Port Orleans Riverside Q&A Thread 2013, Part Two [Thread now FULL and closed]

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

I read that the hair dryers are not good so it's best to bring your own. Did you find this to be the case?

The hair dryers we had in buildings 18 & 14 worked just fine last month. I never take hair dryers with me to any of the resorts.

 

[catwalk82]

I have a very odd question. We will be going with my MIL and SIL who will be in a separate room. Is there any way to request connecting rooms if we book separately or would it be best just to have one party do the booking and request it from there?

 

[phoebec]

We were in a preferred room in AB and did not have a Murphy bed. We were in preferred building 18. We just had 2 queen beds.

You didn't have the bench with the alligator on it? That folds down from the wall.

 

[msdaisy]

We picked up the stroller we rented from baby wheels and off we went to the MK. We grabbed lunch at Be Our Guest and rode some rides. Around 530 or 6 we still heard nothing so we were tired and went back to the resort. We were told they were very sorry but our text was never turned on. We were told another day that there was a glitch in the system and about half the people checking in the 13th were not texted.

What was the wait like at Be Our Guest for lunch? We plan on trying to do it, but I have heard 30 minute wait to 2 hour wait. I am just curious to hear from someone who has recently eaten there!

 

[ILoveMMouse]

We were in a preferred room in AB and did not have a Murphy bed. We were in preferred building 18. We just had 2 queen beds.

That's really strange. It was my understanding that all of the refurbed rooms in AB had them. When was your trip?

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

That's really strange. It was my understanding that all of the refurbed rooms in AB had them. When was your trip?

Last month.

 

[rymel76]

We are going in August and staying at POR in a royal room. We have reservations for breakfast at the 1900 park at Grand Floridian at 10:10 am. My plan was to take the bus to get to MK early enough for rope drop, watch the show then take the monorail or something to GF for our reservation. Does this seem like it would work? Or even a good plan. What time should we leave for the bus?

 

[ILoveMMouse]

Last month.

I have to ask then, what was in the room in the spot where the bench/murphy bed is supposed to be?

 

[lillykat]

what was the wait like at be our guest

The line was just at the end of the bridge. It was about 20-30 mins until we got our table. It would have been quicker but the people they made us line up after- couldn't decide what they wanted and then couldn't figure out how to use the kiosk. It moves pretty fast people way behind us go through several minutes ahead of us bc the kiosk they were assigned to moved faster.

They should just put in large soda rather than sprite or coke bc the cms were accidentially adding extra drinks then couldn't get rid of them. Since you get your own it would speed it up to enter it that way.

 

[siskaren]

I have to ask then, what was in the room in the spot where the bench/murphy bed is supposed to be?

I'm curious about this too.

 

[CareHeartsDisney]

We are going in August and staying at POR in a royal room. We have reservations for breakfast at the 1900 park at Grand Floridian at 10:10 am. My plan was to take the bus to get to MK early enough for rope drop, watch the show then take the monorail or something to GF for our reservation. Does this seem like it would work? Or even a good plan. What time should we leave for the bus?

Your plan should work fine. I would plan on leaving an hour before MK opens.

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

I have to ask then, what was in the room in the spot where the bench/murphy bed is supposed to be?

Cabinet with tv, drawers & fridge.

 

[andrewilley]

Hi, just wanted to say hello - been lurking for ages not sure how to post, so hopefully I have done it correctly!

Welcome, fellow Brit. Your first post worked just fine!

Only staying one night Sun June 2, what will the movie be that night (where exactly is the movie, do we need to bring a towel to sit on or is there seating)? Also is there a campfire for smores that night and where can I get the smores kit? tia

Movie schedules are not given out until the first day of the new month (although sometimes I am able to post them a few days early). Towels are provided at the screenings, and they prefer if you don't take room towels with you. There are free marshmallows to toast at the campfires; there used to be smores you could buy too, but not seen them recently.

We faxed our room requests about 6 days before. We wanted connecting rooms, upper floor and close to the main building. We received an email shortly after saying we got connecting 2nd floor room relatively close.

...

We were told not to expect our rooms until between 3 and 5, closer to 4 or 5.

I guess that's one if the downsides of faxing requests (or any other request method which means that your room gets pre-blocked). Once a specific room number has been pre-assigned to your booking, they have little control over whether that particular room will be ready and available for when you arrive, especially if you get there in the morning.

If you don't have any room number pre-blocked, they simply look in the pool of 'Ready Rooms' when you arrive (or a few hours earlier if you've already done online checkin and given them an arrival time) and very often can assign you an available room there-and-then - although it might not be quite as good a match for your requests.

Front desk staff are not meant to give out room numbers until that room is vacant and ready for you to use, in case your assigned room later has to be removed from inventory for cleaning or maintenance issues for example. They are meant to decline politely rather than be rude about it of course.

I have a very odd question. We will be going with my MIL and SIL who will be in a separate room. Is there any way to request connecting rooms if we book separately or would it be best just to have one party do the booking and request it from there?

Sure, just ask them to link your bookings (give them the two 12-digit reference numbers) and ask for connecting rooms. It's only a request of course, but there are lots of connecting rooms so it should be easy enough to do.

We were in a preferred room in AB and did not have a Murphy bed. We were in preferred building 18. We just had 2 queen beds. Cabinet with tv, drawers & fridge.

That's really strange. It was my understanding that all of the refurbed rooms in AB had them. When was your trip?

Sounds to me that you were assigned a Wheelchair Accessible Room for some reason - did it have a tall wardrobe in the bedroom, and an open-plan bathroom/toilet area with a sliding door leading from the main bedroom area? If you remember the room number, we could check (it would have been one of the red dotted ones in the map below, 1803 or 1818). But otherwise, ALL Alligator Bayou rooms should have the banquette bench seat and fold-down bed.

Andre

 

[lillykat]

I guess that's one if the downsides of faxing requests (or any other request method which means that your room gets pre-blocked). Once a specific room number has been pre-assigned to your booking, they have little control over whether that particular room will be ready and available for when you arrive, especially if you get there in the morning.

If you don't have any room number pre-blocked, they simply look in the pool of 'Ready Rooms' when you arrive (or a few hours earlier if you've already done online checkin and given them an arrival time) and very often can assign you an available room there-and-then - although it might not be quite as good a match for your requests.

Front desk staff are not meant to give out room numbers until that room is vacant and ready for you to use, in case your assigned room later has to be removed from inventory for cleaning or maintenance issues for example. They are meant to decline politely rather than be rude of course.

Andre

I think if she was friendly as everyone else was it would have been different. She told us they never tell you what building you are in. When they text a room number you look at the map and figure it out. But you won't even know if it was yours or your parents room until you try your keys on the door. That is how you will inow which room belongs to whom. We have always been told your room will be somewhere in x building at the poly or this area at AKL. I never mind waiting for our room and I understand why they wouldn't give you a number before it is ready in case you get a different room. But was frustrating when we got back and the cm told us it had been ready shortly after we checked in, asked if we knew how to get to our building and mentioned surprise when I said I had no idea what building we were in. Was told she should have told us which building bc we had assigned rooms. There were phone messages wishing our girls a happy birthday on our phones with a time stamp if about 10 mins after we checked in. Honestly this was one person no one else was like that. It was just strange everyone else bent over backwards to make the trip magical. There were other strange things.

 

[carter7349]

Leaving Ohio now in route to POR. Very excited as it will be the first for our three DD and a first for my DW and I since we were kids. Stoked!

 

[freckles04]

We are booked for a Preferred room in October. We'd like to be in building 14 and on the ground floor. Is that a good way to phrase my request, or would it be better to say: ground floor, close as possible to food court?

Also: I didn't specify any request at all when I made my original booking. Should I call Disney to add it now?

 

[andrewilley]

We are booked for a Preferred room in October. We'd like to be in building 14 and on the ground floor. Is that a good way to phrase my request, or would it be better to say: ground floor, close as possible to food court?

Also: I didn't specify any request at all when I made my original booking. Should I call Disney to add it now?

Personally I'd go with "ground floor, close to food court - ideally building 14 if possible". Otherwise they won't know why you are asking for 14 in particular (could be you want to be near to the river for example).

And yes, your request should ALWAYS be added onto your original booking first as that's the "official" way to do it. Faxes are just a nice extra, if/when resorts accept them.

Andre

 

[phoebec]

If I book a preferred room does that mean I could end up with a parking lot view in bldg 15? What would be the best way to avoid that? Can you request a garden or river view or should I request not bldg 15?

 

[Missytara]

Last month.

Absolutely no way, all AB rooms have the murphy bed. It is attached to the wall and you have to pull it down - it is right below the TV and it has a pictue of an alligator.

Most likely, you never realized it was there.

 

[Missytara]

If I book a preferred room does that mean I could end up with a parking lot view in bldg 15? What would be the best way to avoid that? Can you request a garden or river view or should I request not bldg 15?

Depending on availability, you could. All you can do is request a view and hope more people want direct access to their car.

My suggestion is to request a garden view and not a building. With preferred, there is no reason to request a building number, they are all close.