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

[summerlady]

Got back late last Friday night after 6 days at POFQ. Oh, how I love to stay there! We were in building 7, room 7130, which was ready for us when we arrived on the ME at 10 a.m. Perfect location although at first I was hesitant to accept it knowing that it was the last building closest to POR. Not a long walk at all to the main building or pool, we completely enjoyed the quiet. We were quite near the "spitting frog pond" and just a super short walk from the river. Our mousekeeper, Ada, was wonderful...our room was spotless and kept well supplied and tidy during our stay. I can't say enough about how pretty the rooms are now after the refurbishment, they look so much more elegant than before. New shower heads are terrific, the fridge kept things nice and cold, so nice to have a flat screen tv now instead of those huge old ones. CMs were friendly and helpful; we were able to get a late check out at 12:30 p.m. on our last day by going to the desk and requesting the night before. Food court was good, we had a couple of lunches there and breakfast once, it was never too crowded to be crazy, and we enjoyed eating at the outside tables and listening to the music. The pool and hot tub were nice, as usual. Took the boat once to DTD, round trip, not a long wait either time and so convenient and scenic, I'd NEVER take a bus. Never.

We shared buses twice with POR, both times returning to the parks late afternoon. One crummy experience waiting 45 minutes for a bus at the MK...it was about 11 p.m. on a non-party, EMH night so I should have known better, but we were having too much fun to leave earlier. Another morning we were headed to Epcot at about 9 a.m. and the POFQ bus was packed, we opted to wait for the next bus which arrived about 2 minutes later, it was a good decision to wait that morning in order to get seats on the bus.

Already planning on next October's trip and will definitely be staying at POFQ again. Can't wait!

 

[Goofy_Mom]

We have returned from our first WDW vacation!! I liked the French Quarter, though DH was less than pleased. I don't know what exactly he was expecting. He's doesn't get into the magic because he can't see past the dollar signs, that may have been a factor. Also, when we checked in it was pushing 10pm and we were hungery. The pickings at the food court were less than pleasing.

My first try of beignets and I thought they were awesome. The kids loved the pool and the playground.

We were in building 5 faceing the pool (the building was requested). Only shared a bus with Riverside once in the late moring. The ferry wait for DTD was the longest and could only take 12 of us at a time due to the loading of Riverside first. We had to wait a cycle because (evidently) there were only two drivers at the time.

Housekeeping was spotty. You could tell they cleaned up when they came, but they always missed something. They only empteid and changed the ice bucket liner once (we used it almost every day of our 8 night stay).

Over all, not a bad stay. The CM's did there job and were pleasant, but never went above and beyond. I'll give you an example. I brought our rented stroller down to the lobby to turn it into bell services, but I couldn't find bell services. I waited my turn in the lobby to talk to someone at the desk. The girl (on exchange from Japan) said I could call from my room and bell services would come get it or I could take it to bell services directly. I asked where bell services was and her directions were confusing, so I said I'll take it back to my room and call bell services. So I do that and the bell services lady on the phone asks if I can bring it to her!!! I didn't. I told her there was no rush on the pick up, but it did need to be down there before 5am.

Hubby says we are going back to WDW (in about 5 years). I don't think we'll be staying at the French Quarter. I think this time I'll let him pick the place. I do know we will be heading there in November after Thanksgiving to enjoy the Christmas set up.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Have been reading a lot of complaints about mousekeeping from recent DISers' travels....

My questions is about advance purchase for MNSSHP. Waited til the last minute to buy so we could be sure of the day we want as well as the weather...
Looks like our first choice of attending the 27th will work out just fine. So I was planning to buy tix at check in on the 26th. However, it occured to me that our plane lands around 8:15pm. So we won't be at POFQ until after 9. I think concierge is gone by then. Can we buy tix from the front desk people? If not I guess I will go ahead and buy them now and pick them up at will-call. I'd just rather have them in my hand ahead of time.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We have returned from our first WDW vacation!! I liked the French Quarter, though DH was less than pleased. I don't know what exactly he was expecting. He's doesn't get into the magic because he can't see past the dollar signs, that may have been a factor. Also, when we checked in it was pushing 10pm and we were hungery. The pickings at the food court were less than pleasing.

My first try of beignets and I thought they were awesome. The kids loved the pool and the playground.

We were in building 5 faceing the pool (the building was requested). Only shared a bus with Riverside once in the late moring. The ferry wait for DTD was the longest and could only take 12 of us at a time due to the loading of Riverside first. We had to wait a cycle because (evidently) there were only two drivers at the time.

Housekeeping was spotty. You could tell they cleaned up when they came, but they always missed something. They only empteid and changed the ice bucket liner once (we used it almost every day of our 8 night stay).

Over all, not a bad stay. The CM's did there job and were pleasant, but never went above and beyond. I'll give you an example. I brought our rented stroller down to the lobby to turn it into bell services, but I couldn't find bell services. I waited my turn in the lobby to talk to someone at the desk. The girl (on exchange from Japan) said I could call from my room and bell services would come get it or I could take it to bell services directly. I asked where bell services was and her directions were confusing, so I said I'll take it back to my room and call bell services. So I do that and the bell services lady on the phone asks if I can bring it to her!!! I didn't. I told her there was no rush on the pick up, but it did need to be down there before 5am.

Hubby says we are going back to WDW (in about 5 years). I don't think we'll be staying at the French Quarter. I think this time I'll let him pick the place. I do know we will be heading there in November after Thanksgiving to enjoy the Christmas set up.

Did you guys fly? If so, what time did ME drop off your checked bags that night? Trying to decide if we should grab them ourselves or not. We land a little after 8pm.

 

[crazy4wdw]

I returned from POFQ this past Saturday (10/22) after a seven night stay. This was my 3rd consecutive stay at POFQ and it did not disappoint as usual. I had a nice suprise as I received an upgrade from standard view to river view. I was really funny at check-in as the CM told me that my assinged room was not ready but she could check to see if I could be moved to a cleaned room. She said several times, "I'll be glad to check but I'd wait on your assigned room". I was texted maybe 30 minutes after check-in that the room was ready. I was on the 3rd floor in builidng 1. There were several rooms on the floor I was located that did not seem to be occupied for several days. I thought this was interesting as I thought resort was supposedly sold out. I really enjoyed the new rooms but I did miss the pedestal sinks. I only used the buses to the MK and drove to the other parks and DD. There was some cool weather during the last several days of the trip and the pool water was a little too cool for me. I received numerous towel animals during my stay and near the end of the trip, the housekeeper put them in a line on top of the air conditioner/heater unit as if they were looking out of the window. There were several mornings when I thought the food court was a zoo with lots of people cutting in line in front of you as you were trying to get your morning coffee. Overall a great trip and now I need to plan for October next year. I may try to upgrade to a deluxe for 2012.

 

[jeepwreck]

Did you guys fly? If so, what time did ME drop off your checked bags that night? Trying to decide if we should grab them ourselves or not. We land a little after 8pm.

ya i am thinking the same thing since we land around 8 also. I was thinking of grabing my bags also and just taking then on the bus, because i figured they would not arrive till a few hours after i checked in.

 

[jeepwreck]

I also have a question about the laundry facilities, is it a drop off service or do you have to do it yourself and wait around for it, because I am going need to use it at least once before we leave for the second leg of our vacation.

I am hoping there is a drop off service.

 

[andrewilley]

I also have a question about the laundry facilities, is it a drop off service or do you have to do it yourself and wait around for it, because I am going need to use it at least once before we leave for the second leg of our vacation.

I am hoping there is a drop off service.

It is DIY I'm afraid, but the facility is next to the swimming pool area so you can relax, swim, get a drink, etc while your washing goes round. There is valet laundry service too, but the rates are business-hotel sort of prices - e.g. $4.50 for a T-shirt.

Andre

 

[jeepwreck]

ok thanks

I just found out they are 24 hours which is good because I will probably do it at night so I don’t miss anything during the day

 

[mickeysmyboy]

THe rooms at POFQ accommodate up to 4, correct?

TIA!!!

 

[thunderbird1]

THe rooms at POFQ accommodate up to 4, correct?

TIA!!!

4 + 1 under 3, but I see your youngest is 3 so that probably wouldn't work for you. POR next door has rooms that can hold 5.

 

[steelernut]

Does FQ share the buses in the morning with POR?? We are staying at FQ but our friends are staying POR and we are hoping to ride the same bus to the parks.

 

[wdwnut61]

Got back late last Friday night after 6 days at POFQ. Oh, how I love to stay there! We were in building 7, room 7130, which was ready for us when we arrived on the ME at 10 a.m. Perfect location although at first I was hesitant to accept it knowing that it was the last building closest to POR. Not a long walk at all to the main building or pool, we completely enjoyed the quiet. We were quite near the "spitting frog pond" and just a super short walk from the river. Our mousekeeper, Ada, was wonderful...our room was spotless and kept well supplied and tidy during our stay. I can't say enough about how pretty the rooms are now after the refurbishment, they look so much more elegant than before. New shower heads are terrific, the fridge kept things nice and cold, so nice to have a flat screen tv now instead of those huge old ones. CMs were friendly and helpful; we were able to get a late check out at 12:30 p.m. on our last day by going to the desk and requesting the night before. Food court was good, we had a couple of lunches there and breakfast once, it was never too crowded to be crazy, and we enjoyed eating at the outside tables and listening to the music. The pool and hot tub were nice, as usual. Took the boat once to DTD, round trip, not a long wait either time and so convenient and scenic, I'd NEVER take a bus. Never.

We shared buses twice with POR, both times returning to the parks late afternoon. One crummy experience waiting 45 minutes for a bus at the MK...it was about 11 p.m. on a non-party, EMH night so I should have known better, but we were having too much fun to leave earlier. Another morning we were headed to Epcot at about 9 a.m. and the POFQ bus was packed, we opted to wait for the next bus which arrived about 2 minutes later, it was a good decision to wait that morning in order to get seats on the bus.

Already planning on next October's trip and will definitely be staying at POFQ again. Can't wait!

Welcome Back

Can't wait to see the updated rooms.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Leaving in 14 hours for the airport!

Didn't put in any room requests. Is there any building, room, etc that I should avoid in case we get assigned a bad one?

 

[LilyWDW]

Does FQ share the buses in the morning with POR?? We are staying at FQ but our friends are staying POR and we are hoping to ride the same bus to the parks.

They never shared in the mornings (pre rope drop) while we were there (Oct 14-23). Even if they had, there is no way to ensure your friends could physically get on the same bus you were on depending on crowds. I would figure out a place to meet at the parks before you go in.

POFQ is my favorite resort. We just got back from our second stay there and loved it like always. We were in building 5 on the 3rd floor. It was super close to the main building and food court. While it did overlook the area where they showed the movies, it was never too loud. I slept through it easily on the few nights we were back easily and I am not a very deep sleeper.

Food court was great, though it seemed the poor CMs were dealing with a lot of people who had NO idea what they were doing. Saw multiple arguments from guests who did not understand how to use their dining plans. The CMs were doing the best they could to fix things and keep the lines moving, but I felt really bad for them at times. Never had an issue with long wait times or with getting my mugs refilled quickly.

Buses were great. Max wait times were in the 15 minute range, but that only happened twice, and one time of 20 minutes (but that was right after Wishes). Normally we only waited 5 or less. We never had to stand on the buses either.

Room was well cared for and cleaned by mousekeeping. We even had a few towel animals! SO cute and fun to return from the parks to see them!

Only issue we had was with concierge and getting bad information. I was told we could purchase boxes for shipping from the gift shop and could do so the night before. Well, the gift shop will give them to you for free BUT it is first come first serve... and they had none when we needed to ship things home. That said, when I spoke to a manager about the misinformation, they went above and beyond looking for a box for us. They did find one and we commenced shipping a whole lot of stuff back home (I bought WAY too much).

I always feel at home at POFQ and am hard pressed to stay anywhere else.

 

[Kellyingle7]

Just booked my stay at POFQ for Dec. 17-24!

Can't wait!

 

[pwdebbie]

Leaving in 14 hours for the airport!

Didn't put in any room requests. Is there any building, room, etc that I should avoid in case we get assigned a bad one?

I don't think there is a bad room at POFQ. Personally, dh and I do not want to face the pool, so for us that would be a "bad" room, but for others, they want to face the pool so it would be a good room to them. No matter what building you are in, you will be fairly close to everything.

 

[kcsspartan]

Okay, we are getting down to the count, only 17 days until we are at POFQ. I have my ADRs, ordered from garden grocer, but I wanted to change the credit card on file, so I could do online check-in. However, when I called, she told me they couldn't do it. But if I called in the 10 day window, they could do my check in over the phone and switch the credit card - has anyone done this - it seems like it would be easier for them to change the card now.

 

[jrhwmr]

Okay, we are getting down to the count, only 17 days until we are at POFQ. I have my ADRs, ordered from garden grocer, but I wanted to change the credit card on file, so I could do online check-in. However, when I called, she told me they couldn't do it. But if I called in the 10 day window, they could do my check in over the phone and switch the credit card - has anyone done this - it seems like it would be easier for them to change the card now.

We arrive on Monday and one of the questions we were asked when checking in online (10 days out) was what card would we want on file for our room.

 

[wdwnut61]

Leaving in 14 hours for the airport!

Didn't put in any room requests. Is there any building, room, etc that I should avoid in case we get assigned a bad one?

Have a great trip

We still have 24 days