Port Orleans Riverside FAQ thread - Royally Refurbished for 2011

[Travel Mum]

We are checking into POR on 29 September for our very first WDW visit and we come all the way from New Zealand! We are a family of five so will be put in AB I'm sure as we need the trundle. I have not paid for a preferred room so, as we want to cut down he walking in the resort as much as possible (I think the theme park walking is going to exhaust us!), what building should I request if I can?

 

[Venomhatch]

We are checking into POR on 29 September for our very first WDW visit and we come all the way from New Zealand! We are a family of five so will be put in AB I'm sure as we need the trundle. I have not paid for a preferred room so, as we want to cut down he walking in the resort as much as possible (I think the theme park walking is going to exhaust us!), what building should I request if I can?

Well you may need to get preferred, but building 14 is the closest building to the main one, and main bus depot. The food court is even right there maybe 30 feet from that building. We had 1436 room number and we loved it second floor, not a lot of foot traffic. But early welcome to the states and hope you have a great time!

 

[Missytara]

My family of 5 is booked for the first week in April 2012. We have 3 young girls--ages 10, 8, and 4. Booking a Royal room was not an option since they don't include the trundle bed. Any chance they would let us upgrade to one by phone or upon arrival? The girls could easily share a queen bed as we did at the Poly before. Or is five in a room made for four a definite no-no?

The requirement of 5 has to do with complying with the fire code; not sleeping arrangements.

 

[Stan Solo]

We are checking into POR on 29 September for our very first WDW visit and we come all the way from New Zealand! We are a family of five so will be put in AB I'm sure as we need the trundle. I have not paid for a preferred room so, as we want to cut down he walking in the resort as much as possible (I think the theme park walking is going to exhaust us!), what building should I request if I can?

I have never been first trip is less then a week away, but judging from the map 24,25,34 and 35 are close to the west end bus stop. However they are quite a ways from the main buildings/pool if that is important to you. For myself I'd be fine with a long walk in the morrning to the main building for breakfast so I could have a short walk at the end of the day. Maybe some of my fellow DIS'ers in the know can back be up (or let me know the error in my ways).

In the mean time did you go to www.portorleans.org yet? If not they have some amazing information about the resort. Hope this helps.

 

[OrlandoUnited]

Pictures as promised. We forgot the nice camera, so the quality isn't the best:

The bathroom sink & mirrors:

Bath:

Table and Chairs:

Bed with Murals in the headboard:

Mural closeups:

I forgot to get a picture of the Dresser and TV.

A few complaints, all minor:
- The TV was not working, the remote had no batteries and it would not turn on with the buttons on the TV. I called maintenance and they put in some batteries when we were at the park, but the TV still did not turn on. I traced the power cord to behind the mini-fridge. Removing the fridge, I could see the TV's power cord was under the dresser - I had to lift the dresser and pull out the smashed cord, reform it a bit, and plug it in myself. After that, all was good.

- It looked like there was mouse feces (how appropriate) on a part of the shower curtain. This is probably because they were in a storeroom previously.

All in all it was a nice stay that smelled like paint. I'll go again.

 

[disneylovr1]

We have been to Disney at least yearly and I have never used online check in. I usually am all over things like that, and always use car rental companies that let you do everything online and just go to your car or a kiosk instead of waiting in line. However, as we always have tons of requests I've hesitated to use it with Disney and as a result never have. I would be interested to hear others experiences with online check in and requests. I know that almost every time we've checked in I've had the cast member looking at the computer and offering different room options, and we have rarely just kept the room we were initially assigned. I put all of the requests on our reservation, but the initial room we are assigned still often doesn't fulfil them but they are able to fill all or at least most after changing the room. We've done this with AKL, WL, POR, POFQ, and PC and were able to get nearly all of our requests all but once. Only a couple of times did we get what I considered the "perfect" room, but as I'm pretty specific I consider that great. The other times we just couldn't get the exact building we wanted with an outside corner room on the second floor garden view at POR (which will become a new category with an additional price as of next year), or a direct lake view at WL, but we always got a room we loved that worked out great.

That ended up quite tangential, but long story short I don't use online check in as I was concerned that would interfere with requests and we would end up back at the front desk unhappy with our room location and changing. We try to check in early, and when they change our room assignment I assume if the resort is busy they must then also change someone who will be checking in later in the day. So I always presued checking in later in the day would limit the options, and I know people have moved the next morning but I like to get unpacked and settle in so avoid that if at all possible.

has anyone used online check in with a lot of requests? How did that go?


However it all works out, any night at any room POR or WL is better than a night in PA!

 

[yayasue]

1 month and we'll be there. Can't wait!!

 

[abish19]

Thank you SO MUCH for the pictures! I've been waiting to see some photos from inside the room. We won't be going until Feb. 2012 but are as excited as if we were leaving tomorrow

Hope you had a fantastic vacation!

 

[BDL]

We would always arrive at WDW in the evening after driving from PA, stay offsite the first night and check in around 8 AM the next morning. We new the room would not be ready, we had a long request list and wanted to have the best shot at getting as many of them as possible.
.

This is similar to what we did last December, except for a different reason. We flew into Orlando the night before our check-in. We staryed at a Courtyard, woke up refreshed (We wanted to be rested so we could maximize our 1st day in WDW). Took a cab to POR fully expecting to leave our bags in the depot and then hit EPCOT. Sure enough, our room was ready. We took the golf cart to the room, through our bags in, ran to the main bldg. and caught the 1st bus we could.

I've been to WDW enought times that I wanted to avoid the wariness of the infamous "travel day". Better to take a cheaper flight later, the day before and use the difference to pay for a Courtyard, Days Inn, etc, and get every minute of Disney time as posssible.

 

[Venomhatch]

A few complaints, all minor:
- The TV was not working, the remote had no batteries and it would not turn on with the buttons on the TV. I called maintenance and they put in some batteries when we were at the park, but the TV still did not turn on. I traced the power cord to behind the mini-fridge. Removing the fridge, I could see the TV's power cord was under the dresser - I had to lift the dresser and pull out the smashed cord, reform it a bit, and plug it in myself. After that, all was good.

- It looked like there was mouse feces (how appropriate) on a part of the shower curtain. This is probably because they were in a storeroom previously.

All in all it was a nice stay that smelled like paint. I'll go again.

Damn, sounds like they just throw the room together and get the hell out of there. I mean they have to change all them rooms over in such and such time frame, so they miss a few things. But it seems to me that turning on the tv and checking it would be on a must do list of things for them. Very nice pics for the iPhone. Was it a 4 or 3gs? Thanks for taking the pics and sharing!

 

[OrlandoUnited]

Very nice pics for the iPhone. Was it a 4 or 3gs? Thanks for taking the pics and sharing!

3G, actually.

 

[Venomhatch]

3G, actually.

Those were excellent pics for that model. I don't think they were bad at all. Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[andrewilley]

Thanks for the pics. I'm at Riverside (Alligator Bayou) now, so will see what else I can get too.

Andre

 

[Venomhatch]

Thanks for the pics. I'm at Riverside (Alligator Bayou) now, so will see what else I can get too.

Andre

Cool Andre, thanks, I appreciate it!

 

[Missytara]

Damn, sounds like they just throw the room together and get the hell out of there. I mean they have to change all them rooms over in such and such time frame, so they miss a few things. But it seems to me that turning on the tv and checking it would be on a must do list of things for them. Very nice pics for the iPhone. Was it a 4 or 3gs? Thanks for taking the pics and sharing!

Trust me, I work in construction management and something is overlooked every time. There is no such thing as a perfect project. Especially right now, with the economy, you have twice as many people bidding on jobs as you used to. They are undercutting their prices, just trying to get the job and make their payroll. Then they make the guys in the field make up for it. It has been running rampant like this for the past few years since the economy tanked.

Quite frankly, if that is all that is wrong with the room, I would be pleasantly pleased. Ten years ago, it was very different.

I cannot tell you how many times I have walked an entire job and have the contractor come back to pick up a few things.

My theory has always been when you have a profession with a whole bunch of men, you are bound to have stuff overlooked.

Sorry, guys, I couldn't help it.

One of my favorites is always roofing projects; invariably, there are half a dozen empty caulking packages left behind. I call the contractor to come clean them up and first he says, "Well, while you were up there, why didn't you just pick them up yourself."

Ah, not.......

 

[Venomhatch]

Trust me, I work in construction management and something is overlooked every time. There is no such thing as a perfect project. Especially right now, with the economy, you have twice as many people bidding on jobs as you used to. They are undercutting their prices, just trying to get the job and make their payroll. Then they make the guys in the field make up for it. It has been running rampant like this for the past few years since the economy tanked.

Quite frankly, if that is all that is wrong with the room, I would be pleasantly pleased. Ten years ago, it was very different.

I cannot tell you how many times I have walked an entire job and have the contractor come back to pick up a few things.

My theory has always been when you have a profession with a whole bunch of men, you are bound to have stuff overlooked.

Sorry, guys, I couldn't help it.

One of my favorites is always roofing projects; invariably, there are half a dozen empty caulking packages left behind. I call the contractor to come clean them up and first he says, "Well, while you were up there, why didn't you just pick them up yourself."

Ah, not.......

Wow. I was shocked at your last part where they had the nerve to say that. Id be like no that's not my job. That's why I don't pay until the job has been checked.

 

[nkereina]

A few complaints, all minor:
- The TV was not working, the remote had no batteries and it would not turn on with the buttons on the TV. I called maintenance and they put in some batteries when we were at the park, but the TV still did not turn on. I traced the power cord to behind the mini-fridge. Removing the fridge, I could see the TV's power cord was under the dresser - I had to lift the dresser and pull out the smashed cord, reform it a bit, and plug it in myself. After that, all was good.

- It looked like there was mouse feces (how appropriate) on a part of the shower curtain. This is probably because they were in a storeroom previously.

All in all it was a nice stay that smelled like paint. I'll go again.

Thanks for the pics! Sounds like you were probably the first person to stay in this room based on the fact the TV wasn't plugged in and there was no batteries in the remote. Hoping these kinks are worked out before I get there at the end of September

But mouse feces, really? Couldn't have been dirt or something from the construction going on? I'm sure there aren't mice in the room, but its nasty if that's what it is.

 

[Missytara]

Wow. I was shocked at your last part where they had the nerve to say that. Id be like no that's not my job. That's why I don't pay until the job has been checked.

As do I; I have held retainage almost a year on one project I have now, just for that very simple reason.

Apparently, it isn't worth it to them to get it back, so I closed out the purchase order and the money went back into the appropriation.

 

[OrlandoUnited]

But mouse feces, really? Couldn't have been dirt or something from the construction going on? I'm sure there aren't mice in the room, but its nasty if that's what it is.

I grew up in the Colorado prairie where we always had a mice problem. It looked exactly like it.
I don't imagine there were mice in the room at all, and it could be from another animal, but it looked just like it. I think it must have picked it up in the storage room.

 

[Viking_53]

We are checking into POR on 29 September for our very first WDW visit and we come all the way from New Zealand! We are a family of five so will be put in AB I'm sure as we need the trundle. I have not paid for a preferred room so, as we want to cut down he walking in the resort as much as possible (I think the theme park walking is going to exhaust us!), what building should I request if I can?

We are checking on on 9/29 as well!

We actually paid for the preferred AB rooms, so we will be in the same part of the resort.

I see you are from Wellington, NZ! I work for a company that put in the computer system in the Wellington library (I'm in Denver, CO). I have been to your fair city on a number of occasions (most recently, June 2010). I have to say, your city and country very beautiful, and most of all, everybody's hospitable!