POR- nightmare (8/26-29)

[ScrappinGran]

Cindy, I am SO sorry you had a bad beginning to your trip and am glad it worked out for you. I have one question for you though. I see that you were aware that the French Quarter shares busses with Riverside. Through my homework here at this site, I found out that French Quarter was picked up and dropped off FIRST...with the exception being returning form DTD, then French Quarter is dropped off last. Maybe French Quarter would have been a better choice for you, as least as far as getting seat in the a.m. When the parks close, that's a whole other story. I don't mind waiting, indeed would expect it in the summer ( that's one reason we don't go then)..but I would NOT want the wait so long I would want to opt for a cab.
I am glad it all worked out for you.

 

[cmm]

I was at POR from 8/25 - 9/1 and had a similar experience. We arrived on Saturday with no problems. The CM told us to come back anytime on Sunday to check out/in for free dining. We had planned to be at MK for LOEMH on Sunday and to go to breakfast at CP at 9:25 am. Check in did not open til 7 am and there were at least 75 people in line by the time I got there at 7:25 am. I waited in line 1 hour, 10 minutes to check out/in. (Met some very nice people while standing in line, though). They did have only 2 or 3 people working until almost 8:30 am. The CM we had told us they were prepared for the onslaught! I don't think so. When we left, the line stretched at least back to the food court. We had wanted to stay at CSR or POFQ, but both were not available when I made my reservations. I will certainly try for either one of them next time I go back, and probably would not stay at POR.

Most of our busses were standing room only. Some of the busses did not even bother to go around to the other resort stops because they were so full. We learned to always get on at the main stop. We waited for 7 busses one night at Epcot. We were not there for Illuminations, but ended up in the crowd exiting because Coral Reef was running 30 minutes behind on their dinner reservations.

We were at WDW the same week last year, and it seemed a lot less crowded. Our ME bus driver said they had transported 17,500 guests from the airport on 8/26, so I guess free dining was more popular this year.

 

[KimWDW]

We were at Coronado Springs at that point, but we did call on behalf of all the people waiting.

We did daily messages to the transportation captain at PO on behalf of all the bus passengers.

Cindy - what is that number? I want to program it into my cellphone in case we run into problems in October when we're waiting for POR buses. Thanks.

 

[SGMCO]

We'll be there POR in less than 2 weeks but
I decided to hope for the best.
All the reviews of POR seem to be hit and miss.
One person that stays at the same as another
and has a Positive experiance and the other a negative one.
I'm hoping for a Positive one for our stay.

 

[G's mommy]

We stayed at POR 7/29 - 8/2, checked in on Sunday morning at 9:00 with no wait and room was ready. We never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus and never stood but once the whole time. I was shocked actually as I expected the transportation to be the pits, much like the OP experienced. A couple of nights the lines were pretty long leaving the parks, but still did not wait that long. I will say we prefer CSR, but our stay at POR was fine. Just an example of how things can vary depending on your dates. I think the main problem with 8/26 check-in was the free dining promo and you had lots of guests checking out and back in and lots of new arrivals getting their vacation week in prior to school starting back up.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. We stayed at POR and LOVED it, although that was back in 2002, and we checked in on a Wednesday in September, so it was a breeze. Sundays are notoriously busy travel days so maybe that was part of it.

Yes, all the bus lines at the end of the day are long, though I am curious as to why PORs line was so much longer than the other moderates. Is POR really popular? Or is it the whole shared-bus thing that they do sometimes?

 

[rentayenta]

My visit to POR was a nightmare--so bad that I actually switched resorts mid visit.

The highlights:

1) Waiting an hour to check in at 7:00 am Sunday morning 8/26 - the checkin line extended from the front desk ALL THE WAY to Riverside Mill food court. The line was hundreds of people long and there were only 3 people working!

2) Transportation-- absoleutely awful--Since Riverside and French Quarter was at capacity we stood the whole time at every bus. The lines exiting each park were nightmares-- one time (I think it was Monday evening) we had to wait for four busses. On Wednesday evening the Port Orleans bus line in Epcot extended from the que to the locker rental/stroller rental area near the leave a legacy tiles.

3) The hotel staff seemed overworked and burdened. We asked for help regarding a move to another hotel and was told by the concierge that we can't do that. The concierge staff told us that the busses weren't supposed to be shared with French Quarter, but they were for the three days we were there. Every bus was a standing room only bus and was not relaxing in the least.

There are more details, but those were the biggies.

We will be there in less than 2 weeks. I think I have realistic expectations but fear I am going to be disappointed. I will make sure to make any concerns known to staff. for the review.

 

[Aliceacc]

Ok, we leave in 7 days! I am also getting really nervous about staying at POR! The last few days I have been reading a lot of posts negative! Oh No! What do I do? My In-laws are up in age. My MIL has a bad heart, in fact she was just in the hospital last week. She is determained she is still going to Disney. This is her first time, I hope POR is not as bad as I read! What do I do now?

I've never been to POR, so I can't offer anything concrete.

But it sounds to me as though this was the "perfect storm" of check-ins. Free dining starting, the busiest check in day of the week, a packed hotel... you name it.

In 7 days, most if not all of the country is back in school, so the crowds will be lighter. If there's a huge line at check-in, you go get breakfast or lunch or a drink, and come back later. If your MIL has a bad heart, you find her somewhere to sit with AC and a magazine and a cold drink. If the bus lines are long, you pay the extra $15 for the cab.

I'm sorry to hear that the OP had such a miserable time. But that's no guarantee that your experience will be remotely like hers.

 

[boomhauer]

But it sounds to me as though this was the "perfect storm" of check-ins. Free dining starting, the busiest check in day of the week, a packed hotel... you name it.

My question is - If all these factors were in place, why were there only 3 CM working check-in?

 

[Luv2Roam]

The bus situation at POR I think is the pits and the worse of all the resorts (that I have experienced and seen).
It has been probably 5 - 6 years since our one stay at POR. But it was enough to be our last. That was certainly a live and learn situation. However many others LOVE POR. Which is good for WDW.
I think what makes the bus situation so bad at POR is the sometimes sharing with FQ, the lack of space to wait for busses and the unorganization.
Busses are much easiler to wait for at the All Stars than POR.
POR has this little sheltered roof area and no organization. People who sit on the benches can pretty assure not to be on the busses unless they are not busy.
The few times I have taken a bus to and from POR have always consistently been the worse. I just know it will be and avoid it at all costs. At POR a guest's best bet may just be a taxi.
I am sure many will disagree with me. But my bus experience there has not been good.

 

[DAniece]

The bus situation at POR I think is the pits and the worse of all the resorts (that I have experienced and seen).
It has been probably 5 - 6 years since our one stay at POR. But it was enough to be our last. That was certainly a live and learn situation. However many others LOVE POR. Which is good for WDW.
I think what makes the bus situation so bad at POR is the sometimes sharing with FQ, the lack of space to wait for busses and the unorganization.
Busses are much easiler to wait for at the All Stars than POR.
POR has this little sheltered roof area and no organization. People who sit on the benches can pretty assure not to be on the busses unless they are not busy.
The few times I have taken a bus to and from POR have always consistently been the worse. I just know it will be and avoid it at all costs. At POR a guest's best bet may just be a taxi.
I am sure many will disagree with me. But my bus experience there has not been good.

I don't know the worse bus situations we've ever experienced...

Feb 2003 -- CBR -- the driver would go BACK to some of the stops to pick u people AFTER he had looped the entire resort (multiple drivers actually)

Apr 2004 -- BWI -- sharing buses with BoardWalk Inn, Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club -- took FOREVER...

Port Orleans hasn't been as bad. In fact when we were there during spring break (March 2007), they were using extra tour buses (not WDW buses) to keep the folks moving along at a clip. We rode one our first morning & Mr Incredible got me a bit antsy saying "Look, we just got on this bus because it has a Magic Kingdom sign. Maybe it's a crazed terrorist." -- I was freaking out until he told me that the Disney Bus Attendant Lady (a woman we'd seen "marshalling" the buses many times in the past) told him it was okay.

EG

 

[fumipappa]

My question is - If all these factors were in place, why were there only 3 CM working check-in?

I agree. there is no excuse for that matter. But my question is - how do we know that same or similar problem was not happening at another resorts at same time?

My personal feeling about this type of thread: This type of thread misleads people about particular resort, in this case POR. After I read this thread, I got impression from OP and people who has agreed with OP that this is the problem of POR only and all other resorts had never had this kind of issue.
As far as I understand, the long bus line and long waiting for check-in has happened everywhere, especially busy season. So if we conclude the story as "POR-nightmare", for me it is just same old complain on this board,
"I am not happy because IT DID NOT WORK AS I EXPECTED"
I think it is very bad idea to judge something by only personal feeling/idea.
I cannot see any objective sentence to conclude as POR=bad resort except the point you made which was only 3 people working for check-in process.

 

[Cindy B]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. We stayed at POR and LOVED it, although that was back in 2002, and we checked in on a Wednesday in September, so it was a breeze. Sundays are notoriously busy travel days so maybe that was part of it.

Yes, all the bus lines at the end of the day are long, though I am curious as to why PORs line was so much longer than the other moderates. Is POR really popular? Or is it the whole shared-bus thing that they do sometimes?

Apparently they share with FQ all the time so the bus lines are awful.

 

[Cindy B]

I don't know why there were only 3 people working check in at 7 am. However when I left at 815ish there were 5 people at the desk.

 

[kaytieeldr]

In contrast, Coronado was at capacity as well (a group rented the entire hotel) but bus waits were minimal. The same day the Epcot line was awful for Port Orleans we had seven people in line at Epcot closing. Many times there were less than 10 people on the bus total (at park closing).

But, see, that's not a fair comparison. That group rented that whole resort for a conference - except, as you discovered, a FEW rooms were ultimately not used and were instead occupied by vacationers. While you ended up having a great vacation, it's really not a fair comparison. None of the CSR Guests would be visiting the parks during the day, they'd tend to be in meetings and seminars - so they wouldn't be on the park buses. And they'd be more likely to head to Pleasure Island or the Boardwalk at night than to a park; and those that did go to a park probably did so in far lower numbers than Guests at any of the other resorts. A fairer comparison would have been with Caribbean Beach.

My question is - If all these factors were in place, why were there only 3 CM working check-in?

Maybe because, while the reservation system opens up at 7 AM, about 362 days a year this is NOT a peak check in (or out) time, so the Front Desk was staffed normally for that time of day and day of week?

 

[lilyv]

I wouldn't have made the choice to join the herd waiting to check in. I would have gone for breakfast, or at least a coffee to the food court, and given the line a chance to shorten. Free food is bound to bring in crowds........

 

[SGMCO]

I wouldn't have made the choice to join the herd waiting to check in. I would have gone for breakfast, or at least a coffee to the food court, and given the line a chance to shorten. Free food is bound to bring in crowds........

That's what I know I will do if the line is that long
whenever we get to POR.
*FREE FOODER HERE*
I know FOODER is not a real word.

 

[lilyv]

That's what I know I will do if the line is that long
whenever we get to POR.
*FREE FOODER HERE*
I know FOODER is not a real word.

Great plan! Enjoy your vacation!

 

[bytheblood]

I do not mean this to sound as if I am not sympathetic to your poor experience, but I personally would not classify your situation as a nighmare. I was expecting to read about dirty rooms, clogged toilets and missing items.

Given the time of year you visited, that is about par for the course.

 

[TheLittleRoo]

We also checked into POR on 8/26, but it was around 11:30am. By that time, there were no less than 30 people working check-in, concierge, and the bell desk. The line still stretched back to the bar area beyond the lobby, but I still only stood in line about 20-30 minutes. I was also told this line was due to a sold-out resort and the first day of Free Dining, but I was able to get access to my room as soon as I finished check-in which was great since my grouchy 2 y/o needed a nap right away.

I agree with Cindy about a couple of things: the resort was uncomfortably full, and the lines for most things around the resort were long. We were there last year in Sept for Free Dining and there was no comparison between the crowds. Granted, I understand it was the first week of Free Dining and still pre-Labor Day so a lot more families were vacationing... but it was rather full. I didn't notice a difference between bus lines when returning from the parks, and we were always on the least crowded bus to the TGM-recommended park first thing in the am. We did notice this year we didn't have a problem boarding a bus from the North Depot like we did in Sept '06. My hunch after reading Cindy's post is that those main depot buses were filling up to SRO and never came around to the back, which caused buses to begin first pickups in the North depot!! We did not share with POFQ during our stay - - buses went to/from POR without stopping at POFQ, maybe because both resorts were sold out?

Lastly, my guess why POR sells out is because it is the only Mod that can sleep 5, so lots of families choose it over two rooms at a Value or a more expensive room at a Deluxe. If we could fit in a room at CS, I would've chosen it next time, not because I don't love POR but because I've heard it has better counter service options and because I've heard it draws conventioneers who don't use the park buses or the pools (selfish, I know!!).

I wouldn't hesitate to return to POR, it IS beautiful and were it not 100% sold out, wouldn't have been an issue this time. I personally will not return for a Disney vacation during the summer vacation months, even if it means taking my kids out for a few days of school. The difference between the last few days of August and mid-September is VAST and 1000% better to go in Sept!