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

[Andrea817]

Just booked our very first POR stay today for 8/30-9/2!! I'm so excited & love this thread!

Question for those who have recently returned from POR, how accurate is the menu (mostly breakfast) on the www.portorleans.org website? I noticed the breakfast menu says it was last updated August 2012 so I was just curious if it's all still the same, or if it has since been changed? I keep seeing conflicting menu's on different sites so it's driving me batty We basically only eat breakfast at the resort and our other meals are in the parks or our ADR's so I am just curious of our options. Loving the idea of oatmeal with toppings and the create your own parfait, but some other websites don't show that as an option with a more current menu date.

 

[webstah]

Just booked our very first POR stay today for 8/30-9/2!! I'm so excited & love this thread!

Question for those who have recently returned from POR, how accurate is the menu (mostly breakfast) on the www.portorleans.org website? I noticed the breakfast menu says it was last updated August 2012 so I was just curious if it's all still the same, or if it has since been changed? I keep seeing conflicting menu's on different sites so it's driving me batty We basically only eat breakfast at the resort and our other meals are in the parks or our ADR's so I am just curious of our options. Loving the idea of oatmeal with toppings and the create your own parfait, but some other websites don't show that as an option with a more current menu date.

Here is the menu from the Disney web site
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/d...rt-riverside/riverside-mill-food-court/menus/

 

[andrewilley]

I looked at some pics online of AB rooms and am a bit concerned with my choice. I see a very bare bones, no frills, no decor, rough and rugged looking room.

No, you see a room that is designed to look that way. It's called theming. The actual amenities included, the build quality, etc are just as good as the other sections of the resort. It's a bit like complaining that Main Street USA looks old fashioned. But at the end of the day it does come down to personal preference - and if you choose a Preferred Location, that theming is what you will get in your room. We loved the new décor there in fact - it has a lovely rustic charm all of its own, with lots of fun details to find. Have you looked at the 360-degree panorama I have on my site by the way (www.portorleans.org/alligator-bayou.php)?

Question for those who have recently returned from POR, how accurate is the menu (mostly breakfast) on the www.portorleans.org website?

The food court menus don't change very often. They may add or remove an odd item, but broadly it stays the same. The yogurt breakfast menu slide currently states "Choose from a variety of ingredients including Fresh Fruit, Berries, Nuts and Seeds". Oatmeal is also listed as a separate option (or at least it was a few months ago when I last got photos). I list the menus station-by-station based on what is shown on the menu boards.

Andre

 

[mcever4]

So I've booked a preferred room and to my understanding those are only in AB. I looked at some pics online of AB rooms and am a bit concerned with my choice. I see a very bare bones, no frills, no decor, rough and rugged looking room. This is not my idea of a Disney Resort room. Do all the rooms in AB look like this? I realize I'm in a moderate hotel but I've seen value rooms that look better than this. Yikes, I had my heart set on the amenities at POR....any thoughts?

We just returned from POR last week. I had requested a mansion room for the very reason I thought AB would have a rustic feel to it. I checked in and had been given a room in AB. I thought about switching but decided not to, I was ready to get me vacation started and didn't want to wait for another room to be ready. Got to my room and I WAS IMPRESSED! I loved our room! Not rustic at all. Very nice and it definitely had that Disney magic feel to it. POR is now my favorite resort and this is where I plan on always staying! LOVED IT!

Robin

 

[CopperWife]

I am sure there is an answer to this somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it. Can you bring your own fishing poles to fish in the Fishing Hole at POR? When we went in May 2011, my girls were not thrilled with the cane poles, to say the least. TIA.

 

[andrewilley]

I am sure there is an answer to this somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it. Can you bring your own fishing poles to fish in the Fishing Hole at POR?

Yes you can, but the fee is still the same.

Andre

 

[kdaniels16]

We just returned from POR last week. I had requested a mansion room for the very reason I thought AB would have a rustic feel to it. I checked in and had been given a room in AB. I thought about switching but decided not to, I was ready to get me vacation started and didn't want to wait for another room to be ready. Got to my room and I WAS IMPRESSED! I loved our room! Not rustic at all. Very nice and it definitely had that Disney magic feel to it. POR is now my favorite resort and this is where I plan on always staying! LOVED IT!

Robin

Glad to hear you enjoyed your AB room
so much. We ended up changing to a Royal room and requested it be close to the bridge for walking convenience but now you have me thinking about the preferred location again. I am wondering if I will wish we were so much closer to the food/ busses.

 

[kdaniels16]

No, you see a room that is designed to look that way. It's called theming. The actual amenities included, the build quality, etc are just as good as the other sections of the resort. It's a bit like complaining that Main Street USA looks old fashioned. But at the end of the day it does come down to personal preference - and if you choose a Preferred Location, that theming is what you will get in your room. We loved the new décor there in fact - it has a lovely rustic charm all of its own, with lots of fun details to find. Have you looked at the 360-degree panorama I have on my site by the way (www.portorleans.org/alligator-bay
Andre[/QUO
I understood that it was theming. I just thought it didn't look as good as the way I've seen Disney do other similar themes. That being said, I'm hearing that they've redone them and they look a lot better now. The cm said they've taken away the quilted blankets and added a lot decor to the room. I don't know if that helps you with your site- as I see the pics with the patch work quilted blankets still- I have no idea if she's right- just passing along the info to you in the chance it may help you
Your site was super helpful to me as I hadn't stumbled onto it yet, so thank you! I didn't mean to sound so fussy about the decor- just had one thing in mind and was surprised to see something else. We have for now changed rooms ( see above post)...maybe my indecisiveness will make me change again later

 

[CopperWife]

Yes you can, but the fee is still the same.

Andre

Thanks

 

[gmedolphin]

Dose anyone know if you can call WDW and have them send actual park map's, i would like a set to do some planing and really don't care for the customizable one you can order from disney.com.

 

[shan23877]

Dose anyone know if you can call WDW and have them send actual park map's, i would like a set to do some planing and really don't care for the customizable one you can order from disney.com.

I don't think that you can, but there are PDF park maps all over the internet. Allears.com, and disney.com should both have maps available. you could just print them at home.

 

[ALD85]

Dose anyone know if you can call WDW and have them send actual park map's, i would like a set to do some planing and really don't care for the customizable one you can order from disney.com.

Yes, you can do it on their website.

 

[ChristineOH]

EasyWDW has some great maps on its website under the cheat sheets link. They are easier to read than the maps you get in the parks, because they have the name by the attraction, not a number. And they give advice about what time of day to do each attraction.

 

[germ539]

No, you see a room that is designed to look that way. It's called theming. The actual amenities included, the build quality, etc are just as good as the other sections of the resort. It's a bit like complaining that Main Street USA looks old fashioned. But at the end of the day it does come down to personal preference - and if you choose a Preferred Location, that theming is what you will get in your room. We loved the new décor there in fact - it has a lovely rustic charm all of its own, with lots of fun details to find. Have you looked at the 360-degree panorama I have on my site by the way (www.portorleans.org/alligator-bay
Andre[/QUO
I understood that it was theming. I just thought it didn't look as good as the way I've seen Disney do other similar themes. That being said, I'm hearing that they've redone them and they look a lot better now. The cm said they've taken away the quilted blankets and added a lot decor to the room. I don't know if that helps you with your site- as I see the pics with the patch work quilted blankets still- I have no idea if she's right- just passing along the info to you in the chance it may help you
Your site was super helpful to me as I hadn't stumbled onto it yet, so thank you! I didn't mean to sound so fussy about the decor- just had one thing in mind and was surprised to see something else. We have for now changed rooms ( see above post)...maybe my indecisiveness will make me change again later

make sure that you are looking at the "refurbed room photos for alligator bayou, they have the pics of the murphy bed on them. Andre's site has the updated photos for all the rooms at POR. http://www.portorleans.org/gallery-POR-AB-Rooms.php

 

[andrewilley]

That being said, I'm hearing that they've redone them and they look a lot better now. The cm said they've taken away the quilted blankets and added a lot decor to the room. I don't know if that helps you with your site- as I see the pics with the patch work quilted blankets still- I have no idea if she's right- just passing along the info to you in the chance it may help you
Your site was super helpful to me as I hadn't stumbled onto it yet, so thank you! I didn't mean to sound so fussy about the decor- just had one thing in mind and was surprised to see something else. We have for now changed rooms ( see above post)...maybe my indecisiveness will make me change again later

The new room decor still has quilted covers, but rather than the red/blue patchwork look from before they now have blue covers with white illustrations of various aspects of the resort, with green fold-back sections. The throw pillows have alligator pictures on (Louis from Princess and the Frog, in fact). They have retained the 'hewn-log' headboards though as those were a feature specially commissioned for the resort. The Alligator Bayou rooms do have a 'simple woodsy charm' of their own, and I really like them for what they are - but for some people they don't seem quite as "plush" and "hotelly" for want of a better word. However as I said, the amenities are exactly the same, just the details are different (and they do have the extra fold-down bed, which is a major plus for some families).

The panorama image I mentioned is of the new room type. I have a load of new room photos sitting on my hard drive which I need to upload, but there are already some in the guest galleries on the site (e.g. www.portorleans.org/gallery-guest-SurlyMermaid.php and www.portorleans.org/gallery-guest-bunkkinsmom.php) which is why I've been a bit lazy about putting my own up (sorry!). Glad you are finding my site useful in your planning anyway - and there are panorama of all the room types to let you compare if that helps.

Andre

 

[Mom2six]

I'm confused about the number of people per room with infants/toddlers. How many people are allowed in each POR room including infants or toddlers? Our two nieces and their three children are coming with us on our trip. Two of the children will be under three. How many under three can be in a room?

 

[Stinkerbell's Mommy]

Just added another day to our trip! So excited! When I checked airfare it was the same price to stay an extra day as it was to pay the higher airfare on Sunday. We are now arriving 8/31 and flying home on 9/9. Haven't decided if we will do an extra park day or an extra day enjoying the resort.

 

[andrewilley]

I'm confused about the number of people per room with infants/toddlers. How many people are allowed in each POR room including infants or toddlers? Our two nieces and their three children are coming with us on our trip. Two of the children will be under three. How many under three can be in a room?

I'm not quite sure how they officially limit it, but two adults, two (maybe even three in AB?) children, plus two infants under three would be technically possible in one room without any surcharges. Three infants would be pushing it though!

Having more than two adults results in a $15 per extra adult per night surcharge.

Andre

 

[Mom2six]

I'm not quite sure how they officially limit it, but two adults, two (maybe even three in AB?) children, plus two infants under three would be technically possible in one room without any surcharges. Three infants would be pushing it though!

Having more than two adults results in a $15 per extra adult per night surcharge.

Andre

Okay great. We only have the two infants (well, two under 3). I knew about the more than 2 adults per night surcharge. I'm just trying to work the rooms out. So it is technically possible (and we will probably be in an alligator bayou room) to have the two adult nieces, two over three children, and two under three children in one room? So in an alligator bayou room that would be six people, instead of 5, but that would include the infants.

Also, do you add the infants to the room even though they don't get the food plan or a ticket? (We will probably request a pack n play though if we don't bring one of our own.) I'm not trying to sneaky or anything - I just have never gone to Disney with a two year old or infant!

 

[brios86]

Okay great. We only have the two infants (well, two under 3). I knew about the more than 2 adults per night surcharge. I'm just trying to work the rooms out. So it is technically possible (and we will probably be in an alligator bayou room) to have the two adult nieces, two over three children, and two under three children in one room? So in an alligator bayou room that would be six people, instead of 5, but that would include the infants.

Also, do you add the infants to the room even though they don't get the food plan or a ticket? (We will probably request a pack n play though if we don't bring one of our own.) I'm not trying to sneaky or anything - I just have never gone to Disney with a two year old or infant!

I believe you can only have one "infant" in a room. If you have more than one they count towards the person count in the room. In AB you can definitely have 6 people as long as one of them is an infant. My friend is doing that.