Disney's PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE RESORT Information & Questions

[Liv4Dis]

We got the exact location we requested in a fax. Extra Magic!! Paid for pool view and requested ground floor, building 18 or 16. Got building 18, we are thrilled as it is preferred and nice and close to main building and south depot.

 

[Captain Canada]

I just booked my first trip to Port Orleans riverside and I booked a king room. Just wondering if all king bed rooms have the Murphy bed?

 

[Wood Nymph]

I just booked my first trip to Port Orleans riverside and I booked a king room. Just wondering if all king bed rooms have the Murphy bed?

Only the king bed rooms in AB have the Murphy bed.

3. For anyone who has stayed in the past 2 weeks, and specifically this holiday weekend, how have the buses been and are you at a disadvantage if you stay in the Royal Rooms and being the last pick up?

The East depot is the one closest to the royal rooms but they are not the last to be picked up. The south depot is last and the east depot is second to the last.

 

[Captain Canada]

Ok thanks, are there a few king rooms with Murphy beds in each building in the AB? Just wondering if there is any chance of being near the food. Thanks

 

[FelisLachesis]

Ok thanks, are there a few king rooms with Murphy beds in each building in the AB? Just wondering if there is any chance of being near the food. Thanks

http://www.portorleans.org/riverside-info.php

Scroll a bit down the page to the map of Riverside. From there, click on the individual buildings and you can see which rooms in each building are king beds.

All of the preferred buildings have 3-4 king beds within each building. When making a room request, those would be the ones to ask for.

 

[andrewilley]

Ok thanks, are there a few king rooms with Murphy beds in each building in the AB? Just wondering if there is any chance of being near the food. Thanks

Yes, all of the AB buildings have some King Bed rooms, and they are all open to you (even the ones is the otherwise-"Preferred" locations). So feel free to request building 14 if you wish - you may not get it of course (it's just a request) but it's a perfectly valid option for you.

Andre

 

[anorman]

Did you make any room requests? If you did, let us know if they were met when you get there.
I hope you have a great time!

I did make some room requests......1st floor, mansions preferably Magnolia Terrace, near to main lobby, away from stairs/elevators/ice machines. I used Touringplans room request and specifically requested first floor rooms overlooking the courtyard on the river side of the building near the walkway to Old Man Island.

I did get mansions and it wasn't a long walk to the Old Man Island pathway to the main building and it wasn't next to elevators, etc. I didn't get first floor....in fact I was on the third floor. I didn't get Magnolia Terrace......we were in Acadian House. I didn't get the river side of the building......instead we were on the parking lot side. I paid for a garden view room but any view was completely obscured by a giant tree altough I did have a great view of the roof of the adjoining 2 story wing of the building.

Buses were hit or miss. Mostly they were no big issues and whenever there was a large crowd waiting there was usually another bus not far behind. One evening, however, we waited 45 min at the North Depot for a bus to Disney Springs which apparently finally arrived 30 min after we left. The family that was waiting with us said, when we bumped into them at the House of Blues, they were waiting a total of 2 hours and according to them, the buses to Disney Springs were repeatedly filling up at the main depot and never made it around the resort. This was on an evening that the boats weren't running due to Thunder storms in the area. They should definitely have addressed this situation better. We werre lucky enough to have a car rented but others who rely solely on WDW transportation should have been served better.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay here and would happily stay here again. It is truly a beautiful resort. Don't count on room requests being met....as has been previously stated they just requests, not guaranteed.

 

[MINRK]

I have been budgeting for an upcoming vacation and trying to compare meal costs. Last week the Disney menu for POR showed the create your own pasta and now they only have Chef's pasta creation of the day listed. Does anyone know if the create your own pasta is gone?

 

[mercydisney]

I have been budgeting for an upcoming vacation and trying to compare meal costs. Last week the Disney menu for POR showed the create your own pasta and now they only have Chef's pasta creation of the day listed. Does anyone know if the create your own pasta is gone?

As of yesterday it was still Create your own pasta. DH loved it!

 

[vinotinto]

Returned on Wednesday from our first stay at POR (and our first stay at a moderate - had only stayed deluxe with the family) and it won't be our last. Absolutely great stay. Lovely resort. LOVED the size. We had a preferred room, but we walked all over the resort, and along the river, and even to POFQ for a snack. My DD loved showing me all the "little ponds" with the "little bridges" and the frogs.

Buses:
Our first night, we waited to get out at South depot after returning from MNSSHP. We had arrived that day and were unsure how far it was to walk from West to Bldg 14 (closest building to food court and south depot). It took a long time for the bus to go around all the stops. Next day, we explored a bit and realized it wasn't far at all. After that, we then got off at the first stop (West) and saved a lot of time, rather than waiting to get out at South Depot (last stop). I did love that the South stop was the last stop to be picked up in the mornings. After it, the bus went straight to the parks. We drove to the parks on a couple of days and had never had a room as close to our car as we had at POR.

Food:
Food court was great. Lots of great choices for breakfast in the morning.

Amenities:
Didn't get to go on the boat to Disney Springs so will have to save that until next time. It closed due to thunderstorms. We ubered instead. It was only about $7.

Room Assignments:
We booked preferred and I requested a 2nd floor, non-connecting room in Building 14 or 18. Our requests were all granted! We were in room 1439. This room was so convenient to the food court. We were also right in front of our car (we drove to the parks on a couple of days). View from the hallway was meh. You can see the back of the service buildings, etc. But it was very convenient.

Room and Differences with Deluxes:
Beds were fairly comfortable, but nowhere near as comfortable as our memory foam bed at home, nor as comfortable as the beds at the deluxe hotels. Also missed having the hallway and bathroom separating the beds from the front door. My DH gets up at around 5:30-6:00 am to run every morning to keep up with his marathon training, and he woke me up every time he opened the door. Would have really liked to sleep an extra hour or two. Bathroom was very tight, although our experience is that AKL, WL BC and YC also have very tight bathrooms. Also missed having a luggage stand for suitcases.

All in all, we liked the resort in general, even though we did notice a few differences in terms of the room. We would totally stay here again!

 

[BattyKoda]

For those staying at POR this weekend, good luck and be safe!

I hope to see you at the pool bar next week

 

[Liv4Dis]

--Well we received a note in the room today letting us know that resort dining may have lengthy waits and encouraged us to eat in the theme parks and Disney Springs.
--Snacks and bottled water are available in the theme parks for purchase.
--Housekeeping may be limited.
Tune in to CHNL 3 in your room for hurricane Irma info.
--Complimentary Disney movies in room.

We also received a flashlight.

Parks closing early tomorrow and hopefully re opening on Tuesday is the info we have been given.

 

[Disneymaddness]

Good luck and stay safe!

 

[Liv4Dis]

Good luck and stay safe!

Appreciate that!

 

[Monorail_Man_NJ]

My favorite resort at WDW for the price and quietness is POFQ. However I have never visited POR. If I like POFQ do you think the same goes for POR?

Couple years ago I almost booked the Royal Guestroom but alas my son wasnt that thrilled with the princess theme. I still thought it was cool. LOL

Would you recommend the Mansions or the other room section for a loyal POFQ fan.

 

[FelisLachesis]

My favorite resort at WDW for the price and quietness is POFQ. However I have never visited POR. If I like POFQ do you think the same goes for POR?

Couple years ago I almost booked the Royal Guestroom but alas my son wasnt that thrilled with the princess theme. I still thought it was cool. LOL

Would you recommend the Mansions or the other room section for a loyal POFQ fan.

There are some differences between the two resorts that can irk fans of one or the other. Though others see it as two sides of the same coin.

POFQ is very compact, while POR is very spread out. POR can be quite spacious, while POFQ can feel really cramped. (this is two ways of looking at the same issue).

Some people like the rural train station feel of the Riverside lobby, which rivals the deluxes, but others see it as really stuffy. Some people like the party atmosphere of the FQ lobby, but others might feel it's a bit gaudy. The rooms at Riverside are rustic, but can also feel drab and run down. The FQ rooms are really bright, but can be garish for some people's tastes.

The food courts are similar, while FQ has beignets, and Riverside has the pasta bar. FQ doesn't have a TS restaurant at all, while Riverside does, but it's rather hit and miss. Some people just jump on the boat to DS and sit down to eat there.

I don't remember the specifics of the feature pools, but since both pools are open to all guests of both resorts, that's not a problem.

Take a look at the properties on Andre's website: http://www.portorleans.org/gallery.php From here, look for the differences between what you see at Riverside and what you remember at FQ. The mansions are probably the closest thing you'll find to FQ, but it's still quite different from how FQ is laid out. Alligator Bayou is quite diffreent from FQ, so it may be a culture shock that it's technically the sister resort.

 

[andrewilley]

Our first night, we waited to get out at South depot after returning from MNSSHP. We had arrived that day and were unsure how far it was to walk from West to Bldg 14 (closest building to food court and south depot).

Glad you had a good stay. Out of interest, did you find the shortcut pathway to the South bus stop (walking via the parking lot beside building 14) or did you walk through the main building? Using the shortcut, the South Depot is probably the closest bus stop to your room.

Andre

 

[vinotinto]

Glad you had a good stay. Out of interest, did you find the shortcut pathway to the South bus stop (walking via the parking lot beside building 14) or did you walk through the main building? Using the shortcut, the South Depot is probably the closest bus stop to your room.

Andre

Yes, to South Depot, we walked through the parking lot shortcut and it was right there. However, coming back from the parks, South Depot was the last stop, and by the time it would make its way around the other stops, it took less time to get out at West Depot and walk to our room. South Depot was great going to the parks because it didn't make any other stops and went directly there. I hope that makes sense! And for days that we were short on time, we drove, since our car was right in front of our building.

P.S. - Edited my post to clarify that this is getting off when coming back from the parks!

Also, one day, the bus from MK to POR had a very long line, so we took the bus to POFQ and walked to Bldg 14. The walk was very pleasant and while a little longer than either the South or the West Depot, it was also shorter than waiting for loading more than one bus to POR.

 

[NikkiDP]

My favorite resort at WDW for the price and quietness is POFQ. However I have never visited POR. If I like POFQ do you think the same goes for POR?

Couple years ago I almost booked the Royal Guestroom but alas my son wasnt that thrilled with the princess theme. I still thought it was cool. LOL

Would you recommend the Mansions or the other room section for a loyal POFQ fan.

I personally love Alligator Bayou! I have never stayed at POFQ but it only took staying at POR once to fall in love. Alligator Bayou has such a peaceful feel to it. Walking to the bus stops or the food court early in the morning you really feel like you are in another time period. When we walked through the Mansion area it was absolutely gorgeous, but we didn't have the same feeling as when we walked around Alligator Bayou.

 

[Mom2JoeyandBen]

Can someone please verify if both the Magnolia Bend and Alligator Bayou sections have rooms that sleep 5(2 queen beds and 1 pull-down child bed)? We've been getting conflicting information from different WDW cast members. Has anyone physically been in any of these rooms recently and can confirm? Thanks!!!