Resort Thread Disney's PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE Resort

[andrewilley]

Can anyone elaborate more on the campfires that they have at POR? I just saw "Campfires" listed under Activities on the WDW site. Do they do marshmallows too?

Yup, marshmallows are free for you to roast. Times of the campfires are listed in the monthly recreation activities guides.

Andre

 

[abarriger]

Just to confirm-- it is allowed for me to use the pool st POFQ if I am staying at Riverside? How long is the walk? Is it worth it? (The pool there looks more exciting to me than the one at RS, and we have a resort only day, just wanted to check.)

 

[awalker1015]

Question for the experts here....first time staying on Disney grounds, have a garden view room at POR in July for family of 4. Wife gets winded and can be unstable walking at times due to previous surgeries, so we are wondering what our best options are....I was going to fax a request for close proximity to either bus stops and/or pool/restaurant area. Is there an ideal place that I should try that would be the best option? (we are also looking into a wheelchair for the times she may need it)......

My thoughts- we stayed at POR with my 65yo mother three years ago. She was 6 weeks post op knee surgery and had limitations. I requested a room close to a bus stop and a quiet pool. We ended up in AB near west sept and a quiet pool. Worked out great. We ate breakfast in the room anyway so being close to the bus stop was more important than being close to the food court. POR is huge though. I guess figure out where you will be traveling to the most and request accordingly.

 

[awalker1015]

Just to confirm-- it is allowed for me to use the pool st POFQ if I am staying at Riverside? How long is the walk? Is it worth it? (The pool there looks more exciting to me than the one at RS, and we have a resort only day, just wanted to check.)

It's definitely allowed. Worth it... Hmm. I think it's definitely worth the walk to POFQ. Resort is charming and walk is lovely. Beignets alone are worth it and Scat Cats is nice. The pool is ok. It's sunnier than POR and probably better suited to younger kids. POR pool is more fun though, IMO.

 

[K Gragg]

It's listed in the link I posted.

Awesome! Glad it is so difficult to answer a question for someone.

 

[andrewilley]

Awesome! Glad it is so difficult to answer a question for someone.

Huh? Didn't seem that difficult, an answer was posted within 14 minutes of the OP asking the original question (pointing to a page about the Riverside pools which contains all the answers to the OP's queries - and a few more besides ).

Even I can't remember the slide area water depth off the top of my head without checking though... I would guess at 3'6". [Edit: I was right, maybe I know more than I thought. ]

Andre

 

[Amanda Hall]

Can anyone elaborate more on the campfires that they have at POR? I just saw "Campfires" listed under Activities on the WDW site. Do they do marshmallows too?

Marshmallows and sticks were free but there were 2 young cast members there who told us and the kids we had to do silly things to get a marshmallow. She wouldn't let my husband and I have one unless we made a silly face. She tried to make the kids dance. Our family is shy around people we do not know and this made the kids very uncomfortable. Im not sure if it's always like that but we have not tried again.

 

[MlWinans]

Does anyone have a recent update on how and where the roof Refurb on Building 85 is going? I paid no attention to the refurb pages and requested a room in that building (we booked a King Room).

 

[andrewilley]

Does anyone have a recent update on how and where the roof Refurb on Building 85 is going? I paid no attention to the refurb pages and requested a room in that building (we booked a King Room).

It's going OK as far as I know, due to be completed mid-July. Don't worry, they won't place you in a section where work is currently going on.

Andre

 

[Shula]

We were in Magnolia Terrace 5/26-6/3 and it is now my favorite building! I had requests linked to our reservation and I faxed the resort 4 days prior. We had 5 rooms and my requests were:

-close together with 2 of the rooms connecting-received 8601-8603, 8605 & 8608, and received connecting for the 2 that needed it
-close to food court
-Magnolia Bend but no view of construction
-If Alligator Bayou 1st floor please-3 strollers and 2 seniors

We received Magnolia Terrace on the 1st floor. It was close to the bridge to Ol Man Island and food court, close to parking lot which had East depot but we only used it a few times because we rented a car, a quiet pool was a minute walk and it was stunning in the evening walking under the lanterns. There was some work happening by the quiet pool, appeared to be room work but we only saw someone once and we were at the quiet pool daily and there was scaffolding up on the far east side of the building which could only be viewed if walking from the bridge by Oak Manor. We were booked garden view and had a courtyard view straight ahead with parking lot to the right.

We have previously stayed in Parterre, Acadian and Bldg. 18. I will request Magnolia Terrace here on out. It was perfect! We really had a magical time. We went on the carriage for the first time, used the boat to Springs, swam daily, ate at the food court multiple times and engaged with many terrific cast members. Riverside is still my favorite and that's with 2 stays at Beach Club and a stay at Caribbean Beach, Pop Century & All Star Movies. Happy travels to those with upcoming stays!

 

[pschro1]

So I rented a full size crib from Kingdom Strollers to be used at POR during my trip in August. We are going to be staying in a garden view room. Now that I have rented it I am starting to worry about where I am going to set it up once I get down there. Has anyone used a full size crib in a room at POR? We have stayed at POFQ before so I think I have a rough layout of the room. I don't really want to put the crib by the door because of the AC blowing right on it. The only spots I can think of is next to the TV or in the sink area. Has anyone done this before? Is there space by the door where it wont be blocking the AC?

 

[abarriger]

It's definitely allowed. Worth it... Hmm. I think it's definitely worth the walk to POFQ. Resort is charming and walk is lovely. Beignets alone are worth it and Scat Cats is nice. The pool is ok. It's sunnier than POR and probably better suited to younger kids. POR pool is more fun though, IMO.

How long is the walk, roughly? It will also be in August so I should probably consider how miserable the walk will be!

 

[awalker1015]

How long is the walk, roughly? It will also be in August so I should probably consider how miserable the walk will be!

10-15 minutes or so. Portions are shaded. You can also take the boat between resorts.

 

[MercMom]

We were in Magnolia Terrace 5/26-6/3 and it is now my favorite building! I had requests linked to our reservation and I faxed the resort 4 days prior. We had 5 rooms and my requests were:

-close together with 2 of the rooms connecting-received 8601-8603, 8605 & 8608, and received connecting for the 2 that needed it
QUOTE]

We are going to POR in October and have 2 rooms but they are under separate reservation numbers. Were your 5 rooms under separate reservations or one? If under separate, how did you request the connecting rooms...by listing each reservation number, last name, etc. Just wondering the best way to communicate it to them. We do have our reservations linked if that makes a difference.

Sounds like you had a great trip, this will be our first time at POR and we are so excited!

 

[KingdomHearts24]

Hi guys! We are arriving on July 14th and had a couple questions.

I was wondering if we can pay a room only reservation before we get to the hotel just so that it is one less thing to think about when we get there?

Also, can we use disney gift cards to pay for it?

 

[andrewilley]

I was wondering if we can pay a room only reservation before we get to the hotel just so that it is one less thing to think about when we get there?

Also, can we use disney gift cards to pay for it?

When you do Online Checkin, provide your credit card details and it will be charged on your arrival day (if you are a US guest, and have received your Magic Bands in the mail, you may even be able to go straight to your room without visiting the front desk at all).

I know you can use Disney Gift Cards too, but not online. I'm not sure if you can set them up in advance with room-only reservations or not, can anyone confirm if they have done this?

Andre

 

[dansdad]

When you do Online Checkin, provide your credit card details and it will be charged on your arrival day (if you are a US guest, and have received your Magic Bands in the mail, you may even be able to go straight to your room without visiting the front desk at all).

I know you can use Disney Gift Cards too, but not online. I'm not sure if you can set them up in advance with room-only reservations or not, can anyone confirm if they have done this?

Andre

The official stance is no. But there are some CMs that will still do it. They stopped doing it officially, because if people say put down a $250 gift card, or multiple cards, and only used $175 of that $$ the resort can only refund the left over $$ to one of the Gift Cards that were originally put down. Guests were not told this upon Check In and would throw out the original Gift Card. Then the resort had no way to refund the left over $$. It was causing a huge headache at Check Out time.

So, if you do find a CM willing to do it PLEASE make sure you keep all the Gift Cards you originally put down.

 

[Sue M]

Just to confirm-- it is allowed for me to use the pool st POFQ if I am staying at Riverside? How long is the walk? Is it worth it? (The pool there looks more exciting to me than the one at RS, and we have a resort only day, just wanted to check.)

Yes, both resorts share ammenities. It's about a 10 min enjoyable walk. Personally I prefer the Riverside pool. But you can easily try both.

 

[andrewilley]

They stopped doing it officially, because if people say put down a $250 gift card, or multiple cards, and only used $175 of that $$ the resort can only refund the left over $$ to one of the Gift Cards that were originally put down.

That would apply if trying to put a gift card down to cover ongoing magic band payments during your stay, but what about if you want to pay off your reservation's outstanding due balance before you arrive using Gift Cards, rather than by credit card? Is that possible by calling the reservations center in advance? I know you can fully pay for packages in advance, but wasn't sure about room-only reservations?

Andre

 

[dansdad]

That would apply if trying to put a gift card down to cover ongoing magic band payments during your stay, but what about if you want to pay off your reservation's outstanding due balance before you arrive using Gift Cards, rather than by credit card? Is that possible by calling the reservations center in advance? I know you can fully pay for packages in advance, but wasn't sure about room-only reservations?

Andre

Yes. You can pay the room only balance prior to your arrival with Gift Cards. I've done that multiple times.