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

[ChristineOH]

I read another resort thread that POFQ washer/dryers now took credit/debit cards for payment, does anyone know if Riverside does as well? Thanks.

Riverside was still quarters as of a couple of months ago. There is a change machine in the laundry room if you need it.

 

[Kristina]

Hi everyone! This will be my first time at POR and I'm worried about the busses . I love love love the look of POR far more than French Quarter but I've heard that it's often standing room only by the time the busses come round to POR, and because of that they may not even come in a timely fashion? Also do people line up at the stop or is everyone just gathered there until the bus comes? Thanks for any advice , I'm ready to book, just want to be sure that it's not to to bad !

 

[Venomhatch]

Hi everyone! This will be my first time at POR and I'm worried about the busses . I love love love the look of POR far more than French Quarter but I've heard that it's often standing room only by the time the busses come round to POR, and because of that they may not even come in a timely fashion? Also do people line up at the stop or is everyone just gathered there until the bus comes? Thanks for any advice , I'm ready to book, just want to be sure that it's not to to bad !

Lines form but usually as buses pull up so if you walk up and no bus there. Then have a seat on the bench near the stop stripe on the ground and watch like a hawk for the bus. I have found that people that you didn't even know were waiting on the bus pop out of nowhere, bushes, other ends of the bus stop, running up all of a sudden, so if you plan on sitting you may have to be on top of your game lol.

 

[Kristina]

Lines form but usually as buses pull up so if you walk up and no bus there. Then have a seat on the bench near the stop stripe on the ground and watch like a hawk for the bus. I have found that people that you didn't even know were waiting on the bus pop out of nowhere, bushes, other ends of the bus stop, running up all of a sudden, so if you plan on sitting you may have to be on top of your game lol.

That's funny because while I grew up in CA I live in Sweden now and here no one lines up for the city busses either but once one comes a crowd (no line!) will form and then people just merge onboard.

I'm sure we will stand where we think it'll stop at POR. No bushes for us lol! But are there often seats, or is that often a problem do you think?

 

[uktivo]

Hi.. Was hoping I could get a quick reply as I need to confirm my booking to Disney tonight pre 8pm UK time.

A bit of a long story.. But I originally booked with a Travelcity UK for the POR with a water view room (I was under the impression this was a preferred location, it isn't) so I've spent the last few days talking with Travelcity about how we make this better. They quoted me a price of 928 pounds (that’s 1410usd) to upgrade to a preferred room. I politely declined and have now cancelled that booking (with a full refund) booked direct with Disney and Virgin Atlantic directly.

So, here's my question.

I have booked a preferred room at the POR for May next year. I have requested a ground floor, courtyard view.
Questions:
1. Is this a good choice?
2. Could I be a little more precise and perhaps name building numbers? Any input which is the best?

Here are my criteria for a good room.
1. Location close to food hall and pool
2. A quite location away from lifts etc.
3. Somewhere where it’s not too dark

Any inputs would be most welcome.. I do need to confirm my booking this evening.

Thanks

 

[Venomhatch]

That's funny because while I grew up in CA I live in Sweden now and here no one lines up for the city busses either but once one comes a crowd (no line!) will form and then people just merge onboard.

I'm sure we will stand where we think it'll stop at POR. No bushes for us lol! But are there often seats, or is that often a problem do you think?

Well if comes down to there is a pretty good share of seats, but if there are two powered wheelchairs / EPVs then you lose 6 seats right there with those two spots. They load them first so you can look around and see peoples eyes start to get worried when those get loaded first.

But usually there is a pretty good amount of seats still available.

 

[SRUAlmn]

I'm sure we will stand where we think it'll stop at POR. No bushes for us lol! But are there often seats, or is that often a problem do you think?

Something to consider, depending on when you're going. When we went in early June the South Depot stop was always PACKED in the mornings. People would get there early and sit on the benches. As we waited the 20 minutes for the next bus, tons of people would pour in and crowd around the areas in front of the benches. Some of us would try to form lines in the order that we arrived, some would walk up the sidewalk from AB and stand right in the middle of the two depots, some would stand RIGHT up on the curb where they thought the bus would stop, etc... We tried our hardest to let people who were there first get on first, but I promise you that we were not the majority. Very often, those people sitting on the benches were stuck and couldn't get through the crowd to get on once the bus arrived and they were left waiting for the next bus.

 

[Kristina]

Oh that's good then, you've eased my mind a bit . Should have seen me when I read there were no elevators, because first floor rooms mean snakes and gators right ! Now I'm wondering if I should get us a preferred room... So many decisions !

 

[Venomhatch]

Something to consider, depending on when you're going. When we went in early June the South Depot stop was always PACKED in the mornings. People would get there early and sit on the benches. As we waited the 20 minutes for the next bus, tons of people would pour in and crowd around the areas in front of the benches. Some of us would try to form lines in the order that we arrived, some would walk up the sidewalk from AB and stand right in the middle of the two depots, some would stand RIGHT up on the curb where they thought the bus would stop, etc... We tried our hardest to let people who were there first get on first, but I promise you that we were not the majority. Very often, those people sitting on the benches were stuck and couldn't get through the crowd to get on once the bus arrived and they were left waiting for the next bus.

Yeah I agree, if your there with a family you kind have to be aggressive with it. I would stand right on the little lines painted on the curb just to make sure. I tend to rush ahead and secure our spot/seats doing things because one person moves through the crowd easier than a group.

 

[Venomhatch]

Oh that's good then, you've eased my mind a bit . Should have seen me when I read there were no elevators, because first floor rooms mean snakes and gators right ! Now I'm wondering if I should get us a preferred room... So many decisions !

Disney has active Cast Members that keep eyes out for those kinds of unwanted visitors. So have no worries you shouldn't see any snakes at all, and definitely no gators. Well i have never seen one or heard of any guests reporting one around me.

 

[SRUAlmn]

Yeah I agree, if your there with a family you kind have to be aggressive with it. I would stand right on the little lines painted on the curb just to make sure. I tend to rush ahead and secure our spot/seats doing things because one person moves through the crowd easier than a group.

Definitely! The major problem that arose quite a few times was that the line for the further depot (the Magic Kingdom one) usually spread through the EPCOT depot and towards the gift shop. Therefore, if we were walking up from the Royal Room footbridge and across the main entrance we'd approach the line and assume it was for the EPCOT depot. We'd climb our way through the crowd up to the MK depot, only to find out that the line was back where we started. WE would go back and get in "line." Many others would just stay there, or the people walking in from AB who were in the middle of the two depots would just hang in the middle and wait. Each time we walked up we felt like we needed to go through the crowd and ask everyone what they were in line for. It was tricky! Especially when the buses started to pull up at different spots than usual!

 

[Kristina]

Something to consider, depending on when you're going. When we went in early June the South Depot stop was always PACKED in the mornings. People would get there early and sit on the benches. As we waited the 20 minutes for the next bus, tons of people would pour in and crowd around the areas in front of the benches. Some of us would try to form lines in the order that we arrived, some would walk up the sidewalk from AB and stand right in the middle of the two depots, some would stand RIGHT up on the curb where they thought the bus would stop, etc... We tried our hardest to let people who were there first get on first, but I promise you that we were not the majority. Very often, those people sitting on the benches were stuck and couldn't get through the crowd to get on once the bus arrived and they were left waiting for the next bus.

Too bad they just don't have a roped off line like the values do. I've sat on the bench at Pop and watched people get in line but you can tell when it's time to get up, and there's no stress. Thank you for posting this. I had read somewhere that South depot was the best stop because it's the first one after FQ, but perhaps not. Although maybe at least it's only that bad in the morning? Although I plan to get my group up and out, commando style ! Looks like the commanding may begin at the busses, although I'm more like you and will be looking out for what's right and kids and such.

 

[bartleby1]

Hi.. Was hoping I could get a quick reply as I need to confirm my booking to Disney tonight pre 8pm UK time.

A bit of a long story.. But I originally booked with a Travelcity UK for the POR with a water view room (I was under the impression this was a preferred location, it isn't) so I've spent the last few days talking with Travelcity about how we make this better. They quoted me a price of 928 pounds (that’s 1410usd) to upgrade to a preferred room. I politely declined and have now cancelled that booking (with a full refund) booked direct with Disney and Virgin Atlantic directly.

So, here's my question.

I have booked a preferred room at the POR for May next year. I have requested a ground floor, courtyard view.
Questions:
1. Is this a good choice?
2. Could I be a little more precise and perhaps name building numbers? Any input which is the best?

Here are my criteria for a good room.
1. Location close to food hall and pool
2. A quite location away from lifts etc.
3. Somewhere where it’s not too dark

Any inputs would be most welcome.. I do need to confirm my booking this evening.

Thanks

I'm no expert, but your requests seem good to me! None of the preferred buildings are all that far from the main building or pool. The preferred buildings also do not have elevators, so no worry about noise from that. I'm not positive what you mean by not wanting somewhere not too dark, but Disney is very safety conscious and I have never been anywhere on property that I didn't feel was safely lit at night.

HTH!

 

[Venomhatch]

Too bad they just don't have a roped off line like the values do. I've sat on the bench at Pop and watched people get in line but you can tell when it's time to get up, and there's no stress. Thank you for posting this. I had read somewhere that South depot was the best stop because it's the first one after FQ, but perhaps not. Although maybe at least it's only that bad in the morning? Although I plan to get my group up and out, commando style ! Looks like the commanding may begin at the busses, although I'm more like you and will be looking out for what's right and kids and such.

It is the best stop IMO still. The buses that hit the other three depots fill up very quickly.

 

[SRUAlmn]

Too bad they just don't have a roped off line like the values do. I've sat on the bench at Pop and watched people get in line but you can tell when it's time to get up, and there's no stress. Thank you for posting this. I had read somewhere that South depot was the best stop because it's the first one after FQ, but perhaps not. Although maybe at least it's only that bad in the morning? Although I plan to get my group up and out, commando style ! Looks like the commanding may begin at the busses, although I'm more like you and will be looking out for what's right and kids and such.

It is the best stop IMO still. The buses that hit the other three depots fill up very quickly.

I agree with Venom about it being the best option. There will be guests from POFQ already on when it arrives, and you will have to ride through all the other POR stops, and we always ended up standing because as we got to the other stops we'd end up getting up for scooters or little kiddos, but at least we got ON The issue with MK is that (when we were there) the South Depot was the LAST pick up for MK, so it took a little more than 20 minutes between buses and when one finally arrived it could only fit about 15 people. That caused the crowds to be bigger so they spanned across both depots and led to a lot of the chaos.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I just want to jump on the South Depot bus lines (or lack thereof).

We experienced it a few times in the AM, but only for folks going to MK. That seemed to be about the only park that would ever get a "line" per se (and yes, it would occasionally snake down into the other waiting areas). We only ever noticed this happening in the AM (usually around 8:30am until maybe 9:30 or 9:45 am, aka peak time to head to the park).

To avoid this, I really would recommend using whichever outer Depot is closest to your room if you are going to MK in the AM. There never seemed to be big crowds at those depots.

We NEVER saw this for any other park or for any other time of the day.

 

[Missytara]

I just want to jump on the South Depot bus lines (or lack thereof).

We experienced it a few times in the AM, but only for folks going to MK. That seemed to be about the only park that would ever get a "line" per se (and yes, it would occasionally snake down into the other waiting areas). We only ever noticed this happening in the AM (usually around 8:30am until maybe 9:30 or 9:45 am, aka peak time to head to the park).

To avoid this, I really would recommend using whichever outer Depot is closest to your room if you are going to MK in the AM. There never seemed to be big crowds at those depots.

We NEVER saw this for any other park or for any other time of the day.

We were there the third week in June and also noted that the POR buses for MK were the most crowded at park closing as well. There were tons of people for the bus at POR and only a handful for POFQ. We opted to do that bus and then walk back to Magnolia Terrace. We got up to the South Depot heading towards our building and the first group was just driving up to the depot.

I am glad we did.

 

[uktivo]

I'm no expert, but your requests seem good to me! None of the preferred buildings are all that far from the main building or pool. The preferred buildings also do not have elevators, so no worry about noise from that. I'm not positive what you mean by not wanting somewhere not too dark, but Disney is very safety conscious and I have never been anywhere on property that I didn't feel was safely lit at night.

HTH!

Thanks for the feedback.. the "too dark" reference was for the room itself.
We have stayed at the CBR a few years back and found the room quite dark inside.. then again, we stayed at the Movies resort last year and found that room to be great...

I think it's the luck of the draw.. I was just trying to pin lady luck a little more on my side...

 

[JinxedSydney]

I just want to say that I'm actually happy to miss the dates for Free Dining! That means less people when I stay!

I actually eyeballed my suitcases and wondered if it was too early to pack.

 

[Missytara]

So, here's my question.

I have booked a preferred room at the POR for May next year. I have requested a ground floor, courtyard view.
Questions:
1. Is this a good choice?
2. Could I be a little more precise and perhaps name building numbers? Any input which is the best?

Here are my criteria for a good room.
1. Location close to food hall and pool
2. A quite location away from lifts etc.
3. Somewhere where it’s not too dark

Any inputs would be most welcome.. I do need to confirm my booking this evening.

Thanks

You don't want to use precise building numbers because the room assigner won't know why you want that area, so it will be overlooked most likely.

You always want to list your requests in order of importance to you, since you have multiple requests. Also don't worry about being somewhere being "too dark". I have walked around the complexes at 2 or 3 am and it is always well lit no matter where you go. Disney is extremely safety conscious.

You don't have to worry about being in a quiet area away from elevators in AB; there are none. It is all stairs, so you may want to be away from stairs, but it is going to be hard since they are located in the courtyard view areas. I suggest you decide what is more important to you.