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

[Missytara]

Hi Everyone! We are going to POR for the first time and staying in a royal room!! Reading this thread has made us even more excited...if possible! I had a question about mailing stuff down prior. I did read the sticky and I know not to use the US postal service and saw the address to send it to. But I was curious if anyone has done this before and if it was as easy as it seems. We will have diapers, wipes, formula and all the stuff that comes along with a 3 year old and an infant (who will be turning 1 while we are there). Has anyone come across any issues?? It seems well worth it to us but want to be sure.

One more question. I know there is no way to know about early check in bc it depends on availability buuuuut do you think sending down a request a few days earlier will help us at all?!?

Thanks in advance for any info.

~Jodi

There is a sticky at the top of the board called "shipping to your resort." Follow the instructions carefully.

 

[Missytara]

I know in the past if you had extra bags you had to call a number the night before we are flying delta but get 2 free bags a person, we booked our tickets with my father who has the perks of 2 free bags each for traveling companions. Do we just bring our bags to the RAC desk and they will just take them or how does it work?

Just go to the desk and they can take care of it. Last time we had military personnel who had free bags, and it came up right on the computer.

 

[Stinkerbell's Mommy]

We are currently booked 8/31 - 9/8 in a RR Garden View. Of course the dining news came out today, or at least a pretty good rumor of what it will be, and it doesn't include our check in.

If we rebook as a room only for 8/31 and 9/1 in the same category and change our package to 9/2 - 9/8, what are the chances we will be able to stay in the same room for the entire trip? We had already planned on hanging at the hotel our first day and not going to the parks until 9/2. So the room only doesn't change our plans much at all.

 

[Missytara]

We are currently booked 8/31 - 9/8 in a RR Garden View. Of course the dining news came out today, or at least a pretty good rumor of what it will be, and it doesn't include our check in.

If we rebook as a room only for 8/31 and 9/1 in the same category and change our package to 9/2 - 9/8, what are the chances we will be able to stay in the same room for the entire trip? We had already planned on hanging at the hotel our first day and not going to the parks until 9/2. So the room only doesn't change our plans much at all.

Link your ressies and request not to be moved.

 

[zomama]

Does the pool have life jackets for the kids to wear or should I pack their puddle jumpers?

 

[germ539]

If I call and request more tags will they mail them directly to me or will they go to the TA then we have to retrieve them from her?

Also if you call them, how long does it take to get the extras to you?

Hellooooo, anyone know?

 

[Jods313]

Hi and thank you for the welcome. We are headed to our RR mid June!! Can't wait!!! I will be sure to report back to this board when we return!

 

[fadingjamie]

Hellooooo, anyone know?

Did your Mickey Mail come directly to you in the mail? If it did, I would imagine the tags would come the same way. I have never needed to ask for more tags so I can't help you with the timing part.

 

[headedtoWDW]

We just got home tonight from out POR trip and it was wonderful! I was so impressed with the Riverside Resort, it was very beautiful, the staff was nice, the food was decent and the pools were great. We had great luck with transportation and never waited very long (if at all) for the buses/boats. My daughter LOVED the Royal Room (as did I!), and it was just a perfect trip. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask. We stayed for 7 nights, took the Magical Express, used the resort check-in for our bags....the works.

Thanks again for all the advice and help offered here!

 

[Venomhatch]

Hellooooo, anyone know?

Well if you went through a TA it will probably go to them. In some cases you can request them to send it to you. Depends on the CM and how nice you ask them to send it directly to you.

 

[germ539]

Well if you went through a TA it will probably go to them. In some cases you can request them to send it to you. Depends on the CM and how nice you ask them to send it directly to you.

We haven't got our Mickey Mail yet either, I was going to wait until next week to call ME to get more tags (hopefully our Mickey Mail will come this week, we leave May 26). I would rather them come straight to us, I'm not that impressed with our AAA TA (long story) and am impatient on getting the Mickey mail first before I call ME to request more. Our TA said we could cut the tags in half and use them that way, but I am unsure about doing that until I see how long they are and if that would even work.

 

[scifihippie]

Looking for some suggestions on requesting a building/room. I'm a single mom taking my 7 and 6 year olds by myself. When we've gone before with their dad, we did POFQ building 4. I was thinking about POR in a royal room for something different. Looking to stay near the food court and buses since I will be by myself with them. Suggestions?

Also, my return flight leaves mco at 7am. Yikes! (Used miles). Would you think taking the ME the day before to the airport and just spending the night at the airport Hilton? Or how early does the ME run?

 

[SkywayGuy]

thanks good to know.wondering if there are any flight delays now with all the furloughs thanks to our gov.

There have been delays and CANCELLATIONS. A group from my office today had a last minute cancellation for a transatlantic flight. The flight was through United. They had checked their flight before going to the airport, and were informed once they got there it was canceled. There was no explanation given but the best guess was due to the FAA cutbacks.

 

[scrappinggirl]

I asked earlier about freezers in the the refridge in the rooms. Someone was kind enough to post a pic of a refridge and it did not have a freezer in it.
I was wondering if I could get ice or an ice pack anywhere at the resort?
I pulled my back out 3 weeks ago and need to ice it. Planned on bringing a gel ice pack with me but not sure what my options are on how to freeze it?

Thank you
Michelle

 

[SkywayGuy]

I asked earlier about freezers in the the refridge in the rooms. Someone was kind enough to post a pic of a refridge and it did not have a freezer in it.
I was wondering if I could get ice or an ice pack anywhere at the resort?
I pulled my back out 3 weeks ago and need to ice it. Planned on bringing a gel ice pack with me but not sure what my options are on how to freeze it?

Thank you
Michelle

You can always just use ice from the ice machines at your resort. Brings a box of Zip lock bags and you're set!

 

[dansdad]

Looking for some suggestions on requesting a building/room. I'm a single mom taking my 7 and 6 year olds by myself. When we've gone before with their dad, we did POFQ building 4. I was thinking about POR in a royal room for something different. Looking to stay near the food court and buses since I will be by myself with them. Suggestions?

If staying in a Royal Room and you request close to food court, that will also put you close to the South Depot bus stop.

Also, my return flight leaves mco at 7am. Yikes! (Used miles). Would you think taking the ME the day before to the airport and just spending the night at the airport Hilton? Or how early does the ME run?

That's up to you. ME runs 24 hours a day and with a 7AM flight, your ME bus pick up time would be 4AM.

 

[debedo]

We leave 1 week from today !! Whoop Whoop

Sent our fax in today ! Thanks Andre and Venom for all the information. It has been so helpful.

Got everything ready to go and can't wait to get 'home'

 

[DanInMN]

Our 20th wedding anniversary is at the end of July, but I can't take time off my job until fall. We were thinking of taking an adults-only resort-only visit to POR in September/October.

Then we looked into a Royal Caribbean cruise instead, as it's all-inclusive and would be slightly cheaper.

But with today's prediction of FD in September I think we will visit POR 9/21 - 9/29 and buy the 2+ days of park tickets required to get FD. It's still expensive, although I do have enough points to get free air!

I work regular business hours managing IT for a major airport, then teach people to fly on evenings and weekends. So I'm pretty busy 7 days a week, 12-16 hours a day (no flight instructing when the weather is bad though). I definitely need a vacation!

 

[andrewilley]

One more question. I know there is no way to know about early check in bc it depends on availability buuuuut do you think sending down a request a few days earlier will help us at all?!?

I would guess it would make your chances worse to be honest. If someone assigns you a specific room number, then unless that room happens to be vacant on the day before you arrive, it will depend on what time the previous guests leave.

If they can select your room from the whole Ready pool when you get there, or even an hour or two before if you've done online checkin, you probably stand a better chance.

Andre

 

[zabache]

We just got home tonight from out POR trip and it was wonderful! I was so impressed with the Riverside Resort, it was very beautiful, the staff was nice, the food was decent and the pools were great. We had great luck with transportation and never waited very long (if at all) for the buses/boats. My daughter LOVED the Royal Room (as did I!), and it was just a perfect trip. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask. We stayed for 7 nights, took the Magical Express, used the resort check-in for our bags....the works.

Thanks again for all the advice and help offered here!

Great to hear you had a nice time. I'm son looking forward to staying in the RR. We're also staying 7 nights.