Port Orleans Riverside FAQ thread --- 2012, Part One --- NOW CLOSED

[adoptnky]

DS and I will be headed to POR at the end of February. (I'm running the Princess Half!)

We can't wait to be back. We stayed at POR in November 2009 and absolutely loved it.

 

[Venomhatch]

DS and I will be headed to POR at the end of February. (I'm running the Princess Half!)

We can't wait to be back. We stayed at POR in November 2009 and absolutely loved it.

During the dates of feb24th-3rd? May have to say hi. Ill be rocking my lime green mickey heads.

Here are mine:

 

[Sue M]

Woo Hoo, got my ME paperwork in the mail yesterday!!!! Heading to POR for a long weekend in early Feb!!

I'm going to request a refurbed room. Do you suggest I call and make the request or make the request when I get there? Will it matter if I register online?

Thanks!!!

When you use a TA, they have to be the ones to make any requests or do anything with your reservation.

In the mansion section both Acadian House & Magnolia Terrace have the the rooms. Both are great locations, best closest to the quiet pool between them because it's right on the bridge over to main pool & food court.

We did as Andre suggests, and we just requested a new room (but added in Mansion section, high floor )

 

[PixieDustFanatic]

I just scheduled the trip myself, didn't use a TA.

 

[Gorechick]

Thanks for the info Andre! I haven't booked yet, I've been hoping for a pin. I'm thinking I'll go with a garden or water view royal room and undecided about Oak or Parterre. Ideally I'd love to be in the inner courtyard with a view of the fountain and river. It's our 10th anniversary so maybe we'll get some pixie dust

 

[Venomhatch]

Thanks for the info Andre! I haven't booked yet, I've been hoping for a pin. I'm thinking I'll go with a garden or water view royal room and undecided about Oak or Parterre. Ideally I'd love to be in the inner courtyard with a view of the fountain and river. It's our 10th anniversary so maybe we'll get some pixie dust

When were you heading there? Last time I checked there they had no availability of the royal rooms available from feb 17th til mar 15th. So I hope you are able to get one when you want to go. Happy early tenth anniversary for you and your significant other.

 

[HeatherLassell]

When were you heading there? Last time I checked there they had no availability of the royal rooms available from feb 17th til mar 15th. So I hope you are able to get one when you want to go. Happy early tenth anniversary for you and your significant other.

It says August 2012 in her sig.

 

[Venomhatch]

It says August 2012 in her sig.

Yep your right sometimes I miss that.

 

[wickey's friend]

Hi!!! We just extended our week-long trip that starts tomorrow by one day. We couldn't get a room for the extra night at Pop so, we are moving to a Garden View POR-Riverside room for one night-- I have NO IDEA what to expect, but from looking online, it looks wonderful.

Anything I MUST do the 12 hours or so I'll be at the resort?

Thanks!

 

[adoptnky]

During the dates of feb24th-3rd? May have to say hi. Ill be rocking my lime green mickey heads.

We arrive on the 23rd and leave on the 27th! I think I'm more excited then my 5 year old!!!!

 

[Venomhatch]

We arrive on the 23rd and leave on the 27th! I think I'm more excited then my 5 year old!!!!

Well if you see a man, his fiancé, and her child rocking lime green mickey heads say hi. We'd love to meet other dis-ers! We would be in the royal rooms area.

 

[modegard]

We have used Garden Grocer twice and were more than satisfied with their service - very easy to order, items came as ordered, etc. I would highly recommend them

Thanks so much! Can I just ask you something? Did they leave your order with bell services or were you in your room when they came? I am ordering milk so I was just a little worried about it being refridgerated if I am not in my room.

 

[Brookie1972]

So confused!

All that was available when we booked was Garden. I thought it said 2Queen, so I looked on my res and it doesn't say the bedding, just garden.

When I got to check the avail on the dates we will be there Garden does state 2 Queen, but doesn't mention trundle at all (we are family of 5).

Preferred is showing available now, BUT it says 2 Double beds with Trundle.

I want the 2 Queen beds I was booking, but need the trundle also, we do have all the names listed in the room, so I can't imagine they would give us a room without the trundle, but I want to make sure we really get 2 Queen like it said when we booked.

Any suggestions?

Is there a certain section in AB that have the rooms that accomadate 5 people (trundles)?

 

[eeyorepixie]

Thanks so much! Can I just ask you something? Did they leave your order with bell services or were you in your room when they came? I am ordering milk so I was just a little worried about it being refridgerated if I am not in my room.

I always order GG and have them deliver before our arrival, and everything has been kept cold for us. I have read about people arriving and having their GG order in their room. However, we always have to call the front desk and someone always delivers the order promptly.

The first few time I ordered too much from GG. The last trip I brought a lot of our breakfast items, coffee.. and got dairy from our POR store.

Hope this helps

 

[lisalonglash]

Thanks so much! Can I just ask you something? Did they leave your order with bell services or were you in your room when they came? I am ordering milk so I was just a little worried about it being refridgerated if I am not in my room.

They left our order with Bell Services (we weren't there yet). We did order items that required refrigeration both times and Bell Services not only kept our stuff in their fridge, they put the items that needed to be refrigerated into the fridge in our room when they brought the order! Stellar service, by both Garden Grocer and Bell Services

 

[lisalonglash]

So confused!

All that was available when we booked was Garden. I thought it said 2Queen, so I looked on my res and it doesn't say the bedding, just garden.

When I got to check the avail on the dates we will be there Garden does state 2 Queen, but doesn't mention trundle at all (we are family of 5).

Preferred is showing available now, BUT it says 2 Double beds with Trundle.

I want the 2 Queen beds I was booking, but need the trundle also, we do have all the names listed in the room, so I can't imagine they would give us a room without the trundle, but I want to make sure we really get 2 Queen like it said when we booked.

Any suggestions?

Is there a certain section in AB that have the rooms that accomadate 5 people (trundles)?

Great question! I would love to know this answer too, as this will be our first time at POR and, although we only have 4 in our party, my youngest son is very excited to sleep on the trundle bed (novel idea to him LOL), so I'll be watching the answers to your question!

 

[laura428]

We're here at POR now. I'd requested a refurbished room, stated specifically it was because of our need for queen beds to help with DH's back issues, and kindly asked if we could have Magnolia Terrace since it was also near the pool and main building. I made the requests through 3 CMs over the phone, and called POR directly three days before arrival.

When I checked in, we'd been put in an upgraded Water View room in Oak Manor. While grateful for the upgrade and close proximity to the main building, I'm not quite sure why we were put there. I kindly asked for our original request to be granted, and was given a corner room, 2nd floor, Magnolia Terrace. We're across from the quiet pool, which I must admit made me nervous because DH and I are both light sleepers, but it's been very quiet.

And we love love love the room. Very comfy beds (yay for DH!), and renos seem to have been very nicely done.

Heading down to the main building in a bit to check out and check back in with our AP package. Fingers crossed that the last of our requests - no room change because of a continuing reservation - is granted. Pixie dust appreciated.

 

[andrewilley]

All that was available when we booked was Garden. I thought it said 2Queen, so I looked on my res and it doesn't say the bedding, just garden.

When I got to check the avail on the dates we will be there Garden does state 2 Queen, but doesn't mention trundle at all (we are family of 5).

Preferred is showing available now, BUT it says 2 Double beds with Trundle.

Yes, it is all a bit confusing at the moment as the new Garden View category has been introduced half-way through a resort-wide refurbishment program.

Basically:-

The only section of the resort that has the fifth-person bed option is the 'Alligator Bayou' area. The original rooms there have a slide-out trundle bed underneath one of the double beds, while the newly refurbished rooms have a pull-down murphy bed on the wall, plus two queen sized beds.

So far, four of the 16 Alligator Bayou lodges - 14, 36, 37 and 38 - have been refurbished, and they now have the queen beds and pull-down murphys. The rest of the buildings still have double beds and trundles. The remaining 12 lodges are due to be refurbished between April and August this year.

Adding to the complication, four of the AB lodges (14, 15, 18 and 27) are defined as 'Preferred Locations', as they are especially close to the main buildings, and these are priced at a slightly higher nightly rate.

And further adding to the confusion, a new booking category commenced on 1st January, making a price distinction between Standard View and the new 'Garden View'. As far as we can tell, these Garden View rooms could be located anywhere in the resort (i.e. in Alligator Bayou or the mansion buildings section) and should basically ensure that you get a nicer view than just a room overlooking a parking lot (e.g. courtyard, bayou area, lawn, etc). Once the refurbishment process is complete in August, every room in the resort will have two queen beds (apart from the King bed rooms of course, but let's not go there at the moment!) however at present some of these newly re-classified Garden View rooms will still have two doubles.

What is not yet clear is whether a current booking for Garden View will actually guarantee you queen beds - i.e. a refurbished room, which would limit them to about one-third of the resort's overall room capacity at the moment - or if the wording on the online booking form is a bit ahead of itself and/or was written on the (incorrect) assumption the whole resort would be done by the time the first Garden View guests started arriving.

Sorry if this just makes the waters even more muddy, but the multiple categorisation options getting a bit out of hand just now - and will only get worse when the four new Royal Room room categories become available in the mansion buildings in mid-February.

Andre

 

[Venomhatch]

We're here at POR now. I'd requested a refurbished room, stated specifically it was because of our need for queen beds to help with DH's back issues, and kindly asked if we could have Magnolia Terrace since it was also near the pool and main building. I made the requests through 3 CMs over the phone, and called POR directly three days before arrival.

When I checked in, we'd been put in an upgraded Water View room in Oak Manor. While grateful for the upgrade and close proximity to the main building, I'm not quite sure why we were put there. I kindly asked for our original request to be granted, and was given a corner room, 2nd floor, Magnolia Terrace. We're across from the quiet pool, which I must admit made me nervous because DH and I are both light sleepers, but it's been very quiet.

And we love love love the room. Very comfy beds (yay for DH!), and renos seem to have been very nicely done.

Heading down to the main building in a bit to check out and check back in with our AP package. Fingers crossed that the last of our requests - no room change because of a continuing reservation - is granted. Pixie dust appreciated.

Wow what confusion. Glad to hear you ended up getting what you wanted. Have fun there.

 

[jocelyn6]

Our countdown is on for our first trip to POR! We are arriving on March 3rd and we are staying in the new Royal Rooms. I haven't posted before because the excitement would have been too much to handle! We surprised our son and our best friend's kids at Christmas. We have been to Disney many times, but this will be their first trip! I can't wait for the magic - and I am even more excited as I read more and more about POR! I can't wait to see pictures of the rooms once they open and people are able to stay there....I am sure I will be out of my mind by the 3rd!