Back from POR - any questions?

[Grumpy's Gal]

We're back from Port Orleans. Anyone have any questions? With the exception of our FIASCO dealings with Dollar Rental Car, everything was perfect.

 

[232271]

ARe they still working on renovations at the Riverside?

 

[LoveMickey]

What area of POR did you stay in?

Was it a recently renovated room? with a refrig?

Was the mattress just wonderful? We stayed at FQ last May and the beds were great.

 

[MAC3]

How was the transportation? This is the only "iffy" issue I have with trying this resort but will do so anyway for the experience. If it is awful then we will never stay here again.

 

[MEM]

I am not the OP, but I stayed at POR over Halloween weekend and had no complaints either. Loved it, in fact! We stayed in Alligator Bayou, 2nd floor. Had a view of the parking lot, but were close to bus stop, food court, Ole Man Island and quiet pool. Can't tell if it was a renovated room or not. Looked to be in great shape. The mattresses were very comfortable. Room came with a trundle bed although we did not request it nor were we charged for it. (and yes, our kids took turns using it). A free fridge was delivered upon request. Apparently they don't have enough to go around, yet. Our mousekeeper was the best we have had in 6 stays at WDW(including 2 deluxe resorts).

The busses ran very often from the resort, but with the exception of the bus to MK, all busses were shared with French Quarter. This I think they could and should change. Seemed to be plenty of demand at FQ to justify its own bus. Many times it was SRO by the time the bus got to our stop. On the plus side, I was pleased at how centrally located the resort is with regard to the other parks.

Longest we waited for a bus was 1/2 hour after Illuminations. The bus was at the stop but the wheelchair lift was malfunctioning and instead of sending a new bus, we had to wait until they fixed it.

Without a doubt this is my new favorite moderate!

 

[Sleuth]

I've heard conflicting opinions of the rooms in AB. We are going 2/13-2/19 and I would like a newer, updated room- is there a certain room I should request?

This is our first stay on Disney property...Do you get a certain Mousekeeper for your entire stay? I'm assuming that would be a housekeeper, right?

I'm also wondering if the transportation from the resort goes to all the parks, maybe we don't even need a rental car- what's your opinion on this? We are flying into MCO.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

Yes, still working on renovations. We were in bldg 25 and they havd not yet started on ours. Bldg 27 was closed completely and they were working on it.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

I don't know if we had the same house keeper the whole time. But one came every day. We left a tip for her but never had anything fun for the kids like towel animals, etc. The room was clean and she left enough soap, towels, etc. No complaints with the house keeping.

Disney transportation was great. We were near a bus stop. Never had a problem with that.

The only problem we had was with Dollar rental car. We will never rent from them again.

 

[Sleuth]

Originally posted by Grumpy's Gal
I don't know if we had the same house keeper the whole time. But one came every day. We left a tip for her but never had anything fun for the kids like towel animals, etc. The room was clean and she left enough soap, towels, etc. No complaints with the house keeping.

Disney transportation was great. We were near a bus stop. Never had a problem with that.

The only problem we had was with Dollar rental car. We will never rent from them again.

Out of curiousity, what was the deal with Dollar?

 

[msr709]

I can't help about the rooms because next summer will be my first time at this specific resort. About the Mousekeeper they are the housekeepers and there's no way of telling who you will get from day to day. That's why a lot of people from these boards leave a daily tip because they are not always sure if you will get the same person during your whole stay.

As to the busses, all Disney resorts have busses that go to ALL parks. I personally have been going for the past 6 years and I never rent a car, don't see the need. But I usually don't travel with small children, its just me and another adult. You would have to figure what is more important to you. I find the bus system to be very reliable, they are often there b/w 10 to 20 minutes apart but they do run all day and an hour or two after the parks close. I don't mind the wait, I figure I'm on vacation and have all the time I need. HTH

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

The deal with Dollar.......WE WILL NEVER USE DOLLAR RENTAL CAR TO SAVE MONEY AGAIN! We just got back from DW -- we had reserved a rental car from Dollar. We were to pick up a car at the airport and return it at a downtown disney hotel. That worked GREAT for our planning as to save time -- we could catch a bus from downtown disney to our hotel. Well, eventhough Dollar had our home phone number, our home email address, and our home mailing address........they didn't notify us that they were CLOSING the Dollar office at Downtown Disney. So we landed in Orlando, picked up our rental car.....and then they told us. Yes, they had known for weeks and refused to answer us when we asked why they didn't notify us. So we couldn't return the car at Downtown Disney. Had to drive a LONG, LONG way and return it on International Drive. We also had reserved to pick up a car at Downtown Disney eight days later.......of course, they hadn't notified us that we couldn't. They had accepted our reservations just fine.......never mentioned that the Dollar location was CLOSED. So, it took several hours out of our trip to make arrangements to travel to drop off and pick up our rental car. They just said there were too many reservations to have contacted us. They refused to bring the car to our hotel. How many others had problems with Dollar? I know we won't rent with them again no matter how good the rate is. And neither of our two times did they actually have the size of car that we have reserved a month ago. We were VERY disappointed with them.

 

[Sleuth]

When we went in May this year we used L&M and had no problems.

Grumpy do you know if there is a shuttle from Orlando Airport to POR?

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

I think the Mears Shuttle will go from the airport to any of the resorts.

 

[Cinderellagrl]

Grumpy's Gal,

We stayed at POR last week, too! We were in Bldg 18, not too far from you. It is a beautiful resort. We loved it! We tried to spend quite a bit of time enjoying all the resort has to offer. The food in the food court was good (at least what we ate). The only regret I had was that DH and I couldn't take a horse & carriage ride. He tried, but there was only one opening available & it ended up being the same time we had a character dinner. Maybe next time.

 

[MiJo]

Yes, the busses run from POR to all of the parks, including water parks. POR also has a boat that runs to/from DTD so you don't have to take a bus to get there if you would rather cruise down the Sassagoula River.
As for MCO transportation, consider using a towncar service. It is so easy and well worth the price ($80-100 roundtrip plus tips). I hate to drive while on vacation so we try not to rent a car while at WDW and we have never had a problem with the transportation. In fact, we have had a couple bus drivers go out of their way just for us!
While at POR, don't miss Bob "The Piano Man" Jackson in the lounge. He puts on a great show for the entire family. I think he is there Wednesday-Sunday evenings.
Mike

 

[ufgator]

Sleuth, we had the same mousekeeper for our trip but we were only there for 3 nights. He left lots of towel shapes and stuck my Pooh in the window.