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

[Sue M]

Perspective. It's an amazing thing.

Lol, I hated a Parterre place too. We were at the very end, almost in FQ!

I find the non Royal rooms closest to everything. We've stayed in both Magnolia Terrace and Acadian House, very close to Old Man Island bridge. So close to pool, food court and main buildings. Also close to mansion bus depot, which we prefer to the very crowded south depot.

 

[PrincessKyleigh]

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!

I sent a fax in 5 days before we arrived. We checked in around 6 pm and all my requests were granted.

There were only two other families on the ME bus that got off with us at POR. We were the first to go into the lobby since we didn't have any bags underneath. A very friendly CM greeted me and asked if I had done online check in. When I said that I had, he guided me to the counter where a wonderful CM checked us in. She was very attentive and went over all the resort amenities and where things were located. When we came back later from DTD, she had left us a message checking in to make sure we were enjoying our room and to see if we needed anything.

The only difference I noticed with online check-in was that our packet was already prepared with our KTTW card (though those will be very gone soon).

 

[andrewilley]

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.

While that is true, the other posters who have said that some of the rooms on the far end of Parterre Place can be a little remote. Although arguably the best located RGR rooms of all are actually in the north wing section of Parterre.

As both of the buildings are pretty big (256 rooms) the trick is to request WHAT you want (i.e. close to the footbridge providing quick access to the main buildings) rather than asking for one particular building.

Andre

 

[andrewilley]

Double Post. Got caught by the daily 9am GMT DISboards downtime.

Andre

 

[lindap1]

lol..Tried talking my 7 year old out of a RR for a preferred location...no go With my reading it looks like I should request Oak Manor to be close to the foot bridge for main buildings, ol man island and the South depot ...right? I just love how majestic the mansions look from the front view I have a RR gardenview requested, but should I do the river view. My hubby would like to sit outside of our room once in a while and have a beer in the evening...are there little sitting areas in the garden view where he can do this? I'm really excited to stay here and I'm going to surprise my dd with a carriage

 

[Tinkl0ver66]

We will be in POR in June and will also have an electric wheelchair for my sister. Is there someplace specific I should request when the time comes? I know we are booked for a water view room, is that considered preferred? I've never stayed at POR but have heard wonderful things about the grounds, getting very excited!!

 

[WildReekies]

I'm sorry if this has been asked. I am finally getting excited about booking POR for our Oct 2014 7 night stay. I have 2 questions.
1. If we need 1 double stroller and one single where do people usually store them? Where in the room or possibly outside?

2. My gut says get a preferred room with our little kids. But some of the posts I've been reading says it doesn't matter....??? Thoughts thanx!

Extra info: family of 5. Kids ages 6 4 and 3 our oldest 2 have medial issues that cause them to tire out quickly. Which is why we'd like to have the strollers so they can enjoy the parks longer.

 

[Lidian]

We are officially booked!

We will be at POR (for the first time) 10/5-10/10 in a Preferred Room. I do have a question. We will have an ECV and a stroller (plus luggage and three kids: DD12, DS8, DS1). Am I going to be overly cramped? Any advice or tips on making the best of our space? This is our first time with an ECV and a stroller. I'm just used to dealing with luggage.

Since I'll have an ECV, we will be on the ground floor, correct?

Anything else I may need to know to make our trip even more amazing than it already will be? (Resort-wise, as we are pretty versed in the parks.)

 

[Loopner]

Interesting that you said they were back up KTTW cards. I asked questions about this when I called in yesterday and was told if you wanted KTTW cards, they would then disable your MBs (couldn't have both). Just like anything, this probably can deviate depending on who you're talking to or dealing with in WDW?

Glad to hear your MBs worked perfectly. That's what I love to hear. We're going in 10 days and I'm holding out hope that we don't have any issues either.

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.

 

[boiledpeanut]

I would store the strollers in the car if you can and just retrieve them when you are coming/going. (Or are you flying! In that case right inside by the door is your best bet). As for other poster with Ecv, you might be cramped. You can probably pull in and park righ by the door(this was where we laid out our large suitcase on the floor. Maybe someone with experience w an ecv can help.

 

[Fommt2]

Hi all, we arrive on the 30th of this month and have just had a letter from our travel agent to advise that one of the pools is closed. Does anyone know which one?
Also I am going to request building 16, this seems the best if the non preferred rooms, right?

 

[lillykat]

Hi all, we arrive on the 30th of this month and have just had a letter from our travel agent to advise that one of the pools is closed. Does anyone know which one? Also I am going to request building 16, this seems the best if the non preferred rooms, right?

Andre site shows that the FQ pool not the POR pool will be down for rehab. Maybe there is something else not on his site yet?

 

[siskaren]

Andre site shows that the FQ pool not the POR pool will be down for rehab. Maybe there is something else not on his site yet?

I would say it's doubtful because Andre is very good about staying up to date on things like this. My guess is that either the travel agent confused POR and POFQ or maybe thought that POFQ and POR are all one resort.

 

[carmelhp]

We were in Parterre rm 9519 and were very close to everything. It's a RGR and I think it's classed as a GV.

 

[lillykat]

I would say it's doubtful because Andre is very good about staying up to date on things like this. My guess is that either the travel agent confused POR and POFQ or maybe thought that POFQ and POR are all one resort.

This...I second this.

 

[DanInMN]

We really enjoy POR, but this time the cost was too high. We will be at a nice off-site place... will still stop by to have a meal at the POR food court and see Yehaw Bob!

 

[UpstateMick]

Ok. Someone please calm my fears. Been saving to stay in a Royal Room for two years, so we are booked with a pool view for Feb. 13th through 23rd. We had requested Oak Manor, but now we are seeing two potential issues. 1) Oak Manor has a roof-refurb scheduled and 2) The POFQ pool is down for refurb, so they are shuttling people from FQ to POR to use the pools. YIKES! I don't like the sound of either of this. For all of the money I am paying, I am worried that I am going to look out of my room at scaffolding and have workers pounding away and I am not going to use the pools beacuse they are going to be severely overcrowded! Would anyone switch resorts at this point, or do you think we will still be ok. Thank you in advance for input. You guys are GREAT!

 

[dansdad]

Ok. Someone please calm my fears. Been saving to stay in a Royal Room for two years, so we are booked with a pool view for Feb. 13th through 23rd. We had requested Oak Manor, but now we are seeing two potential issues. 1) Oak Manor has a roof-refurb scheduled and 2) The POFQ pool is down for refurb, so they are shuttling people from FQ to POR to use the pools. YIKES! I don't like the sound of either of this. For all of the money I am paying, I am worried that I am going to look out of my room at scaffolding and have workers pounding away and I am not going to use the pools beacuse they are going to be severely overcrowded! Would anyone switch resorts at this point, or do you think we will still be ok. Thank you in advance for input. You guys are GREAT!

IMHO, I would not switch. I have stayed had 4 stays at various resorts during a rehab and every time I did not even know about the rehab going on until someone told me. Disney does a fantastic job of keeping the guest affect to a bare minimum. We never pay for a view in a moderate because you have to leave the window open to enjoy the view and we don't like the world being able to look in on us. So to me, I can't see scaffolding being up affecting us.


In my experience, if a pool is down and guests have to walk or take transportation to another resort most skip the pool. Stayed at BC during a pool rehab at BWI. The rehab started in the middle of our stay and they allowed BWI guests access to Stormalong Bay. We didn't notice any surge in people once the rehab started.

 

[maryj11]

Oh my when will the pool refurb be finished ?

 

[dansdad]

Oh my when will the pool refurb be finished ?

From portorleans.org

French Quarter swimming pool closed 13 Jan — 28 Feb.
Riversde ‘Oak Manor’ roofing work commences 17 Jan, may last up to 6 months.