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

[mouselovenfamily]

Just curious, how does the size of POR compare to CSR?

Due to personal issues and changes to the size of our party, we are about to change our reservation again.. and for the last time!

We stayed at CSR last year and really enjoyed it. My husband and I enjoyed the "reprieve" the resort offers from the parks at the end of the day. Currently we are booked at AoA but we have to switch... which I am not all that disappointed about.

While I'd be happy to stay at CSR again, I am also keen to try POFQ or the Royal Rooms at POR (my first choice, actually).

People keep mentioning that POR is fairly large, multiple bus stops, etc. - but how much "worse" can it be than CSR? We actually didn't mind CSR.. we didn't find the walking to be that bad and the multiple bus stops didn't bother us a bit.

How does POR compare... size, buses, etc? I am really liking the idea of the benefit of the ameneties of two resorts and it seems the PO resorts offer more to do (fishing, camp fires, etc) than CSR and that's attractive since we have more "down" days scheduled this time.

TIA for your thoughts!

I've stayed at both an feel like they are both really nice. Both resorts feel this same as far as bus transportation. Both make multiple stops but not a big deal. Same with size. We were in a building at POR at the back by the north bus stop. Nice bus stop location but far from the main buildings. I would compare it to being in a Ranchos room at CSR. To me eating is better at POR with the food court for a CS rather than a buffet at CSR. Like the boat fro DTD if your not is a rush. To a mom, I also like two sinks at POR rather than one sink at CSR....what were they thinking!!! Rooms were about the same except for the theme. Hope this helps!!

 

[shenaniganzz]

It does, thank you!! We were in Ranchos at CSR and didn't find the walk to be a big deal. If we book POR, we will be staying in the RR which means we will be closer to the main buildings anyway.

I would like to make a trek over to POFQ though and just wanted to get a feel for how long that might take. I guess we can always take a carriage if we feel low on energy.

Oops.. correction... looking at the map we were in Cabanas 8B.

 

[pigletto]

I've stayed at both an feel like they are both really nice. Both resorts feel this same as far as bus transportation. Both make multiple stops but not a big deal. Same with size. We were in a building at POR at the back by the north bus stop. Nice bus stop location but far from the main buildings. I would compare it to being in a Ranchos room at CSR. To me eating is better at POR with the food court for a CS rather than a buffet at CSR. Like the boat fro DTD if your not is a rush. To a mom, I also like two sinks at POR rather than one sink at CSR....what were they thinking!!! Rooms were about the same except for the theme. Hope this helps!!

Agree completely with this assessment. I loved CSR but I prefer POR just a little bit more for all the reasons mentioned. Size wise, I don't know that you would notice any difference overall.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

Staying at POR in the Royal room. I can't wait to see my girls' face when they walk into their Princess room!!!

Me 2! I havent told my 3 kiddos about the RR yet, incase we get a discount that isnt available in the RR. But they know we are staying at POR

 

[shenaniganzz]

Our TA is going to change our ressies for us! Honestly, I wasn't overly thrilled with AoA for this trip. I am looking forward to trying POR this trip for a change.

So, we'll be staying there from 09/07 to 09/14.

 

[mickeysfavgal]

staying at POR for our trip
Loved reading this forum
Can't wait to stay

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

We are due to stay in standard Royal Room in October durring our 1st visit!!!! WE CAN'T WAIT! Hope they are as awesome as the pictures make them look!

 

[JessicaW1234]

We are interested in staying in the royal rooms in oak manor. Can someone tell me about the East stop? Is that always the last stop? Does it run on a schedule? Is the bus always full by the time it gets there? How bad is it to cOme back after park closing?
How far of a walk is it to the main bus stop from oak manor? How about the food court? The main pool? Lastly, to the boat to DD?

Thank you for your help!

 

[andrewilley]

Can someone tell me about the East stop? Is that always the last stop? Does it run on a schedule? Is the bus always full by the time it gets there? How bad is it to cOme back after park closing?
How far of a walk is it to the main bus stop from oak manor? How about the food court? The main pool? Lastly, to the boat to DD?

Yes I can.
No, but usually.
No, but normally no more than 20 mins gap.
No.
Can be pretty busy, sometimes better to wait a bit after fireworks/etc.
Depends on where in Oak Manor your room is located, see map in first post.
See previous answer.
See previous answer.
See previous answer.

Please also see http://www.portorleans.org/faqs.php#Buses.

Andre

 

[CSHaydt]

Stayed in a standard Royal Room at POR in May! It was awesome!! We loved it!!!!

Room was a little small but we loved every touch of it! It was a magical trip!

 

[nannye]

We are at POR in July, the 5th to 12th, just wondering if anyone else is going at this time. I hear all the time about Dis Meet ups, but wasn't sure where/how to find who is going at the same timeas you.

 

[JessicaW1234]

We are interested in staying in the royal rooms in oak manor. Can someone tell me about the East stop? Is that always the last stop? Does it run on a schedule? Is the bus always full by the time it gets there? How bad is it to cOme back after park closing?
How far of a walk is it to the main bus stop from oak manor? How about the food court? The main pool? Lastly, to the boat to DD?

Thank you for your help!

I read Andre's post and I did read the beginning about busses generally- I have never been to POR and I was hoping for an idea of scale from anyone who have stayed in oak manor. To go to parks for opening time, would we go to main bus stop and how far is that from oak manor? Is it that big that it would be a big difference depending on your location in the building?

Does Anyone who stayed there want to give their experience with this? I have Read most of the threads on POR and haven't found the answer.

 

[andrewilley]

To go to parks for opening time, would we go to main bus stop and how far is that from oak manor? Is it that big that it would be a big difference depending on your location in the building?

Yes, it does make a difference. As I said, if you take a look at the map you'll see that the side of Oak Manor which faces the parking lots has some rooms very close to the East bus stop, whereas a riverview room next to the river bridge would be quicker to go to the South Depot. Google Earth is also a great way to judge the distances (use the ruler tool to measure exact distances, in conjunction with the labelled map to identify specific points). There is nowhere in POR that's more than about 10 minutes walk from one of the bus stops, and most rooms are much closer than that.

I'd start by trying the South Depot I think, and see how you get on (especially if you are trying to get to a park for rope-drop). To be safe, I'd suggest allowing up to an hour from your room door to the park gates (which allows for just missing one bus and having to wait 20 mins for another, etc). Could be shorter than that, but you'll start to gauge it once you get there and find out what works best for you - always assuming you get a room in Oak in the first place of course; add about five extra minutes if you're in Parterre Place, and probably use the South Depot.

Andre

 

[MeLaNie9]

Hi Andre and all subscribing. We are back from our first stay at POR (I can't believe we've been back a week already) and thought I would share what we thought since we have stayed at many different WDW resorts. We are looking for that mod where we would stay again and again and we've tried a few of them!
First of all, we really liked POR. The greenery is very lush, the grounds are well-maintained and beautiful, and it was a very quiet resort although I think it was fairly full. We really enjoyed the main pool and the access to the boat to DTD - that was a nice, relaxing trip. The CS gave us great service for our son with a dairy allergy. The chef that worked with us was friendly, helpful, and made his pasta herself. The pathways throughout offer nice, quiet, long walks.
We did encounter a few problems:
Our check in process was very slow. Probably the slowest we have ever had at WDW. Now we did not do the on-line check in because, well, we forgot. But I had a made a few changes to our reservation relatively late so maybe that was it. I had added a ticket day and had changed from standard view to garden view after Andre spelled out all the different views and I decided I didn't want to look over the parking lot. We had also requested to be in the mansions area as I knew the rooms would all be refurbished.
We were assigned building 36 of Alligator Bayou. I was disappointed, but the CM assured me the room had been renovated, and it was. However, I just do not see how they could categorize this room as garden view. When we opened our door or looked out our window, we had a great view of...the parking lot. I was upset after making that upgrade and paying extra. I did call to change our room but they didn't get back to me as quickly as they said they would and we ended up leaving to go to a park. We ended up keeping the room. 36 was quiet but it was a bit far from the main stuff. This made using our dining plan refillable mugs difficult. There was a bus stop nearby (North).
The buses were pretty crowded. I don't think that DH sat on any bus, at any time, and we are an early rise - early to the parks crowd and we don't stay for the nighttime shows. But, he always gets up for the elderly, women, or kids. I stood a fair amount as well, but our kids only had to stand once or twice. Most people get off at the South stop on the buses back from the parks which is the 1st. We really didn't wait too long for a bus at any time, we probably had 1 or 2 instances where we were waiting the full 20min.
The AB renovations are very nice - I really loved the decor, however with the pull down bed and the larger beds, there is absolutely no place to put open suitcases and we had 3 for the 4 of us (we also had a small stroller for when the boys got tired in the parks). There are only 3 smallish drawers under the pull down bed. We kept our kids' small suitcase open on top of the air conditioning unit, DH and I had to close ours back up and stand them upright every time. Lots of folks were parking their strollers outside their rooms. I was sad to see that our room's carpet was already ruined - looks like someone spilled pop or coffee and it wasn't able to be completely cleaned. DS7 slept on the pull down bed each night and loved it. DS5 tried it but said it was uncomfortable.
Mousekeeping was a bit hit or miss. They didn't provide any extra soap or shampoo even when we were totally out. We had to call the front desk and they brought us some (more like a whole bag full). There was one morning (we were going to Blizzard Beach so leaving later than usual) were she knocked on the door and I told her we weren't leaving yet and she basically said she wouldn't be coming back. This was pretty early - like before 9am.
We had a major screw up with our ME reservation for back to the airport. They had only 1 reservation and in my DS7's name (and only one boarding pass, for him only) I don't think this has anything to do with the resort itself and the folks at the airline baggage check in helped us the best they could, we had to jump through a few hoops to get it all straightened out.
All in all, we really enjoyed the resort. DH feels like the place was just too big, but I don't think so. DS X2 like POR the best of the mods we have been to. I liked CBR, but think POR was better. It really is quite pretty! DSx2 and I will definitely be staying here after our cruise in Aug (sans DH). We are going to spent our debarkation day at the resort pool and eat at Boatwright's for dinner. I am hoping for AB again for the pull down bed. We didn't do any of the resort activities and I am really hoping to do the nighttime campfire when we are back.
Thanks Andre for this thread which gave us a ton of good info!

 

[andrewilley]

Glad you had an overall good time, shame about the little things which can get pretty annoying after a bit though.

Our check in process was very slow. Probably the slowest we have ever had at WDW.

When we opened our door or looked out our window, we had a great view of...the parking lot. I was upset after making that upgrade and paying extra. I did call to change our room but they didn't get back to me as quickly as they said they would and we ended up leaving to go to a park.

The AB renovations are very nice - I really loved the decor, however with the pull down bed and the larger beds, there is absolutely no place to put open suitcases

The checkin process is possibly a bit messed up at the moment with all the work going on in the lobby. Hopefully by the mid/end of June that'll all be complete and it should work a lot better.

Sounds to me like you didn't get a Garden View room at all! The problem with phoning (even from the room phone) is that you just get answered by the central switchboard staff who will pass a message on. It's much better if you go to the front desk in person to speak to someone. I can see why they do it (to cut down on staffing levels needed at each resort) but it can get rather frustrating for guests having to make detours to the front desk instead of going straight to a park, when they would expect to just pick up the phone and speak with someone on-site.

I do agree about the lack of space for storage in the AB rooms. They are designed to accommodate an extra person and yet have less storage space than regular rooms. In fact all of the refurbished rooms at POR have less storage space now, and you can't even put cases under the bed or on top of the TV unit any more. I'd have thought the absolute minimum should be one drawer per occupant of a room. It's the only real downside to the refits that I can see (actually there's one other - the removal of the dimmable lights over the bed is another big fail IMHO; by all means be eco-friendly, but not at the expense of removing useful functionality).

Andre

 

[KandyM]

Hi,
Thinking about POR for our first on-site stay but this talk of no storage space is a worry. We are a family of five and usually travel with 5 suitcases. Does anyone know if you can send a couple of "empty-unpacked" cases over to bell services for the length of your stay?

 

[andrewilley]

Does anyone know if you can send a couple of "empty-unpacked" cases over to bell services for the length of your stay?

No reason why not.

Andre

 

[KandyM]

Thanks Andre.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

Got Free Dining for my November trip staying in a Royal Guest Room!!!!! SOOOOOOO excited I dont have to switch!!!!

 

[4butlers]

Got Free Dining for my November trip staying in a Royal Guest Room!!!!! SOOOOOOO excited I dont have to switch!!!!

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