Has anyone been to PORiverside lately?

[lurkernj]

OK, so I know I may be on my own on this one, but I am at the World right now. We stayed offsite the first week and went to check in at PO Riverside for our second week. Here's what went down. Months ago we requested building 18 in the Alligator Bayou. I know you don't always get your requests, but they stuck us in building 95 in the Mansions! We were miles away from everything, and if that wasn't bad enough once in the room we are so disapointed. The bathroom sinks had what I hope was chocolate splashed all over the pedistals, the floor had food chunks, not crumbs but several chunks all over the floors and the jack for the internet was hanging out of the wall so all sorts of bunches of wires were sticking out from the wall and the jack itself was about two inches out of the wall. There was no cord for the internet and the room smelled like mold so bad we proped open the door to air it out. Needless to say it was bad, and not up to disney standards at all. We called the reservations and they connected us to the front, we asked to be switched they didnt have anything, so they gave us Coronado as a change. Let me tell you that was the short version of that story it took them TWO HOURS to find us a room!!! By two hours I was hoping they would throw us in a deluxe but they were not helpful since I had to keep calling and asking if they found anything and was told that they were looking still. I just found it hard to believe that it took so long to find us a room. We almost took our money back and went to stay off property. Anyway once they got us in a decent room at Coronado it was ok. Once at Coronado I even busted out in tears from the sadness that I felt because I love it here so much and it was the first time I felt screwed by Disney. I am not overly thrilled to be at CS. I have stayed here before and they did put us in a close building to the main lobby at least, but if I wanted to stay there I would have booked Coronado. We asked for AKL, but they wouldnt let us use our pin codes and tried to say it was going to cost me an additional 315.00 per NIGHT to upgrade! I love love Disney and it just broke my heart to have such a bad experience. This is our third trip here this year and are coming back in six weeks for an adult trip. We live in Maine so it's not like it's easy to get here. This is the first time I felt disney backed me into a corner and couldn't care less if we were satisfied or not. Good luck with your decision, but in our case we will NOT ever stay at PO. I hope you have a great trip!!!

Same thing happened to us. We requested AB section(stayed here in 2008 and loved it) and were put in Bldg 95, Oak Manor, in the back of the building, 3rd fl. These rooms are so outdated, I felt like I was staying at my Grandmothers with the flowered bedspreads, old scratched furniture, and pedistal sinks. I asked to be moved, but they were full. We just stayed there since it was just for 4 nights and we wouldn't be in the room much anyway, but I was wishing we had just stayed at POP, which I really liked even before the refurb.

I understand POR is going to start a much needed upgrade next year, so hopefully they will be up to snuff after this.

One major positive was the bus service. Both times I have stayed there, we barely waited for buses, 10 minutes tops, but mostly less than 5.

 

[Missytara]

We will be staying at POR March 30-April 2, 2011. Are the renovations just rooms, or is it more extensive (food court/landscaping). I don't want to get there and see a big mess or hear a lot of construction.

The basic renovations are the rooms, but in POR, the building permits also include refurbing the elevators. It doesn't indicate exactly what it is going to entail. Disney can be very vague on their building permits because it is their own little town.

Construction only occurs between 7:00 am and 3:30 pm - the noisy work is done during the day when most people are out in the parks.

There is going to be some noise, because they are removing the tile/greenboard in the bathroom tub surround and installing new tile/greenboard. But it is done by the building, so it is not like you are going to be staying in a building and they are going to be banging on the wall next door to your room.

You will be surprised how unintrusive they are when I was there a few weeks ago and they were working on Building no. 6 at POFQ.

 

[Missytara]

Oh, I hope POR is mostly refurbished by the end of August-- that's when we're heading down!

As stated previously on the thread for POR, the refurbs for POR are "expected" to start in April 2011 and complete in October of 2011.

I talked to the superintendent working at POFQ when I was there a few weeks ago, and he said POFQ was going very smoothly and they hoped to be completed on time.

 

[nowegg]

We stayed at POR this past June and absolutely loved it. We were in Arcadia House in the Mansions...room was nice, a little bit of a walk to the food court, but otherwise great. The only real negative, that could have happened anywhere, was that we were sitting at the outside bar and my feet were bitten by nasty yellow flies. Apparantly they were particularly bad in Florida this year from what the bartender told us, and they hadn't sprayed for them yet. Luckily all the itching didn't start until we were home!!