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

[archrd]

Does anyone know if they sell distilled water in the gift shop that would be suitable for a sleep apnea machine?

 

[dsnydaddy]

Oh, I'd like to know this, as well- even though we'll be arriving at around 11 am.

I always do online checkin. When you arrive you still have to stand in line and present your ID to a CM and receive you check in packet. I don't really see any difference in the process at all except in the assignment of charges. Now come up with a checkin that allows me to go without line and head right to my room!

 

[lillykat]

53 days to go here! Super excited about our first trip with DS4 and DH and I's first trip as adults, as well as celebrating my birthday our first full day in Disney. Touring plans is showing a 'projected' resort level of 1 on the day we arrive - Feb 25th. Unfortunately our party of 3 will be arriving at about 6-6:30PM. I'll be 5 months pregnant at the time of our trip and am really hoping to be in one of the Mansion buildings so we can avoid long walks to food options and bus stops (I also enjoy the look of those rooms to those in AB). I plan to call and have this added manually to our reservation as well as send the fax 5 days out. My questions are: for relative newbies to the process do you recommend online check in? Do you get more of the 'Disney experience' and CM attention at check in if you just check in normally when you arrive as opposed to online check in? Also is my luck much worse with a late check in as far as room requests go or will the low resort levels and the fax help? Thanks for your thoughts!

The day we arrived we got ME and were 1st in line with online checkin. Versus a huge line of people at the regular checkin. Has been the same at other hotels as well. We like online check in very quick.

 

[katielafave]

53 days to go here! Super excited about our first trip with DS4 and DH and I's first trip as adults, as well as celebrating my birthday our first full day in Disney. Touring plans is showing a 'projected' resort level of 1 on the day we arrive - Feb 25th. Unfortunately our party of 3 will be arriving at about 6-6:30PM. I'll be 5 months pregnant at the time of our trip and am really hoping to be in one of the Mansion buildings so we can avoid long walks to food options and bus stops (I also enjoy the look of those rooms to those in AB). I plan to call and have this added manually to our reservation as well as send the fax 5 days out. My questions are: for relative newbies to the process do you recommend online check in? Do you get more of the 'Disney experience' and CM attention at check in if you just check in normally when you arrive as opposed to online check in? Also is my luck much worse with a late check in as far as room requests go or will the low resort levels and the fax help? Thanks for your thoughts!

We went in October 2013. I sent a fax and did online check in. We arrived to POR around 8:30 pm and had no wait to check in and got exactly the room we requested. We booked Preferred and requested first floor, outside corner, close to food/bus (which is kind of a given with Preferred). We got all requests and check in took no time at all with a super friendly, bubbly CM.

 

[KanataDad]

POFQ or POR Royal room Dec 2014?

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We just got back from our very first trip to DW in Dec 2013. We stayed at AoA Lion King suites. We booked a "bounce back" to POR Royal Room (for our 2 DD) but comments say that those are furthest from the pools and far from bus stop. So we're thinking of changing to POFQ but don't know if DDs will be disappointed with the décor.

POFQ seems smaller and compact and seems great for getting to/from pool, bus and main building for younger kids.

AoA was great as a first resort but we wanted to try moderate to take advantage of the bounce back discount (which cannot be used at AoA).
Any thoughts from anyone who has been to both these resorts (POFQ and POR Royal room)?

[Note : Also posted on POFQ thread]

 

[HeatherLassell]

So it looks like POR will stop giving out KTTW cards as of January 7th!

So when I check in on Monday January 6th I should have no problem still getting a KTTW card for each member of my family? I've heard so many horror stories about the bands that I want the cards for backup.

It looks like a full roll out to all the other resorts by the end of January...I wonder how soon the Legacy FP machines will all disappear.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

So it looks like POR will stop giving out KTTW cards as of January 7th!

So when I check in on Monday January 6th I should have no problem still getting a KTTW card for each member of my family? I've heard so many horror stories about the bands that I want the cards for backup.

It looks like a full roll out to all the other resorts by the end of January...I wonder how soon the Legacy FP machines will all disappear.

This is the 1st I have seen this. Do you mind sharing your source?

 

[JillianLeigh]

I'm new to this thread, and haven't had time to read past the first few FAQ posts, so please forgive me if this has been asked before!

I think I've decided on POR for our family vacation 11/13-11/18 2014. This will be our first stay at any of the moderate resorts. We usually try to do deluxe, but have also stayed at the All Stars. Looking at pictures of POR has me really excited about our trip... first as parents!

There will be 3 of us. Me, DH, and DS who will be 25 months at that time. I'm assuming we will need a crib/PNP for DS. Is there space in the rooms for one to fit comfortably? Especially in the Alligator Bayou rooms, it looks like the Murphy bed even closed would take up quite a bit of space. I wouldn't mind him having to sleep in the sink area of the bathroom. Or would an upgrade to a King room be better?

Who knows, maybe he'll surprise me and by then sleep well in the extra queen bed!

 

[HeatherLassell]

This is the 1st I have seen this. Do you mind sharing your source?

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2014/01/all-walt-disney-world-hotels-testing.html?m=1

There you go

 

[carmelhp]

Does anyone know if they sell distilled water in the gift shop that would be suitable for a sleep apnea machine?

Very unlikely. The gift shop has a very, very limited selection of health/beauty items, only a few shelves and only very basic.

 

[LisaTC]

Does anyone know if they sell distilled water in the gift shop that would be suitable for a sleep apnea machine?

You could, if they don't have the distilled water, just have it shipped from Amazon to the resort. Pretty easy. Actually, some bottled water is purified by distillation, that may be an option. My tech said on vacation, it doesn't hurt to use the bottled water.

 

[Princess Michele]

POFQ or POR Royal room Dec 2014?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We just got back from our very first trip to DW in Dec 2013. We stayed at AoA Lion King suites. We booked a "bounce back" to POR Royal Room (for our 2 DD) but comments say that those are furthest from the pools and far from bus stop. So we're thinking of changing to POFQ but don't know if DDs will be disappointed with the décor.

POFQ seems smaller and compact and seems great for getting to/from pool, bus and main building for younger kids.

AoA was great as a first resort but we wanted to try moderate to take advantage of the bounce back discount (which cannot be used at AoA).
Any thoughts from anyone who has been to both these resorts (POFQ and POR Royal room)?

[Note : Also posted on POFQ thread]

The Royal Guest Rooms in the Oak mansion are not far from anything. We stayed in a room in the Oak mansion and had no problems getting around to anything. My kids loved the Royal room. I have not stayed at POFQ yet. We will be staying there on our July trip. We wanted to stay at POR but could not get the deal at POR that we could get at POFQ so we are switching.

Go the the Port Orleans website and look at the maps for the two resorts. You can then see if the Royal rooms will be to far for our family. The website is www.portorleans.org. I don't know how old your daughters are but if it were me I would stay in the Royal room and enjoy these magical times.

Michele

 

[lillykat]

POFQ or POR Royal room Dec 2014? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We just got back from our very first trip to DW in Dec 2013. We stayed at AoA Lion King suites. We booked a "bounce back" to POR Royal Room (for our 2 DD) but comments say that those are furthest from the pools and far from bus stop. So we're thinking of changing to POFQ but don't know if DDs will be disappointed with the décor. POFQ seems smaller and compact and seems great for getting to/from pool, bus and main building for younger kids. AoA was great as a first resort but we wanted to try moderate to take advantage of the bounce back discount (which cannot be used at AoA). Any thoughts from anyone who has been to both these resorts (POFQ and POR Royal room)?

I have only seen one person say they heard that. We stayed in oak RGRGV back in May and loved them. It was NOT far from the main building and pool and right near both east and south bus stops. I would say the regular non royal mansion buildings are farthest. Maybe you have them confused. RGR are the two buildings closest to the main building. The pool might be a touch closer to the regular buildings but not the main building. My kids were turning 4 and 6. They loved the rooms. For us, we preferred POR over PORFQ family thought FQ looked more motel like. POR was very lush and more resort like to us.

 

[boundfordisney]

Hi everyone, thanks for all of the great info on this thread!!

I am sooooo close to booking a trip for August 2014!

This will be our first trip back to Disney since our daughter's MAW trip in Dec 2010. Our other kids (and I) have been dying to come back since we left three years ago!!! In fact, we left Disney on this very day, 3 years ago.

Our daughter, Emily, will not be coming with us on this trip, for various reasons. For anyone who remembers us, or reads our old trip report, she is doing okay. But, even though Disney is the most accessible place we've ever taken her, it is still extremely difficult for her to handle, and limits what we can do with our other children. Please, no judging, it's been VERY difficult for us to decide to go without her. She will be staying at home with family members and her nurses.

Sooooooo, we are looking to stay at POR 8/25-8/30. Last time we came during Christmas break, so I'm hoping for lower crowds this time. And, it was actually cold while we were there in 2010 so we never even got to swim!! We stayed at GKTW, which was wonderful but I'm really super excited about staying on site as we have NEVER done it!!

Our party is me, my DH, our oldest son, 10, and our other two triplets (one boy, one girl), who will have just turned 7. DH and I will have just celebrated our 15th anniversary as well!

It's possible we will be able to come the first week in September and maybe get Free Dining?? (fingers crossed!!) Our school might have a delayed opening due to some construction but we can't be sure of that yet. If we get definite word on that, we will most likely change to the September dates.

Sorry if this is not the thread to tell our whole story, but I just got excited!!!!

If anyone has any specific tips for us, I'd appreciate it!

I do have one question, how do your younger ones like the resort? I feel like it will be relaxing and they will love the pool, slide, and the Murphy bed. But, otherwise, they might think it's not "Disney" enough? (Relaxing and calm is probably a plus for us because our triplet son is autistic and can get overstimulated)
I have looked at family suites at AoA because they'd give us more room, an extra bathroom, and be more "Disneyish", but the price at POR just keeps bringing me back.
Thoughts??

Thanks!

I think you have made a great choice! enjoy your trip!

 

[LisaTC]

POFQ or POR Royal room Dec 2014?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We just got back from our very first trip to DW in Dec 2013. We stayed at AoA Lion King suites. We booked a "bounce back" to POR Royal Room (for our 2 DD) but comments say that those are furthest from the pools and far from bus stop. So we're thinking of changing to POFQ but don't know if DDs will be disappointed with the décor.

POFQ seems smaller and compact and seems great for getting to/from pool, bus and main building for younger kids.

AoA was great as a first resort but we wanted to try moderate to take advantage of the bounce back discount (which cannot be used at AoA).
Any thoughts from anyone who has been to both these resorts (POFQ and POR Royal room)?

[Note : Also posted on POFQ thread]

I hear this a lot and never found any of our rooms too far from anything. We've stayed in Oak Manor Royal Riverfront this last time. We were close to the 2nd footbridge and looked right across to the Rivermill. Beautiful! There is a quiet pool close by, actually. I think you'd be fine. My DD never minded at all.

 

[dsnydaddy]

Partierre Place is my least favorite building because it is farther than any others. That said, we just got back from a stay in that building and found that once I got my bearings I could get about quickly to wherever I wanted to go.

 

[Gorechick]

Partierre Place is my least favorite building because it is farther than any others. That said, we just got back from a stay in that building and found that once I got my bearings I could get about quickly to wherever I wanted to go.

Hated Parterre Place back in '96 when resort was Dixie Landings. Stayed in a standard room overlooking the parking lot. I was in my 20's and able bodied, we didn't even go to Ol Man Island because it was " too far. " Fast forward to 2012, requested Parterre because of the fountain and courtyard. Got a fantastic room on the 3rd floor, center of the building with a view of the courtyard, fountain, and river. Found it absolutely convenient to the main building, south depot, quiet pool, and Ol Man Island.

 

[dsnydaddy]

Hated Parterre Place back in '96 when resort was Dixie Landings. Stayed in a standard room overlooking the parking lot. I was in my 20's and able bodied, we didn't even go to Ol Man Island because it was " too far. " Fast forward to 2012, requested Parterre because of the fountain and courtyard. Got a fantastic room on the 3rd floor, center of the building with a view of the courtyard, fountain, and river. Found it absolutely convenient to the main building, south depot, quiet pool, and Ol Man Island.

Perspective. It's an amazing thing.

 

[georgiesgirl]

Does anyone know if they sell distilled water in the gift shop that would be suitable for a sleep apnea machine?

I don't think its on the shelf but if you ask for it at the counter they should have it. Many guests need this for the same reason.

 

[Narnia_girl]

So it looks like POR will stop giving out KTTW cards as of January 7th!

So when I check in on Monday January 6th I should have no problem still getting a KTTW card for each member of my family? I've heard so many horror stories about the bands that I want the cards for backup.

It looks like a full roll out to all the other resorts by the end of January...I wonder how soon the Legacy FP machines will all disappear.

Just an FYI--we stayed at FQ until Jan. 2 and even though we were issued back up KTTW cards we never used them once. Our Magic bands worked perfectly every place we used them.