Port Orleans Riverside Q&A Thread 2013, Part One [Thread now FULL and closed]

[klwdisney]

Just wanted to post a happy dance

We leave in 4 days! We have been counting down for about a year! Sent our room request fax in yesterday. Didn't get a response but I didn't really plan on getting one. I'll be happy to be just anywhere!! I'll keep my fingers crossed for pixie dust as I'm bringing semi-converted skeptics with me that I am really wanting to prove to that this is the most magical vacation place on earth! unfortunately the skeptic read the disabled tour person article yesterday so i'll have my work cut out for me again since i'm sure she'll be pointing out people getting ahead in line all week *sigh*

I don't care about any of that because in 4 short days I will be HOME again, in my HAPPY PLACE!!! and nothing can take away from that ... even swarms of flies and love bugs!!

Now if I can only get through this crazy week at work...

 

[raider97]

I just wanted to post a little happy dance since I've been so busy with the school year wrapping up that I haven't been on here much lately! We are 25 days out! Started our Disney Countdown poster at 30 days out. Got our Mickey Mail at around 35 days out! So exciting!!! Finishing out the school year with my first graders is making the time FLY!!!

Wahoo!!! I am with you... ours snuck up on me too! We are at 23 days out. We got our Mickey mail (one pkg for pkg with magical express tags in it) at about 40 days!! So excited! I need to start packing!!

 

[raider97]

Just back from POR, What a beautiful resort! This was our first stay and it was so gorgeous! Upon arrival we were met outside for check-in, where we were escorted into the foyer and our room was ready and very close. my only request by fax and from online checkin and over phone was to have a first floor corner room, we did get a first floor but no corner. We were in building 14 in 1403, which was both extremely close to the South Bus Stop and dining. yes we had a parking lot view but it was also very close to the Quiet pool and the main pool. And just steps away from a view. As we walked every where anyway and did not open our blinds or sit right outside our door, I did not have an issue. One morning on my walks around the grounds I even saw otters at play in a small pond near building 16!

The beds were comfy and we slept well, we had five people and my daughter loved her special bed. we had plenty of room, and used a hanging storage unit hung in the closet for clothes.

The food court was good, and yes it gets busy around 8:30, but getting coffee around 7:00 I had no issue. We tried the make your own pasta and yes it was huge and we are big eaters and yes it was plenty to split between my daughter and myself, they gave us 2 plates for easy splitting. oh and it was so yummy! We tried the make your own omelets too on our last day and they were good too!

Our only issue was we had no maid service on our next to the last day and had left rather early around 8:30 and did not return until 10:00 pm but we had to call because we needed towels and TP ect, was not sure why we were missed. We did get three towel animals the first day, a mother hen and her chicks and an alligator the second day.

We watched a movie on the lawn and BOB's show was a highlight of our trip! we sat right in front and loved every minute of the hour and a half show. We all laughed and sang along! I even lead the conga line! and my youngest was a leader too! what fun.

We even ate at Boatwrights, very good! the prime rib and steak and pork chop was great and my daughter really liked her grilled fish. the only issue was the collard green, I have never tasted them so spicy, and I make them from scratch.

My girls loved getting their hair wrapped and it still looks great!

Now for the buses, The mornings went well, but returning in the afternoon after a break before dinner, even giving ourselves an hour and a half, they just were not coming, so we hired a taxi one evening to get back to MK for a dinner reservation we had waited 40 minutes. Coming "home" from the parks the lines were so long that we took the French Quarter bus back and then the ferry back to POR and made great time and the buses were much less crowded, no one standing, while it would have taken 3 buses to for the line at the POR bus stop. much more relaxing too.

All in all we had a great trip thank you all for the info I gained from this board and portorleans.org

How much was the hair wrapping?

 

[Cinderumbrella]

POR is our home resort also... but we SPLURGED last July for three nights at Beach Club and LOVED it!!! We will certainly do it again... but only for SHORT trips as it is a bit pricey... but the POOL was UNBELIEVABLE... THAT trip was a strictly RESORT stay... we did not go to the parks! We stayed there after returning from a cruise and just wanted to try a Deluxe! LOVED being able to RELAX at the pool... walk around to the BoardWalk! SO much to see and DO without even hitting the parks! We road the boat... we took a bus to DTD... we ate at several resorts and took the monorail to one of our ressies... we LOVED just RELAXING!!!
If you take a shorter trip I would certainly recommend BC!

Or you can do what we are doing- SPLIT STAY!! We are spending our first 9 days at POR and our last 6 at YC...

To all those there now or just back:
Sorry to hear about all the check in glitches!! We had that during our only POR stay (Hurricane Wilma knocked the computers silly for about 3 days, and yet POR was the only resort that seemed to suffered the long term affect ) It did work out eventually, but it involved waiting in MANY long lines in the lobby to update and re-update keys before our room key, park tickets and DDP were finally all on 1 key (and normally with some VERY unpleasant desk CMs...)

 

[dansdad]

How much was the hair wrapping?

From Andre's awesome website.

http://portorleans.org/recreation.php

Hair braiding is available on the marina dockside at Port Orleans Riverside from 10:00am — 5:00pm, and seasonally at French Quarter (outside the Jackson Square gift shop) from 10:00am — 7:00pm. The cost is $2 per inch, with beads charged extra.

 

[raider97]

From Andre's awesome website.

http://portorleans.org/recreation.php

Hair braiding is available on the marina dockside at Port Orleans Riverside from 10:00am — 5:00pm, and seasonally at French Quarter (outside the Jackson Square gift shop) from 10:00am — 7:00pm. The cost is $2 per inch, with beads charged extra.

Thank you!

 

[dramaticmissy]

How much was the hair wrapping?

one daughter was $37 and the other was $47 (but she has really long hair) and they both got large charms, the sign says $2 per inch plus large beads or charms which are $5 a peice

 

[dramaticmissy]

Thank you!

It is not actually hair braiding it is wrapping and the hours were 9-6 as of 3 days ago

 

[jstoll1]

Nice.

 

[4butlers]

Hi just a quick check in. We arrived at 1100 Monday. They are having lots of glitches and problems. Online check in line was empty but regular check in was very long. No one greeting when we arrived. The CM who checked us in was very unfriendly and not pleasant. Told us we got connecting rooms, but they were not ready. I asked what building we were in and was told we do not give out building info or room numbers. There are 2 royal room bulidings you will be in one of them. You will get a text when they are ready. You won't whose room it will be until you try the door with your room key. Also told room won't be ready until probably 4 or 5. Told they don't give birthday pins out if we want them ask at the park. This was the only CM like that everyone else since has been over the top friendly and amazing.

We went to the MK. 5 pm still no text. We returned, no apology but rooms were ready a long time ago. Told the CM never put in text request. Last night found out there was a system glitch and more than half those checking in did not get their texts.

We got all our requests. 2nd floor, connecting rooms, close to bridge. Couldn't be more happy when we saw our rooms. I know it is listed as garden view but we look at the river in Oak manor. The movies are right outside our room. I know people say it is spread out but main building, pool, and the mansion bus stop are all very close. We cut through our building to get the car or bus. We can hear the pool dj but no boqt horns or the movies from in our rooms. Royal rooms are really cute and fun.

Pool was amazing. Went for about an hour yesterday. The girls didn't want to leave. I think they hit that slide at least 20 times. Even the promise of dinner with the princesses wasn't enough to get them out.

Had a major glitch will fill in later off to eat breakfast.

Sorry to hear you had such a cranky CM. It is not true that they don't hand out birthday pins at check in. When we checked in a couple years ago, we were given a birthday pin with DD's name on it and a handful of First Visit pins.
Glad to hear the rest of your stay has been magical so far!

 

[Missytara]

It saddens me that the first impression is not good; if the check-in process doesn't go well, it almost seems to set the tone for the week, until you meet CM's that are kind and helpful and smiling. Especially for a first time visitor to a resort, you would want to put your best foot forward.

Sadly, that particular person gave out bad information and didn't bother to check if they were wrong.

Glad to hear it got better.

 

[TaurusNYY]

As far as location preference is it best to mention now or as my date gets closer? What do ppl consider good locations at Por? Garden view vs lake view ? Close to transportation ?first floor vs upper floors? Close to footbridge, close to main building ? Any help is greatly appreciated. We will be traveling 2 adults and our DD.

 

[zabache]

It is not actually hair braiding it is wrapping and the hours were 9-6 as of 3 days ago

I'm a bit confused, what's the difference between hair braiding and hair wrapping?

Nevermind, I just Googled it!

 

[Missytara]

As far as location preference is it best to mention now or as my date gets closer? What do ppl consider good locations at Por? Garden view vs lake view ? Close to transportation ?first floor vs upper floors? Close to footbridge, close to main building ? Any help is greatly appreciated. We will be traveling 2 adults and our DD.

Garden view; riverview; preferred; are all booking categories. You cannot make requests for them.

You can request the other items.

You can put requests in on your ressie at time of booking or up to about 3 - 5 days before you check-in when the ressies roll over to the resort.

With a young child, you may want to be close to the main amentities, so you would book preferred. If they are older, you may want to be more on the perimeter nearer the quiet pools.

I would take a look at the map on page 1 and decide what works best for you. Everyone will have a different opinion.

For instance, I go solo quite often and the last place I would like to be is in the preferred section, since there is a lot more foot traffic, pool area is louder, etc.

One year, I preferred being closer to the footbridge from Parterre Place, because I did a solo, no parks trip and wanted to be closer to the marina side and front of the building.

This year, I want standard view, since we have a car and can be close to it. I had this a few years ago, when I traveled with friends and it was wonderfully quiet, because no one ever went by our rooms.

 

[myjourney]

Please tell me if this is correct. The rooms do not have a microwave but you can request one?

 

[OurLittleFamily]

POR is our home resort also... but we SPLURGED last July for three nights at Beach Club and LOVED it!!! We will certainly do it again... but only for SHORT trips as it is a bit pricey... but the POOL was UNBELIEVABLE... THAT trip was a strictly RESORT stay... we did not go to the parks! We stayed there after returning from a cruise and just wanted to try a Deluxe! LOVED being able to RELAX at the pool... walk around to the BoardWalk! SO much to see and DO without even hitting the parks! We road the boat... we took a bus to DTD... we ate at several resorts and took the monorail to one of our ressies... we LOVED just RELAXING!!!
If you take a shorter trip I would certainly recommend BC!

We have annual passes so we're thinking of going for on a shorter trip next year for our anniversary (in addition to the longer January and October trips) Maybe we'll try Boardwalk or Beach Club then. It's really just to location that we love since we spend a lot of time at Epcot. But we LOVE the feel of POR (and relly don't mind the buses at all) so it's a tough decision for us!

 

[zabache]

Please tell me if this is correct. The rooms do not have a microwave but you can request one?

They don't have one in the room but there are some you can use through out the resort according to what a cm told me. I asked this question in case I needed to heat up something for my toddler while we are there. I hope I'm correct.

 

[Missytara]

Please tell me if this is correct. The rooms do not have a microwave but you can request one?

Microwaves are not in the rooms; I don't know if you can still request them or not - if you still can, they are very few and far between.

There are microwaves for use in the food court. They are open at 6 am and stay open until 11 pm.

 

[MISSYLEXI]

Hi just a quick check in. We arrived at 1100 Monday. They are having lots of glitches and problems. Online check in line was empty but regular check in was very long. No one greeting when we arrived. The CM who checked us in was very unfriendly and not pleasant. Told us we got connecting rooms, but they were not ready. I asked what building we were in and was told we do not give out building info or room numbers. There are 2 royal room bulidings you will be in one of them. You will get a text when they are ready. You won't whose room it will be until you try the door with your room key. Also told room won't be ready until probably 4 or 5. Told they don't give birthday pins out if we want them ask at the park. This was the only CM like that everyone else since has been over the top friendly and amazing.

We went to the MK. 5 pm still no text. We returned, no apology but rooms were ready a long time ago. Told the CM never put in text request. Last night found out there was a system glitch and more than half those checking in did not get their texts.

We got all our requests. 2nd floor, connecting rooms, close to bridge. Couldn't be more happy when we saw our rooms. I know it is listed as garden view but we look at the river in Oak manor. The movies are right outside our room. I know people say it is spread out but main building, pool, and the mansion bus stop are all very close. We cut through our building to get the car or bus. We can hear the pool dj but no boqt horns or the movies from in our rooms. Royal rooms are really cute and fun.

Pool was amazing. Went for about an hour yesterday. The girls didn't want to leave. I think they hit that slide at least 20 times. Even the promise of dinner with the princesses wasn't enough to get them out.

Had a major glitch will fill in later off to eat breakfast.

Sorry to hear about your bad first day. Hope the rest goes smoothly.

I do have a few questions. You say you have royal rooms that are connecting and garden view. Can you tell me a little more about the rooms. Is it queen size beds? How far to the bus stops? Also what bldg number and what room numbers they are. We are going in Oct and have royal rooms with garden view but were told that they do not have "connecting royal rooms". We really want connecting rooms so this info would be very helpful when I send in my fax request. Thanks in advance.

 

[SkywayGuy]

Hi just a quick check in. We arrived at 1100 Monday. They are having lots of glitches and problems.

The Disney website had major outage as well, and was down for most of the day last weekend. They must've been having system-wide IT problems. I feel sorry for the CM. Maybe she was frazzled but it would have been considerate if she would have just admitted to all the computer problems!

Hope your week is going well!