Yes, please! I'll be there at the end of April and love to hear how people's stays were and if the did anything fun at the resort.
I would love to hear about your trip. We are going to POR for the first time in October. We have always stayed at CBR and I am really excited about the change.
OK.
A quick note: I'm really really open and honest with reports. I will mention the good and the bad. So just because there's less chipper stuff, it doesn't mean it was a bad stay. I really really liked the place. I'm just also really honest.
We stayed in a Royal room, riverview, for just 2 short nights (one of which was partially over by the time we got there). Got a corner room, which was nice. I mentioned towards the end of the old thread, I think, that I had some problems slipping on that blue "marble" room divider thing between bedroom and vanity, and the lobby concierge knew what I was about to tell him before I finished my sentence. It's a common complaint, apparently. I didn't want anything, nor was I offered anything...I just wanted them to KNOW that it was a problem. I even slipped on it while barefoot, which shows how slippery it is.
DH had injured himself just before the trip (actually a cascade of injuries) and was using a cane, and the walk just to the QS or the pool was horrible for him. He absolutely refuses a
scooter, and ended up spending most of our full day there in the room, sleeping and resting. Poor guy. But we did hit the hot tub that evening, for therapeutic purposes of course.
Is the owl near Parterre real, or is it like the crickets at WL? I couldn't tell. When we got in, the Bell guy who drove us to the room (and talked really loud, and I'm really sorry to the people whose rooms we walked by with the rolling cart and chatty Bell guy...then again, we realized we could barely hear ANYTHING outside our room, even with the two sets of windows, it's that well insulated) mentioned that there's an owl there, and a little later when DS and I went in search of bottled water vending machines we actually heard a hooting. Only at Disney do I wonder if something is fake or real!
The whole FEEL of the place is really nice. I loved the look of Parterre, where we were. The Royal room wouldn't be necessary going forward, though. We did it because we had free nights through hotels.com but in the future would likely book a cheaper option. The headboards lighting up was really pretty, but alas the last Disney resort we were in was DLH where you have headboard fireworks AND "a dream is a wish your heart makes" playing, and that sort of ruined the amazingness of the Royal headboard lights for us.
I also have to say...there are princess pictures in the room, and that would be fine, except about half of them have the "new" princess face, which looks awful to me. A nice classic Cinderella (etc) face would have been fine, but the sort of Bratz doll style they have now isn't something nice to look at *to me*. It really brought down the niceness of the room for me. So I really do not need to stay in those rooms.
But I loved the wallpaper border up under the ceiling, especially the one in the vanity. I don't have pictures uploaded yet though. And the bathroom fixtures were quite clever.
And in THAT room at least, the shampoo/conditioner bottles had mickey ear caps on them.
We had two meals there, breakfast and dinner, and found it to be good. I had the omelet in the morning and the pasta in the evening, and really liked the way they did the "create your own" thing.
While at the restaurant we met a really lovely man who did his best to convince DH to get a scooter (DH and the man are both "men of size" BUT their problems are not simply because of that, so they bonded), and we got to watch a "signing of the paperwork" moment for a young woman with her future college paperwork.
When we went to the pool that night, my son had a GREAT time. There were some rowdy teens taking up vast amounts of space in the pool, and playing with a REAL football (hello people, that could hurt someone!) IN the pool, but you could find places where they wouldn't run in to you, and if you were sure to pay attention you might not be smacked in the head with a stray football. But there were also many younger kids, and my son found about 6 of them and they had an AMAZING time. He's rapidly approaching 9, he will join the swim team at the Y soon, so I was fine with him playing with all those kids...it was really nice to not have to be in arm's reach of him and to let him PLAY.
The hot tub is WAY too small, for the number of people wanting to use it. And while we were there, there were two jets that were pretty much shooting up in the air. There was almost always a person or two willing to sit pressed up against the jets to keep the water from getting others, but still, I hope it's been reported (I forgot to) and fixed by now.
And they need another hot tub, perhaps the size of the wading pool I first thought/hoped was the hot tub! We met some really nice people there, too. Eventually DH got out to go laze in a hammock, which wasn't THE best idea for someone relying on a cane, but the time he spend actually IN the hammock was time he enjoyed.
After we left, my sheepish son confessed that he had not only brought his wallet to the pool in his shorts, without telling us he was doing that (with about $50 in money he'd saved up through the year), but he had decided to put it on a dry spot at the pool (that sort of island?) then had forgotten it.
We rushed back, he asked the kids he had been playing with, and they said they had seen it and gave it to their mom. Went over to the mom (in the hot tub!) and she had it. Honest people!!!!
Now I know you can't guarantee that there will be kind, nice, honest people at any given hotel, but we got the jackpot with the people at POR during our stay, from the nice man on the scooter, to the happy college-bound-girl family, to the family who were happy to hand the wallet back (and happy to not have to take it to the front desk). After the fact I realized I should have had DS offer a reward, but I didn't think about it at the time. If it was one of you, THANK YOU.
After that, I let DS play on the play structure there on the path from the pool, which was a lot of fun for him.
We were leaving on the morning of the 7th for a short
Disney cruise, and Bell Services was happy to store a couple of our bags for us for those days. The bag pickup for the cruise itself went well. We were then free to wander and have breakfast. DH had given in and started taking ibuprofen by then, but it was still a slow walk especially with our carryons, then we made our way to the meeting spot for the
DCL bus. If only I had realized it's all one big building LOL, instead of taking us allll the way around. Whoops!
I did a bit of shopping (Dh finally convinced me to get the hard-shell Heys rolly carryon, so I needed to do a quick unpack and repack there at the Roost) and then we bid POR adieu!
We *definitely* have to go back for a longer stay. The feel and look of the resort was just so nice. We want to swim in the quiet pool near Parterre. I want to walk around some more (hopefully with a husband who isn't injured) and maybe see Yeehaw Bob (is that right?) and really relax.
So now I have to look at what sort of rooms we want for that.
) But we realized we really just wanted the atmosphere. Most of the lunch choices were more appealing to us, and it's the same atmosphere, so saving some beaucoup bucks was a no brainer, and we're doing lunch instead! 
to posting! Your trip sounds like a wonderful way to celebrate your anniversary! The way time flies it'll be here before you know it!
We haven't been away for more than a night or two by ourselves in well over 10 years! Like I told Venom before you all think we are meanies for leaving the boys home, they are happy for us (they asked that we bring back a present for them of course 
