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

[reader562]

Hi, We are going to Disney World this October and we will be staying at POR for the first time. Up to this point I have only stayed at the deluxe hotels at disney world but in an effort to save money we are giving the moderates a try. From what I hear they are excellent and lets face it anywhere you stay is going to be great. But I wanted to ask what is the biggest difference we will feel in staying at a PORT Orleans versus Say Fort Wilderness since they to do have monorail access as well. My biggest concern is if the bus transportation will be very different to and from the hotel?

I think you might mean Wilderness Lodge?? I haven't stayed at POR yet, but have it scheduled for next February.
I have stayed at CBR and at Wildness Lodge. I doubt I'd stay at WL again. I like having the food court rather than the limited selection at WL. My main gripe was the pool. Although beautiful, I never once got a lounge chair in the afternoon for the whole week we were there. I'll take a quiet pool with plenty of loungers any day.
We also had a rental car so parking at a moderate resort is much more convenient than a deluxe.

 

[Missytara]

Hey all, I think Andrew is still in transit, but for all you POR veterans - is it common for POR to be excluded from room only or free dining offers? I wasn't able to find historical data to support it, but a site called Chip and Co that alot of Disers frequent is posting that POR is going to be left out of room only offers for the fall starting tomorrow - but just POR and AofA. Not left out of FD though (that doesn't work due to my dates, though). I'm hoping the data is wrong, but has that happened before? Dates are like from October to right before xmas, only leaving out Thanksgiving. So it's not like they are working around a particular event or something....

Thanks for any help/perspective!

Check mousesavers.com for historical data. I have received FD at POR, but you have to jump on it, since it is a choice for families of 5.

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Check mousesavers.com for historical data. I have received FD at POR, but you have to jump on it, since it is a choice for families of 5.

Unfortunately, unless I'm reading it wrong mousesavers only shows the dates/general description, not the details of exclusions. Thanks though!

 

[minniemous]

Thanks so much for all the great insight to POR. I think we are going to love it. Has anyone ever had an experience where the hotel has honored a request to give you a room as close as possible to the main buildings and busses???
I know you can pay for a preferred room but has anyone been given a preferred room without actually paying the extra money if there is one available? When I made the reservations they said I could put in a request (we want to be in the smaller buildings non-plantation style and as close as possible to the main buildings) and when we are about to go ask again and then ask when we arrive again and check in.

 

[wdwagain518]

Thanks so much for all the great insight to POR. I think we are going to love it. Has anyone ever had an experience where the hotel has honored a request to give you a room as close as possible to the main buildings and busses???
I know you can pay for a preferred room but has anyone been given a preferred room without actually paying the extra money if there is one available? When I made the reservations they said I could put in a request (we want to be in the smaller buildings non-plantation style and as close as possible to the main buildings) and when we are about to go ask again and then ask when we arrive again and check in.

we've had very good experiences our last 2 stays at POR. The first time (Sept 2012) DH was still recuperating from major shoulder surgery so we requested close to check-in and South Depot--we were upgraded to a preferred room in building 14--can't get closer than that! The last time (Jan 2013) we requested a ground floor corner room in building 16 or 17 (next closest non-preferred) and we got exactly what we asked for-ground floor corner room in building 17.

Both times we had booked garden view and faxed requests to the resort 3-5 days before arriving.

 

[kandb]

FYI-we have stayed at deluxes, GF, AKL and the dolphin and we are going back to POR this Sept. If Disney was going to give us a free upgrade to a deluxe would I take it? Sure I would but we really love POR and saving over a thousand dollars for our stay certainly helps. It's a great resort, really has a great relaxing feel to it. I never thought the pictures on the website did it any justice. You have to be there to experience it.

 

[Miss C]

Quick update about the fridge situation here, front desk called this afternoon and was not able to find us a working fridge so they automatically credited our room account $15night. It was nice to have them do this without me having to ask for the credit. I simply asked upon check in if we had one in the room and asked to be put on the wait list for one. Luckily we drove and had a small cooler to use. I paid for a Royal room and do believe the compensation is fair. Back to my vacation now!
BTW.. these rooms are beautiful!!

Edit to add.. food court does have the new RFID machines but they are not activated yet. Coffee machine is nescafe. However coffee in rooms is joffreys.

Thanks for the update! I'll be sure to keep it in mind when checking into our POR Royal Room in 4 DAYS! I'm almost completely packed and have added a collapsible (soft-sided) cooler to our luggage just in case. I plan to place an order from Garden Grocer with a small amount of perishables (milk, juice, etc.) so a refrigerator would be nice, especially since it was listed and expected when I booked the room. But if not, we will try to make the cooler work and hopefully, the milk won't go bad during our stay.

 

[jsrj21]

Hello everyone-

Have a food/restaurant question. My family and I will be going back to the world on Monday August 5. We decided that we are going to start going to one new restaurant on every trip from now on. This year, we decided on Boatwright's. I just wanted to know if the food was good? My DW, DS, and myself are looking forward to the interesting items on the menu but I've never seen pictures or heard a review on the Dis. I may have missed it; if so I apologize.

Thanks for the help.

 

[TinkerBelleGirl]

Just an update for anyone interested.

The discount offers are live on the Disney website, you just have to click on the special offers tab and go thru the link to receive it.
POR is NOT included for the Room Only discount but POFQ is and POR IS included for Free Dining but POFQ is not.

 

[Li Li]

Just an update for anyone interested.

The discount offers are live on the Disney website, you just have to click on the special offers tab and go thru the link to receive it.
POR is NOT included for the Room Only discount but POFQ is and POR IS included for Free Dining but POFQ is not.

Where do you see POR excluded from room only??

 

[zy144622]

Where do you see POR excluded from room only??

It states POR gets FD and POFQ gets RO.

 

[bookgirl]

I booked FD at POR RR Garden Room so it looks like I'll be trying out a new resort this Oct. Now I've got to go cancel my RO POFQ.

 

[Li Li]

Okay, POR does have room only discount but it looks like 5%.

 

[donna6635]

So, I got on the phone at 7am sharp. Tried to redo my reservation for Oct 19-25 with free dining...Can you believe it...NO dining available for my dates...Don't understand it! Hate it when I can't save money

 

[bookgirl]

So, I got on the phone at 7am sharp. Tried to redo my reservation for Oct 10-25 with free dining...Can you believe it...NO dining available for my dates...Don't understand it! Hate it when I can't save money

Can you play with your dates or do a split. People are chatting away on the thread about FD and most are being told it's one day in the reservation that is negating the whole request.

 

[donna6635]

Can you play with your dates or do a split. People are chatting away on the thread about FD and most are being told it's one day in the reservation that is negating the whole request.

Not really...Have airfare booked and doing this trip with 2 girls that I work with and the one's 3 year old daughter...They specifically wanted something special...Booked RR. Why does Disney have to make it so hard?? OOPs my dates are the 19-25...

 

[icicle]

I have a question about picking up tickets early. We are doing a room only res for two nights before our package starts with free dining, staying at POR the entire time. From the ticket sticky in the Theme park board:

There is a possibility that if your package and the stay prior to the package are at the same Resort that you will be able to get the tickets at the Resort and not have to go to a Park Guest Relations Office.

Has anyone been able to do this at POR? Just curious! Would love to save some time.

 

[G719]

I called at 7. Got though busy signals at 7:10. Got a CM at 7:30. We are already booked nov 9-16. She checked for free dining 11-16, no luck . Room only for POR is only 5% so the price would actually be more because of the ticket price increase. Oh well. I was already working summer school to pay for our food. We were going to get hoppers if we got free dining so I guess we would be spending our FD savings anyway. Disappointed but we are going anyway. It would have been nice to get the savings.

 

[hippsmom]

Are the Royal Rooms considered to be in a preferred location? I was hoping to book POR preferred but nothing available for FD other than RR. I am just hoping to be close to the first bus stop...can any one help me?

 

[Venomhatch]

Are the Royal Rooms considered to be in a preferred location? I was hoping to book POR preferred but nothing available for FD other than RR. I am just hoping to be close to the first bus stop...can any one help me?

No they are not preferred. Preferred are located in the Alligator Bayou area near the main building. They will be the closest to the best IMO bus stop the South Depot which has the best chance of getting on bus and heading to where you want.