this, you will have a better chance getting a seat at that bus stop.

Picture borrowed from www.PortOrleans.org

 

[Meesh201]

We just returned from a 5 day stay at POR in a river view RGR and were put in Oak Manor. Our family of 4 had a connecting room with my mom and brother. The connecting rooms were requested on our reservation ahead of time, I did not do online check-in or fax a request. My mom's room was also a corner room and they loved the extra light and added garden view.

This was our first on-site stay, so I just wanted to address some of the questions that I see on here frequently.

ME: We arrived at the airport around 8:30 am and there were not many people waiting for ME. Our bus had 1 other family and they were going to WL. We were dropped off first, so I think we were checked in and eating in the food court by 10 am.

Location: Our room was at the end of Oak Manor closest to the Island bridge. It made for more of a stroll to get over the bridge to the South depot and main building, but the walk was actually a little shorter than I had anticipated and it is just so pretty there that we didn't mind at all.

Coffee: the coffee makers do use the pod style (not k-cups), and we had ordered some senseo pods from amazon prior to the trip. They worked great and I also packed some flavored individual creamers and splenda which made it a little more like home.

Buses: We only went to MK this time, but the bus service was pretty good. I think it mostly depends on your expectations. We had previously stayed at an offsite hotel that had VERY limited bus service, so anything was going to be better than that. We never waited more than 10 minutes for an MK bus from the South depot. The wait for a returning bus was a little longer and we did end up taking the bus back to POFQ a couple of times and enjoyed the nice walk back (it was better than standing in line with a couple of fidgety kids!). The only time we noticed a real problem with the bus service was on Saturday night after the second parade. The line was ridiculous and the buses kept bypassing the POR line to get the value resorts. It didn't seem like there was really anyone in charge of directing the buses to the lines that had the most people. On a positive note, one really nice bus driver gave my son a pirate bandana and my daughter a pretty ring when we were the only ones on the bus and had been waiting through a shift change.

DTD Boat: The boat ride was pleasant and seemed to go by really quickly. We had lunch at T-Rex and it was a little bit of a walk for the kids, but we stopped at the Disney store and Lego store on the way to break it up. We also did the Phineas and Ferb experience and it was cute.

Pool: My daughter LOVED the pool and slide. We would have loved some extra time to use them more. She also tried the one at POFQ, but I think she liked POR better (the slide was faster).

Hammocks: Probably my favorite thing. While the kids and my husband napped in the room on our park days, I laid in the hammock and read my book. Soooo relaxing!

We enjoyed the movies on the lawn but missed out on the campfire and Bob's show. I used Kingdom Strollers and Garden Grocer and would definitely recommend them and use them again. Overall we loved this resort and will definitely stay here again. (OK so maybe this wasn't very brief after all, lol)

Thank you Andre! Your website and this thread made the planning so much better and everyone in our party had a great time and were thanking me for how smoothly everything went.

 

[Venomhatch]

There are 4 of us that's why I said hoping. I requested building 16 and I'm crossing my fingers! I may send a fax like others but we'll see. I am more concerned with my mother getting a room close to the main building and on the first floor because she has bad knees. My requests aren't as important as hers. As far as my daughter falling out, I may put some pillows on the floor. She falls out of bed at home and gets up and says "I'm ok". So I'm sure she'll be fine. Thank you!!

I believe, not sure about this, but the preferred buildings like 14 are only 25$ more per night. Again, not sure about that. But it is literally only minute or two by foot. Here is a youtube video I did one year. My room was on the second floor though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8zEi1Pi3Bw&feature=share&list=UUGHLBP3DuqNcpBU2MO-lIrQ

 

[Missytara]

Hi! We are under 40 days!!! First time staying at POR in ROYAL ROOMS...three of them for our party of 10!

My questions is about the boat transportation to DTD.

We have reservations at T-REX. on the DTD map their looks to be three docks...market place, West Side and the middle one (forgot the name)...are those docks part of the POR boat transportation. If so can we have them drop us off at any of them and pick up at any of them? My mom has mobility issues...enough to rent an EVC in parks but she doesn't rent off sight as she can get around fine enough when not doing 10 miles a day in a park...but anything I can do to keep her walking limited will be appreciated.

Thanks!

POR stops at Marketplace; you transfer to the adjacent dock to get to Pleasure Island and then that dock has an adjacent dock to transfer you to West side. West side also goes to OKW, so make sure you get on the right water taxi.

 

[Missytara]

Checking in on Friday for last minute. I am hoping someone could help me with a few questions.... (First time POR)

We are in Royal Room - Are these in a good location? Are they far from pool?

Busses - we are driving up - How are the busses, should we rely on our car? or is bussing to MK decent?

What is your best tip or must see?

TIA!!!

POR and POFQ has a distinct advantage over most resorts, because of their proximity and transportation to DTD.

I always end my night at a resort and take the resort's bus to DTD. From the bus hub, you can look over and see the top of the volcano at RFC, which is adjacent to the water taxi dock.

From there, after 4 pm., the water taxis run every 10 minutes, so I have never waited long for one to come along to take me back. If you arrive after 10:50 pm or so, when the last water taxi leaves, then the buses from DTD run until 1:30 am or so. You just have to go all the way around the complex before you arrive at the resort.

 

[Caseystigger]

Am at POR in my Royal Guest Room writing to you now as I look out my river view at a staircase. Was kind of sad that I have to stand at either side of the window to see the river. They were very nice at the front desk though and change my room category down to water view which gave me a credit. Mousekeeping wasn't up to snuff when we first got in our room Sat but yesterday they redeemed themselves. My sister has the connecting room and it's a corner room...amazing view! Will post pictures when we get back.

Oh they are changing the door locks to RFID this week. We got a notice about it from mousekeeping yesterday.

Overall things are really going well. The resort is AMAZING! We got the building we requested thanks to prearrival info from this thread.

Everyone have a magical day!

 

[Lisadaa2]

I believe, not sure about this, but the preferred buildings like 14 are only 25$ more per night. Again, not sure about that. But it is literally only minute or two by foot. Here is a youtube video I did one year. My room was on the second floor though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8zEi1Pi3Bw&feature=share&list=UUGHLBP3DuqNcpBU2MO-lIrQ

I would LOVE to have building 14! I tried to get a preferred room because I have no problem paying for that but they we not available for free dining . So i figured I would request the next best thing. Maybe I should send the fax, at least for my mother's room.

 

[Venomhatch]

I would LOVE to have building 14! I tried to get a preferred room because I have no problem paying for that but they we not available for free dining . So i figured I would request the next best thing. Maybe I should send the fax, at least for my mother's room.

Private messaged you...

 

[andrewilley]

We just returned from a 5 day stay at POR in a river view RGR and were put in Oak Manor.

Hammocks: Probably my favorite thing. While the kids and my husband napped in the room on our park days, I laid in the hammock and read my book. Soooo relaxing!

Thanks for the really useful review, and I'm glad you had such a great time. So many of the things people stress about in advance on the boards really do turn out to be mostly non-issues once you get there - as you say, a little bit of a walk at Port Orleans is so relaxing that you almost want to take the long way round anyway!

The hammocks you mention are new by the way, they were only installed a few weeks ago, sounds like they are a hit already!

Am at POR in my Royal Guest Room writing to you now as I look out my river view at a staircase

Sorry about your view, I guess it can be difficult to make sure that guests get two connecting rooms where the view is just as good from both rooms. Sounds like you should have warned your sister in advance about those noisy, draughty old corner rooms and I'm sure she'd have swapped with you. At least you got a discount though, which helps - I assume a change of location (which would have meant two new rooms) wouldn't have been very easy for you.

Andre

 

[TaraPA]

Just back during the night & POR was the 1st stop on our ME bus, then went to BW, BC & YC after. I was pleasantly surprised!

We were in Magnolia Terrace & room was clean & nice. Friends were in Oak Manor Royal Room & their room was great as well. Coffee pods (for those that had asked) are plentiful & they'll bring you more if you need them. It was a short walk over either bridge (by Parterre or Magnolia) to the main area.

I must have been on the opposite bus of everyone else that was there last week - we found the bus service poor most of the time. I waited at East Depot for 35 min. for a MK bus one day, 25 min. was the norm. Now bus service back to POR from parks was just fine, never more than a 5 min. wait, even at MK closing. That was great. One day there was a transportation CM at the East Depot checking times. This was the day of the 25 min. wait. He was aware of it & said they're tracking bus times heavily. So hopefully this will improve over time.

We did the Carriage ride which was very nice & relaxing. It was nice to get to see POFQ as well on the ride. Our driver was sweet & very knowledgeable about Disney.

If you're going this week be prepared for the Gartner Group conference. They were bussing them in (on disney size buses) all day yesterday, there were hundreds of them.

Parks were moderate to full. We learned our lesson about Epcot on a Sat. night during F&W. I have been going to F&W every year for many years & never encountered the drunken fools like we did this trip. I'd read on here the stories of it happening but had never seen it. It was pathetic. Large groups of intoxicated adults falling over, laying in bushes, being loud & obnoxious. One woman was staggering through WS screaming "Snow White was a ****!" in front of families & kids. All while pushing her baby in a stroller. We witnessed another group (who stood out all night) shoplifting. We told a CM who said it was a shame but they could do nothing. This same group had been pulled aside by security earlier in the evening as well. If anyone was at Epcot Sat. night it was the guy in the santa hat & beard - if you were there, you know who I mean! We know now to avoid F&W on weekend nights!

Another nice surprise was the "dress rehearsal" for Fantasyland. We ate at Gaston's & rode Enchanted Tales with Belle & Under the Sea. The whole area is done extremely well & the theming is amazing. Details everywhere! BOG was closed, they were filming something there so we couldn't get near it. The new mermaid details in POTC are fabulous!

Weather was very warm & humid until Saturday, then it cooled down to low 80's with little to no humidity. Looks like mid 80''s for the rest of this week.

Have fun to those of you just leaving!

 

[Venomhatch]

Just back during the night & POR was the 1st stop on our ME bus, then went to BW, BC & YC after. I was pleasantly surprised!

We were in Magnolia Terrace & room was clean & nice. Friends were in Oak Manor Royal Room & their room was great as well. Coffee pods (for those that had asked) are plentiful & they'll bring you more if you need them. It was a short walk over either bridge (by Parterre or Magnolia) to the main area.

I must have been on the opposite bus of everyone else that was there last week - we found the bus service poor most of the time. I waited at East Depot for 35 min. for a MK bus one day, 25 min. was the norm. Now bus service back to POR from parks was just fine, never more than a 5 min. wait, even at MK closing. That was great. One day there was a transportation CM at the East Depot checking times. This was the day of the 25 min. wait. He was aware of it & said they're tracking bus times heavily. So hopefully this will improve over time.

We did the Carriage ride which was very nice & relaxing. It was nice to get to see POFQ as well on the ride. Our driver was sweet & very knowledgeable about Disney.

If you're going this week be prepared for the Gartner Group conference. They were bussing them in (on disney size buses) all day yesterday, there were hundreds of them.

Parks were moderate to full. We learned our lesson about Epcot on a Sat. night during F&W. I have been going to F&W every year for many years & never encountered the drunken fools like we did this trip. I'd read on here the stories of it happening but had never seen it. It was pathetic. Large groups of intoxicated adults falling over, laying in bushes, being loud & obnoxious. One woman was staggering through WS screaming "Snow White was a ****!" in front of families & kids. All while pushing her baby in a stroller. We witnessed another group (who stood out all night) shoplifting. We told a CM who said it was a shame but they could do nothing. This same group had been pulled aside by security earlier in the evening as well. If anyone was at Epcot Sat. night it was the guy in the santa hat & beard - if you were there, you know who I mean! We know now to avoid F&W on weekend nights!

Another nice surprise was the "dress rehearsal" for Fantasyland. We ate at Gaston's & rode Enchanted Tales with Belle & Under the Sea. The whole area is done extremely well & the theming is amazing. Details everywhere! BOG was closed, they were filming something there so we couldn't get near it. The new mermaid details in POTC are fabulous!

Weather was very warm & humid until Saturday, then it cooled down to low 80's with little to no humidity. Looks like mid 80''s for the rest of this week.

Have fun to those of you just leaving!

That was a very nice review! Shame about the shoplifting!

 

[Butterflygirl35]

Thanks Venomhatch!

 

[Maddie's Nana]

I would LOVE to have building 14! I tried to get a preferred room because I have no problem paying for that but they we not available for free dining . So i figured I would request the next best thing. Maybe I should send the fax, at least for my mother's room.

I had the same problem - not available for free dining. Is it better to ask at check-in to see if rooms in Bldg. 14 are available (to pay) rather than faxing request?

 

[Duster72]

I had the same problem - not available for free dining. Is it better to ask at check-in to see if rooms in Bldg. 14 are available (to pay) rather than faxing request?

Same question. I had to downgrade from River View to get Free Dining. Reservations show River View and Preferred as available for my travel dates. When is the best time to let them know I would like to pay for the upgraded rooms - do I have to wait until I get there at check in?

 

[Missytara]

I had the same problem - not available for free dining. Is it better to ask at check-in to see if rooms in Bldg. 14 are available (to pay) rather than faxing request?

You can ask at check-in, but basically you would have a new reservation and you will lose free dining. You will pay the highest rack rate for the room for that season.

Really, request one of the buildings right behind preferred; you won't be but two more minutes walk behind them.

 

[lucifie]

Fro the map it looks like buildings 16 and 17 in AB are the closest buildings to the main building without paying for preferred. When making a request would it be best to ask for specific buildings or should I just ask for a room on the 1st floor (my special needs DD doesn't do well on stairs) as close as possible to the main building?