Momof2Disneyboys
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2007
We just returned from an 8 night stay at WDW on Sunday. The first 6 nights of that stay were at POR - November 7-13. I am happy to report that we had a very nice stay! 
We started going to Disney in 2005 and have stayed at CBR twice, POFQ once, and CSR once, so we thought it was only fair to give POR a try this time!
We had a 2:00 flight out of Pittsburgh on Saturday the 7th. We landed around 4:00. We were taking ME to the resort, so we went to our line and got right on the bus. That last 4 seats. We were then informed that the bus was stopping at 4 resorts.
YC, BC, Boardwalk, and POR. And in that order. I still can't figure out why POR was on that bus. POR is in the DTD area. The others are obviously in the Epcot area. And why weren't POFQ & POR on the same bus? Very strange and it seemed like it took forever. But in all actuality we were at POR right around 5:30. There was no one in the regular check in line and about 2-3 families in the online check in line. So I was taken care of right away since I hadn't checked in online! I had requested the AB section and to be on the top floor of any of the following buildings: 14, 18, 26, or 27. I was informed that we were on the top floor of AB #27!! 
The CM said the best way to get there was to following the hallway to the food court, cut through the food court and follow the path along the river to #27. It was about a 5 minute walk. We unpacked our carry-ons and headed off to Epcot and when we came back a few hours later the rest of our luggage had magically arrived!
Our room was pretty much what we expected it to be from looking at tons of picture beforehand. We weren't overly impressed with the decor of the inside of the room, but we knew that going in. Everything was in order, 2 beds, 2 chairs, a table, a huge bench (which does not open for storage), a shelf with 4 pegs for hanging jackets, 2 sinks, etc. The room was fairly clean, but there was garbage still in the 2 garbage cans. And dust in the corners, behind the bed & stand, etc, as with most Disney hotel rooms. We like to call it pixie-dust.
Ever since all these stories of snakes and other creatures in the rooms, and personal items coming up missing, not to mention the whole H1N1 thing, we don't have housekeeping come in much. We clean the room ourselves and catch housekeeping out in the hall and get our supplies and exchange our wet towels, etc. We did have her come in once during the week and she did a good job. Unfortunately keeping the door shut all week didn't keep one creature from getting in. One night we got back to the room late and I went to wash my face and there were 2 eyeballs looking at me. Sitting right there on my make-up bag!!
I didn't bother to investigate, I just ran away and told DH something was looking at me! 
He went over to discover that it was a frog. He took it's picture for proof and caught it and threw it outside. We then washed off everything and threw out our toothbrushes. Oh, and inspected the room to see if it had any friends. DH took the camera and went to the front desk, where they offered to move us to the Mansions section or to call pest control, both of which we declined. They did give him new toothbrushes for all of us.
Our view was garden/courtyard and was very lush and beautiful.
We appeared to be right in-between the South and West bus stops. So we tried them both. I would say that if you could take a straight line from the West bus stop to our room it would be shorter. But the paths were all winding and it took forever. So we stuck with the South bus stop (which is usually the first stop, after POFQ) at the main entrance. It was about a 5 minute walk. So, we were about 5 minutes from everything important - bus stop, food court, main pool.
The main pool is very beautiful and has a very fun slide (very similar to CSR's slide - open and one curve with water squirting on you at one point). DS10 went down it a lot!! The pool is very neat how it curves around and has water running over top of it and coming into the pool. The unfortunate side of the pool, the water was apparently not heated.
The first time we went to the pool it was about 80 degrees out and the water was uncomfortable for DH and I, but the kids lasted nearly an hour. The next time we went it wasn't quite as warm out and the water was freezing. DH and I did not even get in and the kids lasted about 15 minutes. That's bad for them! So I'm not sure it that's an all the time thing there or if there was a problem with the heater when we were there. I thought all Disney pools were heated. . . so we were pretty disappointed in our swimming time.
So I went in to this trip terrified of the POR buses after all that I have heard, but I am happy to report that they were just fine! Our average waits were about 5-15 minutes. There were a few times we waited 20-25, but it didn't happen often. The buses were crowded, I will say that. We probably stood on the buses more than we ever have. Probably about 3-4 times we had to stand. We always shared with POFQ, with the exception of the MK buses. One night we came out of MK to go back to POR and there were 2 POR buses at the stop, double parked. Never saw that before. Apparently they were both full and they both pulled away. About 6-7 minutes later 2 more pulled up and double parked again. There were 2 people in scooters waiting to get loaded, so they waved the line of people around the first bus to the second bus and loaded it til it was full and also loaded the first bus after that. I would say that POR was nearing full capacity because there were tons of people on the buses! I only wish they would have done the double bus thing at Epcot at night.
There are 4 bus stops at POR. If you get on at the first stop and have to make the other 3 stops it takes 10-11 minutes. So if you get on at POFQ you will be on a few minutes longer than that. Once the bus leaves the resort it takes 5 minutes to get to Epcot, 9 to MK & DTD, 10 to DHS, and 16 to AK.
We did take the boat to DTD one time during our stay. Our boat driver was very funny and made for a fun trip, but with the high winds we took the bus back. (We had a ton of crazy wind from tropical storm Ida during our stay)
We ate at the food court 2 times. I had one very good meal and one that wasn't so good. I will tell more about those later in my dining report. The food court is very nice and has lots of great choices. DH enjoyed both his meals he got there. The CM's were very friendly and helpful, at the food court and everywhere at the resort.
If you stay at POR you've got the see Piano Bob!! That guy is hilarious. DS10 is still talking about him. I will post pics of the kids having a blast at his show!
So how does POR fall as far as our favorites? I'm going to say a close 2nd, even with the frog and cold pool!!
As we walked around the resort on our 2nd day there DH and I were talking about how beautiful it was and how we thought we might even like it better than our favorite, but then the frog (and yes, I do realize that could happen anywhere) and the very cold pool water kind of changed our minds a bit. It is also not quite as centrally located as our favorite and we missed the white sand beaches & hammocks. But still, for the one moderate that appealed to us the least theme wise we were very impressed and surprised by how much we enjoyed it. It just goes to show that you never know until you try something!
So CBR still remains our favorite moderate, with POR at a close second, followed by POFQ, and last is CSR.
We stayed at OKW our last 2 nights, I will be doing a review on it later this week.
I will be posting a lot of POR pictures for you very soon. Feel free to ask me any question about POR or any of the moderates!
Thanks for reading!
We started going to Disney in 2005 and have stayed at CBR twice, POFQ once, and CSR once, so we thought it was only fair to give POR a try this time!
We had a 2:00 flight out of Pittsburgh on Saturday the 7th. We landed around 4:00. We were taking ME to the resort, so we went to our line and got right on the bus. That last 4 seats. We were then informed that the bus was stopping at 4 resorts.
YC, BC, Boardwalk, and POR. And in that order. I still can't figure out why POR was on that bus. POR is in the DTD area. The others are obviously in the Epcot area. And why weren't POFQ & POR on the same bus? Very strange and it seemed like it took forever. But in all actuality we were at POR right around 5:30. There was no one in the regular check in line and about 2-3 families in the online check in line. So I was taken care of right away since I hadn't checked in online! I had requested the AB section and to be on the top floor of any of the following buildings: 14, 18, 26, or 27. I was informed that we were on the top floor of AB #27!! The CM said the best way to get there was to following the hallway to the food court, cut through the food court and follow the path along the river to #27. It was about a 5 minute walk. We unpacked our carry-ons and headed off to Epcot and when we came back a few hours later the rest of our luggage had magically arrived!Our room was pretty much what we expected it to be from looking at tons of picture beforehand. We weren't overly impressed with the decor of the inside of the room, but we knew that going in. Everything was in order, 2 beds, 2 chairs, a table, a huge bench (which does not open for storage), a shelf with 4 pegs for hanging jackets, 2 sinks, etc. The room was fairly clean, but there was garbage still in the 2 garbage cans. And dust in the corners, behind the bed & stand, etc, as with most Disney hotel rooms. We like to call it pixie-dust.
Ever since all these stories of snakes and other creatures in the rooms, and personal items coming up missing, not to mention the whole H1N1 thing, we don't have housekeeping come in much. We clean the room ourselves and catch housekeeping out in the hall and get our supplies and exchange our wet towels, etc. We did have her come in once during the week and she did a good job. Unfortunately keeping the door shut all week didn't keep one creature from getting in. One night we got back to the room late and I went to wash my face and there were 2 eyeballs looking at me. Sitting right there on my make-up bag!!
I didn't bother to investigate, I just ran away and told DH something was looking at me! He went over to discover that it was a frog. He took it's picture for proof and caught it and threw it outside. We then washed off everything and threw out our toothbrushes. Oh, and inspected the room to see if it had any friends. DH took the camera and went to the front desk, where they offered to move us to the Mansions section or to call pest control, both of which we declined. They did give him new toothbrushes for all of us. Our view was garden/courtyard and was very lush and beautiful.
We appeared to be right in-between the South and West bus stops. So we tried them both. I would say that if you could take a straight line from the West bus stop to our room it would be shorter. But the paths were all winding and it took forever. So we stuck with the South bus stop (which is usually the first stop, after POFQ) at the main entrance. It was about a 5 minute walk. So, we were about 5 minutes from everything important - bus stop, food court, main pool.
The main pool is very beautiful and has a very fun slide (very similar to CSR's slide - open and one curve with water squirting on you at one point). DS10 went down it a lot!! The pool is very neat how it curves around and has water running over top of it and coming into the pool. The unfortunate side of the pool, the water was apparently not heated.
The first time we went to the pool it was about 80 degrees out and the water was uncomfortable for DH and I, but the kids lasted nearly an hour. The next time we went it wasn't quite as warm out and the water was freezing. DH and I did not even get in and the kids lasted about 15 minutes. That's bad for them! So I'm not sure it that's an all the time thing there or if there was a problem with the heater when we were there. I thought all Disney pools were heated. . . so we were pretty disappointed in our swimming time. So I went in to this trip terrified of the POR buses after all that I have heard, but I am happy to report that they were just fine! Our average waits were about 5-15 minutes. There were a few times we waited 20-25, but it didn't happen often. The buses were crowded, I will say that. We probably stood on the buses more than we ever have. Probably about 3-4 times we had to stand. We always shared with POFQ, with the exception of the MK buses. One night we came out of MK to go back to POR and there were 2 POR buses at the stop, double parked. Never saw that before. Apparently they were both full and they both pulled away. About 6-7 minutes later 2 more pulled up and double parked again. There were 2 people in scooters waiting to get loaded, so they waved the line of people around the first bus to the second bus and loaded it til it was full and also loaded the first bus after that. I would say that POR was nearing full capacity because there were tons of people on the buses! I only wish they would have done the double bus thing at Epcot at night.
There are 4 bus stops at POR. If you get on at the first stop and have to make the other 3 stops it takes 10-11 minutes. So if you get on at POFQ you will be on a few minutes longer than that. Once the bus leaves the resort it takes 5 minutes to get to Epcot, 9 to MK & DTD, 10 to DHS, and 16 to AK.
We did take the boat to DTD one time during our stay. Our boat driver was very funny and made for a fun trip, but with the high winds we took the bus back. (We had a ton of crazy wind from tropical storm Ida during our stay)
We ate at the food court 2 times. I had one very good meal and one that wasn't so good. I will tell more about those later in my dining report. The food court is very nice and has lots of great choices. DH enjoyed both his meals he got there. The CM's were very friendly and helpful, at the food court and everywhere at the resort.
If you stay at POR you've got the see Piano Bob!! That guy is hilarious. DS10 is still talking about him. I will post pics of the kids having a blast at his show!
So how does POR fall as far as our favorites? I'm going to say a close 2nd, even with the frog and cold pool!!
As we walked around the resort on our 2nd day there DH and I were talking about how beautiful it was and how we thought we might even like it better than our favorite, but then the frog (and yes, I do realize that could happen anywhere) and the very cold pool water kind of changed our minds a bit. It is also not quite as centrally located as our favorite and we missed the white sand beaches & hammocks. But still, for the one moderate that appealed to us the least theme wise we were very impressed and surprised by how much we enjoyed it. It just goes to show that you never know until you try something! So CBR still remains our favorite moderate, with POR at a close second, followed by POFQ, and last is CSR.
We stayed at OKW our last 2 nights, I will be doing a review on it later this week.
I will be posting a lot of POR pictures for you very soon. Feel free to ask me any question about POR or any of the moderates!
Thanks for reading!
Very lush and beautiful. When we stayed there in January the buses were excellent, the best we have ever seen. Most waits were under 5 minutes! If you happen to get on the bus at the first stop at CBR it takes about 8 minutes to make all the other stops and then once you leave the resort it is 3 minutes to DHS, 5 to Epcot, 9 to DTD, and 11 to MK & AK. 
) was hiding out in my room. 
) He plays with that darn thing all the time! It's been in all his cars, Kinex merry go round...you name it! 
