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

[andrewilley]

Do the top floors tend to be quieter or is this just an idea I have in my head?

Yes they do tend to be quieter, sounds like it would be a good fit for you. Of course a ground floor might be fine too, just depends on who happens to be above you which you can never predict.

Andre

 

[firstwdw]

Yes they do tend to be quieter, sounds like it would be a good fit for you. Of course a ground floor might be fine too, just depends on who happens to be above you which you can never predict.

Andre

THANK YOU yet once again Andre I will go with my first thought and request top floor! We paid for preferred and I was planning to request top floor, non-parking lot view and if at all possible building 14 but maybe the building 14 is pushing my luck.....

 

[cad300]

Hmm, romantic King Bed room... if you want the mansions, then a river view such as 8774 in Magnolia Terrace would be very nice; that's a corner room and it overlooks the marina too, plus you might get to see some carriage rides going past in the evening. There are quite a few King Bed rooms around there that would be lovely too, see the floorplan maps I created.

Andre

Thanks, Andre. Just sent it in! 5 days....getting pumped!!

 

[hineline07]

We're going on our first trip in April, I'm so excited I can barely sleep at night... And we still have 42 sleeps to go, lol! We're staying in the RR standard room... I would like to be close to the food court but also near a pool... It will be myself, DH, DD (5), and DS (3 months)... Just wondering what I should request as far as building, floor, etc... Thanks so much! Can't wait to go on our first Disney trip

My question must have got overlooked somehow... Also wanted to ask when the movie info will be posted for April and where they do the campfires at? Thanks again!

 

[webstah]

I can't speak for the movie schedule, but the camp fire is next to the locker rooms at the main pool. If you go over to where the locker rooms are, you can see the covered firepit.

 

[longhorns2]

Just checked in and it's less than magical

Had bags transferred from CSR. Was told they would be delivered to my room. When I asked at front desk if they were she said to check with bell services. I did. They said go to luggage services (or something like that) I've had a long week and long day- and the last thing I want is to be bounced around. I just want to know if bags are in my room

Get to luggage and they hand them over. 3 large bags and me holding another full of souvenirs. Any offer of assistance? Nope. Ok then... Off I go

Struggle to get to my room. 3 carts with drivers pass me- no one offers to help though I'm clearly struggling. My fault for not asking sooner at bell services, but I was told at CSR it would be delivered

Get to oak manor. Yay! Fudge. Elevator is dark. Call number on key card. Transferred to someone else at POR who says dont get into elevator. Um, duh. It's dead. No lights no sounds. Clearly I'm not getting in. She says power is out in elevator.

I ask if I need to take my four bags up 3 flights by myself? She says let me transfer you

Yep. To bell services. Where I started. Guy says I know what builiding you're in- well find you. I tried to tell him exactly where I was but he hung up on me

I burst into tears. Kind resort guest with sweet little Lucy saved me. Carried my bags up to my room. If that's one of you- thank you

Get to my room

Hey--- no power. So not just elevator. Whole building

Call front desk. She says we know- sorry- have a magical day

Really? I wish that was exaggeration but its exactly what she said. I just cried.

The room may be lovely but the staff leaves a lot to be desired.

Or I'm over tired and overwhelmed but either way- it ain't magical.

 

[Isbell5]

Oh wow! I'm so sorry! We check-in tomorrow at POR!

 

[longhorns2]

6:30. Still no power

Talked to concierge and they were sympathetic- said help should have been offered. That was all I wanted. She credited my room a bit as well which was more than I needed.

But I still haven't seen my room. Lol. It's been overcast all day so it was dark at 3 and darker now. RGR. Sure it's cute- but I wouldn't know. Sigh.

 

[UsualNoise]

6:30. Still no power

Just came on in our room at 6:48. Yay! We check out tomorrow, hope the rest of your trip is smoother. POR is really a beautiful resort.

 

[longhorns2]

I'm at Epcot. Hope it's back on! Thanks for the heads up.

 

[UsualNoise]

Removing duplicate post, phone submitted twice!

 

[FancyNancy]

Just did online check in today. I can't believe that in just 59 days I'll be enjoyjng my first stay at POR!

 

[Venomhatch]

Been sick but I am back. Good afternoon everyone.

 

[ttcl516]

Just checked in and it's less than magical

Oh wow...sorry to hear about your day. I really hope it does get better!!

 

[scrappinggirl]

Just checked in and it's less than magical

Had bags transferred from CSR. Was told they would be delivered to my room. When I asked at front desk if they were she said to check with bell services. I did. They said go to luggage services (or something like that) I've had a long week and long day- and the last thing I want is to be bounced around. I just want to know if bags are in my room

Get to luggage and they hand them over. 3 large bags and me holding another full of souvenirs. Any offer of assistance? Nope. Ok then... Off I go

Struggle to get to my room. 3 carts with drivers pass me- no one offers to help though I'm clearly struggling. My fault for not asking sooner at bell services, but I was told at CSR it would be delivered

Get to oak manor. Yay! Fudge. Elevator is dark. Call number on key card. Transferred to someone else at POR who says dont get into elevator. Um, duh. It's dead. No lights no sounds. Clearly I'm not getting in. She says power is out in elevator.

I ask if I need to take my four bags up 3 flights by myself? She says let me transfer you

Yep. To bell services. Where I started. Guy says I know what builiding you're in- well find you. I tried to tell him exactly where I was but he hung up on me

I burst into tears. Kind resort guest with sweet little Lucy saved me. Carried my bags up to my room. If that's one of you- thank you

Get to my room

Hey--- no power. So not just elevator. Whole building

Call front desk. She says we know- sorry- have a magical day

Really? I wish that was exaggeration but its exactly what she said. I just cried.

The room may be lovely but the staff leaves a lot to be desired.

Or I'm over tired and overwhelmed but either way- it ain't magical.

Wow, so sorry u had a bad experience. I hope u have a better day tomorrow. I remember having a bad experience checking into POFQ after a long day. I waited in a long line at the hotel, checked in and headed to our room. Figured out that we had a room half way in the resort and on the third floor. We had to find our way to the front to ask for a room closer to the front. They were accommodating and off we went to find the new room but I dropped my credit card. Luckily someone found it and brought it to the front desk but I didn't take the phone call to our room stating they had it and walked back to the front, just wanting to go to bed, had to wait in line again and then was told they couldn't give me my credit card without my license! I wanted to cry I was so pissed, I told them that person over there just checked me in, helped me. But they wouldn't give me my credit card back, so I had to remember where my room was and then go back to the front again. I was so steaming at that point. But after a good night sleep I woke up in DISNEY, I felt better about it. I didn't have any other bad experiences and every other person I spoke to was really nice.
I hope you have a wonderful time!

 

[Venomhatch]

Just checked in and it's less than magical

Had bags transferred from CSR. Was told they would be delivered to my room. When I asked at front desk if they were she said to check with bell services. I did. They said go to luggage services (or something like that) I've had a long week and long day- and the last thing I want is to be bounced around. I just want to know if bags are in my room

Get to luggage and they hand them over. 3 large bags and me holding another full of souvenirs. Any offer of assistance? Nope. Ok then... Off I go

Struggle to get to my room. 3 carts with drivers pass me- no one offers to help though I'm clearly struggling. My fault for not asking sooner at bell services, but I was told at CSR it would be delivered

Get to oak manor. Yay! Fudge. Elevator is dark. Call number on key card. Transferred to someone else at POR who says dont get into elevator. Um, duh. It's dead. No lights no sounds. Clearly I'm not getting in. She says power is out in elevator.

I ask if I need to take my four bags up 3 flights by myself? She says let me transfer you

Yep. To bell services. Where I started. Guy says I know what builiding you're in- well find you. I tried to tell him exactly where I was but he hung up on me

I burst into tears. Kind resort guest with sweet little Lucy saved me. Carried my bags up to my room. If that's one of you- thank you

Get to my room

Hey--- no power. So not just elevator. Whole building

Call front desk. She says we know- sorry- have a magical day

Really? I wish that was exaggeration but its exactly what she said. I just cried.

The room may be lovely but the staff leaves a lot to be desired.

Or I'm over tired and overwhelmed but either way- it ain't magical.

What building are you in? I will call the right people and find out why!

 

[UsualNoise]

Just wanted to say that other than today's power outage (due to strong storms moving through the area) we've had a great time at this resort; we check out tomorrow. I have to say, walking along the river at night from Parterre Place down to the footbridge was one of the best Disney moments I've ever experienced in my three trips down here. It really felt like it could have been the early 1900s based on the ambience, landscaping, and architecture. I've been at the Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and now Port Orleans Riverside and this is my favorite. Yeah it's cool to see animals roaming outside your window (as we had last time) but for the overall experience this has been my favorite.

The surroundings are so great I actually found myself looking for excuses to walk to the lobby / restaurant area just to take it all in again. If anyone is wondering about whether to stay here ... don't! For full disclosure we're in a Royal Guest Room which, while cool, didn't really make a huge difference for me personally. Just kind of a nice bonus to the rest of the resort experience. If anyone is interested, I'll be posting the financial details of this trip in the appropriate thread (after we hit Beaches & Cream before we leave tomorrow!)

 

[longhorns2]

What building are you in? I will call the right people and find out why!

Thanks venom. It's fine- when I came back from Epcot I had power! I was in oak manor

My room was lovely-once I was able to see it! Lol
the grounds beautiful. I still had issues with magical express and spent more time at concierge late last night. Roosts nest was also terrible service- i finally left since no one wanted to serve me. Yesterday at POR was not my day. Maybe next time.

Bell services took care of me this morning (on magical express now) and the end of the trip was good. . I might try POR again but I'll need some time to shake off my disappointment.

I believe the lights were due to weather. But I thought a hotel in hurricane world would have backup generator? Guess not! That wasn't my issue- the way things were handled was the issue

Lindsay at concierge and Brandon and bruna in the general store were great. I sent a small gift to the little girl who's dad helped me- Brandon and bruna helped with that.

So question about bell devices and transferring bags- they do not deliver to room automatically? Is that anyone else's experience?

 

[longhorns2]

Wow, so sorry u had a bad experience. I hope u have a better day tomorrow. I remember having a bad experience checking into POFQ after a long day. I waited in a long line at the hotel, checked in and headed to our room. Figured out that we had a room half way in the resort and on the third floor. We had to find our way to the front to ask for a room closer to the front. They were accommodating and off we went to find the new room but I dropped my credit card. Luckily someone found it and brought it to the front desk but I didn't take the phone call to our room stating they had it and walked back to the front, just wanting to go to bed, had to wait in line again and then was told they couldn't give me my credit card without my license! I wanted to cry I was so pissed, I told them that person over there just checked me in, helped me. But they wouldn't give me my credit card back, so I had to remember where my room was and then go back to the front again. I was so steaming at that point. But after a good night sleep I woke up in DISNEY, I felt better about it. I didn't have any other bad experiences and every other person I spoke to was really nice.
I hope you have a wonderful time!

Oh goodness! Yes- it was that kind of day for me. I'm on my way home today. Maybe next time will be better.

 

[andrewilley]

Just checked in and it's less than magical

Had bags transferred from CSR. Was told they would be delivered to my room.

...

My fault for not asking sooner at bell services, but I was told at CSR it would be delivered

...

Hey--- no power. So not just elevator. Whole building

Ouch, not exactly what you want when you check in!!! I'm sorry about your bad experience.

I know this won't help you now as the damage is already done, but in case anyone else has the same sort of issues: CSR were wrong when they said your bags would be delivered to your room automatically. The only way that happens is with Magical Express bags, otherwise Bell Services staff are not allowed to enter a guest's room unless the guest is present.

What should have happened (and it sounds like everything was a bit chaotic at the time so you were not told this, but CSR should have said it too) is that you simply call and let Bell Services know your room number once you've checked-in, and then they will bring your bags directly up to your room once you are in there. But you do need to ask them to do this, otherwise if you just go and collect your bags then they can't know what you want (for example someone might be picking up their bags ready to put in their car to leave).

The power problem really does sound like the icing on the cake though; if a whole building (or was it wider than that?) was without power I'm sure the staff were urgently doing their best to resolve the problem, but with anything like this I guess it can take time. By the way, you do know that calls to the front desks of all Disney resorts go to one central call center, not even located on property, so no doubt they have received a number of calls about this problem which they had passed on to the resort maintenance teams, but there's not a lot else they can do from where they are.

It might be worth raising these points (in person) with someone from guest services at the front desk while you are there, as it does sound like the biggest problem was mis-information and no-one letting you know what could be done to help. Ask to speak to a guest services manager and let them know how your arrival went (aside from the power issue which was beyond their control) as I know that is NOT how they would want a guest to first experience the resort.

[Edit: I see you have left now anyway, glad it picked up a bit anyway. I do know that WDW not only has generators, but they even run two full POWER STATIONS on property which supplement the grid power - one is just behind Test Track and Mission Space for example. However if a local/building substation had blown due to the weather, no amount of generators would help as the problem is getting the power to where its needed, rather than actually generating the power in the first place]

Andre