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

[mouselovenfamily]

Hey all! We stayed at POR March 23-April 1 in the AB section. We had building 36, room 3645. It was our least expensive option with 5 people and worked out great. We arrived at noon and our room, in the new refurbished section was ready. I had chose not to do on line check in so I could be sure that my request were made before I was give a room assignment. Our check in was quick and easy. The lady we checked in with lacked Disney Magic. Not really welcoming at all, maybe just a bad day.
We did have a second floor room which was not ay favorite but I had forget to request lower level so my fault. We had a garden view room which was very nice and pretty.

This was my last of the moderates to stay in. We stayed at POR back in 2004, Mansions section so now I have it all covered, except RR...

Overall it was a very nice resort. I have learned for us, paying for a preferred room is totally worth it!! Our room was close to the bus stop but to run and fill our mugs was a waste. My teenagers would finish their drinks before we even got back to the room.

I've started a TR with tons of photos so feel free to come over and join in. I'll post a few photos here too just for fun!

Hopefully they capture the beauty and relaxing feel of this resort!!

 

[scottmel]

Free dining is already available for late August/Sept this year, and some Port Orleans rooms were included in the offer when it first started - but I don't know whether there is any availability left now.

Do you mean you have a Royal Guest Room booking, by the way? Otherwise there's no actual guarantee you'll be in the mansion buildings.

Andre

Andre this always makes me nervous. I am staying POR Riverview first week of June. Per a post you made a few weeks back I stand a very good chance of a rehabbed room (except one in AB) being booked Riverview. in the awful chance that they downgrade me, will most of the other rooms be upgraded or is riverview first?

 

[nickle831]

Free dining is already available for late August/Sept this year, and some Port Orleans rooms were included in the offer when it first started - but I don't know whether there is any availability left now.

Do you mean you have a Royal Guest Room booking, by the way? Otherwise there's no actual guarantee you'll be in the mansion buildings.

Andre

Yes we are already booked in the Royal Guest rooms garden view. also our stay isn't until December 10, so Free dining hasn't been offered yet, I was just wondering if the mansions have been included in the past.

 

[meloneyb21]

Hello everyone! We have just officially chosen to stay at POR in late August and are super excited! Can anyone tell me where the best section is to stay? Should we just book Preferred or request a specific area?

Thanks!

 

[crazyboutdisny]

Hey all! We stayed at POR March 23-April 1 in the AB section. We had building 36, room 3645. It was our least expensive option with 5 people and worked out great. We arrived at noon and our room, in the new refurbished section was ready. I had chose not to do on line check in so I could be sure that my request were made before I was give a room assignment. Our check in was quick and easy. The lady we checked in with lacked Disney Magic. Not really welcoming at all, maybe just a bad day.
We did have a second floor room which was not ay favorite but I had forget to request lower level so my fault. We had a garden view room which was very nice and pretty.

This was my last of the moderates to stay in. We stayed at POR back in 2004, Mansions section so now I have it all covered, except RR...

Overall it was a very nice resort. I have learned for us, paying for a preferred room is totally worth it!! Our room was close to the bus stop but to run and fill our mugs was a waste. My teenagers would finish their drinks before we even got back to the room.

I've started a TR with tons of photos so feel free to come over and join in. I'll post a few photos here too just for fun!

Hopefully they capture the beauty and relaxing feel of this resort!!

Love your pics!! I might have to steal the one of the POR sign. We never went past it on the buses and so that is one shot I didnt get. We were there Mar28-April 5th in building 38

 

[andrewilley]

Yes we are already booked in the Royal Guest rooms garden view. also our stay isn't until December 10, so Free dining hasn't been offered yet, I was just wondering if the mansions have been included in the past.

Well for the past couple of years, Disney have decided to extend their initial free dining offer beyond the original end of September date and into Oct/Nov/Dec. Whether they decide to do so again this year still remains to be seen of course. If they do, I'd suggest checking as soon as the new dates become available to see if the RGRs are included. As these new room types have only been open for a month now, no one really knows what Disney will or won't do with them in terms of special offers. I guess it depends on how well they are selling.

Andre this always makes me nervous. I am staying POR Riverview first week of June. Per a post you made a few weeks back I stand a very good chance of a rehabbed room (except one in AB) being booked Riverview. in the awful chance that they downgrade me, will most of the other rooms be upgraded or is riverview first?

By the first week in June, only four Alligator Bayou buildings should be left with non-refurbished rooms, the rest being either already completed or closed and undergoing work. So even if you are very unlucky and for some reason get downgraded, the chance that you'll also get an old room is very small. By that time, all of the available River View rooms at POR should have been refurbished (although building 27 may not yet have reopened, it depends on how long the work takes). See www.portorleans.org/rehab.php for the latest schedule info.

Andre

 

[3Mickeys]

Just Room Allocations Dept, or anything similar should be fine.

Make sure your original bookings are setup as 'linked' on the Disney reservations system, and also get them to add your request for CONNECTING (not just adjoining) rooms in the meantime too.

Andre

Thank you Andre - Fax sent! Let's hope the pixie dust is headed our way. So looking forward to this vacation. Thanks to everyone for help answering questions!!

 

[HeatherLassell]

Well for the past couple of years, Disney have decided to extend their initial free dining offer beyond the original end of September date and into Oct/Nov/Dec. Whether they decide to do so again this year still remains to be seen of course. If they do, I'd suggest checking as soon as the new dates become available to see if the RGRs are included. As these new room types have only been open for a month now, no one really knows what Disney will or won't do with them in terms of special offers. I guess it depends on how well they are selling.

I booked in with the Canadian Free Dining offer. I am staying at POR from Sept 29-Oct 10 and we are staying in a ROYAL ROOM. I booked the trip back in August (long before the rooms were open) and had no problem getting the FD with the Royal Room.

 

[Wonders10]

Wonders10 - Good to see you are going to be at the river and both mansions with RR are open. Just think of that boat to DTD. With that annual pass where are you going? Hope this trip is more fun for you this time. Are you doing a trip report? Enjoy!

I did start a pre-TR...which no one seems to be reading link in my signature. I'm planning on just Epcot and MK but since I'll be solo, who knows where I will feel like being?

 

[MeLaNie9]

We have stayed in a number of WDW resorts and haven't quite found "home" yet. Although we certainly loved some of the deluxes, but we are looking for a mod that we will want to return to again and again. I thought we had found that at CBR but apparently the rest of the fam weren't as high on the place as I was...so in May we will be at POR. In fact, I just booked POR again for Aug when its just my DSx2 and I staying for a few days after our first Disney cruise because the day we get off the boat we want to just swim and eat at our resort and Boatwrights menu was more appealing than Shutters.

However, when booking both trips, I had no idea of all of these room categories. In Aug I booked a Garden View (because that is what the CM suggested). We just got our package info for the May trip and it says "PRKING". Does this mean a "preferred room king"? or that parking is included?
Obviously a king room isn't going to cut it for the 4 of us so if that is what it means, I will have to fix it.

But, I have a few other questions:
What is the bus route through the resort(i.e. which is the first stop, last stop, and is the route the same going and returning?)
Do all of the refurbed rooms have queen beds? We had originally asked to be in the mansions area but didn't book a RR (we didn't even know about these) and I was then thinking maybe a more rustic AB room for the Aug trip. Would that mean that if we were placed into those areas at those times, we should get refurbed rooms with queens?
Since 2 of the mansion buildings are now all RRs does that mean we aren't likely to get the mansions in May? We thought crowd levels would be low but on some website it said 8-9/10 for our week (arriving May 12, leaving May 20) which we were disappointed in (we are rather crowd-averse).

I stayed a Dixie Landings years ago with my mom, but I can't remember what building. I remember being near a quiet pool and we loved the place. I hope that we enjoy POR! Thanks for any help!!!

 

[mamamary]

I did start a pre-TR...which no one seems to be reading link in my signature. I'm planning on just Epcot and MK but since I'll be solo, who knows where I will feel like being?

I just tried opening your PTR and it wouldn't let me

 

[Wonders10]

I just tried opening your PTR and it wouldn't let me

Hmm, must have done the link wrong. Right now it's on page 2...I'll take a look and try to fix the link. Thanks for the heads up.

ETA: All fixed now!

 

[andrewilley]

We just got our package info for the May trip and it says "PRKING". Does this mean a "preferred room king"? or that parking is included?

No idea, but someone else mentioned that same wording on their letter a while back. Might be worth a quick call to check (or look up your booking on the WDW website).

What is the bus route through the resort(i.e. which is the first stop, last stop, and is the route the same going and returning?)

It varies, but most commonly South, West, North and then East. Before 10.30am, buses from the South Depot go directly to the parks rather than doing the rest of the the loop first.

Do all of the refurbed rooms have queen beds? We had originally asked to be in the mansions area but didn't book a RR (we didn't even know about these) and I was then thinking maybe a more rustic AB room for the Aug trip. Would that mean that if we were placed into those areas at those times, we should get refurbed rooms with queens?

Yes, all of the refurbed rooms - apart from the King Bed ones - have Queen Beds. All of the mansion building rooms are already done (two whole buildings, 512 rooms, are staying as regular rooms rather than Royals) and the Alligator Bayou section is about 25% done at the moment, with one new building a week being taken down for refurbishment. The whole resort should be fully complete by August.

I think that if you liked Dixie Landings, you'll like POR too, very little of the resort's appeal has changed apart from the new name.

Andre

 

[MeLaNie9]

Wow Andre, thanks for your quick reply.
I did call Disney Travel Co. and that code is for "preferred room king" which was a mistake when they printed out our stuff. They actually had us in a standard which I promptly changed to a garden view (so glad I read your thread or I would have had no idea that we were likely to be looking at the parking lot).
So we are going to shoot for a manor area room in May (maybe Acadian house to be near that 3rd bus stop) and AB in Aug.

 

[mamamary]

Hmm, must have done the link wrong. Right now it's on page 2...I'll take a look and try to fix the link. Thanks for the heads up.

ETA: All fixed now!

 

[andrewilley]

Wow Andre, thanks for your quick reply.
I did call Disney Travel Co. and that code is for "preferred room king" which was a mistake when they printed out our stuff.

How odd, there is no Preferred Location/King Bed option - well, not for guests to book anyway. Garden View is $15/night cheaper than a King Bed booking, but $10 more than a Standard View. I'd say the $10 is definitely worth it to not face the parking lot though.

Your plan of Mansions in May and Alligator in August sounds a good one to me - not to mention the nice alliteration!

Andre

 

[Zuzu03]

So the King rooms are scattered all over the resort, right? I'm hoping we get a decent one! 3 more days of school before we jet off! Forget the students bouncing off the walls, THIS TEACHER is bouncing off the walls!! LOL!

 

[ellie'smom]

Thanks to all who answered my question..

 

[3Mickeys]

Leaving Saturday!!


Is there an ipod dock in the room? (Not Royal, but hopefully at least refurbed)

Is there any place to hang an over the door shoe holder?? We use one of these on our cruise and it is super helpful to put all the little odds and ends... sunblock, hair brushes, camera,... when we walk into the room. Seems to me there aren't any doors though. Is there a door on the toilet? I assume so!

Will a half gallon of milk fit in the room fridge? Bringing a small cooler with light breakfast things.

That's it for now. Thanks!

 

[HiHoOffWeGo]

ipod - no, you will need to provide.

Only doors are main and bathroom. Curtain for the vanity area but you could hang something with coat hanger in the vanity area.

yes on the milk.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!