Resort Thread Disney's PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE Resort

[squeegee]

It is not the occasional person that I am talking about it was that no one offered their seat and let young children 3 or 4 stand. Yes some have disabilities that are not noticeable including the middle aged couple that are in danger of falling into the laps of those sitting.

I did not mean to upset anyone I was just stating an observation from other trips.

No upset, here, no worries

 

[dpswift]

I think one of the biggest issues facing POR, as well as other moderate resorts, is the crowd waiting at the bus stops. If you arrive at the stop and the bus has just left, you're apt to take a seat. Then, more and more people arrive. So now, you've been waiting the longest, but you're way in the back of the crowd. I've heard guests yelling to make way, they've been there the longest. I've stood there, surrounded by people, have a bus arrive, and have a family walk right in front of all of us waiting, and board the bus as soon as the doors opened.
I think that, many times, people either just don't understand how it works, or they're in their own little world. The size of the moderate resorts mean more people at the stops. At the value resorts you have a well defined queue.....people know where to go. I sometimes wish the moderates would put that in as well.
The outlying stops, at POR anyway, don't have that issue...seems to be just at the main stop.

Happily, the rest of the resort is wonderful. Incredibly beautiful and peaceful. It will always be one of my favorite places to stay.

Totally agree. The buses are my biggest fear of staying moderate. I work retail and when there is a black Friday sale or a limited release of something those that have been waiting the longest know their place in line and honor it. It is the people that show up when the doors open that push their way to the front.

 

[halssister]

Pool question! I've been looking, and thinking we may decide to stroll over to FQ and check out the resort one of the days we are there. We tend to be done at the parks by 1-2 and then hang out at the resort a lot, and eat in the food court every day, so it may be nice to eat at a different food court one time for a change. I thought I read this, but want to confirm......Guests at one side of POR CAN use the pool at the other, can't they? I know generally pool hopping is a no-no, and I don't want to break rules, but I thoguht before our last trip I had read Riverside guests could use the French Quarter pool and vice versa, since they were "sister" resorts. Wondering if the FQ pool may be a bit less crowded, too

 

[CJK]

Pool question! I've been looking, and thinking we may decide to stroll over to FQ and check out the resort one of the days we are there. We tend to be done at the parks by 1-2 and then hang out at the resort a lot, and eat in the food court every day, so it may be nice to eat at a different food court one time for a change. I thought I read this, but want to confirm......Guests at one side of POR CAN use the pool at the other, can't they? I know generally pool hopping is a no-no, and I don't want to break rules, but I thoguht before our last trip I had read Riverside guests could use the French Quarter pool and vice versa, since they were "sister" resorts. Wondering if the FQ pool may be a bit less crowded, too

Yes! Pool hop away! Guests at the sister resorts are welcome to swim at all the pools. I would suggest that the FQ pool isn't always less crowded though. There's only 1 pool at FQ and several at POR. Feel free to explore!

 

[halssister]

Yes! Pool hop away! Guests at the sister resorts are welcome to swim at all the pools. I would suggest that the FQ pool isn't always less crowded though. There's only 1 pool at FQ and several at POR. Feel free to explore!

Thanks! I hadn't thought about the fact that there's only one pool. But it might be fun for DS to try a different pool. He will probably spend his entire time going down the water slide repeatedly anyway, but a different slide may be fun

 

[Jen1103]

Are there towels at the quiet pools or just at the main pool?

 

[emmamomma]

I guess what we've learned here is that we all should try not to judge and to be more considerate in order to keep PoR Awesome and so EVERYONE has a magical vacation!

 

[finny1981]

I am so conflicted as to where to stay. One part of me wants to stay at Magnolia Bend in a top floor room (we really like top floor rooms), but the other part of me would like to stay at Alligator Bayou in a ground level (would love top floor, but can't do the stairs). I wouldn't mind letting them pick, but it is kind of important to have top floor at MB and bottom at AB, I am so torn lol.

I feel pretty ok about the bus situation because last time we stayed at the Cabin in FW and I know the layout and bus situation leave a lot to be desired, but honestly we never even noticed so I am super excited about POR...counting the days for the resort almost as much as we are for WDW

 

[goofy4tink]

One of the reasons I avoid waiting at the main stop. Also people queue up whether the bus coming is the one they want or not. Impossible to tell. I was waiting and large group was ahead of me and queue was not moving. Finally I asked, nope, lots weren't getting on that bus & I had to walk around them to get bus.
Outer bus stops are a lot more pleasant.

Agree 100%!! The worst is when you're walking up to the main stop, by the food court. There are a ton of people waiting at the first area.....totally miserable and hard to get through the crowd to get to the stop you want. They look at you as if you just stuck them with a knife....no, I am not trying to cut in front of you, just want to get to my bus stop, over there!!!

But, I still love POR.....our first stay was in bldg 35, way back in AB. That bus stop was seldom crowded...maybe 5 or 6 people!! There's very little I don't like about POR!!!

 

[andrewilley]

Could someone staying at POR at the moment spare few seconds to get some photos of the grab'n'go chiller cabinet for me please? The shots would need to be clear enough to read the prices, so it might need a couple of versions of each cabinet if taken on a phone. I'd like to update the site with the increases in the bottled soft-drink prices that went live at WDW this week. Thanks!

Andre

 

[PensFan]

73 Days!!!! SO CLOSE!!!

I remember just making a room reservation with Disney 500 days out at POP just to get the ball rolling .. now we're 73 days away all booked and staying at Port Orleans Riverside - Royal Guest Room!! My what changes when you have to wait 500 Days!!

 

[SwanVT2]

How are the margaritas at POR pool bar? Worth the 10.00 ? Ouch!

 

[keahgirl8]

No upset, here, no worries

I'm not upset either, but it is important to remember. I was there for the PHM, during which I developed multiple (quite painful) injuries. There was no way I could stand that long on a moving bus, so I had to take a seat. I felt horrible and really worried that others would judge me, but I had no choice.

 

[twoolle]

Thank you all for all of your supportive comments! I didn't mean to hijack the thread and turn it from POR talk to ECV talk, I swear! I do want to respond specifically to one bit quickly though, then I promise I'm done!

This, absolutely this, 100%. I have been using an ECV at WDW since 2002, and I have experienced ALL of the above.

Following my last two trips I did Trip Reports here on the DIS, and particularly my recent trip in April, I talked a lot about my adventuring specific to the ECV. Many of my readers there said similar things, how they found it eye-opening to read about so many of the unexpected issues that we ECV-users encounter. I consider the thing to be both a blessing and a curse... A blessing because it would be impossible for me to visit WDW at all without it, but also a curse because of all the challenges that accompany it.

And while I don't consider myself expert level, I am pretty dang good with it, and extremely careful. But the one trick I still haven't mastered after all these years is parking it on the bus. I can zip up the ramp like a pro, but then I need a lot of help getting it into it's spot. It's my understanding that the drivers aren't allowed to instruct you to get off and let them slide it into it's parking spot (which I personally find to be the fastest, safest, and most efficient way to get the ECV where it belongs), but if you ASK them for help in this way, then they absolutely can do it. However, they aren't required to. And I always ask, and I find that 95% of the time, the bus driver is totally cool and helpful! But the other 5% refuse to, and will stand there and bark orders at me "Back up, more, now cut the wheel, no, harder, the other way, go forward! Too fast, back up! Keep going! You hit the wall, do it again!" Etc. With me hitting walls and seats the whole time. I don't love it, but I can deal with that stuff on an empty bus. A bus full of people? I can feel my anxiety issues ramping up just typing about it! The one time that I mentioned earlier, 6 weeks ago, I was nearly in tears by the time it was all said in done, it was so embarrassing.

And to bring it back On-Topic, I say all this to explain my extreme hesitation now regarding POR (or CBR or CSR or any resort with multiple bus stops), as it sounds like buses pulling up that already have people on them are the norm. Where as at resorts with just one bus stop, the bus usually shows up empty (not always of course, but usually). I haven't ruled it out completely, because I do LOVE those Royal rooms and have been wanting to stay in them ever since they were unveiled. And while I usually travel solo, I'll have my aunt & uncle with me for this one, so maybe in a worst case scenario they can help with getting the ECV into place when we have a bus driver who won't. (My aunt is also the type who won't hesitate to give somebody a piece of her mind if they are rude to me about it. )

Anyhow! I return you to your regularly scheduled DISing and POR-discussing! Thank you again for all of the advice and support!

Buses at deluxe resorts are not always empty as they can share with other nearby deluxes. We stayed at GF last September and I never recall boarding an empty bus. One morning we had to wait for 3 buses to finally fit on one to DHS. It might be different for non MK area resorts though.

 

[disney gym mom]

We go through tons of milk with our 3 kids...are the refrigerators big enough to hold a gallon of milk?

 

[halssister]

I see people talking about using touring plans to send a fax requesting a room. I don't subscribe to the site, but I see that they have pictured of different views from each room, along with specific wording to use to request that room (such as, bldg 16, floor 1, se corner, example 1618. 1619,1620). I'm curious if anyone has tried to fax POR themselves using that type of wording, and how successful they were getting their requests. People are reporting an incredible success rate getting the exact room number when having touring plans send a fax for them five days out, and are claiming it is because of the special wording they use on the faxes (Disney room scheduler speak). Is it worth trying, or am I better off just requesting AB section, ground floor, close to main building and hope for the best?

 

[Choozee]

How are the margaritas at POR pool bar? Worth the 10.00 ? Ouch!

I just wish somebody would answer this question.....?

 

[andrewilley]

We go through tons of milk with our 3 kids...are the refrigerators big enough to hold a gallon of milk?

Yes, they fit fine.

People are reporting an incredible success rate getting the exact room number when having touring plans send a fax for them five days out, and are claiming it is because of the special wording they use on the faxes (Disney room scheduler speak).

The wording format that they use is based on the old notion that the free-text requests field in the booking system couldn't hold more than 80 characters. Actually I think it can these days, but even then it makes no difference for wording in a fax where you can type as much as you want. Just the fact that a fax is being sent at all is the important thing.

In fact, I had an email from the manager of the room inventory department fairly recently commenting on the unusual format of faxes that had started arriving over the last few months, and wondering if I happened to know where they might be coming from as it was obvious that they were from some kind of automated response system. He didn't have any problem with them, and the information is certainly accurate (if a little condensed) but he was curious as to what was generating them. He is also fully aware of the template-based faxes that come in based on Venomhatch's layout here on the DIS incidentally.

So go ahead and use either format by all means - or send your own more personally worded version if you prefer, which would not need to be quite so condensed. They all get read and will hopefully be actioned if possible. However, always remember that requests are never guaranteed, however they are sent in.

Andre

 

[halssister]

So go ahead and use either format by all means - or send your own more personally worded version if you prefer, which would not need to be quite so condensed. They all get read and will hopefully be actioned if possible. However, always remember that requests are never guaranteed, however they are sent in.

Andre

Thank you sir!
Looking at the map further, I really don't think there is a "bad" location anyway . We don't mind a few minutes of walking, so as long as we get AB and a ground floor (DS has autism and tends to be quite noisy with his jumping and flapping around, so it's rude to others to be on an upper floor!), I will be happy! I will still request close to the main building, though

 

[shannon006]

I will be checking out tomorrow. I have 1 case of water to give away. Ease pm me if you would like me to leave it outside my room either later today or tomorrow am.