POFQ during Mardi Gras

[Michellynn]

DH and I will be staying at POFQ during the first week of February, 2008. As it turns out, that is during Mardi Gras (completely by coincidence). I was wondering if anyone has stayed at POFQ during Mardi Gras. If so, do they do anything in particular to make note of the fact that it is Mardi Gras? After all, this is a pretty big even in the real French Quarter (which DH and I have been to). Just curious.

 

[stitchlover]

If I remember correctly POFQ will have a "parade" at the resort. I believe it is some of the employees in golf carts. In fact I found a link on allearsnet.com. Here is the text. I will also include the url because they have photos from the '06 happenings.

http://allearsnet.com/tp/wander/wander20.htm

Many times over the years, we've been asked whether they do anything special for Mardi Gras at Port Orleans.
Donna Bertrand found out first-hand this year that indeed they do, and captured the unique celebration in photos
for this installment of Wandering the World.

Donna says: Cast Members from each department -- Front Desk, Bell Staff, Recreation, Merchandise, Food and Beverage, Housekeeping and Engineering -- do a float on a pargo (club car/golf cart). (It didn't seem that all departments had floats in this year's parade.)
It's been going on for several years,
but no one could tell me exactly how many or how it started.
They do the judging at Port Orleans Riverside, then parade through the marina area and then come over to French Quarter.

Hope this helps!

 

[stitchlover]

By the way...you will love POFQ. We stayed there in March and already hav our rooms booked there for '08. We absolutely loved this resort.

 

[lsufan]

We tried doing Mardi Gras at Disney a few years ago, but the logistics were a little much with the kids. Looks like we're going for it again. I ride in a parade down here on Friday night, my wife rides in a parade on Sunday afternoon and I ride again Sunday night in New Orleans in the Krewe of Bacchus. We will be loading up the kids (8 and 3) along with the in-laws, early Lundi Gras (the Monday before Mardi Gras day), and flying from New Orleans to WDW. We still arent sure where we're staying. We stayed at Boardwalk Villas when the oldest was 3. I think we're going to try the Contemporary this time to be on the Monorail line. That was what we didnt like about the Boardwalk. Transportation wasn't the best for getting around with the kids.
I was wondering if there was a contingent of Louisianians who got together for Mardi Gras at Disney since it seems to be an obvious choice for vacation time. Or if you're like me, you get out of town to get away from it all.

 

[Michellynn]

stictch, thanks for the link. Sounds like a cute parade. I am definitely looking forward to the stay. Last time I was at WDW we stayed at POR....Magnolia Terrace if I recall correctly. It was really nice, but I am looking forward to trying the other side of PO this time.

ISUfan, I'm not at all surprised to hear you say you get out of town during Mardi Gras. DH worked in Baton Rouge for a little while (I was in Houston) and when we went to Mardi Gras in NO it was nuts! A lot of fun....but, I was glad we could leave and get out of there when we wanted to. I used to work in the oil biz and I know many of the companies actually shut down their offices for a few days and/or have people work remotely because it was so crazy to get to and from work during those few days.