First visit resort question.

[G00fy@n]

First off, let me say a big THANK YOU to all the DISers. Your threads, replies, stories and pictures have been incredibly helpful in my planning for our first WDW trip. Me and my four kiddos are headed to the happiest place on earth in about 25 days!!!!
So here's my attempt to glean more of the collective wisdom: what factors should I be considering when it comes to room preference (and I realize that "preference" doesn't mean I will actually get what I ask for)? We are staying at the POR. One parent, four kids (5,7,9,11), six days.

 

[hicksnichols]

I am pretty sure that if you have a party of 5 you will be in the Alligator Bayou section at POR. I stayed with a party of 5 there and loved it. If you are looking for a preference for making a room request you will need to consider your family. Do you want to be close to the bus stops and food court? Do you want to be close to the main pool or any of the quiet pools? We always drive to the parks so we don't care about being close to anything. We mostly want to be on the bottom floor so that we aren't carrying tired kids up stairs when we are tired too! I always check out touringplans.com. You have to subscribe but I think it is worth it. There is a room review tool on there that may help you make a room request. You can also get touring plans that will help save time in line at the parks. The Alligator Bayou section is not very close to the main building at POR but we loved it! I hope you and your little ones do too! I have a feeling, no matter which room you get, you all will love it.

 

[joannamet]

Close to a bus stop. Coming home with tired kids you want the shortest walk you can get. We always catch the bus at the main stop in front of the resort in the morning and get off at the closest stop to our building coming back.

Alligator Bayou is beautiful. You'll love it.

 

[G00fy@n]

Thank you. This is helpful!

 

[Mikie]

Not specific to your resort, but "Pool View" is usually a "preferred" room (which means an upcharge) but I find them much less desirable. Much more likely to be noisy due to the pool itself and people walking by your room to and from the pool. Save your money and don't do that upgrade.

Check the resort board here on DIS and do a search for Port Orleans Riverside. I'm sure there's been much discussion there.

 

[minnie mum]

Here is a link to the POR thread on the Resort forum: http://www.disboards.com/threads/po...2015-please-read-first-post-for-faqs.3374035/

Have a look at the resort map to locate the AB building that will meet your needs.

 

[siskaren]

Not specific to your resort, but "Pool View" is usually a "preferred" room (which means an upcharge) but I find them much less desirable. Much more likely to be noisy due to the pool itself and people walking by your room to and from the pool. Save your money and don't do that upgrade.

Check the resort board here on DIS and do a search for Port Orleans Riverside. I'm sure there's been much discussion there.

At POR, there are pool view rooms that aren't preferred, and in fact, they're only going to be by the quiet pools since the main pool is on an island. There is a POR FAQ thread on the resort forum that's run by the same guy who maintains http://www.portorleans.org/

 

[Allison]

Post your question on the resorts board.

 

[hammie59]

We stayed at POR last year building 17 AB. I loved this resort, but if we were to ever go back, I'd book a preffered building to be closer to the food court and feature pool. Take a look at the resort map and you'll see that it's quite spread out. If you choose to book in a standard building, you can put in a request ahead of time for a specific building and then cross your fingers .