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

[pamkat1820]

My DH posed a question this morning and I thought some here might have some insight (Andre?? )

We are booked in a RGR for March 26-31. At this point, I'm fairly sure we will actually be in the RGR and not upgraded somewhere else (bummer LOL!). His question was then (after looking at the pictures Andre posted about the progress of the rooms) will we be inconvienced with construction noise and workers, etc, if we are in a RGR while they are still working on rooms in the same building or will they be sure the entire building is completed before they start letting people stay there?

Thanks for any input!

We have been wondering the same thing. We been talking about it for weeks even more now that the new pics were posted. its making me very nervous, to be honest.

 

[andrewilley]

His question was then (after looking at the pictures Andre posted about the progress of the rooms) will we be inconvienced with construction noise and workers, etc, if we are in a RGR while they are still working on rooms in the same building or will they be sure the entire building is completed before they start letting people stay there?

You won't be put into a room in a building where work is going on, the work will be a fair distance from you. Don't worry about it.

Andre

 

[hunmcbunny]

Andre....Are there King with Murphy Bed in AB right now?

 

[lfeikert]

You won't be put into a room in a building where work is going on, the work will be a fair distance from you. Don't worry about it.

Andre

Thanks so much, Andre! He will be so glad to hear that!

 

[Febrezegirl]

I saw a general offer through Disney for the free dining back in August that ran through 3/31 so I snatched it up. The funny thing is, they extended the dining period for me throuhg 4/03 since I arrived during the promotion period (through 3/31), but wouldnt extend it to my stay at AKL since that is considered a separate stay. When I aksed if they would extend the promotion if I stayed at POR the whole time, they said yes. But, in the end, part of our vacation was exploring new areas, so we decided to keep the split stays, and only have free dining for a portion of our trip. And, soon after i booked this, the promotion period cut 3/31 out of the deal.

 

[disneygirlsanddrew]

We have nevere stayed at a moderate before but are thinking of booking the royal guest rooms for the fall. We don't want a long walk though to the main pool, food court, buses, etc with 3 young kids. We are now considering possibly going back to the pop century resort so we can be in closer proximity to the things I mentioned above. What do you suggest? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[hunmcbunny]

We have nevere stayed at a moderate before but are thinking of booking the royal guest rooms for the fall. We don't want a long walk though to the main pool, food court, buses, etc with 3 young kids. We are now considering possibly going back to the pop century resort so we can be in closer proximity to the things I mentioned above. What do you suggest? Any help would be appreciated!

go to www.portorleans.org ...theres a resort map to show you were things are. The royal guest rooms will be in building 90 & 95 (Parterre Place & Oak) both are pretty close to the main building and Oak is close to the pool. Between those 2 buildings is a quiet pool.

 

[teentoddlermom]

Our first visit to POR was good. I really liked this resort. My new favorite. Yee ha Bob was in the lounge almost every night. We got the Queen beds in Acadian House, 8034. Renovations were fresh and nice. Good housekeeping. Got a lovely towel swan. Got the refillable mugs. No Powerade that we could see at the drink stations. Long walk to Food Court, but right by North Depot. I got a follow up call from Guest Communications a few days before we left saying the room inventory manager had assigned us the Queens. I had called, emailed and sent a snail mail about my concerns because Queens were described when I booked for the Garden Rooms. They were not too friendly about the whole thing, and it really soured me on Disney Management. I did not let that influence my trip. We really loved it there. I think it is the best Moderate! People working at the resort were friendly. It sure was busy there though! Princess half marathon, Presidents Day, All Star Basketball weekend, really ramped up the crowds. Bus rides were not long, we saw lots of double trips and wonder if going during a peak week really helps you with shorter waits for transportation. Crowds seemed to thin out on Saturday, but by Sunday and Monday it was really busy again.

 

[pigletto]

All preferred rooms will have the murphy bed by August, so if you book preferred, you will definitely have one.

Thank you! I appreciate the reply.
It wouldn't make or break our trip but it's nice to know we won't need the air mattress.

 

[stephmarty]

Wow, how were you able to score free dining during that week? My wife and I are staying at POR that same week and there were no discounts to be had which we assumed was due to the Spring Break period.

Was free dining offered to you through AAA? Or did we miss out on a promotion at some point in the past?

The last free dining promo was originally offered for arrivals through 3/31. We are arriving on 3/31 for 8 nights and were able to score FD. Literally 2 days after I booked, they changed it to 3/29. We would not have been able to arrive that early due to school, so I felt extremely fortunate to get FD for spring break week!

 

[disney*mom*82]

We will be at POR in 7 days

DH called today about the queen bed issue, as I have had a concern over this, and we have been told several times now, even after emailing, that it was only a request, couldnt guarantee it.

Anyways....DH called POR and the first person said NO refurb has been done on the AB buildings, he asked to talk to someone else, as this person obviously didnt know what they were talking about. The next person looked up our reservations and said it is stated on our reservation in all caps GUARANTEED REFURBISHED ROOM WITH QUEEN BEDS.

So, I hope she is right, she told him we are lucky, as there are not a lot of the AB rooms done and even with the ones that are done, not all sleep 5. Im still not going to count on it until we are there. But, this does make me feel a little better about it all.

 

[Missytara]

We will be at POR in 7 days

DH called today about the queen bed issue, as I have had a concern over this, and we have been told several times now, even after emailing, that it was only a request, couldnt guarantee it.

Anyways....DH called POR and the first person said NO refurb has been done on the AB buildings, he asked to talk to someone else, as this person obviously didnt know what they were talking about. The next person looked up our reservations and said it is stated on our reservation in all caps GUARANTEED REFURBISHED ROOM WITH QUEEN BEDS.

So, I hope she is right, she told him we are lucky, as there are not a lot of the AB rooms done and even with the ones that are done, not all sleep 5. Im still not going to count on it until we are there. But, this does make me feel a little better about it all.

You did not talk to anyone in POR, you talked to a Central Call Center. The CM pulled up your reservation and read it off the screen. The original CM who took the request typed in the guaranteed part; most likely a note to the room assigner you expected queen beds.

 

[Fire14]

We have nevere stayed at a moderate before but are thinking of booking the royal guest rooms for the fall. We don't want a long walk though to the main pool, food court, buses, etc with 3 young kids. We are now considering possibly going back to the pop century resort so we can be in closer proximity to the things I mentioned above. What do you suggest? Any help would be appreciated!

I've stayed at POP a lot IMO either of the royal room buliding locations would not be any futher walk than the Juke Box buliding at POP or the 80's/90's. If you chose AB section you would be even closer I'm sure. THere are multiple bus stops/pools at Mods.

 

[crazyboutdisny]

The last free dining promo was originally offered for arrivals through 3/31. We are arriving on 3/31 for 8 nights and were able to score FD. Literally 2 days after I booked, they changed it to 3/29. We would not have been able to arrive that early due to school, so I felt extremely fortunate to get FD for spring break week!

Yep...we had to move oour trip up two days because of that. We decided on a Sunday that we were going to book and arrive on the 31st. I wento online Monday and the date had changed So I called and they said they had no idea why they changed it, that they had never seen them make a change like that and yes, it could change again. So we booked for the 28th. Kids are missing 2 1/2 days of school but they will survive, I am sure! I mean, you cant pass up free dining for school!

 

[stephmarty]

Yep...we had to move oour trip up two days because of that. We decided on a Sunday that we were going to book and arrive on the 31st. I wento online Monday and the date had changed So I called and they said they had no idea why they changed it, that they had never seen them make a change like that and yes, it could change again. So we booked for the 28th. Kids are missing 2 1/2 days of school but they will survive, I am sure! I mean, you cant pass up free dining for school!

Totally agreed! I tried to talk my wife into letting the kids miss a couple says anyway for cheaper airfare. She wouldn't budge this year. But I've withdrawn them for vacations before and they kept journals documenting the more educational elements of our trip. I'm not kidding when I say they learned more traveling than sitting in a classroom. It might just require an extra day exploring World Showcase at Epcot!

 

[SplashMom]

We just returned on Wednesday from POR--great trip! It was our third stay there and we had free dining for 12 days which was wonderful.

I reserved a room back in August, requesting a room with queen beds (like the website said). The CM on the phone said it shouldn't be a problem because it was booked early. I also called to check twice to make sure my request was on my reservation. I also wrote a letter a few weeks ahead of time outlining my request in more detail. When we arrived, we were put in Parterre Place in a non-refurbed room. I actually thought that building was closed for refurb now but apparently it was still open. It was very busy--President's Day weekend. I was told there were no other rooms. I was polite but firm and stated that I had printed out the room description, which stated queen sized beds and produced my printout. The CM called a manager and they checked again...no rooms. I stated that I would have booked French Quarter if I had known (which I would have) and after a few more minutes, a room was found in Magnolia. It was on the third floor in the center of the building. Very nice room. We were happy with the location and the rest of the trip was wonderful.

I realize that requests are only requests, but I'm sure everyone in all of the refurbished rooms didn't make a request for such a room. Why can't they accommodate the people who made the requests first? There was plenty of notice and I wasn't requesting five things, just queen beds.

Anyway, we did enjoy the trip although we probably won't be staying there again because we purchased DVC!

 

[simzac]

With all the different room categories there now are that are guaranteed due to paying for them, maybe it's time for Disney to stop taking requests so guests won't be so upset when the don't get them. JMO

 

[crazyboutdisny]

With all the different room categories there now are that are guaranteed due to paying for them, maybe it's time for Disney to stop taking requests so guests won't be so upset when the don't get them. JMO

That sounds great except ours wasnt a request. When we booked our garden room it stated queen beds, only to find out months later that Disney updated the catagory too soon and it was their error. And so we paid extra for a garden view room with queen beds and are now told queen beds are only a request

 

[disney*mom*82]

Well, we called the direct number to POR anyways. The first person didnt even pull up our information, DH was trying to explain to her why he was calling and once she insisted the refurb had not started, he requested to speak to someone in charge of room assignments. I have talked to a manager at POR and also have had email communication and a call back from guest services over the issue, Im assuming one of those people added this to the reservation.

You did not talk to anyone in POR, you talked to a Central Call Center. The CM pulled up your reservation and read it off the screen. The original CM who took the request typed in the guaranteed part; most likely a note to the room assigner you expected queen beds.

 

[BrendonMc]

They have 2 queens. Any accessible King rooms are being converted to 2 queens with the refurb to conform with a new law starting March 15.

Hey Backstage Gal is this true for all King Bed rooms at Riverside? I booked a King Bed room for May 2012 and I was concerned I might end up in a room with a roll-in shower which I do not need and do not like! That would be fantastic news!