I was concerned that it was bed bugs and he confirmed it wasn't.
Even if it was bed bugs, that would not be a good reason to change resorts.
Bed bugs are usually NOTHING to do with any particular hotel, and they generally get brought in to a room unknowingly by incoming guests and this can happen at any hotel, anywhere, regardless of who runs it or the price you paid for the room - bedbugs can't read or check account balances.
What
is important though is what is done if bed bugs do happen to be found, and Disney have excellent policies to deal with any discovered infestations immediately and will completely deep clean that room before allowing any guests back in.
So my real question is: what is the likelihood of being able to remain in our room the entire stay? I realize that there is a big difference between gardenview and preferred rooms. I don't really want to change rooms 3 times.
It is very likely that you will be able to stay in the same room, although not absolutely guaranteed of course. The room assignment team actually run regular searches on upcoming bookings looking for continuing reservations, especially during the start and end of offer periods where this sort of thing is quite common.
It might help if you let them know the Preferred Location booking was only made as it was the only thing available to you, and so you don't mind being downgraded to simple Garden View for the second part of your stay should that be necessary to keep you in the same room. If the resort is 100% full it would be easier for them to do that, as they could just pixie-dust upgrade someone else's Garden View booking to a preferred room.
Try to make sure your bookings are linked in the reservations system, and a note is made in the requests section. You could also fax a few days before you arrive asking to stay in the same room - you never know, you might even get placed in a preferred Garden View from day one.
Maybe we can come over there to the UK for vacation or holiday.
Yeah, you could get away from all that nasty warm Florida sunshine and enjoy some cold, foggy rain-filled days over here...

Hope things are going better for you and your family now.
My question to all you experts at this hotel is what would you recomend for a building number? We would like to be close to transportation and pool. Prefered lodging was sold out so I was thinking of just doing plain standard view (want to cut costs) but looking to find the right building. Would you recommend paying more for garden/pool view? We are a family of five (DS6, DD4, Dneice 13). I am not picky as to staying in the Mansions vs the Bayou style?
As your group is five people you will definitely be in Alligator Bayou. Personally I'd suggest paying the extra $10/night for a Garden View room just to avoid the possibility of looking out over a parking lot, but it's up to you, even the parking lot views are not ugly. Buildings 16 and 17 are the best to request for easy access to the main areas without actually making a Preferred Location booking, and to be honest the rooms there are pretty-much as close as many of the preferred ones anyway. See
www.portorleans.org/room-requests.php for more ideas.
First, my sister would like to know if there are irons in the room? Apparently, this is a very big concern for her...and she just mentioned it to me tonight.
Second, I did put in a room request to be closer to the food court and also to be in one of the mansion rooms. If this request doesn't work out is it possible for me to request an upgrade (that I would be willing to pay for of course)?
Yes there are irons and ironing boards in all the rooms (see the FAQ in the first post).
Make sure your request is added to your original booking reservation first, and then fax the resort a few days before you arrive to expand on that and explain in more detail what you want. Again, the first post in this thread can help you with doing that.
Port Orleans is usually pretty good at helping with guest requests, but do remember that it cannot be guaranteed. You can always ask about an upgrade at the front desk when you arrive if you're not happy with what you are offered; if the resort is not at 100% capacity I'm sure they'd work with you (whether they actually charge you any extra is a another matter, the fact that you have offered might be sufficient).
Andre