Resort Thread Disney's PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE Resort

[ZehnJahren]

I'm checking in; staying at Riverside for part of a split stay in May - the 21st to the 24th. I've never stayed here, though I've been to Disney dozens of times, and I'm bringing a first timer with me - my 12 year-old niece. I'm going to scour this thread! I picked this resort so we could ride the boat to DTD (Disney Springs or whatever ) and she and I love boats so I thought "What a GREAT arrival hotel!"

I cannot wait, and I can't wait to read more about this resort! Glad to be here!

 

[AEB123]

What are the chances of getting a good package/discount/unique offer code for the first week of October 2016 for a Riverside Royal room? My 3 year old daughter wants to stay at AoA in a Little Mermaid room after she saw them on our last trip when we stayed at Pop, but after doing the math (because the LM rooms are never included on any discount), we could stay in a Riverside Royal room for only $100 more for the entire week if the discount was something like "free dining". I also don't know if I should go ahead and make the reservation for Riverside or make it for AoA and wait to see what kind of discounts are offered. This would be our first stay at a Moderate, which my husband and I are quite excited about the possibility, but it will only work out for the budget if we can get a good discount!

 

[dansdad]

What are the chances of getting a good package/discount/unique offer code for the first week of October 2016 for a Riverside Royal room? My 3 year old daughter wants to stay at AoA in a Little Mermaid room after she saw them on our last trip when we stayed at Pop, but after doing the math (because the LM rooms are never included on any discount), we could stay in a Riverside Royal room for only $100 more for the entire week if the discount was something like "free dining". I also don't know if I should go ahead and make the reservation for Riverside or make it for AoA and wait to see what kind of discounts are offered. This would be our first stay at a Moderate, which my husband and I are quite excited about the possibility, but it will only work out for the budget if we can get a good discount!

If you are only going to go with POR with a discount, I would not book it now. Discounts are offered to fill rooms. If you do book, that's one less room they will need to include in the discount. Having a room already booked has zero advantage when the discounts come out. You will still have to fight the masses to snag a discounted room before they're gone. If it was me, I would book a LM room now. Then when discounts come out and you can snag a room at POR, you'll be able to cancel your LM room and book a discounted room at POR. If rooms at POR are not included in any discounts, you already have a room booked at AoA.

 

[AEB123]

Thanks for the info. That's probably what we will end up doing and just keep checking for discounts for October!

 

[Ckmommy72]

So, with the change in bus schedule... I'm worried this might affect our mode of travel to our KTTK tour. We intended to get the first bus at 6:30ish. Will the 7:00 bus be early enough for us to be at town square theater by 8:00-8:15 (9:00am park opening)? Otherwise, we'll probably uber it.

 

[TDDisney]

Thanks for the info. That's probably what we will end up doing and just keep checking for discounts for October!

I agree with dansdad, especially bc it seems that discounts at POR are very difficult to come by. I would especially NOT count on free dining for October at POR. We used to always be able to get that then. However, now it seems that free dining in October has dramatically decreased. And, when discounts do come out, POR seems to be excluded from many of the discounts now. I am guessing bc it has no problem securing guests who want to stay there. We were at POR in Oct. 2013 and Dec. 2015 and were not able to get any discount through Disney in Oct. 2013 (booked through online site, but it was a pain in the tush bc I then couldn't make any changes myself bc that was considered a third party, plus had FP issues back then with trying to link tix). For our Dec. 2013 trip, I was able to get about $400 off our whole package (booked through Disney ourselves), but that was the best I could do...stayed in Royal Room. At least the RR's seem to have a slightly better chance of discount than standards. Perhaps others may share different info, but this was our experience anyway ;-). Nevertheless....even without a discount, we still head toward POR bc we love it so much!

 

[andrewilley]

So, with the change in bus schedule... I'm worried this might affect our mode of travel to our KTTK tour. We intended to get the first bus at 6:30ish. Will the 7:00 bus be early enough for us to be at town square theater by 8:00-8:15 (9:00am park opening)?

You should be fine, just make sure you get on the first bus at 7am and you'll be getting off at the MK stop by 7:30 at the latest.

Andre

 

[RustManFan]

I called in my room only reservation for 2016 at the 499 day mark and had it noted on the reservation what building I wanted. Forgot to indicate which floor so will call back sometime soon and make sure that is noted as well.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We plan to do HDDR for a dinner, and Ohana for a Breakfast. I was thinking to hire a taxi for those. Does a taxi drop you off right in front of HDDR or the resort?

The taxi will drop you off near the gate of Fort Wilderness and you will have to take the internal bus to HDDR. A taxi to the Poly will take you right to the resort

 

[pachanga5]

Forgive me for this silly question, but we are booked at POR from 11/12-11/18 this year. Can someone tell me what to expect in terms of fall foliage at the resort? Our last visit was in early October 2012 and everything was green and lush. Should I expect more of a fall appearance? Fewer leaves on trees? I'm from Illinois and really don't know what to expect in Florida.

 

[DonaldDuck77]

If you are only going to go with POR with a discount, I would not book it now. Discounts are offered to fill rooms. If you do book, that's one less room they will need to include in the discount. Having a room already booked has zero advantage when the discounts come out. You will still have to fight the masses to snag a discounted room before they're gone. If it was me, I would book a LM room now. Then when discounts come out and you can snag a room at POR, you'll be able to cancel your LM room and book a discounted room at POR. If rooms at POR are not included in any discounts, you already have a room booked at AoA.

This is exactly what we did a couple years ago. With free dining (we were planning to buy the dining plan full price that trip), POR RR were only about $100 more than the LM rooms that we originally booked. It seems like POR is popular enough for some categories to not be discounted, but the royal rooms seem to always be.

 

[andrewilley]

Forgive me for this silly question, but we are booked at POR from 11/12-11/18 this year. Can someone tell me what to expect in terms of fall foliage at the resort? Our last visit was in early October 2012 and everything was green and lush. Should I expect more of a fall appearance? Fewer leaves on trees? I'm from Illinois and really don't know what to expect in Florida.

Fewer leaves on some of the trees of course, yes. Can't fight nature! However there's is still a lot of green around as much of the vegetation is deliberately not deciduous.

For example, in February:

Andre

 

[WDWRook]

Forgive me for this silly question, but we are booked at POR from 11/12-11/18 this year. Can someone tell me what to expect in terms of fall foliage at the resort? Our last visit was in early October 2012 and everything was green and lush. Should I expect more of a fall appearance? Fewer leaves on trees? I'm from Illinois and really don't know what to expect in Florida.

So it that the best way to get to and from HDDR from POR? Or, take a bus to WL and boat over, then reverse back?

EDIT: I'm not worried about a $20 cab ride, looking for easiest transportation.

 

[ncc1701]

So it that the best way to get to and from HDDR from POR? Or, take a bus to WL and boat over, then reverse back?

EDIT: I'm not worried about a $20 cab ride, looking for easiest transportation.

The taxi would be the easiest.

 

[andrewilley]

So it that the best way to get to and from HDDR from POR? Or, take a bus to WL and boat over, then reverse back?

Cab would be marginally quicker. If you do take the bus, you'll need to go to MK and change to a boat there (the ferry boat drops you off quite near the HDDR, but may have a few stops in between)

Andre

 

[Wood Nymph]

So it that the best way to get to and from HDDR from POR? Or, take a bus to WL and boat over, then reverse back?

EDIT: I'm not worried about a $20 cab ride, looking for easiest transportation.

I wouldn't go to FW via WL. That would be one too many steps. I would go to MK then take the boat to FW. The boat dock is close to the restaurant. Or if you are at another park, then take the FW bus. You will still have to take the internal bus, but it is a short ride.

When HDDR is over then you can either take the boat to MK or the bus to MK to catch your resort bus. They used to provide resort buses after HDDR but now they are taking all the guests to the MK bus depot, or at least that is the latest transportation method.

 

[WDWRook]

If I wanted to take a cab back to POR from HDDR, I'd have to take the internal bus back to the entrance gate, then call and wait for a cab, right? Guessing that isn't much quicker than boat to MK and bus to POR.

 

[BDL]

If I wanted to take a cab back to POR from HDDR, I'd have to take the internal bus back to the entrance gate, then call and wait for a cab, right? Guessing that isn't much quicker than boat to MK and bus to POR.

We actually did this on our last trip, Dec 2014. We stayed at POR and were going to the early show. So, we took the MK bus from POR and then took the boat to Ft. Wilderness. A very relaxing boat ride I might add, and a little nostalgic for anyone who remembers River Country. After the show, we walked around the campgrounds/trailers and loved seeing how everyone was decorated for the holidays. Took the boat back to MK and then the bus back to POR.

We enjoyed that fact that this was one of the natural lulls that are sometimes required when going to WDW.

 

[RustManFan]

yooperfan: look at link near top of post#2 of this thread

 

[Little Monkey Mom]

Traveling with 2 older kids who can't really share a bed, so POR is a great option for us with the pull down bed ... Is the extra bed available in all Alligator Bayou rooms or just in the preferred rooms? I know you have to book a preferred room to be guaranteed the extra bed, but I'm wondering if I could book a less expensive room & then request any AB building & still get the extra bed?