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

[Venomhatch]

hearing about split stays got me thinking (which is not a good thing sometimes lol) I wonder if we could do a split stay in POR....half Royal Room and half AB?

Would that be like a huge pain in the butt or would POR make it easy by picking up our luggage & delivering it to the new room while we are in the parks?

I think it would be nice to try out the AB so princess can sleep on the murphy bed and my MIL can sleep in her own bed.

To us we get to the room on arrival day we unpack that day or night and we unpack for good until checkout day. None of this repacking then unpacking again. Seems like taking time from doing something fun somewhere there.

Just us...

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

We are booked for 5 nights at the end of June!! We won't be in a Royal Room but haven't stayed at POR since 1998 so I'm looking forward to the new decor of the AB rooms! After our trip to POFQ in March and stopping at POR for lunch, we were as equally pleased and enjoyed all the food options at POR so we're very excited to be staying!!! I'm hoping to request building 16 with our Water View Room

 

[andrewilley]

hearing about split stays got me thinking (which is not a good thing sometimes lol) I wonder if we could do a split stay in POR....half Royal Room and half AB?

Would that be like a huge pain in the butt or would POR make it easy by picking up our luggage & delivering it to the new room while we are in the parks?

It'd be pretty easy, but you'd need to check-out before 11am and then check-in again. Bell Services will collect your bags from the first room and store them for you, and then bring them over to your new room once you're checked back in again. They are not normally allowed to deal with guests' bags in an unattended room though, you'd need to be at the room for collection and drop-off.

And I thought you were done with hounding us about that.

LOL, just a gentle reminder that this thread is about a specific subject (and it gets pretty hard to navigate and find stuff even then!) and that there are other places on the DIS for more general chatter. Just wanted to gently steer us back on course - I'm not hounding anyone, believe me you'd know if you were being hounded!

Thanks for the kind words too. Yes, all this certainly does take quite a bit of time, but I'm just glad I can help people really. It all kinda snowballed somewhat from answering a few questions and posting some vacation photos to running a whole website and managing threads like this one.

Andre

 

[Sue M]

hearing about split stays got me thinking (which is not a good thing sometimes lol) I wonder if we could do a split stay in POR....half Royal Room and half AB?

Would that be like a huge pain in the butt or would POR make it easy by picking up our luggage & delivering it to the new room while we are in the parks?

I think it would be nice to try out the AB so princess can sleep on the murphy bed and my MIL can sleep in her own bed.

As Andre says, Bell Service will come pick up your luggage and store/move it for you. Split stays are easy as long as you don't want the dining plan.
It will require 2 seperate reservations, so you can put your park tickets on the first res, then when you switch rooms you'll have to use your first KTTW card for park entry.

Personally I won't do split stays on any trip under 10 days. Otherwise it just seems like your packing & unpacking. Too much work for me!!

 

[Stan Solo]

To us we get to the room on arrival day we unpack that day or night and we unpack for good until checkout day. None of this repacking then unpacking again. Seems like taking time from doing something fun somewhere there.

Just us...

Split stays are easy as long as you don't want the dinning plan.

Personally I won't do split stays on any trip under 10 days. Otherwise it just seems like your packing & unpacking. Too much work for me!!

Then I guess you would not like what we have planned. 5 nights at POP with free dinning then 3 nights at the Double Tree Hilton (near the convention center) for Star Wars Celebration. That was originally the end of our vacation but we enjoyed POR so much we added 5 nights at POR with free dinning for after SW Celebration. So three rooms in less then two weeks.

I wonder is it possible to send some of our luggage from POP to POR and have them store it for a few days for us?

 

[JenSinMA]

Last week I posted about the new Murphy beds in the refurbed Alligator Bayou rooms. I took a pic of my son on it, because I really hadn't expected him to fit and was pleasantly surprised that he did. Here's the shot:

DS11 is 5'5" and 107lbs and he slept fine on the Murphy bed (albeit for only one night.)
Hope this helps anyone else wondering if their kid is too big for the Murphy bed.

 

[WDWCPALUM03]

How many ground floor Royal Rooms are there? I am currently booked at Pop and almost convinced to switch for a Roal Room but my husband can only stay ground floor due to a knee injury so I'm not sure what to do

 

[JenSinMA]

How many ground floor Royal Rooms are there? I am currently booked at Pop and almost convinced to switch for a Roal Room but my husband can only stay ground floor due to a knee injury so I'm not sure what to do

The Royal Rooms are in the Magnolia buildings which have elevators. Maybe you could request a ground floor room -OR- an upper floor room near the elevator. Would that work?

 

[Gorechick]

110 days till our POR Royal Room vacay!!!

 

[germ539]

Thanks for the kind words too. Yes, all this certainly does take quite a bit of time, but I'm just glad I can help people really. It all kinda snowballed somewhat from answering a few questions and posting some vacation photos to running a whole website and managing threads like this one.

Andre

All the work that you do on this thread and on the website that you have, you should be either getting paid by Disney or getting some kind of kickback, like free rooms when you come (heck you could come more often then)

Even if Disney doesn't pay you, we thank you.

 

[Stan Solo]

How many ground floor Royal Rooms are there? I am currently booked at Pop and almost convinced to switch for a Roal Room but my husband can only stay ground floor due to a knee injury so I'm not sure what to do

There are 224 ground floor rooms. But, like JenSinMA posted you MAY have a shorter walk if you are closer to an elevator unless you get a ground floor river view.

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

hearing about split stays got me thinking (which is not a good thing sometimes lol) I wonder if we could do a split stay in POR....half Royal Room and half AB?

Would that be like a huge pain in the butt or would POR make it easy by picking up our luggage & delivering it to the new room while we are in the parks?

I think it would be nice to try out the AB so princess can sleep on the murphy bed and my MIL can sleep in her own bed.

Since they won't guarantee a certain location, is it possible you could be placed in a non-royal room mansion room That would defeat your purpose unless you booked preferred to be sure to be in AB.

I don't think it's that big a pain in the butt, when we go on non-WDW trips and do road trips, we'll spend the night or 2 at a hotel, pack up and head for the next destination & so on and so forth during our trip. This was how I talked myself into our first split stay, we're at POP and then moving POR royal room for the end of our AUG trip.

While it may be a pain to others to pack up, move and recheck in, we're just using it as a day to slow down a bit. Move day we're going to sleep in then make luggage arrangments then go to DTD for lunch at TRex. Then ride the boat over to enter PORiverside by boat, instead of bus. I think it'll be a great way to see the resort for the first time. I'm really looking forward to this part of our trip actually

Then I guess you would not like what we have planned. 5 nights at POP with free dinning then 3 nights at the Double Tree Hilton (near the convention center) for Star Wars Celebration. That was originally the end of our vacation but we enjoyed POR so much we added 5 nights at POR with free dinning for after SW Celebration. So three rooms in less then two weeks.

I wonder is it possible to send some of our luggage from POP to POR and have them store it for a few days for us?

Sounds like a fun trip to me Plus aren't you smart adding those days now you can use ME for both legs of your trip (if you're flying). I'm not sure how many days they would store luggage but I do know from checking into our split stay they will arrange to transfer luggage for you.

Sounds like you do as we do when we're going to more than one place, we organize our luggage so we have it packed for where we'll be. Biggest suitcase holds the lion share of the clothes we'll use for the resort we'll be at the longest, then for a 1-2 day resort, we'll use an overnight bag.

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Hows the storage in the AB rooms?? I noticed that because of the trundle bed that there's only 3 drawers on the bottom but how deep are they?? I'm sure you're able to request extra hangers if you need them!??

 

[songkat]

Just got back from a 2 week trip - the first week being at Disney in POR. My dad had asked for rooms closest, so of course we ended up in the Bayous (Building 18). They were not updated yet, but were fine (just slightly older, it's a good thing they're getting spruced up). It was nice being back at POR, I hadn't been there in years.

The best part is that it was my sister's first trip there, and she actually cried when she first saw the castle. Note, she's in her early 50s! It truly is a magical place, but we all know that, right?

 

[debedo]

Thinking why am I staying at poly and not POR again? I got pin codes two of them today!

HI everyone - we are booked at POR on May 12, I cannot wait either, I have a countdown calendar and the wait times on my Iphone which I stare at several times a day!

Just wanted to know how we get pin codes ? I would like to use one for next years trip.

This is an amazing thread and am glad to know I am not the only disneyholic.

 

[andrewilley]

Just wanted to know how we get pin codes ? I would like to use one for next years trip.

You just get lucky I'm afraid. Disney email them out seemingly at random to previous guests who they think could be persuaded to revisit (usually covering slack periods when they want to fill rooms). They are specific to the named person.

Andre

 

[bkowals25]

HI everyone - we are booked at POR on May 12, I cannot wait either, I have a countdown calendar and the wait times on my Iphone which I stare at several times a day!

Just wanted to know how we get pin codes ? I would like to use one for next years trip.

This is an amazing thread and am glad to know I am not the only disneyholic.

I had read on the DIS boards that if you use the online booking and create a trip with all the details and then save it instead of actually booking it you may get a pin code. I did just that for our Oct trip and what do you know I received a 35% off offer in the mail. My saved trip was for POR but the offer included most value and mod resorts but only AKL and WL for the deluxe resorts.

Now I believe that I received the offer because my trip plan fit into a pin code campaign the Disney was planning to offer. When I first checked the offer online most room categories except preferred were available at POR but by the time I decided to pull the trigger only the garden view rooms remained. They only allow a set number of rooms at each resort for the offer.

We had wanted to book a RGR river view room which was available originally but had to settle for a garden view I did check back daily until a RGR garden view was available which I was able to change our reservation to.

 

[*Fantasia*]

You just get lucky I'm afraid. Disney email them out seemingly at random to previous guests who they think could be persuaded to revisit (usually covering slack periods when they want to fill rooms). They are specific to the named person.

Andre

You're probably right.. I haven't been to Disney for quite sometime now and I've been getting postcards with PIN #s. But when we used to go often, they wouldn't send us one. Unfortunately we can't go until next year. And next year, we are probably not going to get a PIN.

 

[ohnowewontgo]

I had read on the DIS boards that if you use the online booking and create a trip with all the details and then save it instead of actually booking it you may get a pin code. I did just that for our Oct trip and what do you know I received a 35% off offer in the mail. My saved trip was for POR but the offer included most value and mod resorts but only AKL and WL for the deluxe resorts.

Now I believe that I received the offer because my trip plan fit into a pin code campaign the Disney was planning to offer. When I first checked the offer online most room categories except preferred were available at POR but by the time I decided to pull the trigger only the garden view rooms remained. They only allow a set number of rooms at each resort for the offer.

We had wanted to book a RGR river view room which was available originally but had to settle for a garden view I did check back daily until a RGR garden view was available which I was able to change our reservation to.

Same for me. I went through all the steps, other than putting a $200 deposit down, and they sent me a pin code about a week later asking me to finish booking. I didn't use it because it wasn't for the days I needed, and free dining ended up being cheaper anyway. I've been going to Disney for the last three years, and tried the "almost book" thing a few times, but this is the only time they've ever sent me a pin.

 

[Stan Solo]

I had read on the DIS boards that if you use the online booking and create a trip with all the details and then save it instead of actually booking it you may get a pin code. I did just that for our Oct trip and what do you know I received a 35% off offer in the mail. My saved trip was for POR but the offer included most value and mod resorts but only AKL and WL for the deluxe resorts.

Now I believe that I received the offer because my trip plan fit into a pin code campaign the Disney was planning to offer. When I first checked the offer online most room categories except preferred were available at POR but by the time I decided to pull the trigger only the garden view rooms remained. They only allow a set number of rooms at each resort for the offer.

We had wanted to book a RGR river view room which was available originally but had to settle for a garden view I did check back daily until a RGR garden view was available which I was able to change our reservation to.

For years I'd dream of going to Disney (last year was our first trip ever) and would often go on line to see how much it would cost us and I would get PINs emailed to me about every three months or so. I did book using a PIN then free dinning came out and that was a much better offer so we called and had it switched. Now I'm booked on a bouceback offer and haven't recived a PIN all year.

I think your right in saying if you show intrest in going to Disney then Disney is interested in getting you to go. I never did save a trip only register on line and price them out.