POR room ?

[kitkat4622]

Currently we are booked in a garden view room would you upgrade to either a preferred or river view if you had the extra money and your reason why you would change. thank you again this site is awesome with information

 

[dansdad]

We would not. We don't feel the extra $$ is worth the upgrade to a preferred room at any WDW resort. And with no balcony to enjoy a view, we also don't feel like it's worth the extra $$ for that. In order to enjoy any view we would have to have our blinds wide open and we don't like people walking by looking into our room, which most people do. Now on the rare occasion we stay deluxe, paying extra $$ for a view is worth it as we enjoy sitting on the balcony with our coffee or a night cap.

 

[Babsy]

I would pay for preferred for the extra convenience of being close to the main building, pool, amenities etc. If you don't mind a bit of a walk (up to 10 minutes) from your room, then don't bother to pay the extra.

I agree with dansdad that paying extra for a 'view' at a moderate is money best saved! Looking out onto a walkway with people likely to walk by any minute detracts from any possible 'view'. Plus, as dansdad said, you will want to keep blinds closed for privacy!

The resort is lovely, so you can enjoy the views walking around the resort. You will really enjoy POR!

 

[MissDisneyDora]

I feel a bit differently, POR is one of the places where I would actually pay for an upgrade. I made the mistake on my first trip of just going for the standard view and ended up in the very back of the hotel, directly off the parking lot, at the top, near a noisy stairwell. I felt that this did detract from the "magic" despite being at the parks most days and I felt very far away from everything. I told myself that if I ever stayed there again that I would definitely be happy to part with the extra dosh.

x
Dora

 

[loves to dive]

Nope wouldn't pay for it. I stayed in the Magnolia Building in the Plantation section when I was there, had a corner room but have no clue what the view was since I never opened the blinds, I just don't like people looking in my room when they walk by. I think there was a slice of parking lot off to the left (with the bus stop on the other side of that parking lot yea) and straight on was maybe a little garden area between my building and the one next door. The walk to the main bus stop/lobby/food court couldn't have been more than 5 minutes, if that. I would walk to the main stop in the morning since it was the last to pick up and ride to the stop behind my building on the way back since I just had to cut across the parking lot. As others have said, it's a motel type resort with outside walkways and no interior hallways so even if you are in the front of the building, when you look out you are going to see the walkway. It's a beautiful resort with all sorts of little sitting places to just sit and soak it all in so no need to upgrade.

 

[Savagekids]

Just got back from a stay in a RR with a garden view there. Loved it! I thought the garden views were prettier and quitter than the river or pool views.

 

[LuvDaisy&Minnie]

Big resort so I would pay for the preferred room for proximity to the amenities. However, looks like a lot of people are fine with being further away. We had a river view room in May because it was the only one available at the time of booking, and there is no way I would pay for that if I had the option. There is no balcony, so you really don't see the view. I do think the river view is closer to the main walkway so if preferred wasn't available, I may pay for it for that reason.

 

[maxiesmom]

I would pay for a preferred room too. POR is large, and if you like to walk up to the food court or gift shop on a daily basis, the walk gets old quickly.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Nope for convenience. Not worth it. Stick with GV. We always book pool view so we can watch the rug rats and have a room just a walk out to the pool. Not worth it for PR or RV.

 

[EMILAYLAY93]

Having been there numerous times, I would not pay extra for the river view. You really don't stay in your room that much and if you want to enjoy it, you can always take a stroll. No private balconies.

 

[tinkerbella16]

At POR, it is definitely worth upgrading to a preferred room. We wished we had done this on our first trip to Riverside back in 2007, and we were put in the furthest AB building of the resort. Won't make that mistake of booking standard room again. We under-estimated how big Riverside was on that first trip, having never been before. I love the royal guestrooms, so when we stay in those, I book garden view and the walk from our room to the main area was less than 5 minutes.

 

[bumbershoot]

So far we've only had RR there. Once a second floor river view, once a first floor standard. Taking everything into account, the standard room was closer to lobby and food. Too much backtracking with the view room.

 

[aleh021]

Not really worth it unless you had your own private balcony!

 

[yooperfan]

Has anyone been able to pay to upgrade to preferred if they didn't like thei room at POR?

 

[goofy4tink]

I've stayed at POR four times so far...just love this resort. I've been in bldgs 14 (preferred AB), 36 (garden AB), 80 (garden mansion), 85 (river view mansion) and 95 (river view royal room). I wouldn't pay for a preferred room again unless there was an urgent need to be closer to the main areas. My room in 14 was right in back of the food court, so it took about 90 seconds to walk there. But...there was a fair amount of foot traffic going by our bldg. Bldg 36 was almost as far back as you can get..but loved this area. It took about 8 mins to get to the food court. Bldgs 80 and 85 were fine, about 6 min to the food court. The river view room in 85 was a nice peek through the many trees...once you left the room and hung over the railing!! Bldg 95, Royal Room? Again, a river view, but due to the tree in front of our room, no view of the river. But, the location was good...about 4 mins to the food court.
I have no problem walking around this resort. It's so beautiful...I love the garden view rooms. Doubt I would ever pay to upgrade.

 

[nkereina]

We don't feel the need to stay preferred at POR. Preferred rooms are only in the Alligator Bayou section of the resort, and we prefer the mansions. And while I do agree that POR is large, it can be easier to navigate than some of the other large resorts. Its elongated in design with a few bridges connecting across the river, which makes it easier to walk around compared to CBR or CSR that have a large lake in the middle.

I also wouldn't pay for an upgraded view at a moderate resort since we tend to keep our shades closed most of the time. There's always foot traffic walking by.

 

[dansdad]

Has anyone been able to pay to upgrade to preferred if they didn't like thei room at POR?

Yup, as long as there's availability. Which nowadays is hard to come by.

 

[missmun52]

I would not pay more. A standard view is always our first pick but we have stayed in a garden view due to lack of availability for standard. Like everyone stated your blinds are closed the entire time your in the room so you don't really have a view of anything. I'm not going to pay for a view I enjoy the two seconds I step out side my room in the morning and when I come back in the evening/night.

 

[kitkat4622]

I've stayed at POR four times so far...just love this resort. I've been in bldgs 14 (preferred AB), 36 (garden AB), 80 (garden mansion), 85 (river view mansion) and 95 (river view royal room). I wouldn't pay for a preferred room again unless there was an urgent need to be closer to the main areas. My room in 14 was right in back of the food court, so it took about 90 seconds to walk there. But...there was a fair amount of foot traffic going by our bldg. Bldg 36 was almost as far back as you can get..but loved this area. It took about 8 mins to get to the food court. Bldgs 80 and 85 were fine, about 6 min to the food court. The river view room in 85 was a nice peek through the many trees...once you left the room and hung over the railing!! Bldg 95, Royal Room? Again, a river view, but due to the tree in front of our room, no view of the river. But, the location was good...about 4 mins to the food court.
I have no problem walking around this resort. It's so beautiful...I love the garden view rooms. Doubt I would ever pay to upgrade.

this is great but leads to another question. when doing online check in can a request a specific building?

 

[dansdad]

this is great but leads to another question. when doing online check in can a request a specific building?

No. Which is one of the reasons I recommend calling the main reservations line and adding any room requests to your reservation. The options during online check in are predetermined and very limited. Some of them are not even a valid request with certain room categories. And since you're asking about POR, they are one of the resorts that still accepts and reads faxed room requests. POFQ is the other resort.