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

[OneBadApple]

And if you don't drink alcohol, I can confirm that the 'virgin' version (sans the rum) is excellent too. As is the Frozen Orange Burst by the way, very refreshing on a hot day.

Andre

Those both sound yummy, I may have to try both of them.

 

[lustergirl]

If you really want a great drink, get a Lapu Lapu at the Poly served in a pineapple.

The drinks at the Tambu Lounge are awesome!!!

 

[jenny105]

If you really want a great drink, get a Lapu Lapu at the Poly served in a pineapple.

I second this.

I just switched from POFQ to POR. The new Royal Rooms sold me

 

[jazzielady]

On our way home to POFQ in 6 days!

 

[wtccheermom]

Is bldg 7 a far walk to POR?

 

[pooh2001]

A Pina Colava is a pina colada with a raspberry puree swirl in it.

The drink in the Pineapple (only served at the Poly resort) is called a Lapu Lapu and is VERY potent.

The Pina Colava is very dilute, hardly any alcohol in it. Hope that clears it up for you.

Thank You!
Sounds so YUMMY

 

[andrewilley]

Is bldg 7 a far walk to POR?

Nope, in fact it's just the other side of a bridge, so a few minutes walk to get over the 'border' and then about five minutes to the main buildings.

Andre

 

[Meekogsd]

I booked a standard room. Which building should we request? My mom hears EVERYTHING while sleeping, me, not so much. No kids, just 2 adults. I'm looking for a quiet room. Maybe top floor to avoid people walking by, what do you think?

 

[andrewilley]

I booked a standard room. Which building should we request? My mom hears EVERYTHING while sleeping, me, not so much. No kids, just 2 adults. I'm looking for a quiet room. Maybe top floor to avoid people walking by, what do you think?

Top floor in building 1 would be pretty quiet. Building 7 is also remote, but they do stage some of the Disney buses in the car park near there, so there could be some noise from those - but honestly, with the door shut the sound-proofing frrom the outside world is pretty good. Top floor is a good plan though as you can sometimes hear footsteps from above.

Andre

 

[jazzielady]

5 days and counting!

 

[summerlady]

5 days and counting!

So envious, I have something like 118 days. Too many for me to get it exact.

 

[Disney before Sally]

Speaking of children’s menus, Port Orleans once had a full-service restaurant called Bonfamille’s Cafe and next to it was Scat Cat’s Club. Disney animation fans will instantly remember that retired opera singer Madame Bonfamille was the owner of the talented French cats in the animated feature The Aristocats. Those famous felines were assisted in their adventures by a jazz band of cats led by the outrageous Scat Cat.

Back in the days when the Disney Company exceeded expectations by adding special touches, not only was a special children’s menu created for Bonfamille’s Café, it was done in the form of a booklet with line art drawings that could be colored at the table by energetic kids waiting for their meal.

This coloring book was written by Greg Ehrbar and illustrated by the very talented Peter Emslie. Emslie illustrated several Walt Disney World children’s menu, including ones themed to The Jungle Book and The Rescuers.

He enjoyed this work during his time at Disney because he got to draw characters that he wouldn’t normally be asked to do for his work in advertising or merchandise. Later, with Don “Ducky” Williams, Emslie got to illustrate a Little Golden Book story of The Aristocats.

To Emslie’s delight, Ehrbar created a sort of sequel to The Aristocats in a few short pages.

In the form of a photo album journal by Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, the booklet described how the good Madame, Duchess, the kittens, Thomas O'Malley and the Alley Cat Band took a musical cruise to Port Orleans, where they were "tailed" by a jazz-loving sea serpent.

The sea creature fell in love with the jazz that Scat Cat and his band played on the voyage. He was named "Scales" (a nod to musical scales and the Sherman Brothers tune, "Scales and Arpeggios" that appears in the film). The story closes with him staying at the resort to enjoy the music played by the resident “jazz gators." Of course, that menu stopped being produced for young guests years ago and the resort doesn’t even have a copy in its reference files.

Ehrbar received help from his wife, Suzanne, who grew up in New Orleans. He was among those people under the direction of Dale Stafford (who was in charge of the resort) who came up with the names for the new resort from boats to the laundry to the sea serpent in the pool. Ehrbar was responsible for naming “Doubloon Lagoon” and “Scales”. He was just told there would be a sea serpent slide in the then unnamed pool but given no further information.

 

[wintershawl]

Speaking of children’s menus, Port Orleans once had a full-service restaurant called Bonfamille’s Cafe and next to it was Scat Cat’s Club. Disney animation fans will instantly remember that retired opera singer Madame Bonfamille was the owner of the talented French cats in the animated feature The Aristocats. Those famous felines were assisted in their adventures by a jazz band of cats led by the outrageous Scat Cat.

Back in the days when the Disney Company exceeded expectations by adding special touches, not only was a special children’s menu created for Bonfamille’s Café, it was done in the form of a booklet with line art drawings that could be colored at the table by energetic kids waiting for their meal.

This coloring book was written by Greg Ehrbar and illustrated by the very talented Peter Emslie. Emslie illustrated several Walt Disney World children’s menu, including ones themed to The Jungle Book and The Rescuers.

He enjoyed this work during his time at Disney because he got to draw characters that he wouldn’t normally be asked to do for his work in advertising or merchandise. Later, with Don “Ducky” Williams, Emslie got to illustrate a Little Golden Book story of The Aristocats.

To Emslie’s delight, Ehrbar created a sort of sequel to The Aristocats in a few short pages.

In the form of a photo album journal by Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, the booklet described how the good Madame, Duchess, the kittens, Thomas O'Malley and the Alley Cat Band took a musical cruise to Port Orleans, where they were "tailed" by a jazz-loving sea serpent.

The sea creature fell in love with the jazz that Scat Cat and his band played on the voyage. He was named "Scales" (a nod to musical scales and the Sherman Brothers tune, "Scales and Arpeggios" that appears in the film). The story closes with him staying at the resort to enjoy the music played by the resident “jazz gators." Of course, that menu stopped being produced for young guests years ago and the resort doesn’t even have a copy in its reference files.

Ehrbar received help from his wife, Suzanne, who grew up in New Orleans. He was among those people under the direction of Dale Stafford (who was in charge of the resort) who came up with the names for the new resort from boats to the laundry to the sea serpent in the pool. Ehrbar was responsible for naming “Doubloon Lagoon” and “Scales”. He was just told there would be a sea serpent slide in the then unnamed pool but given no further information.

Great story! Thanks for sharing.

 

[villiansfan]

I have been a long time lurker on the DIS boards and had to sign up and say thank you to all of the great contributors this board. My sis and I booked POFQ and were considering changing until we read all the great comments!!

 

[pwdebbie]

I booked a standard room. Which building should we request? My mom hears EVERYTHING while sleeping, me, not so much. No kids, just 2 adults. I'm looking for a quiet room. Maybe top floor to avoid people walking by, what do you think?

If you are close the river, you will probably be able to hear the horns on the boats. It didn't bother us, but we did hear them.

 

[pwdebbie]

I have been a long time lurker on the DIS boards and had to sign up and say thank you to all of the great contributors this board. My sis and I booked POFQ and were considering changing until we read all the great comments!!

You won't be disappointed!

 

[Shunasee]

Our trip is all booked.

9 nights a POFQ, I am so excited! I could not imagine staying anywhere else (and this is after staying at AKL for my first trip in 2007)

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

We just stayed at POFQ from June 16-19 and loved it once again!!!

We loved our stay in March and thought it was a great option for June without spending money on a Deluxe that we wouldn't be at to use since we did a full day at Universal and a full day at Disney before going to Vero Beach Resort for a few days.

Our room was in building 6 (6205) which is the building that I had requested. It was very clean and of course we inspected for bed bugs and didn't find any which was good!

We used the pool once since our schedule was so busy but it was nice and we had no issues finding a spot to sit in the shade.

The food court was good too..busy but manageable.

We only used the MK bus since we had a rental car but it came within 5 mins and when we were picked up at MK it came within 5 mins which was nice!!

Once again we would return and had a great stay as always! Sadly they are all booked next week when I relocate to the Orlando area but we hope to stay there again in the future!!!

Another note..on our last day at POFQ, we noticed a huge group from Brazil were staying there and we could not help but complement them for their good behavior and manners. We noticed that a WDW CM was with them to help translate and order food but they were all very well mannered and were polite too which you don't always see in their tour groups. We were shocked to see them staying at moderate but it was great for them to experience since I'm sure most of them would not vacation there with their family.

 

[DIS-OH]

Returned from POFQ yesterday and had another fabulous stay!

This trip was just DH and me...celebrating our 26th Anniversary as last summer we were too busy to properly celebrate our 25th!

The pixie dust began when we checked in...we were upgraded to a King room and it happened to also be a corner room! We were in 4101, which met my requests of ground floor and close to transportation. We found this location to be quiet with absolutely no foot traffic past our windows.

We did not eat in the food court on this trip...just stopped in late at night to grab breakfast items for the next morning.

The pixie dust continued with the bus and boat transportation...we only waited more than 5 minutes ONCE in four days! The buses were not crowded...only had one trip that was "packed full." Most other trips had very few people standing or even had empty seats. Rode in a few "brand new" buses that did not yet have advertising signs and had that "new car" smell!

A CM told us there were over 900 Tour Group kids staying there...we didn't believe her until we saw all the buses in the south parking lot...there must have been 15-20 charter buses lined up! We only ran into a crowd of the kids once...an afternoon in the pool. They took over the slide and were going down it backwards, upside down and in groups. They seemed to ignore the lifeguards, but also soon tired of the slide and moved on. The whole incident was likely less than 20 minutes.

Package delivery from the parks to the gift shop was very smooth...took the CM very little time to retrieve my packages.

Had a very funny bus driver on the way to the Animal Kingdom...he played ALL the "canned" announcements...even the one about "for your safety please do not swing from the bars and straps" and "Ladies and gentleman, this is a family resort. Please refrain from using inappropriate language." We also heard the birthday, princess, pirate,and anniversary announcements as well as the "Blizzard Beach is closed due to inclement weather" announcement and lots of others.

Once again, POFQ was a wonderful, restful place to stay. The lizards (anoles?) and squirrels were out if full force, but we did not see a snake on this trip.

And, a big THANKS to whomever mentioned the pina colava drink...it was terrific!

 

[orangecats2]

So glad you the two previous posters had such great stays. Makes me really glad I booked at POFQ. Because I had been having the "should I switch resorts" dilemma. I'm really excited to be staying here.