Just returned from POR-French Quarter

[kimis]

We love POR. We stay there every trip. If feels like going home.

 

[binky]

Hey all,

Just got back from a 6 night trip with my wife and 2 sons - age 4 1/2 and 19 and to sum up this resort in one word - Fabulous. I traveled for business for many years and have stayed at virtually all hotel chains and can not put into words how much we thouroughly enjoyed the FQ. Here are just a few reasons a to why:

1. Resort Size. 1000 rooms equals less than 4,000 people on property. Spoke with somone at the front desk and was told that they were 95% sold out. It was hard to believe because at any given time - you never saw more than 60-70 people roaming throughout the grounds.

2. Room. Can't say enough about it. Perfect size. I would rate the comfortness of the beds a 7.5 based upon a scale of 1-10. The pillows - a 5. Definately recommend you bring along your own favorite. Showers were very warm and the seperate "powder room" with the dividing curtain was much appreciated - especially with a 4 year old sleeping and sharing the room with a 19 year old. The 2 sinks were great - allowing both of us to get ready at the same time.

3. Free Fridge. Perfect size. We ordered groceries form Garden Grocer and were able to fit the following items in it: (Had to remove the 2 shelves)
1. Gallon milk
2. Gallon OJ
3. Pint coffee creamer
4. Pint of fruit
5. (8) 16oz bottles of water
6. (4) Juice boxes
7. 1/2lb. Cold cuts

4. Cleanlieness/Housekeeping: Room was perfectly clean. Floors, bathroom, linens all top notch. Tipped Mousekeeping $5 per day - got one towel animal - but everday she organized the characters that my son had brought down. Very very nice coming back to an immaculate and cool room every night.

5. Pool. The pool rocked. Warm, clean and plenty of towels. The slide was a huge hit with my little guy - probaly going down it 2 dozen times. Only downside - closed a few nights due to lightning and one night due to a very sick child who got sick in it and they were forced to heavily shock it and close it down for 12 hours.

5. Restaurant. What can I say - it's a Disney "Cafa-restaurant." Burgers and fries were very good. Breakfast was decent. Omlettes, french toast and mickey waffles. Never had a crowd issue. Always waited until 8:30-9:00 to eat. I'm sure it may have been packed at 7:00 - but that's to be expecetd.

6. Buses. Other than waiting for an Epcot bus for 25 minutes the night we arrived, NEVER waited more than 10 minutes - and most of the days less than 5 minutes. Found that if we arrived at the bus stop 5 minutes to the hour - we would always catch a bus ASAP. Yes, sometimes you share with POR, but because it's the 1st stop we always had a seat. Returning from the parks - 1st off as well and really never had any issues with overcrowding. Usually there were 2 buses loading at almost the same time.

7. Staff.. Friendly and courteous. Had an autographed b-day card signed by all of the characters for my oldest and an anniversary card/photo from Prince Charming and Cinderella for our anniversary. Bell hops delivered our Garden Grocer delivery and refused to take a tip. Called maint. about 2 burned out light bulbs in the bathroom area and they were at our door in less than 5 minutes! Couldn't believe it.

8. Love Bugs. NONE!

9. Weather. 95 degrees all week with 95% humidity. Pack an extra shirt when heading out. Also rained almost every afternoon. Always had four $1.00 - Dollar store umbrellas in my messenger bag along with a $10 stroller cover. ( Always used it when we went on the rides. Saved us 3 times in a week from coming back to a drenched stroller)

10. Extra Info. Don't spend the extra dollars for a water view room. The view of the river is nice but worth about $1.00. Plus, a water view pretty much puts your farthest away from the lobby, buses etc... Unlike other resorts (POP Century for example) where it's well worth paying for a preferred room due to the proximity to the pools, buses, restaurant etc.... definately not needed here. We stayed in building 6 - Room 6108 and would probably request that same building and room again. It was a corner room with 2 windows right next to the stairs and NEVER heard a sound. 3 minutes walk at the most to all facilities. Walked the last day to POR's gift shop with our 4 year old ( refused to sit in the stroller) and made it there in less than 15 minutes.

Overall - I rate POR FQ an 8.5. If you are looking for a well maintained, beautifully lanscaped resort - with less than a 4 minute walk from end-to-end, then this is the resort for you!

Thank you for the great review! Glad you enjoyed your stay.

 

[Rescue Ranger]

Happy to hear you enjoyed yourself!

We'll be back there October 8th, I cant wait, one of my favorites. I think POR-FQ and the AKL are my 2 favorite resorts to stay at. There is something about it there that seems a little extra special and cozy. And I love their pool area and the alligators. Last time we were there we had such a fanastic time.

I'm even making sure I bring my POR mug/big cup, they said last time that its good for life, so I should be covered for a lot of drinks!

 

[kevin75]

thanks for the review. my finacee and i will be there in december for our honeymoon.

 

[kimisabella]

Thanks for the review, we will be there in 3 days for the first time. Looking forward to a smaller, quieter resort as our last stay was at POP last summer

 

[memomuffin]

Thanks coozieman!! My fiance and I are heading to POFQ in a little over two weeks !!! (YAHOO)
Right before I found your trip report, I was scouring Trip Advisor's and the last couple really stunk so I was thinking maybe I made a wrong decision???
But alas, I know you can not take every review seriously, only with a grain of salt, except yours that is because it was positive!!
I'm psyched and can't wait - thanks for reinforcing our POFQ decision!!

 

[coozieman]

Glad I could I offer a positive spin on this resort. We were getting a bit anxious after reading so many negative reviews prior to our trip and after spending the week there, it was - and still is hard to beieve how anyone could not have a great time here!

 

[MARY-IN-OH]

Thank you for sharing your experience! We arrive this saturday the 22nd.

This is the first adult only trip for my DH & me and first time at POFQ. My in-laws are joining us, and we will celebrate their birthdays. I think the card from the characters would be cute for them! Did you call the resort directly for that?

I am so excited !!! Thanks again!
-mary

 

[marrimouse]

We have 9 days until our Family vacation and we are staying here also, we stayed at POP x2 and Shades of Green from my Hubby's Army days....We are excited and cannot wait.

One thing we noticed is that the POP buses were packed and POR/FQ were NEVER crowded (from what we saw) We'll let you know in 2 weeks.


WOOOHOOOOO

 

[chitown_disneylovers]

We were there from 9/8-9/13 in 2 connecting rooms (we are a family of 6) and we just loved this resort. It was a short walk to the buses. We were always first picked up and dropped off. The only bus we waited awhile for was the downtown disney bus (my daughter has an aversion to boats).

The pool was perfect. The kids loved the slide. The rooms were extremely clean, the beds comfortable. I too, ordered from gardengrocer.com and it was waiting for me when we checked in.

All in all a GREAT place to stay!

 

[abbybeth]

we stayed there last week and would agree with you on all points - we fell head over heels for this resort and now I can't imagine staying anywhere else This was definitely what I imagined a Disney resort would be like.

Everything here was excellent from the staff to the rooms to the food court to the decor/theming. We did take advantage of the water view room option and though we were in building 6, almost as far as you can get from the main area, it was still only about a 5 minute walk.

 

[midge3426]

I agree 100%. POFQ is a fabulous moderate resort.

 

[lwilliam]

We are now members of DVC, for the past 2 years....stayed at ALL deluxes, moderates, and POP and All-Star....our 15 yr. old is asking, when are we going back to POFQ.....we also LOVE it there...could happen next summer, we miss the resort. Our favorite!

 

[MARY-IN-OH]

We were there from 9/8-9/13 in 2 connecting rooms (we are a family of 6) and we just loved this resort. It was a short walk to the buses. We were always first picked up and dropped off. The only bus we waited awhile for was the downtown disney bus (my daughter has an aversion to boats).

The pool was perfect. The kids loved the slide. The rooms were extremely clean, the beds comfortable. I too, ordered from gardengrocer.com and it was waiting for me when we checked in.

All in all a GREAT place to stay!

Welcome to the boards!!! Glad you enjoyed your stay at POFQ - I will be there for the first time tomorrow!!!
-mary

 

[Henryseafood]

I just returned from 3 nites at riverside and having stayed many times at the french quarter i thought i would try riverside i did not like it nearly as well way too crowded i love the peacefulness of the french quarter the food at riverside is better (boatwrights resturant) but the food court at french quarter is better and wayyyyy less congested the only thing i would suggest to disney is to extend the food court hours for the extra magic hours people and beleive me there are a lot of them closing down all but pizza at 11 is to early ol man island pool is very crowded although the waterslide is better the one at FQ pleased my little ones just fine with far less crowds i stayed in alligator bayou building 26 which is a closer building to the hub but still a hike with small children at FQ i normally stay in building 1 (furthest from the hub)and still dont notice the distance the themeing at riverside is fantastic with lush shrubry and beautiful buildings but FQ has my heart and the buses are FAR les crowded at FQ and much easier to find a depot (there is only 1) riverside is truly beautiful but huge and the walkways wind endlessly i got lost several times i love disney resorts no one does it better than disney and as a passholder we get deep discounts during the year sometimes it pays to get a pass rather than tickets and then take advantage of the discounts throughout the parks and property whether you use the passes again or not

 

[Cory's Gal]

Great review, we are strongly considering this resort for the next trip. My parents will want to join us again and my dad wants something other than buses as transportation but Dh & I can't afford Deluxe so maybe the boat ride to DTD will satisfy Dad. DH and I stayed at Riverside and liked it but it seemed huge and we didn't like the fact that we always got on a crowded bus! We like the FQ is smaller and easy to get around and that you are always first on/off of the buses. Thanks for the great review and swaying me in this direction!!

 

[joleen76]

So glad you had a similar experience to ours. We stayed at POFQ in May and can't say enough good things about it. We loved it. So far it has been our favorite resort.