Rethinking my resort choice....

[Nixie]

After reading threads about how "dirty" and "dingy" FQ is, I am really rethinking my ressie there. I intially picked it because I thought the convience of having a smaller resort would be nice. We were kinda spoiled by having a 70s room at the PoP that was an easy walk to the food court every morning for our mug refills and an easy walk to and from our car. I kept reading about how sprawled out Riverside is and how long it can take to walk to anything yadda yadda... It didn't sound like it was for us. Now, I am really rethinking this. How far REALLY is the walk from say the Magnolia Terrence to the food court? How far would it be to the parking lot from a Magnolia room? We will have a rental car, so busses aren't an issue, but a major trek to and from a parking lot will be. Also, I keep reading about how small and dingy POFQ's food court. We won't be eating any meals at the food court, but were planning on hitting it up every morning for snackie type things for breakfast. From what I am reading, Riverside would have more of a selection?? So, down to the nitty gritty.. POFQ or POR for a romantic couple's second trip to Disney who will have their own car for transportation, are mug refill junkies, and might or might not be using pools????......

 

[Nixie]

I don't want it to sound like I am rethinking this just because of one bad post. I am thinking of changing because I see soooo much more love for POR than POFQ. I also saw videos of the Magnolia mansion, and ya, it kinda took my breath away

 

[JerseyKate]

After reading threads about how "dirty" and "dingy" FQ is, I am really rethinking my ressie there. I intially picked it because I thought the convience of having a smaller resort would be nice. We were kinda spoiled by having a 70s room at the PoP that was an easy walk to the food court every morning for our mug refills and an easy walk to and from our car. I kept reading about how sprawled out Riverside is and how long it can take to walk to anything yadda yadda... It didn't sound like it was for us. Now, I am really rethinking this. How far REALLY is the walk from say the Magnolia Terrence to the food court? How far would it be to the parking lot from a Magnolia room? We will have a rental car, so busses aren't an issue, but a major trek to and from a parking lot will be. Also, I keep reading about how small and dingy POFQ's food court. We won't be eating any meals at the food court, but were planning on hitting it up every morning for snackie type things for breakfast. From what I am reading, Riverside would have more of a selection?? So, down to the nitty gritty.. POFQ or POR for a romantic couple's second trip to Disney who will have their own car for transportation, are mug refill junkies, and might or might not be using pools????......

I could have written this post - LOL - although our next trip is with a six year old so romance goes righto out the window. The reviews on POFQ have been on opposite sides of the bell curve so I'm not sure what to think about the place either. We will be arriving in less than two months and we are also considering a change .... not sure what to do.

 

[Nixie]

I could have written this post - LOL - although our next trip is with a six year old so romance goes righto out the window. The reviews on POFQ have been on opposite sides of the bell curve so I'm not sure what to think about the place either. We will be arriving in less than two months and we are also considering a change .... not sure what to do.

Hopefully someone can chime in here and give us some insight!!!

 

[Alice BlueBonnet]

Not sure if this will help, but I took my mom for a short four day visit in May as a surprise. She is a Deluxe snob, and she loved POFQ. We were in building #5, which was steps from everything. The resort itself is beautiful and compact and while the foot court is small, we found the food quite good and it never felt crowded to us, probably due to the size of the resort. When we arrived, we were greeted before even entering the building and given mardi gras beads, check in was very fast and our room was clean (an issue I've had when staying at other Moderate resorts...). One of my mom's best childhood memories was going to New Orleans with her sister and her parents, and she just kept saying over and over how much she loved the resort. If you have any specific questions, ask away!

 

[sammielynn]

Stayed at POFQ last December and loved it! Didn't see anything dinky and dingy about it. Only ate breakfast at the food court and loved it. The staff came in and sang Christmas Carols!

 

[Mousemommy1]

I personally have not stayed at either resort, but POFQ appeals to me much more than POR. Honestly, I think that you chose POFQ for a reason, and would urge you not to second guess your decision based on reviews. On the whole, I do not think that Disney would want any of their locations described as "dingy" or "dirty", and I think that they do take great care in making all of their locations appealing. The only thing that scares me about POFQ are those darn faces... I think you will probably go and have a great time, I typically only see great reviews about POFQ and would like to stay there at some point. Don't let one thread sway you to change.

 

[princessallegra]

I have stayed at both and I just think there's no comparison. POR is so much nicer imho. But that's just my opinion. We also have a rental car so buses don't really matter. When we stayed at FQ i said i will never come back. It's just not for me. It is small, the theming isn't for me, and the food court is small and theming scary (creepy mardis gras masks hanging from the ceiling). I did find that resort dingy and gross frankly. I have stayed at ASMu, POP, WL, Poly, CSR, POR, and POFQ. FQ is the only one I will never go back to.

 

[mamamary]

We stayed in POFQ in June and I have to say that I was very surprised to read those recent reviews. Our room was spotless! We loved the resort and frankly would prob. have a hard time not staying there next time. I even remember being at the food court and the workers there were cleaning so much that I even made a comment to my husband about how on top of things they were there. I think it just goes to show that there could be problems in any resort and hopefully these problems were just out of the ordinary.

As far as POR we haven't stayed there but we did make a trip there in June to eat and look around. While it looks like a lovely resort and i do want to stay there one day I did pick POFQ to have the small resort feel (not alot of walking like our previous trips to CBR and CSR).

Good luck on your decision.

 

[Johnson1220]

We are big fans of POR. The rooms are all refurbished and lovely. The walk from the car to the room is not a problem at all. The lots are situated quite nicely. It is a sprawling resort but the grounds make for a lovely morning walk. We stayed at Magnolia Bend last March and had easy parking (right outside the door) and the walk to the Food Court is not even 5 minutes. And the food court is big and clean (even the bathrooms). Call me biased - we have stayed there our last 3 trips and plan on staying there again in April. We love it. I have been to FQ, even swam in the pool there, but I just feel like POR is simply better.

 

[scottmel]

I stayed at POFQ August 2011 and POR June 2012. Split stays between there and YC/BC and that makes it hard to give POFQ/POR a fair shake. NEVER doing split stay again with mod/deluxe!

Anyway I liked POFQ WAY more than I thought I would. We loved it. We normally stay YC or BC or BWI but we won a FREE TRIP in 2011 and a mod was the mandated hotel. We all loved POFQ. SOOOO much that I thought heck lets save a few bucks in 2012 and stay POR on the front end of our BC trip. Mistake.

POR was nice, magnolia bend rooms very pretty and spotless. I guess POR is just not my thing....It was just ok.....maybe I enjoyed POFQ more b/c I went into it thinking :I won't like this: and ended up being so surprised.

Honestly though whichever resort you choose, they really are the same. Felt more smalltown in POFQ and I liked htat....Liked their foodcourt better too...

 

[MickeyNicki]

POFQ is incredible! We are headed there next month for a week before we move over to the YC.

Never once found POFQ to be dirty, rooms or food court or grounds. It is so peaceful and quiet there and the buses are very good.

 

[mb187143]

Having stayed at both, i can see why people do love POR, but we did not like the resort when DF and I stayed there. It was crowded, the room we had was beyond gross and dingy, and nothing was a close walk to anything, compared to POFQ. We loved POFQ when we stayed there. Basically, any resort has people who come back feeling like it was wonderful, and others who hated it - that's the nature of it. POR gets a lot of love on these boards, which baffles me when I think back to my experience, but I realize others either didn't have the same experience, or they had different expectations.

One other thing to keep in mind is this - people are far more likely to complain than come here and post how wonderful something was. That's the nature of any internet forum really, but just something to think about. I wouldn't use such a small sampling of Disney visitors (and really, the Dis is a very small percentage of the # of visitors that Disney has each year) to sway me either way. If you look at trip advisor, POFQ actually gets a higher rating than POR.

Bottom line, if you're really uncomfortable, by all means, switch. But I wouldn't worry greatly about perceptions you're gleaning from recent threads here.

 

[mom2jacob]

Well we just got back from POR and we didn't like it. We were in Oak Manor Royal Room and at the back of the building. The walk to the front was very far for us. We stayed in POFQ last year and loved that hotel and we were in building 7 in the back and it was still a short walk up front to main building. We liked the dining hall and bus stop in POFQ better too. POR has a better pool but you can still use it staying at POR.

They need to add more bridges across the river to the the main building for us to ever stay there again. It was a lot larger resort than we thought it was.

 

[keishashadow]

Stayed at POFQ last December and loved it! Didn't see anything dinky and dingy about it. Only ate breakfast at the food court and loved it. The staff came in and sang Christmas Carols!

IMO the public areas/ambiance can stand it's ground compared to several of the deluxe/DVC resorts. Since the rehab the beds are comfy and we like the location. My oldest shawn just got back home from another wonderful trip there. I do think that RS's food court has better dinner offerings and it's easy enough to drive over.

 

[ninafeliz]

I've stayed at both, liked both, and much preferred Riverside. I've been in both AB and MB, and like AB better, I like the wandering pathways and gardens between buildings. In fact, I always liked the leisurely walk to the food court to refill our mugs. I liked the food court better at Riverside with more choices, lots of corners with bright windows to sit at, and IMHO a better decor. Before the renovations the rooms were getting a bit used feeling, but now they're all brand new and the MB room we had in Nov was great. I also love to see Bob Jackson in the River Roost Lounge, it wouldn't be a trip to Disney without that. I like the main pool at Riverside better, and the fact that they have smaller pools as well. I just never found the serpent slide appealing like most people do! The shop at Riverside is larger with a better selection. However, all of that being said, I like the theme at FQ and thoroughly enjoyed our stay there as well I just decided my preference will always be Riverside.

 

[Sandmanswife9]

After reading threads about how "dirty" and "dingy" FQ is, I am really rethinking my ressie there. I intially picked it because I thought the convience of having a smaller resort would be nice. We were kinda spoiled by having a 70s room at the PoP that was an easy walk to the food court every morning for our mug refills and an easy walk to and from our car. I kept reading about how sprawled out Riverside is and how long it can take to walk to anything yadda yadda... It didn't sound like it was for us. Now, I am really rethinking this. How far REALLY is the walk from say the Magnolia Terrence to the food court? How far would it be to the parking lot from a Magnolia room? We will have a rental car, so busses aren't an issue, but a major trek to and from a parking lot will be. Also, I keep reading about how small and dingy POFQ's food court. We won't be eating any meals at the food court, but were planning on hitting it up every morning for snackie type things for breakfast. From what I am reading, Riverside would have more of a selection?? So, down to the nitty gritty.. POFQ or POR for a romantic couple's second trip to Disney who will have their own car for transportation, are mug refill junkies, and might or might not be using pools????......

My family and I spent 7 days at POR and loved it. We previously stayed at POP and loved that too. We had reserved the POR in order to get the free DDP, which saved us a ton of money. The grounds at POR are spread apart and depending on where your building is located can be a 10 minute walk. Seems like all the parking lots are in close proximity to the buildings, so that wont be an issue. Why not take advantage of the bus service to the MK? I think that it would be much better than driving and paying for gas and parking. I understand the POFQ guests have to use the food court at POR so why not just stay there? Watch for the offer for the Free DDP and take advantage of some fine restaurants that you might not otherwise eat at. It is a wonderful experience.

 

[2girlsmom]

We have stayed at FQ a couple times, and we love it. I can see why people find the mask theming of the food court intimidating, but I like it, I find it cheery. It is definitely NOT as large as other food courts, that's for sure, and if you were planning to eat several meals there, I would think that might be an issue for you, but for breakfast/snacks, it is no problem, and FQ has the yummy beignets for breakfast, too. I definitely think that FQ is a romantic location, and I love the small size of the resort as well. I like POR as well, and we do drive, but getting around the resort on foot, this one is so spread out for me, I prefer the shorter strolls, and love the ability to take the water taxi over to POR if desired for the show or for dinner at the bigger food court.

 

[FiggieFan]

We love the french quarter! We like the fact that it is smaller than POR. POFQ is our resort of choice. When we stayed in January 2011 they were in the process of redoing all of the rooms - new bathrooms, floors, new paint (including exterior), bed linens, etc. We stayed for another week in February 2012 and they had part of the main building blocked off doing additional work. They have been working hard updating the entire area and I would not have any reservations about it. Great boat access to Downtown and you can take a nice stroll to POR if you want. Hope that helps. We already booked February 2013 in POFQ and are looking forward to our next stay.

 

[FiggieFan]

One more thing - I do agree with a prior post - we eat breakfast all the time at POFQ, but do not typically stay there for dinner. We either have dinner at the parks or Downtown or walk to POR. The food at POFQ for dinner is a bit too spicy for us - but we are wimps! POR does have great roast beef/blue cheese sandwiches on ciabatta bread in Riverside Mill and are only a 10 minute stroll down the river. ENJOY!