Port Orleans Riverside Q&A Thread 2013, Part Three (NOW CLOSED, see 2014 thread)

[siskaren]

It's a mistake. The Royal rooms are only in the mansions.

 

[bombon]

It's a mistake. The Royal rooms are only in the mansions.

Thanks. I figured. Just thought I'd ask. They have quite a few rooms in preferred listed as royal rooms. As nice as they look I think I'll stick with the preferred location. I loved being close to everything

 

[Venomhatch]

I was just playing around the new touring plan's page to see the rooms in each building and I see they have royal rooms listed in building 14. Is this a mistake or could they possibly be adding some royal rooms in these buildings? We stayed in building 15 during our Sept trip and were thinking about requesting building 14 for our next trip. I loved our room how it was but a royal room would be nice too

There is no royal rooms in the AB area.

 

[bombon]

There is no royal rooms in the AB area.

Ya I didn't think so but when I saw it listed I figured I'd ask. Thank you

 

[Venomhatch]

Ya I didn't think so but when I saw it listed I figured I'd ask. Thank you

Yeah no problem

 

[OneBadApple]

You have to pick "garden/2 queens + pull down murphy" to see the AB rooms.

Thanks, I didn't see that option.

 

[castledweller407]

We've had a VIP cleaning done for our rooms before. It is essentially a deep clean for the room. The rugs are shampooed, they replace the air vent filters and do not use harsh chemicals.

So, who do you contact if you would need this type of cleaning done prior to visiting?

 

[rocky41102]

We have a pool view room booked (that was all that was available for free dining), and I was reviewing the touring plans site. We don't have many requests besides wanting to be closer to the food court as we have 3 younger children. Do the times listed for walking to transportation and lobby seem fairly accurate or at least generally close approximations? DH and I stayed at Riverside years ago and I think we were in building 15 then but I can't remember anything about how long the walks were!

 

[jimmiej]

Cool! So it's your 2nd stay - were you Mansion or AB the first time and what are you hoping for this time? The rooms in the mansion look prettier IMO, but the landscaping in AB looks so beautiful, very lush and overgrown. We just requested close to the fishing hole, as we'll be doing as much fishing as we can afford at Disney prices!

We stayed in a Royal Room, River View. It was a beautiful room in an excellent location, right by the bridge. Parterre? This time, we have a King room. No location requests. Are those rooms spread out over the entire resort, or in one certain area?

 

[andrewilley]

I was just playing around the new touring plan's page to see the rooms in each building and I see they have royal rooms listed in building 14. Is this a mistake or could they possibly be adding some royal rooms in these buildings?

It's a mistake, there are still a few glitches to iron out (it's a MASSIVE project after all) such as the top third floor of buildings 85 and 90 needs some tweaking (indeed it needs finding in some cases! ). I had quite long chat on Tuesday with Len from TP.com about that, and Port Orleans's room categories, and tons of other stuff.

We have a pool view room booked (that was all that was available for free dining), and I was reviewing the touring plans site. We don't have many requests besides wanting to be closer to the food court as we have 3 younger children. Do the times listed for walking to transportation and lobby seem fairly accurate or at least generally close approximations?

I would suggest asking for building 18, which is in the general preferred area but there are 6 Pool View category rooms there which are ideally located for you (if you can get one).

I think Touringlans tends to sometimes err on the side of caution with a lot of it's walking (and bus) timings. Even the furthest out rooms at POR are no more than a little over 500 yards from the food court doors, which I reckon should give a maximum walking time of about 7-8 minutes, plus maybe an extra minute or two if you are up stairs? Assuming you go direct and don't stop to sight-see of course, which may not be the case while you are still working out where you are!

We stayed in a Royal Room, River View. It was a beautiful room in an excellent location, right by the bridge. Parterre? This time, we have a King room. No location requests. Are those rooms spread out over the entire resort, or in one certain area?

King Bed rooms are spread out all over the resort and they include rooms with every view type and location (except for the Royal Room buildings).

Your best bet for good King Bed location would be to request a garden view in building 14 in Alligator Bayou, or if you want the mansions then a river-front room in Magnolia Terrace, near to the footbridge to Ol' Man Island, would be very nice. But without any requests you could be almost anywhere. See the floorplans on my site for a quick guide to where they are per building (www.portorleans.org/maps-and-directions.php).

Andre

 

[Skyhawk341]

My last day to customize them was Sunday, they shipped Monday and I got them Tuesday ~ super fast! It should tell you how many more days you have to customize them, then add a couple days

Just echoing your experience, Tarheel Mom. Our last day to customize MB's was Tuesday. Wednesday they were being processed, and they were delivered UPS - synchronizing the world of pixie dust - next day air this morning at 9:50. They shipped out of Memphis, btw (for all you logistics geeks out there).

 

[AmyKat]

Disney Daily News is also reporting that KTTW cards will begin being phased out on Sunday. http://www.wdwinfo.com/news/General_Disney_News/Disney_s_MyMagic_system_doing_more_testing.htm

They seem to think it's going to start slowly with a limited number of guest. I would love to hear from any POR people that check in after Sunday to see if you are given a KTTW card as a back up for your MB.

Andre - I would have loved to have heard your conversation with tp.com. Not only are you the expert on POR and POFQ, but I also think you know more than any other person about any other Disney resort. Does that make sense? Your website is amazing. We are staying at the GF for the first part of our February trip and I can't find 1/100th of the information about GF that is available on your site about POR. Thank you!

 

[kristinesgeorge]

Hi fellow POR friends! I need some advice - we are leaving for WDW in 24 days for a five night stay at POR in a Standard RGR. My son injured himself playing football and now has some mobility issues - our TA has tried to see about getting our RGR reservation changed to one that will put us closer to the footbridge but nothing is available. That combined with the fact that we may not get a fridge (we've ordered groceries so we can have cereal and milk in the room) has me very nervous about our stay - wondering if we should change resorts? I really want to stay here but this trip is more for my 7 and 5 year old and I don't want him to be miserable. I know we can put in a request for a room that is close to the footbridge and we are willing to pay for it - it just sounds like based on what our TA has tried that it isn't available for our week Thanks in advance for any insights!

 

[andrewilley]

They seem to think it's going to start slowly with a limited number of guest. I would love to hear from any POR people that check in after Sunday to see if you are given a KTTW card as a back up for your MB.

Andre - I would have loved to have heard your conversation with tp.com. Not only are you the expert on POR and POFQ, but I also think you know more than any other person about any other Disney resort. Does that make sense? Your website is amazing. We are staying at the GF for the first part of our February trip and I can't find 1/100th of the information about GF that is available on your site about POR. Thank you!

I think the eventual aim will be to issue MBs only, but the last time I checked on the subject KttW cards weren't going to be stopped in the imminent future at either POR or POFQ. I'll check to see if that has changed though.

My only problem with the eventual total switch is that KttW cards can still be read manually (either using the mag stripe, or just visually by reading the writing on the front). With MBs, the ONLY way to check validity is electronically with an RFID reader. e.g. when driving back into the resort I don't usually even wind down the window to get through the security post, I just hold my card up and they wave us in. Can anyone think of any other places where a KttW card is used without scanning it, thus making it easier than using a MB?

Yeah, was great to talk to Len about their project. I suspect he knows as much as pretty-much anyone else outside of the company does about how things work at WDW, but we still shared some new little bits and pieces.

As for the other resorts, well the Poly has Steve (the world famous Tikiman!) as its guru of course, and Coronado Springs has a pretty devoted fan site too (although not too welcome here on the DIS I seem to recall, after a bit of a self-promoting 'sock-puppetry' incident here a few years back). There are a few others, but most are pseudo-travel-agent sites I think, trying to look like fan sites.

Andre

 

[Venomhatch]

I know its a little late today. But I do hope everyone is having a very magical day!

 

[kristinesgeorge]

You too!

 

[Yellowstonetim]

Hi fellow POR friends! I need some advice - we are leaving for WDW in 24 days for a five night stay at POR in a Standard RGR. My son injured himself playing football and now has some mobility issues - our TA has tried to see about getting our RGR reservation changed to one that will put us closer to the footbridge but nothing is available. That combined with the fact that we may not get a fridge (we've ordered groceries so we can have cereal and milk in the room) has me very nervous about our stay - wondering if we should change resorts? I really want to stay here but this trip is more for my 7 and 5 year old and I don't want him to be miserable. I know we can put in a request for a room that is close to the footbridge and we are willing to pay for it - it just sounds like based on what our TA has tried that it isn't available for our week Thanks in advance for any insights!

I can't speak to room availability, but if his mobility issues are going to impact walking the resorts, what about the parks? I would recommend renting him a scooter. My wife had foot surgery and we rented one. It worked fantastic and Disney was amazing at accomodating us everywhere. Don't underestimate the amount of walking at WDW!

On the milk and cereal: Order a $3 styrofoam cooler and use ice from the resort machines which are very convenient to the rooms. We got ice once a day or less and used ziploc bags. It worked fine.

 

[kristinesgeorge]

I can't speak to room availability, but if his mobility issues are going to impact walking the resorts, what about the parks? I would recommend renting him a scooter. My wife had foot surgery and we rented one. It worked fantastic and Disney was amazing at accomodating us everywhere. Don't underestimate the amount of walking at WDW!

On the milk and cereal: Order a $3 styrofoam cooler and use ice from the resort machines which are very convenient to the rooms. We got ice once a day or less and used ziploc bags. It worked fine.

Thanks so much! he is only 7 so probably not to be trusted with a scooter - we have rented a stroller for both of the kids so that should help! We are just trying to be proactive! That is a great tip for the coolers! We are so excited! Gimpy young football player or not, it will be a fun vacay!

 

[karenklo]

Any update for POR on refrigerators being back?? We check in 12/30 and really want to get some breakfast items but would love a fridge! Didn't have one in July at POFQ and it was a pain!

 

[sunset7132]

Thanks so much! he is only 7 so probably not to be trusted with a scooter - we have rented a stroller for both of the kids so that should help! We are just trying to be proactive! That is a great tip for the coolers! We are so excited! Gimpy young football player or not, it will be a fun vacay!

You used a scooter and were ok with it? We had a trip planned for the last year and I had unexpected knee surgery and I wanted to cancel my husband begged me not to do with writing me a scooter and I feel So Uncomfortable with that have never ridden one . Trips coming up in two weeks and I'm so nervous about the scooter thing