Port Orleans Riverside FAQ thread - Royally Refurbished for 2011

[travelgoddess]

If I may make a suggestion. Were you checking through Disney directly? If so, have your TA check with other tour operators. I am a TA....I am not advertising , but there are several other companies besides WDW Travel that sells Disney, your TA will know about them. Don't give up yet...Good Luck.

 

[LisaTC]

Well, I rather believe it about POR. We were booked there and then FD came out for later in October. We can't get it for our first day no matter, even though FD is available for that day, just no more rooms available at POR for that date. Caribbean had avail, though.

 

[ShhhQ]

We just got home from our disasterous vacation!!! The best part of our entire trip was the beautiful resort that we stayed at and the wonderful management that went out of their way to help out a poor woman in need.

We had an awesome room location... couldn't have been any closer to our car, the main building, and the bus stop! We only booked standard but with WC access... we ended up in building 14!!!!! 1401 as a matter of fact!! I was able to see our car every day and knew that it was safe.

When we arrived, a very helpful gentleman helped lug our luggage from our car to the room and got DMs WC out for me (is extremely heavy). Unfortunately, DM got a bit confused and didn't wait for me...... she got lost and they had to search for her... the manager was super nice and helped me calm down and when they had located her they brought her to the room, then the paramedics came!!!! It was standard procedure that they are called.. they checked her out and wanted her to go to the hospital... she refused. On the day before we were to check out, DM got very sick and was in a world of pain... again the paramedics came to the room... her heart was not beating right and she was short of breath.... she consented to going to the hospital.... where she was to remain for almost a week!!! I was lost and confused.... we were to check out on saturday and I didn't have enough money to rent any rooms. I talked to the manager.... same one as previously on the trip, she helped calm me down yet again, and offered to let me stay in our room an extra night... but was to inform her what was going on.
Saturday night, I returned to the resort and talked with her again.... the dr. had mentioned DM possibly being released on Monday... so I told this to the manager... she extended my stay till Monday. At the hospital on monday, we found out she was still gonna be there for days, but I had already checked out of the resort. I was able to spend the last 3 nights at a relatives house that lived about 1 hour away from the hospital. I doubt we will ever be able to return to WDW, but if we did, I would love to stay at POR again.

 

[Rekenna]

We just got home from our disasterous vacation!!! The best part of our entire trip was the beautiful resort that we stayed at and the wonderful management that went out of their way to help out a poor woman in need.

We had an awesome room location... couldn't have been any closer to our car, the main building, and the bus stop! We only booked standard but with WC access... we ended up in building 14!!!!! 1401 as a matter of fact!! I was able to see our car every day and knew that it was safe.

When we arrived, a very helpful gentleman helped lug our luggage from our car to the room and got DMs WC out for me (is extremely heavy). Unfortunately, DM got a bit confused and didn't wait for me...... she got lost and they had to search for her... the manager was super nice and helped me calm down and when they had located her they brought her to the room, then the paramedics came!!!! It was standard procedure that they are called.. they checked her out and wanted her to go to the hospital... she refused. On the day before we were to check out, DM got very sick and was in a world of pain... again the paramedics came to the room... her heart was not beating right and she was short of breath.... she consented to going to the hospital.... where she was to remain for almost a week!!! I was lost and confused.... we were to check out on saturday and I didn't have enough money to rent any rooms. I talked to the manager.... same one as previously on the trip, she helped calm me down yet again, and offered to let me stay in our room an extra night... but was to inform her what was going on.
Saturday night, I returned to the resort and talked with her again.... the dr. had mentioned DM possibly being released on Monday... so I told this to the manager... she extended my stay till Monday. At the hospital on monday, we found out she was still gonna be there for days, but I had already checked out of the resort. I was able to spend the last 3 nights at a relatives house that lived about 1 hour away from the hospital. I doubt we will ever be able to return to WDW, but if we did, I would love to stay at POR again.

Oh my gosh! I am so, so sorry DM was sick-hoping she is better now?

Also, sorry your trip didn't go smoothly, but thank goodness you were staying at POR with a management team/CM's that were so understanding, helpful and thoughtful.

Am hoping something went well and that you have at least 1 or 2 fun/good memories?

 

[dimndgal1]

I will be traveling with DH, MIL, FIL and DD (4) and we just 'downgraded' from a deluxe one room to two rooms at PO-R (I don't consider it a real downgrade because space can be worth more than luxury).

My question is I'm not sure how to work the best room request for the room types we have. To get the special booking rate, we ended up booking one of the new Royal Rooms (YAY!) and a King room. I thought I had read the Royal Rooms are grouped together, so I'm not sure how to try to finagle our rooms being at least CLOSE if not together.

Does anyone know if the buildings housing the Royal Rooms also have King rooms? I know the refurb is mixing things up, and I understand if we can't have connecting rooms... I'd just like to try to be on the same floor or at least the same building if possible.

THANKS!

P.S. ShhhQ I am so sorry to hear about your DM and I hope everything works out okay. It's great to hear that the manager was so acomodating but I hate that the situation arose in the first place.

 

[andrewilley]

Ito try to finagle our rooms being at least CLOSE if not together.

Does anyone know if the buildings housing the Royal Rooms also have King rooms?

Unfortunately, after the refit I don't think there will be ANY King Bed rooms in the two buildings which will contain the Royal rooms (Oak Manor and Parterre Place). From what I've heard, all of the Royal rooms will contain two queen beds - which I guess is kinda understandable as they are aiming these locations squarely at families rather than couples, but not much help for you.

If your folks really want a King Bed while you want a Royal Room, the best you could hope for is to get rooms on the sides of two buildings which face towards each other (there is a path linking Oak Manor and Magnolia Terrace, which would be the location you need) but that's not anywhere remotely near adjoining.

Andre
Andre

 

[Travel Mum]

Are washclothes provided in the rooms along witht the towels? We use washclothes so, if not, I need to bring out own and we go in 4 sleeps!!

 

[Travel Mum]

Can anyone tell me if washcloths are supplied in the rooms along with towels? We use washcloths and, if not, I'll bring our own. Thanks

 

[andrewilley]

Are washclothes provided in the rooms along witht the towels?

Yes.

Andre

 

[Rekenna]

Needed to post b/c our thread has reached the second page of the resort boards-whatsup with that?

Okay guys-26 more days until our first POR stay!!!

I just got our first suitcase packed today...seriously...I only have 3 more weekends to go...strategically packing for 5 people requires alot of organization-one of my favorite things.

Hoping the weather cooperates and it is warm enough to swim but, not so hot that's it's unbearable-I know...picky, picky, oh and no rain on October 25 please-that's our MNSSHP night. Good weather is about all the Pixie Dust I need-thank you!

We are all set for our AB room (we are a family of 5). Now I just have to get that pesky work thing out of the way and we will be on our way to our surprise WDW trip and double surprise plane ride (we usually always drive so being able to fly is an extra treat)!

Needing some pictures please...KCMike...Bueller...Bueller...Bueller...anyone?

TTFN!

 

[DJT]

Needed to post b/c our thread has reached the second page of the resort boards-whatsup with that?

Okay guys-26 more days until our first POR stay!!!

I just got our first suitcase packed today...seriously...I only have 3 more weekends to go...strategically packing for 5 people requires alot of organization-one of my favorite things.

Hoping the weather cooperates and it is warm enough to swim but, not so hot that's it's unbearable-I know...picky, picky, oh and no rain on October 25 please-that's our MNSSHP night. Good weather is about all the Pixie Dust I need-thank you!

We are all set for our AB room (we are a family of 5). Now I just have to get that pesky work thing out of the way and we will be on our way to our surprise WDW trip and double surprise plane ride (we usually always drive so being able to fly is an extra treat)!

Needing some pictures please...KCMike...Bueller...Bueller...Bueller...anyone?

TTFN!

We are three weeks and six days away, too! Saying there are only three more weekends to go gives me a whole different way of looking at the time left. I have too many things to do to start packing yet and there's only two of us, so no problem. Enjoy your flight this trip. I couldn't talk DH into flying.

 

[Venomhatch]

Needed to post b/c our thread has reached the second page of the resort boards-whatsup with that?

Okay guys-26 more days until our first POR stay!!!

I just got our first suitcase packed today...seriously...I only have 3 more weekends to go...strategically packing for 5 people requires alot of organization-one of my favorite things.

Hoping the weather cooperates and it is warm enough to swim but, not so hot that's it's unbearable-I know...picky, picky, oh and no rain on October 25 please-that's our MNSSHP night. Good weather is about all the Pixie Dust I need-thank you!

We are all set for our AB room (we are a family of 5). Now I just have to get that pesky work thing out of the way and we will be on our way to our surprise WDW trip and double surprise plane ride (we usually always drive so being able to fly is an extra treat)!

Needing some pictures please...KCMike...Bueller...Bueller...Bueller...anyone?

TTFN!

Yeah I agree. It seemed like it died this weekend for a little bit. But hope you have a great time down there.

 

[travelgoddess]

We arrive on 10/28 for 8nts...Going to MNSSHP on 10/30. It's just me and my DH. We want to catch the Yee Ha Bob show one night also. We're booked in the preferred category, I have a bad knee and need to be as close to the main area as possible. We just ordered our MNSSHP tickets a few days ago, we have done this a few times, it's alot of fun.

 

[LisaTC]

Needed to post b/c our thread has reached the second page of the resort boards-whatsup with that?

Okay guys-26 more days until our first POR stay!!!

I just got our first suitcase packed today...seriously...I only have 3 more weekends to go...strategically packing for 5 people requires alot of organization-one of my favorite things.

Hoping the weather cooperates and it is warm enough to swim but, not so hot that's it's unbearable-I know...picky, picky, oh and no rain on October 25 please-that's our MNSSHP night. Good weather is about all the Pixie Dust I need-thank you!

We are all set for our AB room (we are a family of 5). Now I just have to get that pesky work thing out of the way and we will be on our way to our surprise WDW trip and double surprise plane ride (we usually always drive so being able to fly is an extra treat)!

Needing some pictures please...KCMike...Bueller...Bueller...Bueller...anyone?

TTFN!

HEY! great you get to fly! How awesome. Our trip is a surprise, too, for DD's b-day! She's never flown either! Woot! We are going to MNSSHP on 10/23. Can't wait for that either! I'm surprising her just before with Harmony. I cannot wait to see POR, it just looks fab!

 

[Rekenna]

We are three weeks and six days away, too! Saying there are only three more weekends to go gives me a whole different way of looking at the time left. I have too many things to do to start packing yet and there's only two of us, so no problem. Enjoy your flight this trip. I couldn't talk DH into flying.

Happy packing! I had to start getting organized to see what I had in my travel goodies in case I needed to make a Walmart run...I only need to get a couple of things...we usually drive so I don't have to pack too carefully. With flying I need to put a little more thought into it, pack it all, then unpack at least a 1/4 of it. One of my goals this trip was to cut down on extra packing. We are in N KY (see you are in S IN) and I just happened to catch a good fare at SW in Louisville-$1,000 for 5 round trip, non-stop tickets! Sweet! I had budgeted around $500 to drive-so for about $500 more we get to fly-a nice extravagance!

Yeah I agree. It seemed like it died this weekend for a little bit. But hope you have a great time down there.

Yep, but we will get it back on track-we should have a couple of folks coming back this week or maybe next weekend so hopefully everyone had great POR trips and will have some good stories and pics to share.

We arrive on 10/28 for 8nts...Going to MNSSHP on 10/30. It's just me and my DH. We want to catch the Yee Ha Bob show one night also. We're booked in the preferred category, I have a bad knee and need to be as close to the main area as possible. We just ordered our MNSSHP tickets a few days ago, we have done this a few times, it's alot of fun.

My DSis has a very bad knee, she really needs to have it replace and keeps putting it off. She went with us last year and had a special knee brace she wears and she was able to get around pretty easily, she just was extra careful with stadium seating events like Fantasmic! going up the stairs and hills is okay for her but, going down can be really tricky. This will be our 3rd MNSSHP, it's the best! We tried MVMCP last year and it was nice but, no MNSSHP-the Boo To You Parade is the best parade of the year and Hallowishes is just fantastic.

HEY! great you get to fly! How awesome. Our trip is a surprise, too, for DD's b-day! She's never flown either! Woot! We are going to MNSSHP on 10/23. Can't wait for that either! I'm surprising her just before with Harmony. I cannot wait to see POR, it just looks fab!

Yay! She will have a great time! MNSSHP is the best-catch Hallowishes (the fireworks) and the second parade. As stated above the MSSHP parade and fireworks are the best at WDW IMHO. My boys don't know we are flying-we are going to get up on Saturday, go for a "drive" and just happen to end up at the airport-can't wait!

 

[Venomhatch]

=Rekenna;Yep, but we will get it back on track-we should have a couple of folks coming back this week or maybe next weekend so hopefully everyone had great POR trips and will have some good stories and pics to share.

yes that's why I love this thread, love the pics, miss KCmike's random shots. Sorry to hear the recent bad news with Shhhq's visit. I was saddened to hear that when I read about it. Did they ever state what caused the illness?

 

[Rekenna]

yes that's why I love this thread, love the pics, miss KCmike's random shots. Sorry to hear the recent bad news with Shhhq's visit. I was saddened to hear that when I read about it. Did they ever state what caused the illness?

I miss Mr. KCMike too. I also was really bummed that Shhhq's trip did not go too smoothly, hopefully things are going better now that they are home.

 

[lovewdwdvc]

I am laughing out loud as I ask this question. But is there a good strategy to get one of the refurb AB rooms that sleep 5? Should we upgrade or not. We will be there for 12 nights at Christmas. Should I offer to change rooms as soon as a refurb becomes available and keep it as many days as we can?

 

[KCmike]

Hello again. Here are some more random shots to tide you over till your vacation celebration!! Woo Woo!
Quiet Pool Alligator Bayou section

 

[ShhhQ]

yes that's why I love this thread, love the pics, miss KCmike's random shots. Sorry to hear the recent bad news with Shhhq's visit. I was saddened to hear that when I read about it. Did they ever state what caused the illness?

I miss Mr. KCMike too. I also was really bummed that Shhhq's trip did not go too smoothly, hopefully things are going better now that they are home.

Thanks for your kind words.... DMs health hasn't been good for sometime, but she had some rather bad spells on our trip.... she has moments of confusion which is what happened when she got lost. She also has extreme restless legs, neuropathy, and fibromyalgia.... which when they all act up together, make her thrash around in pain. This happened on thursday night of our trip, she thrashed around all night and even kicked me out of bed... literally! When morning came and she was still in pain, we called 911. This is why we contacted, but why she ended up in the hospital, is that they found her heart to be beating irregullarly.. her heart is in A-Fib and has to take blood thinners to keep from clotting and possibly stroking.