Port Orleans French Quarter FAQ thread - Refurbished for 2011 - Now CLOSED

[annmorr]

We are just back from 5 nights at POFQ; the construction in the courtyard seems to be progressing very slowly. There were a few times that the construction wall had an opening that we could view the work being done and it appears that there are now small (about 12 inches high) walls around each of the palm trees that line the courtyard. The cobblestones have all been removed and they are down to bare dirt, so maybe it won't be too much longer before the new ones wll be down and the courtyard opened again.
I will have to disagree with those who said that the construction makes no difference in the general appeal of the resort. When you first enter the lobby, instead of that great view right out to the rear courtyard, and gardens, you now only see that tall green construction wall. And while in Sassagoula Floatworks the area is somewhat darkened by the side walls there. (Same thing along Jackson Square side as well.). But the extra few steps that it takes to get around the construction are minimal.
However, even in spite of the construction, I would still choose Port Orleans French Quarter over any other resort.... there are still plenty of pretty areas throughout the resort, and the walk along the river is not to be missed!

 

[disneyfanlincoln]

If I want to be close to POR, should I request building 7 or 1? How far of a walk is building 7 away from the main building. It looks pretty far on the map.

We stayed at building 7 and took the walk to POR several times, it's a great building the walk is 10 mins tops

 

[Bearybear]

We just finished our stay at POFQ. After staying at the Contemporary, AKL and POFQ, we all decided that we liked POFQ best. As we don't know what the resort would be like without the construction, I can't judge. However, bus service was excellent, the rooms were very quiet, the beds comfortable, and the pool very nice. We were in building 4, and we thought everything was close by. We really liked the curtain separating the sink area from the rest of the room, as it gives privacy and it is larger than the sink area at either the CR or AKL. Everyone from the housekeeping staff and janitorial to lifeguards, cashiers at the fast food restaurant to the front desk was exceptionally friendly. Our housekeeper rearranged my son's stuffed animals every day and it was fun to see what she did when we got back to the room.

We decided we would definitely stay there again. Probably no more deluxes for us, and we won't miss paying all the extra.

 

[Plutos Mommy]

My family and I are making our first trip to WDW in mid June. I have read through all 222 pages and I want to thank Andre and all the posters for their nuggets of wisdom and information regarding POFQ.

Until last weekend we had a suite booked at AOA, DD's boyfriend decided he would like to join us on the trip and we determined that his 6'4 frame wouldn't fit very well into one of the double fold outs so the search was on for a resort that fit our budget and had a king size bed. From all I have read I think we have made the best decision in choosing POFQ.

Any sage advice for first timers (age ranges 17 to 48)? There just seems to be so much to see and do. We will be there 8 days 7 nights. We already have a one day trip planned to Universal as DD is a huge Harry Potter freak in addition to being a huge Disney fan.

Getting so excited for this trip, hope the next 4 months fly by!

 

[andrewilley]

If you happen to be visiting Port Orleans during Mardi Gras there are lots of fun activities around the resort and by the poolside which guests can take part in. Look out for the signs, or ask at the front desk for information.

Every year, Port Orleans cast members get the opportunity to enter a competition to see which department (Front Desk, Housekeeping, Food & Beverage, etc) can dream up the most creative, best themed Mardi Gras parade floats based around the resort's "pargo" vehicles. These golf-cart like buggies are normally used to ferry cast members, guests and luggage around the resort's winding pathways, but it turns out that they also provide excellent bases for small parade floats.

The cast members get to parade their imaginative floats around both resorts for guests to see on the official Mardi Gras "Fat Tuesday", and this year it all kicks off from Riverside's Acadian House at 1:30pm tomorrow (Tuesday 21st February) and does a round trip through French Quarter. The full route details are in the map below:



Good luck to the 2012 teams, and may the best department's float win!!

 

[vmvmedia]

Thanks! Nice resort, nice price )

 

[andrewilley]

I forgot to mention, Denise over at MouseSteps has recently uploaded a nice new photowalk of POFQ featuring 120 or so photos of every part of the resort with some accompanying notes. It can be found at: http://www.mousesteps.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=761&Itemid=49

Andre

 

[BearcatsFan]

Oooh! Great link! Thanks so much

 

[jeepwreck]

Just got back room out Disney honeymoon and we stayed in room 5326, it was on the top floor corner so out one window we saw the court yard and the other side the river. Which was very nice to have in my option. I really did not even notice the boat horns at all, after the first day they just became part of the back ground noise. This was my frist time at FQ so I did not see it before the reverbish but the room finishes were very nice.

We absolutely loved this resort. Being one of the smaller resorts we loved the feel of the more cozy feeling that this resort has. Everything is close to each other and we did not have to walk far to get to places. Even with the construction going on we did not mind at all.

I am not sure if this is for all Disney resorts or it was just a special thing, but I got really sick one day and ended up going to the ER and the resort paid for my trip to and from the hospital . I was not expecting that at all and right then and there we decided for our next trip we are going back to this resort again.

 

[momtoccc]

I will be doing 10 day check-in soon I want to request bldg 4 or 5. I don't really want the 3rd floor. Any issue with the first floor?? or should I stick with 2nd floor?

 

[Cinderella's slipper]

I can't imagine that there is any bad place to be in this resort; although when we were there in September 2011 we were on the third floor of building 3, so I can't really comment on overhead noise, etc. Hope you have a great trip!

Woohoo this is my 501st post -

 

[jeepwreck]

ya i really enjoyed being on level 3, knowing that no one is above you to make any noise was nice

 

[crazy4wdw]

I will be doing 10 day check-in soon I want to request bldg 4 or 5. I don't really want the 3rd floor. Any issue with the first floor?? or should I stick with 2nd floor?

I always request 3rd floor at when I stay at POFQ. It's usually the only request that I make. 4 to 5 years ago, my room was on the
2nd floor and the guests in the room above me were quite noisy until the early hours of the morning for the first several nights. All of the POFQ buildings have elevators.

 

[digiMom]

sorry, meant to post in POR thread...

 

[Lindy Loo]

Please can someone give me an email to contact the front desk at POFQ.

We are from the UK, had to telephone book our ADRS as the online system did not recognise my 12 digit disney number ( even though the CM on the phone could confirm it was the right number?)

We have not received any e mail confirmation for any of the 7 adrs made over the phone, and when I log onto the site, it can see our hotel info but no adrs? I have tried putting in the retreve dinning reservations with the telephone number in lots of patterns, dropping the 0, then doing xxx xxx xxxx. etc Nothing works.

Want to e mail them and keep their reply to confirm our meals.

Thanks

 

[andrewilley]

Please can someone give me an email to contact the front desk at POFQ.

Sorry, the hotels don't have any publicly accessible email addresses. Your best bet would be to call the Dining line again (1-407-WDW-DINE) and get them to re-confirm the reservations back to you.

Is your hotel booking with Disney UK (which operates rather more like an agent) or with Disney USA (which is direct with WDW)? Any WDW system which relies on phone numbers to link to bookings tends to fall over with non-US formatted phone numbers, it's been like that for years and fixing it is apparently a problem as internally there are so many cross-linked systems and databases, all with different rules.

I did my own ADRs a few days ago too (I also could not get the online dining system to recognise up my 180+10, although the My Vacation page shows my reservation fine) and they are all linked to my hotel ressie when I log on to My Vacation on the USA version of the Disney website. To get there, go to www.disneyworld.com (which, very annoyingly, will still force you to the .co.uk site) and then select 'USA English" from the international options list at the bottom/left of the page.

Andre

 

[pwdebbie]

Please can someone give me an email to contact the front desk at POFQ.

We are from the UK, had to telephone book our ADRS as the online system did not recognise my 12 digit disney number ( even though the CM on the phone could confirm it was the right number?)

We have not received any e mail confirmation for any of the 7 adrs made over the phone, and when I log onto the site, it can see our hotel info but no adrs? I have tried putting in the retreve dinning reservations with the telephone number in lots of patterns, dropping the 0, then doing xxx xxx xxxx. etc Nothing works.

Want to e mail them and keep their reply to confirm our meals.

Thanks

The system was down for several hours on the 23rd. This was a planned upgrade and had been announced quite a bit in the last few days. You should try again today and see if things are now working better for you.

 

[andrewilley]

The system was down for several hours on the 23rd. This was a planned upgrade and had been announced quite a bit in the last few days.

No, it's a general UK issue. Unless they fixed it during that maintenance window anyway.

[Edit: no, still broken. SNAFU]

Andre

 

[zetachi]

Just got back room out Disney honeymoon and we stayed in room 5326, it was on the top floor corner so out one window we saw the court yard and the other side the river. Which was very nice to have in my option. I really did not even notice the boat horns at all, after the first day they just became part of the back ground noise. This was my frist time at FQ so I did not see it before the reverbish but the room finishes were very nice.

We absolutely loved this resort. Being one of the smaller resorts we loved the feel of the more cozy feeling that this resort has. Everything is close to each other and we did not have to walk far to get to places. Even with the construction going on we did not mind at all.

I am not sure if this is for all Disney resorts or it was just a special thing, but I got really sick one day and ended up going to the ER and the resort paid for my trip to and from the hospital . I was not expecting that at all and right then and there we decided for our next trip we are going back to this resort again.

we just got back yesterday from 8 nights room 5324 howdy neighbor

 

[GirlDreamer]

This might be a silly question, but when I've booked a package with room, tickets and DDP, is the tickets automatically on the KTTW card when I pick it up (will probably do online check in) or do I need to get them added?