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

[mommyof3princess27]

Congrats!! How did you do it? Did you get a pin?

yes the ellusive email that was emailed to me in error

 

[Amy&Dan]

So excited, we just switched our reservation from CBR to POR. We love CBR, we stayed there for 11 nights in March/April and had a wonderful time and booked it again on Bounceback. But suddenly today dh and I got to talking about POR and decided we wanted to switch. I think its because exactly one year ago at this time we were about to leave for two weeks at POR and also we want to try the new rooms.

I booked garden view, if I get some parking lot facing room I will not be happy.

I need to research exactly what a garden view is and if there are some in both AB and Mansions. This cateogry was not available our other stays at POR so this is all new to me! But it was the cheapest room they had and we are so excited!

 

[hollygolitely93]

Booked for week one December. Three rooms for three families in my party. Afew questions.

1. Anyone experienced the carriage rides? Worth it? Do they run in December?

2. How are the buses in early December? Longer waits? Crowded? I have a hubby who doesn't like to wait and posibly one in an EVC. Should I do taxis in morning for 8am ADR (MK and AK) or catch bus...7am?

3. Are there concierge services and bellman services?

4. I booked two Royal Rooms and one Magnolia Room. All standard views. We want them close to each other. Looks like Oak and Magnolia Terrace are best bets. Is that correct?

5. If my mom does not do an EVC I need to limit her walking as much as I can. (she'll do EVC in parks but may not outside of them). She is in the magnolia rooms...would upgrading to riverside view save her footsteps?

6. Do they give free upgrades to rooms ever? We have been to WL and GF booked as standard Roos and each time we got bumped to castle view rooms. I wondered if my standards have a shot at being bumped and what to if anything?

 

[SeattleSuz]

I am wondering if I can find out exactly which area of POR we would be staying in. Would WDW Reservations know that? Or will we just have to wait and see when we get there? We're going at the end of October.
My hubby is excited to stay here, because he can go jogging every morning and probably still not see the whole resort, cuz it's so big. Can't wait!

 

[amycakes]

With all the renovations occurring, I was wondering if any pools were scheduled to be closed and renovated. I would hate to arrive at the end of August and find the main pool closed. My children love the slide and pool area. We can't wait to stay in the Alligator Bayou!!

Thanks!!!

 

[JenSinMA]

6. Do they give free upgrades to rooms ever? We have been to WL and GF booked as standard Roos and each time we got bumped to castle view rooms. I wondered if my standards have a shot at being bumped and what to if anything?

I had booked a garden view with a request for Alligator Bayou refurbed room, for one night last month. I was originally assigned a room in bldg 36. At check-in, I got upgraded for free to a River view room in bldg 38. Maybe it's because it was only a one-night stay and we had birthdays (3 out of the 4 of in the room had birthdays that week.) So I don't know how common that is, but we sure enjoyed our room with the beautiful view.

 

[Phatoomch]

Hello everyone

Haven't been around for a while - I kinda got engulfed in Disney planning and had to step away for a bit ... i felt like Alice when she's falling down that hole, spinning around, tons of 'stuff' swirling around her head.

I've cleared my head, the calendar is out for most of the stuff except fireworks/parades for my dates so its back to planning.

How is everyone?

 

[csnkrushin]

1. Anyone experienced the carriage rides? Worth it? Do they run in December?


We were there in Feb of 2009...we took the carriage ride our first night there. It was a nice way to get an overview of the resort, my kids (DS 10 and DD 5 at the time) loved it. It was a fun and different thing to do. We are going again in July - but won't do the carriage ride again. It was fun to do once, but for us not worth it a second time. We can spend the money doing something else.

 

[andrewilley]

I need to research exactly what a garden view is and if there are some in both AB and Mansions. This cateogry was not available our other stays at POR so this is all new to me! But it was the cheapest room they had and we are so excited!

Please see http://www.portorleans.org/room-requests.php for a full discussion of all the room categories at Port Orleans and what they mean.

Questionnaire, parts 1 - 6

1. Carriage rides are fun, a nice relaxing 25 minute way to see round the whole resort in comfort. Perhaps not something to do every trip, but a lovely one-off. They operate year-round, see http://www.portorleans.org/recreation.php#Carriage.

2. Buses have been discussed a lot recently, please see http://www.portorleans.org/faqs.php#Buses.

3. Yes there is a concierge desk for selling park tickets and getting general info, but not a "club level" concierge service like the deluxes provide. Bell Services are available to deal with your luggage, located just outside the main front door.

4. Magnolia Terrace and Oak Manor are the closest together of the regular and Royal buildings, yes. Garden View rooms would give you the best option of being as close together as possible. Make sure you request this and have the reservations 'linked' though, or you could end up with some of you in Royal Rooms and the rest the other side of Alligator Bayou!

5. Ask about Accessible Rooms if you think your mom might need one, or put in a request (and fax the resort a few days before you arrive) for any specific things you might want. Sorry for all the links, but please see: http://www.portorleans.org/rooms-accessible.php

6. Free 'pixie dust' upgrades can happen, but probably unlikely from regular to a Royal room at present. However Standard to Garden, etc would not be uncommon.

I am wondering if I can find out exactly which area of POR we would be staying in.

Rooms are generally only allocated either when you actually check in, or a few days before if there are specific requests which need to be met, multi-room bookings, etc. If you booked a 'Preferred Location' then you'll be in Alligator Bayou 14, 15, 18 or 27. If you booked a Royal Room you'll be in Oak Manor or Parterre Place. Otherwise, apart from the view type that you have chosen, you could be located almost anywhere within the resort. See the page I mentioned above regarding locations and room-requests.

I was wondering if any pools were scheduled to be closed and renovated. I would hate to arrive at the end of August and find the main pool closed.

It's most unlikely that the main pool (or any of the pools) would be scheduled to be closed at the end of August. They tend to do routine work during months like Nov or Jan-March. No guarantees of course though, sometimes urgent work might be needed.

Andre

 

[3sweetpeas]

Hello everyone

Haven't been around for a while - I kinda got engulfed in Disney planning and had to step away for a bit ... i felt like Alice when she's falling down that hole, spinning around, tons of 'stuff' swirling around her head.

I've cleared my head, the calendar is out for most of the stuff except fireworks/parades for my dates so its back to planning.

How is everyone?

Welcome back! I too was gone for a while until recently for the very same reasons. I find that I "fall down that hole" and have to come up for air or I'm not focused enough on "real life". I think it's a sickness!

 

[sharon_wv]

This is a really strange question, I know. But we just did a quick trip to ocean city, md this weekend and stayed in a hotel that did not have an exhaust fan in the bathroom and it drove me crazy. I am trying to manage my own expectations. Are there exhaust fans in the new royal rooms? Thanks!!!

Only 10 days until we hit the highway on our way to Disney!!!

 

[Phatoomch]

Welcome back! I too was gone for a while until recently for the very same reasons. I find that I "fall down that hole" and have to come up for air or I'm not focused enough on "real life". I think it's a sickness!

You're right, it is!! I was doing ok, had a rough outline done without a park calendar, could recite our schedule but then it started all morphing together and when I would think about it, it was chaos in my head

Then the calendar came out for our dates and I had to start from scratch to take into account late nights, Mickeys xmas party etc etc so I have a clean canvas again and am determined not to get to the 'Alice' stage again

 

[andrewilley]

Are there exhaust fans in the new royal rooms?

Yes, there are exhaust fans in the bathrooms.

Andre

 

[closetmickey]

Does anyone know the chances of being granted a late check out at POR? And if so, what time is late check out normally? 13 more days till CR and just 16 more until POR! Thanks!

 

[andrewilley]

Does anyone know the chances of being granted a late check out at POR? And if so, what time is late check out normally?

Reasonably good, as long as the resort is not too busy and/or the room you're in is not specifically needed for another guest (e.g. Accessible/etc). You can ask for up to 1pm without incurring any extra charge. Oh, and if you've got more than one room in your booking you will only be able to keep one of them beyond the normal 11am.

Andre

 

[Lehuaann]

Are the new Murphy beds larger than the trundles used to be? They look so small...

 

[Kathy Z]

Hi. I’m new to this thread but not new to the disboards. So far we have never stayed at a Moderate but I am very interested in both POFQ (for just my DH & I) and POR if we make a trip taking 3 grandchildren. Although we could technically book just a single room in AB we would take the leap in cost to book 2 rooms in order to have 2 bathrooms etc. We would need to have connecting rooms so that we could put the two girls (15 & 12) in one room and keep the 8 year-old boy in our room. I’ve read all 68 pages of this wonderful thread; thanks so much Andre for moderating this thread along with your very own portorleans.org. Also thanks to the many others who have also contributed. I still have several questions.
• With their high (about 50%) number of connecting rooms can I assume that our request for connecting would be met? Do I need to add “unaccompanied minors in one room” or something such at that?
• When you have a connecting room do you miss having a small bench in each of your rooms?
• Looking at the exterior photos of the Mansion buildings makes me wonder if the elevator to the 3rd floor can only be reached by going up that long flight of exterior stairs. Is there a way to enter those buildings at ground level to get an elevator to the 2nd and 3rd floors?
• I have a mold allergy which may be one reason the Mansions look more appealing to me since I’m concerned that my allergies would be worse in the lovely, woodsy setting. Should my allergy somehow be noted in my reservation?
Trip planning is in its infant stages now. It’s for possible late August 2013. We’ve already taken the two girls to WDW (in 2009 when their little brother was too young for us, as grandparents, to handle). Our ideal plan is to take only him in 2013 so that the focus can be entirely on what he wants to do. But we have to plan for the possibility of taking all 3 which is what led me to check out the Moderates.

Lehuaann - I believe that people have reported that the murphy bed is actually shorter than the trundles were. Although Disney rates them for 9 and under many folks have reported that their 10, 11 & 12 year-olds were fine on them. One mom measured her daughter and found that she is 63" tall. OTOH, a 7 year old boy was fine but his 5 year old brother reported it as uncomfortable.

 

[andrewilley]

Are the new Murphy beds larger than the trundles used to be? They look so small...

Smaller as far as we can tell, about 63" long.

Andre

 

[scottmel]

My life got confusing when a PIN code entered!!! I have a split stay next week - POR and BC CL. I am to be at POR for 4 nights but b/c of the pin code I had to book 1 night at Preferred (which i THINK must be AB) and the other 3 nights at POR River View. I can't do stairs and also just prefer the look of the mansions honestly. But now I am just wondering is it all worth the hassle to change - should I just do 4 nights preferred? THAT I can do but cannot do 4 nights Riverview....thoughts?

 

[andrewilley]

With their high (about 50%) number of connecting rooms can I assume that our request for connecting would be met? Do I need to add “unaccompanied minors in one room” or something such at that?

Yes, you do need to specify that, just to make sure they are aware of the situation. From the Room Requests page on my site:

Another common request with multiple-room bookings is for Connecting or Adjoining rooms. Connecting rooms include an internal (but lockable) doorway between the two rooms, while Adjoining rooms are merely located next door to each other — or quite possibly just somewhere near to each other. If you want to be located directly next door, always ask for Connecting rooms. Again, these requests are normally not able to be guaranteed, with the sole exception of two-room bookings where one or two adults are travelling with any number of dependent children from the same household, and this detail must be noted in the booking in advance.

The connecting doorway is located beside the beds, so you won't lose any features within either room - well, apart from a bit of wall.

The mansion building elevators are accessible from the ground floor, middle floor and top floor. The stairs you mention do lead up to the middle level, but you can take the elevator there too.

It's always a good idea to mention any alergies in your booking, and perhaps again by fax a few days before your stay, so they can arrange to do a special deep clean of the room before you arrive if necessary. You could also mention your preference for Magnolia bend rooms for the same reason. Unlikely to be any issues with the recently refurbished rooms though.

Andre