Port Orleans Riverside FAQ thread - Royally Refurbished for 2011

[gr8tdame]

Mine too!

My husband and I really enjoy not having to drive. In a nine day trip if I have to wait longer than 15 min a couple of times, it won't bother me. Now, if that were the norm, I would not be happy. But for us so far no worries. I am knocking on wood here! couldn't find a smiley for that. LOL

Yes,,, It is so nice not to have to drive. I really want the queen beds but I love how green it is and the winding paths of Alligator Bayou. I don't care where they put me. We have had such a drought here in Austin.... I just want to see some green grass and love the shade.

 

[LovingDisny]

I hear you. It seems like everything in Texas is brown.

 

[Venomhatch]

I hear you. It seems like everything in Texas is brown.

Wish we could have sent some of you our irene rain without the storm.

 

[gr8tdame]

I just saw Andre's pictures of the refurb rooms! I think they look great and I love the flat screen t.v. My hubby and I will love the Queen sized beds. The standard ones were a little cramped

Yeah I agree about the beds...

The year before last dh who is 6"3" and 200lbs slept on the trundle. Mousekeeping gave us extra pillows and he folded up the bedspreads to increase the length of the trundle and slept there. We did a split stay. I think he was just being stubborn. Last year he did sleep in the double with me but I made sure not to take too much space. When you are used to a King size bed at home a double seems really small but he would rather sleep on the floor or in a double bed than stay at CSR, GF or the POLY.
He feels he is on vacation when he is at POR. At the other resorts he felt like he was on a business trip or at a convention.
No matter how many people are at POR you never see heavy foot traffic like at the other resorts.
26 days... the countdown has begun.

 

[Venomhatch]

The year before last dh who is 6"3" and 200lbs slept on the trundle. Mousekeeping gave us extra pillows and he folded up the bedspreads to increase the length of the trundle and slept there. We did a split stay. I think he was just being stubborn. Last year he did sleep in the double with me but I made sure not to take too much space. When you are used to a King size bed at home a double seems really small but he would rather sleep on the floor or in a double bed than stay at CSR, GF or the POLY.
He feels he is on vacation when he is at POR. At the other resorts he felt like he was on a business trip or at a convention.
No matter how many people are at POR you never see heavy foot traffic like at the other resorts.
26 days... the countdown has begun.

I never get that feeling from the poly!!! Tell him i'll trade ya lol. No not this year. We are looking forward to our stay in the royal themed river view room.

 

[gr8tdame]

I never get that feeling from the poly!!! Tell him i'll trade ya lol. No not this year. We are looking forward to our stay in the royal themed river view room.

I liked the Poly and we still go there to rent the speedboats and dine @ Kona and have drinks at the pool bar. When my ds was little he loved the Volcano pool but because of Ohana's, the Luau and fireworks from the beach the resort was always busy... We stayed in CL and that is right by the pool and the Beach.
I thought it was wonderful but I don't go to a lot of conventions since we had children.
Initially I booked a moderate, CSR because it cost so much less per night than deluxe.... but we did not enjoy CSR so the manager switched us to POR as there was no availability for the length of our stay at any of the deluxes. My dh was completely against staying in AB because he said the beds looked flimsy in the photos and he didn't want to get splinters. He thought the beds were made with real tree branches.. LOL.
Well once we got there he loved it. He said staying at POR he felt like he was on vacation. We were walking back to our room in BLDG 27 at night and bunnies were hopping around and everything was so peaceful and quiet.
Now this is his favorite resort and he won't stay anywhere else. One year we did a split stay between GF(he was at a convention- 5 nights) and POR. We could have stayed our entire vacation 14 nights @ GF for the same price(convention rate) as POR but as soon as the convention was done we transferred to POR....
According to dh we shouldn't talk too much about POR as everyone will want to stay there.
He loves the rustic look of AB.... but I want queen beds so I hope we get a renovated room and he will still feel the ambience.

 

[3sweetpeas]

I liked the Poly and we still go there to rent the speedboats and dine @ Kona and have drinks at the pool bar. When my ds was little he loved the Volcano pool but because of Ohana's, the Luau and fireworks from the beach the resort was always busy... We stayed in CL and that is right by the pool and the Beach.
I thought it was wonderful but I don't go to a lot of conventions since we had children.
Initially I booked a moderate, CSR because it cost so much less per night than deluxe.... but we did not enjoy CSR so the manager switched us to POR as there was no availability for the length of our stay at any of the deluxes. My dh was completely against staying in AB because he said the beds looked flimsy in the photos and he didn't want to get splinters. He thought the beds were made with real tree branches.. LOL.
Well once we got there he loved it. He said staying at POR he felt like he was on vacation. We were walking back to our room in BLDG 27 at night and bunnies were hopping around and everything was so peaceful and quiet.
Now this is his favorite resort and he won't stay anywhere else. One year we did a split stay between GF(he was at a convention- 5 nights) and POR. We could have stayed our entire vacation 14 nights @ GF for the same price(convention rate) as POR but as soon as the convention was done we transferred to POR....
According to dh we shouldn't talk too much about POR as everyone will want to stay there.
He loves the rustic look of AB.... but I want queen beds so I hope we get a renovated room and he will still feel the ambience.

That's funny! He could be a commercial for POR! Last year we did a split stay between AKV and POR and I much preferred POR. There's something so relaxing, peaceful, yet there's enough going on that you're not bored. I think it's just the right vacation feeling!

We don't go til March and I'm already obsessing!

 

[pooki1]

Wow! I just finished reading all the info on POR and am so excited about our trip in May. I can almost smell the gardenias and feel the breezes blowing through the Magnolia trees! Thanks!

 

[yayasue]

I can't wait to be there!! It will be our first time

 

[Venomhatch]

I can't wait to be there!! It will be our first time

Well congrats, you will love it. Just plan where on the resort you want to stay, meaning which building, if you want to be close to main building or a quiet area, etc. Or laundry and quiet pools. Just ask the friendly members here and we can get you strait.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Could I solicit some advice from you POR fans?
We just found out that we are having to relocate to TN on Oct 1. Our trip is Oct 27 -Nov3. We are book at BC, but in an effort to reduce our vaca budget due to the move, I am considering a moderate instead. POR and CBR are available. I think POR looks more our style. Haven't read good things about the pirate room beds and the Nemo bedspreads are a bit bright.
So I am curious as to where a pack n play would fit. Looks pretty tight. Also, my DD12 doesn't like to sleep with DS3, so I thought a trundle would be perfect, but the AB rooms don't appeal to me very much. Does the resort have rollaway cots at all? If so, I could request the other area (not AB) and use a rollaway.
Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Venomhatch]

Could I solicit some advice from you POR fans?
We just found out that we are having to relocate to TN on Oct 1. Our trip is Oct 27 -Nov3. We are book at BC, but in an effort to reduce our vaca budget due to the move, I am considering a moderate instead. POR and CBR are available. I think POR looks more our style. Haven't read good things about the pirate room beds and the Nemo bedspreads are a bit bright.
So I am curious as to where a pack n play would fit. Looks pretty tight. Also, my DD12 doesn't like to sleep with DS3, so I thought a trundle would be perfect, but the AB rooms don't appeal to me very much. Does the resort have rollaway cots at all? If so, I could request the other area (not AB) and use a rollaway.
Thanks so much for your help!

Well where the CBR and POR are similar in pricing. It all depends on your theme you want. POR has a very nice southern approach to your stay, back in the plantation days. Where the CBR still has you beach water theme with man made beaches and real paradise style theme. If you go kid themes you have the Princess Tiana themes (Oops these won't be ready when you go.) at POR, where the Pirates are at CBR. If you don't care about themes I would go with the POR. Just my opinion. The POR site has lots of refurbishments to the property where they are uping the size of the beds, and style. I don't know when or if the CBR has been refurbished. I believe if you were to move the chairs and table a bit in the refurb rooms you could fit that PNP in there. I would do the Arcadia Building from there it is a short jump over to the main building, food court, and main bus depot.

Let us know if you need anything else.

 

[KCmike]

 

[Venomhatch]

Very nice picture as always.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Well where the CBR and POR are similar in pricing. It all depends on your theme you want. POR has a very nice southern approach to your stay, back in the plantation days. Where the CBR still has you beach water theme with man made beaches and real paradise style theme. If you go kid themes you have the Princess Tiana themes (Oops these won't be ready when you go.) at POR, where the Pirates are at CBR. If you don't care about themes I would go with the POR. Just my opinion. The POR site has lots of refurbishments to the property where they are uping the size of the beds, and style. I don't know when or if the CBR has been refurbished. I believe if you were to move the chairs and table a bit in the refurb rooms you could fit that PNP in there. I would do the Arcadia Building from there it is a short jump over to the main building, food court, and main bus depot.

Let us know if you need anything else.

Thanks for your help. I also just discovered that the AB building have no elevators. We will have a stroller so that means AB first floor or MB. Could we get a cot in MB?

 

[jabby826]

after seeing the new refurb pics- I cant wait until January!!!!

 

[Venomhatch]

Thanks for your help. I also just discovered that the AB building have no elevators. We will have a stroller so that means AB first floor or MB. Could we get a cot in MB?

I don't know if they have a cot, maybe this fold away I have heard about. But Buildings in MB do have elevators.

 

[yayasue]

Well congrats, you will love it. Just plan where on the resort you want to stay, meaning which building, if you want to be close to main building or a quiet area, etc. Or laundry and quiet pools. Just ask the friendly members here and we can get you strait.

Thanks! We didn't reserve a preferred room.. but we'd love to stay in the AB section. I know about the refurb but for us we love the feel of the AB section.

 

[Venomhatch]

Thanks! We didn't reserve a preferred room.. but we'd love to stay in the AB section. I know about the refurb but for us we love the feel of the AB section.

Well there are some of the buildings in the AB section that aren't preferred categories. So you should be able to get one of them. Yeah we were in the AB section last year but got moved to building 14 for no extra charge. Had a room right there facing food court, loved it. But the four buildings getting refurb first in the AB section are towards the top of the resort map (farthest from the main building) not sure if that also works with your time frame. But I believe they don't start that until later this year.

 

[3sweetpeas]

Could I solicit some advice from you POR fans?
We just found out that we are having to relocate to TN on Oct 1. Our trip is Oct 27 -Nov3. We are book at BC, but in an effort to reduce our vaca budget due to the move, I am considering a moderate instead. POR and CBR are available. I think POR looks more our style. Haven't read good things about the pirate room beds and the Nemo bedspreads are a bit bright.
So I am curious as to where a pack n play would fit. Looks pretty tight. Also, my DD12 doesn't like to sleep with DS3, so I thought a trundle would be perfect, but the AB rooms don't appeal to me very much. Does the resort have rollaway cots at all? If so, I could request the other area (not AB) and use a rollaway.
Thanks so much for your help!

Hi there,
My kids are 14, 11 and 10. Admittedly, the older my kids get the tighter the fit. We have always stayed in AB and although the room interiors are nothing special, the outside is quite beautiful, more lush than the mansions. My kids are spoiled with full or queen beds and don't want to sleep together so in the past we have used the trundle and pushed the table against the door at night and put an air mattress where the table goes. That would be the first place I can think of for the pack and play. It could possibly go where the bench is by the bathrooms. If you stayed in the mansions, the pack and play could go between the door and the bed where the trundle goes. I think you can request a roll away but they are few and far between. When we haven't wanted to mess with the air mattress(we just stand it up against the wall during the day) we take the bedspreads and extra blankets and then a layer of sheets and make a bed on the floor. That would work well for your 3 year old. If you really want to stay in the Mansions section, I would do it now because in another year and a half, you won't be able to. I have never cared in the past but I really like the refurbished room (a page or 2 back Andre has a link to a picture)and would love to stay there but can't with my family of 5. I hope I haven't totally confused you. I'm typing this quickly