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

[DisneyAndrew]

Hello all again! Only 9 days until we leave and 10 days until we check in. I wanted to say thanks again to all who have contributed throughout this thread, and especially to Andre for this thread and his wonderful site. The information I have gained from fellow DISers and Andre's site have been great.

I just have a couple of comments/questions that I would like everybody's opinion on. First, I have customized my Magic Bands and I got an e-mail saying they were shipped with a tracking number. When I go to UPS to track the package, it says the label has been created, but UPS has not yet received the package. This is from last week. It shows it being shipped Next Day Air, but it shows it going to Lake Buena Vista, FL. I have talked to my TA and she doesn't seem to know much more about it than I do, and she has called, and they haven't been much help. I have obviously not received them yet. So, do you think that they are being shipped to the resort for pickup when I check in? If so, that's fine.

Second, I wanted to get some opinions on travel options and tips within my trip. I know this is a hotly debated item, but I felt it appropriate here since all of my questions are getting to/from POR. So, here goes:

1. On my arrival day (Saturday), I have an ADR at Trail's End Restaurant at Ft. Wilderness. We are driving down, so it appears to be easiest to just drive up to Ft. Wilderness?

2. Sunday is all day at DHS, with maybe a return trip to the hotel in the afternoon. Is bus service best for this?

3. Monday is all day at Epcot, with a return trip in the afternoon. Bus service?

4. Tuesday is MK in the morning/afternoon and then I have an ADR at House of Blues in DD at 7:00. If I wanted to return to my hotel in the afternoon, and go back to MK a little before dinner, is there a good way to get from MK to DD or should I just ride the bus back to the resort and catch the boat to DD? It seems to me that my best option is to stay at MK as long as I plan to for that day, then ride the bus back to the resort, rest, and then catch the boat to DD.

5. Wednesday is AK in the morning, return to hotel in afternoon, then ADR and Wishes at MK that evening. Is the bus service OK for both of these?

6. Thursday and Friday will be spent at "The Parks That Must Not Be Named", so we will be driving there

7. Saturday, I have an early ADR at CRT for breakfast at MK. The plan is to spend the afternoon there, then head back to the resort for a while with a carriage ride that evening, and maybe going back to MK just for the night parade and a last goodbye. Is the bus service good for early arrival ADRs? My ADR is for 9, so is there a way to get into the park early for that?

I'm sorry this is so long, but you guys are the experts. Thanks again for all the help, and I look forward to sharing my thoughts/experiences when I get back.

 

[lazer]

Always take the bus if it is an option. Driving to MK is the worst!

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

Always take the bus if it is an option. Driving to MK is the worst!

Totally agree!! Our car never moves once we park it at the hotel. I'm paying for the perks & to me that means taking the bus.

 

[Silverscreen]

Totally agree!! Our car never moves once we park it at the hotel. I'm paying for the perks & to me that means taking the bus. ����

Add us to that list too. Once we arrive and check in we go get groceries and then the car stays parked for the duration

 

[Kona65]

t

 

[bigmac5]

It's 407-WDW-DINE.

Thanks for the number. I called and some had the celebration and some didn't--so they all do now

 

[justakrazymom]

Add us to that list too. Once we arrive and check in we go get groceries and then the car stays parked for the duration

Ditto. Flying this time but when we drove the car never moved!

 

[Vivilove]

Question??? We won't have a car. Is there a place we can buy groceries? I thought I heard of a delivery service a while back. And is there a minimum order amount? We are staying in a Royal room. Is there refrigerators in it, I thought I read about an issue with some rooms not having refrigerators.

 

[DJFan88]

1. On my arrival day (Saturday), I have an ADR at Trail's End Restaurant at Ft. Wilderness. We are driving down, so it appears to be easiest to just drive up to Ft. Wilderness?

2. Sunday is all day at DHS, with maybe a return trip to the hotel in the afternoon. Is bus service best for this?

3. Monday is all day at Epcot, with a return trip in the afternoon. Bus service?

4. Tuesday is MK in the morning/afternoon and then I have an ADR at House of Blues in DD at 7:00. If I wanted to return to my hotel in the afternoon, and go back to MK a little before dinner, is there a good way to get from MK to DD or should I just ride the bus back to the resort and catch the boat to DD? It seems to me that my best option is to stay at MK as long as I plan to for that day, then ride the bus back to the resort, rest, and then catch the boat to DD.

5. Wednesday is AK in the morning, return to hotel in afternoon, then ADR and Wishes at MK that evening. Is the bus service OK for both of these?

6. Thursday and Friday will be spent at "The Parks That Must Not Be Named", so we will be driving there

7. Saturday, I have an early ADR at CRT for breakfast at MK. The plan is to spend the afternoon there, then head back to the resort for a while with a carriage ride that evening, and maybe going back to MK just for the night parade and a last goodbye. Is the bus service good for early arrival ADRs? My ADR is for 9, so is there a way to get into the park early for that?

Yes, definetly use your car for MK so you can avoid the TTC and get dropped off right there.
However, anytime you go to another resort you'll need your car. It's just not convenient to try and go to somewhere else to transfer for a bus there if you don't need to.
We also go get groceries like water and milk and fruit like a PP.
We also never use our car for the parks.
Sometimes we also use it when we go to DTD, but the boat is nice too. I usually use it if the weather looks iffy,cause I have this thing about storms and being on a boat. However, you could get on a bus, too.

 

[TDDisney]

Question??? We won't have a car. Is there a place we can buy groceries? I thought I heard of a delivery service a while back. And is there a minimum order amount? We are staying in a Royal room. Is there refrigerators in it, I thought I read about an issue with some rooms not having refrigerators.

Garden Grocer....We've done it three times now and have been happy with them. I don't think there is a min, but I think the delivery charge is $14, plus tip. The rooms do not all have fridges, yet, but you can try to request one....or you can have your food stored at bell services....I think I read about that on the POR thread.

 

[EpcotBill]

Garden Grocer....We've done it three times now and have been happy with them. I don't think there is a min, but I think the delivery charge is $14, plus tip. The rooms do not all have fridges, yet, but you can try to request one....or you can have your food stored at bell services....I think I read about that on the POR thread.

I think the minimum is $40.

 

[kittercats85]

Hi there! I am new to the board and excited to find this thread. Thank you for all the great information! My fiance and I are starting to make honeymoon plans and we are thinking about going to Disney.

In my poking around, I'm strongly considering staying at Port Orleans Riverside when we go down. We almost stayed there when I was younger, but ended up at the last minute switching to Caribbean Beach while checking in, where other family members had a reservation. I'm excited!

 

[Vivilove]

Garden Grocer....We've done it three times now and have been happy with them. I don't think there is a min, but I think the delivery charge is $14, plus tip. The rooms do not all have fridges, yet, but you can try to request one....or you can have your food stored at bell services....I think I read about that on the POR thread.

Thank you. Is Garden Grocer online or do you telephone your order?

 

[TDDisney]

Question??? We won't have a car. Is there a place we can buy groceries? I thought I heard of a delivery service a while back. And is there a minimum order amount? We are staying in a Royal room. Is there refrigerators in it, I thought I read about an issue with some rooms not having refrigerators.

Thank you. Is Garden Grocer online or do you telephone your order?

Online.... Gardengrocer.com....it's super easy to do. The resort will hold your food at bell services if you're not there. GG will call your cell phone when they deliver. Last time, I got a call from them when we were at the airport in Philadelphia asking if they could deliver a few hours early (which was fine).

 

[Vivilove]

Online.... Gardengrocer.com....it's super easy to do. The resort will hold your food at bell services if you're not there. GG will call your cell phone when they deliver. Last time, I got a call from them when we were at the airport in Philadelphia asking if they could deliver a few hours early (which was fine).

Awesome. Thanks. We are flying out of Philly too. We're in South Jersey.

 

[siskaren]

Could someone who is at POR at the moment do me a favour and snap some quick photos of the menus/pricelists in the food court? Ideally for Lunch (pre 5pm) and also Dinner (after 5pm) if possible. I've just finished updating the site based on my own trip, but I gather there were a few options due to change last week and I'd just like to make sure I've captured any minor alterations and/or price changes.

Just basic cameraphone snaps of each 'page' on each of the TV screens would be perfect as long as I can read the text. Sorry if you get any strange looks, I guess I'm used to it by now.

If you could email them to me at the admin address for the site (admin(at)portorleans.org) that'd be great.

Thanks!

Andre

Andre, check out this recent post from easyWDW:

http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorized/port-orleans-french-quarter-lobby-refurbishment-menu-updates-and-a-walk-around/

 

[WDW1979]

Could someone who is at POR at the moment do me a favour and snap some quick photos of the menus/pricelists in the food court? Ideally for Lunch (pre 5pm) and also Dinner (after 5pm) if possible.
Andre

Hi Andre, I am at POR now...tomorrow I will try to get some pics of the food court menus from the LCD displays. Note that some dinner items end at 10pm...including the sliced beef and mashed potatoes dinner I wanted to purchase, but as I stood in another line to get chicken nuggets for my youngest son I noticed the serving of the sliced beef & mashed potatoes ended at 10. You may already have known that some dinner items end at 10, but I did not. I thought everything was available until 11pm.

 

[WDW1979]

Someone is hanging their laundry on a railing at Magnolia Terrace, on the second floor at the front of the building facing the river and the bridge. I am amazed that Disney allows that...maybe they have not noticed. New laundry appears on the same railing every day. It is an eyesore, and it is rude, IMHO. Others may differ, but I assume Disney would not approve of guests hanging their laundry outside their rooms. Oh how colorful POR would be if everyone did that!

 

[andrewilley]

Our car never moves once we park it at the hotel. I'm paying for the perks & to me that means taking the bus. ����

In my case, I'm also paying for the rental car. Oh, and one of the other on-site perks is no parking charges at the theme parks, so need to take advantage of that too.

We almost always take the bus for the MK (apart from when we've got first-time visitors with us, so they get the full TTC-to-MK experience). The other parks vary, but mostly we tend to drive and we'll often split for the return trip with me driving and the others either coming with me or taking the bus if they want to leave earlier. DTD is usually by boat.

Andre

 

[andrewilley]

We are staying in a Royal room. Is there refrigerators in it, I thought I read about an issue with some rooms not having refrigerators.

Please see the first (FAQ) post for the latest info on the fridges.

Andre, check out this recent post from easyWDW:

http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorize...refurbishment-menu-updates-and-a-walk-around/

Nice info and photos, but the minor menu changes in the food court only happened in the last few days so they won't be covered by that info as it was from the start of the month.

Hi Andre, I am at POR now...tomorrow I will try to get some pics of the food court menus from the LCD displays. Note that some dinner items end at 10pm...including the sliced beef and mashed potatoes dinner I wanted to purchase, but as I stood in another line to get chicken nuggets for my youngest son I noticed the serving of the sliced beef & mashed potatoes ended at 10. You may already have known that some dinner items end at 10, but I did not. I thought everything was available until 11pm.

Thanks, that'd be great! Yes, some of the counters have different opening hours, and you're right that the carved meats one is 5pm-10pm (no lunches). That's my 'go-to' dining counter at Riverside too, although as a Brit I still don't quite understand the whole "cornbread with a hot meal" thing.

The existing menu options and opening times are all listed at www.portorleans.org/riversidemill.php, I just need to check the minor changes that were made last week (and see if any prices changed at the same time, which is quite likely as they've been pretty much the same for over 12 month now).

Andre