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

[galaxyg528]

Hello Everyone..

Just wanted to thank the responses I received for my previous post (with a ton of questions). I am getting ready to have my fax ready and since we are celebrating my daughter's 7th birthday and her first visit I need suggestions on what I should fax in (what rooms to ask for? location?) We are booked for a royal guest room garden view. I would like a fridge but its not a necessity...I am going to include in the fax that we are celebrating the 7th birthday/First Visit. We are going Oct 13-Oct 19...so I hope its not TOO busy...I know its not the busiest time of year to go...but not the least busiest time.

Also, figured I would ask here before I try find it on the BBB board....in regards to tip..are you tipping on the service or the whole thing? My daughter has the reservation for the Castle Package ($200 ish) Do I need to tip the 20% on the $200 or subtract the cost of the dress/accessories? I don't want to be cheap, but want to save as much money as I can....what is the proper tip on something like this?

Thanks everyone again! I am SO excited I cannot contain myself...this vacation has been booked since the March...and my daughter has NO idea....telling her a week before we go before her small birthday party (In hopes she gets a ton of Disney gift cards LOL)

I was 14 the last time I went to Disney and I ended up with pneumonia...so I do not remember anything...so I am very looking forward to this trip....

 

[Patience]

Only 10 more days until we are at POR!

 

[Teri1]

My big worry about MM+ is not so much the current testing phase, but that when it does go live for all WDW guests, the whole system won't be able to cope (as you say, it's struggling now even with limited testers on it).

And don't get me started on how the various databases and interfaces don't talk properly to each other - as an international guest, I know this only too well! There are just too many variables in the way guests book and plan their vacations, and it's already proving almost impossible for the system to cope with all those variations (different ticket types, varying lengths of stay for different guests in the same party, guests who don't even have computers and yet still must have their own online accounts before the party leader can book FastPass+ for everyone, etc).

I still feel they are trying to implement far too much at the same time, and a staged approach would have been much better with each stage tested and approved before ever starting on the next one. But given the money that has been poured in so far, I suspect this is a juggernaut which isn't stopping for anyone.... probably driven by high-up VPs on an agenda which does not allow them to listen to what their technical staff might be saying.

Anyway, it's certainly proving to be an interesting if bumpy ride, I just hope it's worth it in the end.

Andre

I agree with you Andre. After using the MB's yesterday and seeing how long it takes for the information to load when you hold your MB to the reader, I told my husband their system is not up to par yet and they better get it upgraded before they go with it at all resorts or they will have one big IT headache.

When we got our RFID cups last night the cast member could not use my MB and she frowned when I offed to use it. I asked her did she not like this new system? She said it is not the bands it that her reader doesn't work. We tried it bit it didn't work, so I had to get out my card for her to swipe. I told her if Disney wants to get a positive feed back from guests on the MB's then they shouldn't run registers that have a broken reader.

We then went to use our RFID cups and the message came up see cashier, so we had to go back and the cashier had closed that register because someone else was standing at the register and we told her that our cups didn't work she said let's go to a different one this register is not working properly and we a closing it. We then had to get different cups because ours had two chips instead of one in the bottom for some reason. Then we were finally able to get our drinks. Got to love technology.

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[Teri1]

Oh hey, does the store there sell distilled water? I remember that they do, but DH says no.

Yes, my DH got his distilled water at the store here yesterday.

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[mrsmomo]

18 days... I feel so unprepared lol, por I'm comin watch out lol

 

[shan23877]

Hello Everyone..

Just wanted to thank the responses I received for my previous post (with a ton of questions). I am getting ready to have my fax ready and since we are celebrating my daughter's 7th birthday and her first visit I need suggestions on what I should fax in (what rooms to ask for? location?) We are booked for a royal guest room garden view. I would like a fridge but its not a necessity...I am going to include in the fax that we are celebrating the 7th birthday/First Visit. We are going Oct 13-Oct 19...so I hope its not TOO busy...I know its not the busiest time of year to go...but not the least busiest time.

Also, figured I would ask here before I try find it on the BBB board....in regards to tip..are you tipping on the service or the whole thing? My daughter has the reservation for the Castle Package ($200 ish) Do I need to tip the 20% on the $200 or subtract the cost of the dress/accessories? I don't want to be cheap, but want to save as much money as I can....what is the proper tip on something like this?

Thanks everyone again! I am SO excited I cannot contain myself...this vacation has been booked since the March...and my daughter has NO idea....telling her a week before we go before her small birthday party (In hopes she gets a ton of Disney gift cards LOL)

I was 14 the last time I went to Disney and I ended up with pneumonia...so I do not remember anything...so I am very looking forward to this trip....

We didn't request anything, and I probably won't next time. Oak Manor and Partierre are both quite close to the bridge to the main building. We're partial to Oak Manor, but that's the only one we've stayed in

I would say tip on the service. We've done BBB castle package several times and I typically tip about $20. The tips are all pooled between fairy godmothers in training. I hope you have a lovely trip!

 

[Teri1]

Did you have to pay more money to upgrade?

No, we did online check-in with a standard room. I had asked for a first floor corner room on-line. When we checked in the CM smiled and said you have been upgraded to a garden view room! I said thank you. Then when bell services took us to the room, it wasn't a corner room, but when we opened the door with the MB we had a Royal Room much to our surprise. I sent a video to my DD's and they love the room! I showed DH how the headboard has fireworks. Disney has been great with the pixie dust for us many times. That is why we keep coming back.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DonaldDuck77]

Nope. Just home from work and I went and checked again. No Online checkin, no Magic Bands, no Fast FP+.

Am I counting wrong? Maybe today isn't 60 days out?
We check in 11/2.

(Don't pay attention to my count down timer......I set it for the day we actually leave home )

You are not counting wrong. 60 days out from yesterday was 11/2. And even if MB and FP+ are not working, I don't know why online checkin wouldn't. I am not going to worry about the actual 60 day point (for us, Sept. 12), but keep checking from time to time after that.

 

[apress]

One more week for us and so excited, yet so much to do!!

 

[emilyhuff]

breakfast flatbread description... anyone there?

 

[nikkyluvsmickey]

One more week for us and so excited, yet so much to do!!

I have 3 more days and i am stressing on getting everything done..lol.

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

Checking in October 29...54 days!!! Just can't wait and enjoying reading all the posts about current stays! Any idea how long the water wheel will be down? Want my niece and nephew to be able to see it. We have been to Disney (and POR for that matter) many times. But, my niece and nephew will not be back for a long time

 

[lmhall2000]

I have 3 more days and i am stressing on getting everything done..lol.

It is a SICKNESS!!! We leave in 6 days...seems like a thousand things we need to get done, have 7 feral kittens that need homes (already nursed them through spaying/neutering!) I may just have to head to a city park everyday until we leave to find them homes!! We are all allergic to cats!! Praying our allergies calm down before we go!

I have tried to find a pair of walkable sandals to wear for water rides, I refuse to have wet running shoes! I have had to return 3 pairs!! Thought I had a winner, walked 2 miles in them and have a nasty blister already I have back injury from old car accident, have to have arch support...just not many options out there! Ecco, Keen, Merrell, Chacos have all failed to impress I may just end up putting a pair of $5 flip flops in my camera bag and pull them out for those type rides then put my walking shoes back on.

Part of me is sooo excited!! First time to POR, have looked at Andre's pictures obsessively! Teeny bit worried my 'take one for the team' teen will not like the murphy bed as much as she squealed at first, she thought it was so darn cute, but she's 5'7! Going to be putting that puppy to the test...I am 5'8..and I can sleep anywhere..so I have no problem sucking it up for her I am walking a LOT to get ready for the commando park days...worried my not so walkie hubbie will peter out early

There, most of my neurotic thoughts..excited to making the next 6 days productive and kitten free....looks like good weather ahead! In order to make this blabbering post helpful...

did someone say DME is doing a trial from DTD? Is that still going on? Just wondering if we should go straight from airport to DTD ...our flight arrives at 5:30...dinner ressies at 7:30 at Raglan Road...or would it be better to check into POR then go by boat? We could be running tight Thanks!!!

 

[lmhall2000]

A friend of mine is in POR right now! She said they had 800 check in yesterday!!! Eeek!! Andre, is that a high number?

 

[SFunaro]

Anyone able to book parades or fireworks the last week of october?

 

[andrewilley]

All magic bands at this point are part of the test. You aren't required to us them.

In fact, I gather they didn't have a single person ask to opt out from receiving Magic Bands yesterday - which is great news from the guest acceptance point of view!

Things are reported to have gone very well for the first day - a few issues sure, but they were apparently resolved fairly quickly considering this is all brand new and officially still in testing.

At the moment there is a lot of extra technical and management support available of course, but obviously that will have to be phased back to more normal operating levels over the coming weeks so there will be the real test of how the system performs. But so far so good.

A friend of mine is in POR right now! She said they had 800 check in yesterday!!! Eeek!! Andre, is that a high number?

That is a very high number if it's ROOMS, but fairly normal if it's GUESTS. 300-500 rooms turned over per day is about average. Indeed, one of the reasons that they delayed the MagicBand launch by a day (it was going to be on Monday 2nd Sept) was to avoid clashing with the expected big influx of guests due to Free Dinining starting on Monday.

Teeny bit worried my 'take one for the team' teen will not like the murphy bed as much as she squealed at first, she thought it was so darn cute, but she's 5'7! Going to be putting that puppy to the test...I am 5'8..and I can sleep anywhere..so I have no problem sucking it up for her.

did someone say DME is doing a trial from DTD? Is that still going on? Just wondering if we should go straight from airport to DTD ...our flight arrives at 5:30...dinner ressies at 7:30 at Raglan Road...or would it be better to check into POR then go by boat? We could be running tight Thanks!!!

Good luck with the murphy bed. My DD was 5' 2.5" last time she slept in one and she was fine, she loved it. As long as you or your DD don't sleep fully stretched out, I think you'll be OK.

The Magical Express bus pickup from DTD was only a trial during August, sorry. Your timing will be very tight I think, I would be most surprised if you can land at MCO at 5:30, get ME to POR, and then get to DTD by boat by 7:30! I would try to change your reservation to at least an hour later, or think about quickly dropping your bags at Bell Services and then getting a taxi straight to DTD (and come back and check in at POR later).

Andre

 

[danjoan14]

Did someone say DME is doing a trial from DTD? Is that still going on? Just wondering if we should go straight from airport to DTD ...our flight arrives at 5:30...dinner ressies at 7:30 at Raglan Road...or would it be better to check into POR then go by boat? We could be running tight Thanks!!!

It was back in August! We were there a few weeks ago. We had stayed for two weeks, while our neighbors had only stayed for one. They used the DME from DTD. The 4 of them were the only passengers on the bus!

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

32 days out and got Mickey Mail today! (The luggage tags and vouchers.) Just had to share. We got Mickey Mail at 32 days out last year, too!

Now to wait on Magic Bands. MDE says we have 2 days left to customize so maybe they will ship... Thursday? Arrive by Friday?

Did you get your Magical Express tags too? For the first time since I can remember, we got the Mickey Mail (plastic luggage tags included), but not the ME stuff. It is listed in the document, though, both coming and going. Guessing the ME tags and vouchers might come later? There is some reference to that possibility in the itinerary page.

We got Mickey Mail on day 40, we are now at day 34.

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

I have tried to find a pair of walkable sandals to wear for water rides, I refuse to have wet running shoes! I have had to return 3 pairs!! Thought I had a winner, walked 2 miles in them and have a nasty blister already I have back injury from old car accident, have to have arch support...just not many options out there! Ecco, Keen, Merrell, Chacos have all failed to impress I may just end up putting a pair of $5 flip flops in my camera bag and pull them out for those type rides then put my walking shoes back on.

Not sure if they will work for everyone, but have you tried Crocs? I need arch support too - plantar fasciatis - and I swear by my Croc sandals. I can walk 10 miles in them and feel good I actually have them in black and brown. Hope that helps!

 

[OneBadApple]

I have tried to find a pair of walkable sandals to wear for water rides, I refuse to have wet running shoes! I have had to return 3 pairs!! Thought I had a winner, walked 2 miles in them and have a nasty blister already I have back injury from old car accident, have to have arch support...just not many options out there! Ecco, Keen, Merrell, Chacos have all failed to impress I may just end up putting a pair of $5 flip flops in my camera bag and pull them out for those type rides then put my walking shoes back on.

Have you tried Orthaheel. I purchased my first pair earlier this summer and loved them. In fact I loved them so mush I bought a pair of their sneakers, that I am planning on bringing to Disney with me.