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

[Venomhatch]

Hey there everyone... Been a lot of posts since this morning when I was last on. Congrats to all the guests about to show up. I look forward to your reports and pics. Got some things to do.

D.

 

[hunmcbunny]

I found this thread that talks about a Dance Party with Disney Jr over at Hollywood studios during the EMH.... DD is gonna freak with excitement lol

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2868660

 

[andrewilley]

im going there april 18 to 23 and staying at por royal rooms, was wondering if we still share buses with french quarter? disney vacation agents say no.

It varies. Generally Magic Kingdom does not share buses, but the other parks quite often do except for some peak times. There don't seem to be any firm rules any more though - only "guidelines"

Andre

 

[kg66]

hunmcbunny..I think we are there the same time as you. We check into POR March 25-31, with 2 days at ASMO March 23-24 before Free Dining. See you there hopefully, always have a Lime Green Mickey Head on my bag!

 

[hunmcbunny]

hunmcbunny..I think we are there the same time as you. We check into POR March 25-31, with 2 days at ASMO March 23-24 before Free Dining. See you there hopefully, always have a Lime Green Mickey Head on my bag!

Awesome!!!! We didnt get the free dining...I think its because we booked a royal room . Our DD is 5...just look for 2 older parents trying to keep up with a 5 yr old princess saying "come on mommy come on daddy....LETS GO!"

 

[mpres2]

We leave tomorrow morning for our first trip to Disney! After reading this thread for months I am so excited to see POR for myself.
We are a family of five (including a two year old who will not sleep in a pack and play) so we will be in Alligator Bayou and we've requested a refurbished room.

Is there anything you guys want me to check out while I'm there?

 

[andrewilley]

Is there anything you guys want me to check out while I'm there?

Everything! LOL

Seriously though, if you get a chance to see what signs of the refurbishments are visible (especially around Oak Manor in the mansions section) that'd be great. That and some wi-fi connection speed tests (app at www.speedtest.net) if you happen to have a wi-fi smartphone with you.

Have a great time and enjoy POR. Look out for any 20th anniversary activites which may be happening around the resort on Thursday - if there is anything, any chance of a few pictures maybe?

Andre

 

[peterox]

We have the RR river view booked for April 13-18. We will have a rental car and mostly be eating at the parks. How far of a walk will we have from room to the car? Thanks

 

[andrewilley]

We have the RR river view booked for April 13-18. We will have a rental car and mostly be eating at the parks. How far of a walk will we have from room to the car? Thanks

That all depends on where you park the car.

River Views can be among the furthest rooms from the parking lots, but it varies a lot by building. Not normally more than a couple of minutes though, max 5 mins I guess.

Andre

 

[peterox]

That all depends on where you park the car.

River Views can be among the furthest rooms from the parking lots, but it varies a lot by building. Not normally more than a couple of minutes though, max 5 mins I guess.

Andre

Thanks for the info °o°

 

[hunmcbunny]

Everything! LOL


Andre

Yeah the rest of us inquiring minds wanna know EVERYTHING LOL

 

[mpres2]

Everything! LOL

Seriously though, if you get a chance to see what signs of the refurbishments are visible (especially around Oak Manor in the mansions section) that'd be great. That and some wi-fi connection speed tests (app at www.speedtest.net) if you happen to have a wi-fi smartphone with you.

Have a great time and enjoy POR. Look out for any 20th anniversary activites which may be happening around the resort on Thursday - if there is anything, any chance of a few pictures maybe?

Andre

We are leaving on Thursday morning but I'll see what I can find out. I'm happy to test the connection speed too. I may not post until I come back though.

 

[Venomhatch]

What is amazing is not even out of January and we are already up to 85 pages. Cant wait to see the end of this year.

 

[FloridaKelly]

Hi Guys! I am sorry if this seems like a silly question, but I am sooooooo overwhelmed trying to plan my trip and I just can't do ANOTHER search. Here goes, I understand that Preferred Rooms in Alligator Bayou are bulidings 14, 15, 18 and 27. I don't want a Standard View because both my youngest nephew and I are light sleepers and parking lot noise and light would mean both of us would be up and down all night. Same goes for water views - late night swimmers, through no fault of their's AT ALL, would wake us up. So I am thinking that Garden View would be best. Now here's the silly part, are the GARDEN VIEWS basically any room in the bulidings that aren't preferred that don't face a parking lot or pool? Or is the Garden View something more specific? And can someone suggest a specific quiet building or location? Thanks for helping me...Between the Disney site, Disboards, Touring Plans and Easy WDW I am about to go CRAZY!!!!!

 

[perchy]

Hi Guys! I am sorry if this seems like a silly question, but I am sooooooo overwhelmed trying to plan my trip and I just can't do ANOTHER search. Here goes, I understand that Preferred Rooms in Alligator Bayou are bulidings 14, 15, 18 and 27. I don't want a Standard View because both my youngest nephew and I are light sleepers and parking lot noise and light would mean both of us would be up and down all night. Same goes for water views - late night swimmers, through no fault of their's AT ALL, would wake us up. So I am thinking that Garden View would be best. Now here's the silly part, are the GARDEN VIEWS basically any room in the bulidings that aren't preferred that don't face a parking lot or pool? Or is the Garden View something more specific? And can someone suggest a specific quiet building or location? Thanks for helping me...Between the Disney site, Disboards, Touring Plans and Easy WDW I am about to go CRAZY!!!!!

Hear you on the overwhelming research and I'm thinking I finally found a good thread with the information I've been looking for maybe. lol. We have a Garden View too, and Garden View is basically NOT a parking lot view. Possibly a fountain view. And I would think (it's been my thinking) that an upper floor vs. main floor would be quietest.

I also want to say I read somewhere that there are no Garden View rooms for Alligator Bayou. So Garden View is essentially one of the mansions.

I'm leaving in a week!!!! (2/4-2/9, 2012) Thinking my request might be:

Queen beds, Renovated room, second or third floor, Magnolia Terrace.

I was going to toss in "Or Oak Manor" but it sounds like Oak Manor is either completely closed for refurbishment or, if a section is open, it's not refurbed yet.

Hoping that helps you, OP, and hoping someone else can tell me if my thinking is misguided.

 

[mpres2]

Garden view was the lowest category I could book and we have to be in Alligator Bayou. I will let you know next week what our view was I'm more than ok with "anything that isn't a parking lot" so I'm just hoping for a refurb room. Although, after Andre told me that there is no under bed storage in the new rooms, I have decided just to make the best of it no matter what they give us. If we get a new room..Whoopie! If we get an old room, at least we have that extra suitcase storage and what the heck, we're still at Disney in a great resort!

 

[Venomhatch]

Yeah the oak building is closed or should be. They wont leave sections open either because they'd have to wait for guests to leave in order to refurb the next part. They may open back up in sections after the royal guest rooms are done.

 

[Ckmommy72]

Everything! LOL

Seriously though, if you get a chance to see what signs of the refurbishments are visible (especially around Oak Manor in the mansions section) that'd be great. That and some wi-fi connection speed tests (app at www.speedtest.net) if you happen to have a wi-fi smartphone with you.

Have a great time and enjoy POR. Look out for any 20th anniversary activites which may be happening around the resort on Thursday - if there is anything, any chance of a few pictures maybe?

Andre

Just got back today , had room 8530 in Magnolia Terrace. We booked garden view, and had a request for MT on our res. We looked out on the quiet pool between MT and Acadian, so i'm guessing this was something of an upgrade? to water view? Anyway, we were very happy with this location.

As far as work goes, It looked to me as though work has either started on Oak Manor, or will be starting very soon. We didn't spend a lot of time walking around the resort as we were up and out early each morning and returned at/after dark each day, but I definitely saw construction equipment and workers in front of OM, as well as cones blocking the circular area in front. There were also no cars in the OM lot.

I didn't do any speed tests, but wifi was good as long as you kept it simple. DS kept trying to stream video through either Netflix or YouTube and was getting very frustrated. I, however had no problems checking email, Facebook, etc.

 

[Venomhatch]

Just got back today , had room 8530 in Magnolia Terrace. We booked garden view, and had a request for MT on our res. We looked out on the quiet pool between MT and Acadian, so i'm guessing this was something of an upgrade? to water view? Anyway, we were very happy with this location.

As far as work goes, It looked to me as though work has either started on Oak Manor, or will be starting very soon. We didn't spend a lot of time walking around the resort as we were up and out early each morning and returned at/after dark each day, but I definitely saw construction equipment and workers in front of OM, as well as cones blocking the circular area in front. There were also no cars in the OM lot.

I didn't do any speed tests, but wifi was good as long as you kept it simple. DS kept trying to stream video through either Netflix or YouTube and was getting very frustrated. I, however had no problems checking email, Facebook, etc.

Thanks for that report. My contact there confirmed that work did infact start today for preparations to remove all the old furniture. Thank you so much for doing this much. We always know that vacation and family fun is always the primary concern. Congrats on a safe trip and nice room upgrade!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

I also want to say I read somewhere that there are no Garden View rooms for Alligator Bayou. So Garden View is essentially one of the mansions.

We are a family of five so we have to stay in the Alligator Bayou and I just checked my confirmation I am paying for a Garden View room. So I'm thinking that you can't count on a Garden View room to be in the Mansions.

I don't want a Standard View because both my youngest nephew and I are light sleepers and parking lot noise and light would mean both of us would be up and down all night. Same goes for water views - late night swimmers, through no fault of their's AT ALL, would wake us up. So I am thinking that Garden View would be best.

If you are light sleepers I would highly suggest a white noise machine and or ear plugs. Even in the quietest locations in the resort you never know "who" is going to be beside you so you're probably best to bring your own reinforcements. We always travel with our white noise machine.