Port Orleans Riverside FAQ thread --- 2012, Part Three --- NOW FULL / CLOSED

[Chuckers]

Has anybody tried "Be our Guest Restaurant" yet? I tried making ADR for May and they are booked already.....

I just ran into the same problem.. and no lunch ADR's are being taken.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Has anybody tried "Be our Guest Restaurant" yet? I tried making ADR for May and they are booked already.....

My only advice is to keep looking. You might find one pop up, especially as your trip nears and people finalize plans. I sometimes have great luck getting "tough" ADRs right around the 45 day mark. Many people make ADR's at 180 days and then end up cancelling their trips for whatever reason.

Good luck!

 

[princessand2princes]

Just returned home today from 8 fabulous days at POR. We had the perfect room for us, AB building 14 first floor garden view corner room. It was awesome! Just a short walk to the riverside mill, Fultons store, or the South Depot. Thank you thank you thank you Venomhatch!!!! We sent a Fax 5 days ahead requesting first floor and building 14 (we paid for preferred category) and we got all we asked for and more!!

We loved the resort overall, and would stay there again, but only if we booked preferred category again. We got off on the wrong bus stop one night (still in AB though) and it took forever to get to our room! It was huge! The weather was beautiful, especially early in the week, so my oldest DD used ole man river pool one night and loved it. We did have quite a few issues with buses... Seemed to take forever to get a bus several occasions. We often had standing room only, which is tough with 3 small kids. I hope it was just our bad luck, otherwise I would hate to have to deal with the buses during a busy season!

 

[siskaren]

I just ran into the same problem.. and no lunch ADR's are being taken.

That's because lunch at BoG is counter service, not table service.

 

[scampagna6]

Just returned home today from 8 fabulous days at POR. We had the perfect room for us, AB building 14 first floor garden view corner room. It was awesome! Just a short walk to the riverside mill, Fultons store, or the South Depot. Thank you thank you thank you Venomhatch!!!! We sent a Fax 5 days ahead requesting first floor and building 14 (we paid for preferred category) and we got all we asked for and more!!

We loved the resort overall, and would stay there again, but only if we booked preferred category again. We got off on the wrong bus stop one night (still in AB though) and it took forever to get to our room! It was huge! The weather was beautiful, especially early in the week, so my oldest DD used ole man river pool one night and loved it. We did have quite a few issues with buses... Seemed to take forever to get a bus several occasions. We often had standing room only, which is tough with 3 small kids. I hope it was just our bad luck, otherwise I would hate to have to deal with the buses during a busy season!

princessand2princes did you do online check in also after you sent the fax for room request? TIA

 

[pigletto]

8 more sleeps!!

We haven't purchased our park tickets yet and have a room only rez. We were going to just order them via UT but I heard that if you have a room only rez, you can add tickets to your room at a discount?? Is that true?

I know I could call but with a hungry baby and 4 kids running around right now - it was faster to ask here

The only promotion I know of with any ticket discounts is Play,Stay, Dine that is available select dates that CinderUmbrella linked for you above. That isn't a ticket discount so much as an overall percentage discount off of room/dining/tickets overall. I check every discount I can get my hands on and have never seen just a ticket discount from Disney.

The only other thing I can think of is that you may mean the Y.E.S. tickets which are part of the Youth Education Series? We have used those once but they are only offered select times of the year, you have to have a child participating in the class and they fill up almost as soon as they open the registration months in advance.

If you leave in 8 days I am assuming you know that you'll need to use Will Call or get express shipping for your tickets from Undercover Tourist? It's 10 days for regular shipping.

 

[Venomhatch]

I just ran into the same problem.. and no lunch ADR's are being taken.

That's because lunch at BoG is counter service, not table service.

Yeah siskaren, your right. Lunch is a walk-in availability until full.

 

[melissarose]

what do i do first, check in online or fax in my room request?!

 

[5mouseketeersforus]

If you are referring to one of the promotions going on now where rooms and tickets were discounted when booking a package, I believe that was for stays starting after 2/18/13.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/

This is the link to the special offers. I will add the disclaimer that I do not know how that affects our friends in Canada, but there are some regular posters who are Canadian that can hopefully chime in soon.

Thanks. I wasn't sure how it worked if you only had a room rez. I ended up calling and we can add tickets but it is at the regular price. Buying through other discount agents will save us $35 but not sure it will be worth the hassle to go pick them.

Plus now i am thinking we should have just booked the SPD package. Can i upgrade from room only to that pkg at the late stage?

 

[pigletto]

Thanks. I wasn't sure how it worked if you only had a room rez. I ended up calling and we can add tickets but it is at the regular price. Buying through other discount agents will save us $35 but not sure it will be worth the hassle to go pick them.

Plus now i am thinking we should have just booked the SPD package. Can i upgrade from room only to that pkg at the late stage?

If there are still rooms available you can. It might not be the type of room you picked or the same resort but you can call and try.

 

[5mouseketeersforus]

Ok so no royal rooms (standard) avail.....so is garden view In a reg room ok??? Or do i spend the extra for preferrrd?? any more upgrades to other rooms/views isnt in the budget unfortunately. We will have a rental minivan so access to bus stops is not necessary but being close to food court would be handy.

I will be sending in our fax later this week but can someone help me figure this out!!!

Arrgghhhh nothing like a last minute change!

 

[Canooknic]

Thanks. I wasn't sure how it worked if you only had a room rez. I ended up calling and we can add tickets but it is at the regular price. Buying through other discount agents will save us $35 but not sure it will be worth the hassle to go pick them.

Have you checked at the Disneystore? A neighbour was at the mall the other day and found tickets cheaper than she was getting from her TA (I don't know that actual price unfortunately, but she was happy!)

 

[quietgirll]

Ok so no royal rooms (standard) avail.....so is garden view In a reg room ok??? Or do i spend the extra for preferrrd?? any more upgrades to other rooms/views isnt in the budget unfortunately. We will have a rental minivan so access to bus stops is not necessary but being close to food court would be handy.

I will be sending in our fax later this week but can someone help me figure this out!!!

Arrgghhhh nothing like a last minute change!

We did standard in a reg room just a couple of weeks ago, and it was great. We decided not to do preferred, and I'm glad we didn't spend the extra. We requested building 16 or 17, and got building 17 and it was awesome!

 

[momtwoboys]

bld 17 is what I requested for our upcoming April trip too! I don't mind an upper floor room either. Did you find the location good? Is it convenient to the laundry room?

 

[quietgirll]

bld 17 is what I requested for our upcoming April trip too! I don't mind an upper floor room either. Did you find the location good? Is it convenient to the laundry room?

The only other request we had was upper floor, and we got that too...we just enjoy upper floors so we don't have to hear anyone over us, and there's not much traffic outside our door. We thought the location was GREAT! We went with the standard view, which was convenient to our car when we drove a couple of days, but we were also close to the bus stop/food court/main building. There was a quiet pool right beside us,many the laundry room was there, so it was perfect! As a matter of fact, the night I did laundry, I put the clothes in the washer, walked down to food court to fill my mug, walked around the main area some sightseeing, walked back to laundry room, then back to room, relaxed a bit, then headed back down and picked them up out of,dryer. It was VERY convenient!

 

[momtwoboys]

perfect! Can't wait to see the resort again after all these years!

 

[ShesAPirate]

Had a bad dream the other night -- I had forgotten to fax my room request and ended up miles and miles from the main building It was so far away that we might as well have been in a different resort. Very silly!

Just under 2 weeks till we're there!

 

[Venomhatch]

what do i do first, check in online or fax in my room request?!

I have told guests to do the fax then the online check in and they turned out fine with their requests. Just don't put anything into the little check boxes that say room preferences. That could mess up your faxed in requests if you check something in that area.

Had a bad dream the other night -- I had forgotten to fax my room request and ended up miles and miles from the main building It was so far away that we might as well have been in a different resort. Very silly!

Just under 2 weeks till we're there!

Time to cut off the medication before bed, lol! JP Glad your time is almost there!

 

[tink68]

23 more days for us. It has been so quiet at work today that all I have done is Disney stuff.

 

[oasispaul]

A few questions about the boat rides:

-How long is the boat ride to DTD?
-How often does a boat launch from POR to DTD (and from DTD to POR)?
-Do you ever have to wait for the next boat due to crowds?
-Can you catch a glimpse of any of the other resorts (Saratoga Springs, Key West, Treehouse Villas) during the boat ride?
-Is the boat ride worth it for sightseeing purposes only?
-Do they play music on the boat?

-How long is the boat ride to/from French Quarter?
-How often does this boat launch?

Thanks for all the great information, everyone. Between this thread and portorleans.org I feel like I've already been there!