Well, I am finally organized after my return from the wonder world of Florida and the kids got back to school today.
My experience at POR is a mixed bag.
It started with check-in....arrived at 11:45 a.m. and was assigned a river view room as paid for however their concept of river view was not the same as my concept of river view. It was at the very back of the Parterre Place courtyard on the third floor (#9914) which did face the river however was as far away as you could get without being on the other side of the building. When I voiced my concerns that this was a courtyard view rather than a river view to the lady at check-in, she said that the resort was completely full and could not reassign me. That being said, she spoke with her superior and was told that they could refund me the difference between the standard view and a river view ($300 over a 10 night stay) but had some sort of difficulty trying to do this and said to come back the next day. We get to our room only to find that not only is it as far away from the river as you can get, but any possible river view is completely obstructed by 3 enormous trees right in front of the window. Okay, so the next day arrives and that afternoon my DH goes to the front desk only to find that there is no record of an attempted refund on the room category and was basicly told that it is not Disney policy to do any kind of refund....once they have your money, that's it and there was nothing they could do. My DH remained polite but firm however and said that he found it difficult to imagine that they had never before received any complaints about this section of rooms being classified as river view (especially since you pay an extra $30 per night for that river view which was completely nonexistent) and that the situation was just not acceptable. However, once again in consult with a manager, they came to a solution to move us the next day to a room with a "clear and concise" river view. They also said that there would be no disruption to us and that we could go on to the parks as planned and pack up when we get back.....they would take care of the move
at our convenience.
The next day dawns and at 7 a.m. a message appears on our phone telling us that if they do not hear from us before 11 a.m. that the room change would be cancelled and that we had to have our room vacated before then as well. So much for at our convenience! Good thing that I am a planner and had most of our things packed up the night before because we had a breakfast ADR at 8:10 at Tusker House. So after much running around and last minute details, we had bell services pick up our things and we were off to the park. We returned at 2:00 p.m., exhausted, tired, overheated and only wanting a shower and a dip in the pool and, since we were told that there would be no disruption, we had not set aside our shower/pool things for our return expecting that our room would be ready. Instead, we were stranded without any of our belongings until 4:30 p.m. when our room was finally ready....that had to be the longest 2 1/2 hours of my life. So much for minimal disruption.
That being said, the room was beautiful in the most perfect location and well worth the wait. It was room 9537 on the first floor in Parterre Place, a corner room with the river right in front of our door. It couldn't be more perfect and finally the feeling I had hoped for washed over me.
After these initial few bumps in the first two days, we experienced a flawless stay. The food was good at the food court. We enjoyed both the main and quiet pools. The boat ride to DTD was always a joy. We tried out the surrey bikes and had a great time.....although it is much harder than you would expect!
We also checked out
the fishing hole......it was fun but don't waste your time or money; the fish are too smart to be caught. We stood there for 30 minutes with 4 lines in the water with not a nibble. You would think that there were no fish around at all though they said it was stocked. However, the second my DH took the worms off the hook and threw them in the water, there was a swarm of fish that appeared out of nowhere and gobbled them up! Who says a fish can't learn?!?!
Boatwrights was a great meal and DH said that the prime rib that he had was among the best he has ever tasted and mine and my DDs meal were good as well; tenderloins, pork chop, and chicken. I would definitely eat here again if I stayed at POR again.
Since we rented a car we didn't have a lot of experience with
the bus system although, I will say that we took the bus to Epcot one day and having just missed the Epcot bus, we only had to wait another 15 minutes for another and on another occasion we were leaving MK and had to wait only 10 minutes for a bus going back to POR.
So overall, after a rocky beginning, it turned into a wonderful stay. We spent most evenings sitting out in our camping chairs (purchased for $10 at
Walmart), sipping on a beverage
enjoying the river view, watching the boats going back and forth, and just relaxing. Perhaps any of you who were there at the same time we were, saw us and we exchanged a greeting
at the end of a day.
In summary, I did very much enjoy my stay here at POR, however I would not pay for a river view room category again. The people who do up the room categories are way too generous with their concept of river view. They should assign a cast member to go around the resort for perhaps a week and determine which rooms actually have a river view and would be worth paying the extra $30 a night for. My DH said that there were several people at the desk on that second day with the exact same complaints as we had on our first day. If they could clear up this one issue it would make for a much smoother day for those poor cast members at the front desk.
Once I figure out how to post pictures, I will put up a few. Any tips on how to do this?
They really should not call that first room a river view! 
Love the view from the 2nd room!!
Squint and you can see it!
