Port Orleans Riverside Q&A Thread 2014 (Please read first post for FAQs!)

[JasMinnie]

Hello!
Our trip is in May. I haven't been in 30+ years and our two kiddos have never been. Our family of four is joined by my in laws this trip as well.
A few questions:

We are staying at POR. After our 7 day stay, we want to rent a car for four days on the beach. Whats the cheapest way to do that? Taxi to rental shop off property? Is there one on property? 2 adults, 2 kids.

We are also taking the magic(?) bus from the airport to POR. When we return the car (if its on resort property) can we still take the bus back to the airport?

Suggestions for royal rooms close to the bridge? My father in law will have a scooter due to age/joints. (i read the scores of posts about how much people despise the scooters on busses. How depressing.) My mom in law will be walking.

TIA!!

 

[hunmcbunny]

Hello!
Our trip is in May. I haven't been in 30+ years and our two kiddos have never been. Our family of four is joined by my in laws this trip as well.
A few questions:

We are staying at POR. After our 7 day stay, we want to rent a car for four days on the beach. Whats the cheapest way to do that? Taxi to rental shop off property? Is there one on property? 2 adults, 2 kids.

We are also taking the magic(?) bus from the airport to POR. When we return the car (if its on resort property) can we still take the bus back to the airport?

Suggestions for royal rooms close to the bridge? My father in law will have a scooter due to age/joints. (i read the scores of posts about how much people despise the scooters on busses. How depressing.) My mom in law will be walking.

TIA!!

We did something similar but didnt take the bus back to the airport. It was ridiculously easy to drop the car off at the airport and there are porters to help you with your luggage. There are signs everywhere directing you where to go based on which rental company you used. You pull up and they scan your car and give you a print-out and you are done.

I will never understand why people need to complain about the scooters on the bus. I would fax a request to be closer to a bridge due to mobility issues. Venomhatch has an awesome template for faxing request.

 

[siskaren]

We are also taking the magic(?) bus from the airport to POR. When we return the car (if its on resort property) can we still take the bus back to the airport?

I'm pretty sure you can't take Magical Express back to the airport after the date your onsite stay has ended.

 

[hunmcbunny]

Hello!
Our trip is in May. I haven't been in 30+ years and our two kiddos have never been. Our family of four is joined by my in laws this trip as well.
A few questions:

We are staying at POR. After our 7 day stay, we want to rent a car for four days on the beach. Whats the cheapest way to do that? Taxi to rental shop off property? Is there one on property? 2 adults, 2 kids.

We are also taking the magic(?) bus from the airport to POR. When we return the car (if its on resort property) can we still take the bus back to the airport?

Suggestions for royal rooms close to the bridge? My father in law will have a scooter due to age/joints. (i read the scores of posts about how much people despise the scooters on busses. How depressing.) My mom in law will be walking.

TIA!!

I would take the bus to the airport when you check out and rent a car from the airport.

 

[csjordan]

Hello!
Our trip is in May. I haven't been in 30+ years and our two kiddos have never been. Our family of four is joined by my in laws this trip as well.
A few questions:

We are staying at POR. After our 7 day stay, we want to rent a car for four days on the beach. Whats the cheapest way to do that? Taxi to rental shop off property? Is there one on property? 2 adults, 2 kids.

We are also taking the magic(?) bus from the airport to POR. When we return the car (if its on resort property) can we still take the bus back to the airport?

Suggestions for royal rooms close to the bridge? My father in law will have a scooter due to age/joints. (i read the scores of posts about how much people despise the scooters on busses. How depressing.) My mom in law will be walking.

TIA!!

We are renting a car next week, at the end of our POR stay. Plan to take a boat from POR over to DTD and walk to the Wydham. They have a car rental place there. Beats going all the way back over to the airport.

 

[Venomhatch]

How did you keep this a secret??? lol Hubster & I are like little kids and told princess the day we decided to cancel our big anniversary trip to Alaska and go to Disney instead

It was killing us when we were hiding the Poly Trip, we wanted to so much burst the bubble and my wife kept saying, "I want to tell her, I'm going to tell her". Our Daughter that is. I was don't do it. Just imagine the shock! Well we get to the airport because we lived in VA at the time and loved the food at this restaurant there that my mother in law was going to park the car but she was dropping us off at the ticket area then meet us inside. Well once we got out I whipped the camera out and started recording. The little one was in denial the whole time even as my wife told her and I pulled suitcases out of the trunk. Even at the counter she kept saying no way are we going. Then at passenger check in it hit her and started flipping out overwhelming joy and even crying of happiness.

It was the best surprise ever that we did. But ever since she never trusted us when we are whispering.

 

[CareHeartsDisney]

Hello!
Our trip is in May. I haven't been in 30+ years and our two kiddos have never been. Our family of four is joined by my in laws this trip as well.
A few questions:

We are staying at POR. After our 7 day stay, we want to rent a car for four days on the beach. Whats the cheapest way to do that? Taxi to rental shop off property? Is there one on property? 2 adults, 2 kids.

We are also taking the magic(?) bus from the airport to POR. When we return the car (if its on resort property) can we still take the bus back to the airport?

Suggestions for royal rooms close to the bridge? My father in law will have a scooter due to age/joints. (i read the scores of posts about how much people despise the scooters on busses. How depressing.) My mom in law will be walking.

TIA!!

There are a few places to rent on property. The Disney Car Care Center which has Alamo & National car rentals is toward the Magic Kingdom. They'll pick you up from your resort to rent the vehicle. You can either return it there (not sure if you could get Magical Express 4 days after you check out) or you can return it to the airport. There are also Alamo & National car rentals at the Dolphin resort next to Epcot. I'm not positive but I think that site will also pick you up. Sometimes car rentals for only 4 days are not much different in price than a whole week. I realize that your vacation is for 11 days but you may want to check the price of all 11 days and then you could just pick up the vehicle and return it at the airport. The nice thing about Disney World resorts is that there is no parking fees for resort guests at either the resort or at the parks (if you decide to drive to them).

Regarding the room request, be sure to have it noted on your reservation by either calling Disney or if you booked through a travel agent (TA), have the TA call. You can also explain further why you need a room closer to the bridge in a fax that you would send 3-5 days prior to your arrival. See the first page.

 

[VegasVic14]

Arrived at POR about 4 hrs ago. Check in took only 5 minutes thanx to doing it online first. Stored the carry ons and had lunch @ Boardwalk Big River Grill.... Excellent beer cheese soup. Now back in the room (received a text that it was ready) and it is gorgeous. Got all the pixie dust too from my fax and even an added bonus: corner room (2 windows) NOT mentioned in the fax. This week is off to a fab start!

 

[taraaplin]

We will be there Saturday and cannot wait

 

[goofy Jr. 88]

Arrived at POR about 4 hrs ago. Check in took only 5 minutes thanx to doing it online first. Stored the carry ons and had lunch @ Boardwalk Big River Grill.... Excellent beer cheese soup. Now back in the room (received a text that it was ready) and it is gorgeous. Got all the pixie dust too from my fax and even an added bonus: corner room (2 windows) NOT mentioned in the fax. This week is off to a fab start!

Awesome. Have a fun vacation.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Hi Andre,

I just ran across this on an AoA thread and thought I would pass on the compliment:

Quote:
Originally Posted by JStiffler
Is there a good AOA site to go to? I know POR has a good one. Who has the movie listings? I have a friend going in April and I'm going in May and I'd like to have the list handy.

Reply from JCarwash:
I have yet to encounter any specialized site for AoA, let alone anything as good as portorleans.org.

 

[DisneyDiana!]

Sent in my fax this morning.

Any pixie dust that can be sprinkled is much, much better than all this snow we've been getting this year in Michigan.

Hey! I just read that your fax request worked! I was just wondering what you requested or how you worded it?

I finally decided to book our trip and we'll be going the week before Thanksgiving! I'm crossing my fingers for free dining but even if we don't get it this trip is long overdue. It'll be our first time staying at POR and I'm pretty excited!

 

[snorkelyn]

It was killing us when we were hiding the Poly Trip, we wanted to so much burst the bubble and my wife kept saying, "I want to tell her, I'm going to tell her". Our Daughter that is. I was don't do it. Just imagine the shock! Well we get to the airport because we lived in VA at the time and loved the food at this restaurant there that my mother in law was going to park the car but she was dropping us off at the ticket area then meet us inside. Well once we got out I whipped the camera out and started recording. The little one was in denial the whole time even as my wife told her and I pulled suitcases out of the trunk. Even at the counter she kept saying no way are we going. Then at passenger check in it hit her and started flipping out overwhelming joy and even crying of happiness.

It was the best surprise ever that we did. But ever since she never trusted us when we are whispering.

Our 1st surprise in 2010 went over like a lead balloon! Kids were 2,4 & 7. It was their 1st Disney trip. We woke them up early, and they were completely underwhelmed. This time, we planned better! Plus, they KNOW how awesome Disney is this time. They are 5,7 & 10. I hope to get the same reaction you guys got!

How did you keep this a secret??? lol Hubster & I are like little kids and told princess the day we decided to cancel our big anniversary trip to Alaska and go to Disney instead

We bought annual passes when we were there last September. The kids KNOW we are going September 2014. So, if we ever slip...we play it off like we're talking about the fall trip. Thus far, they keep saying "what can we do over spring break? can we do something fun?"

We leave Sunday very early am. We plan to give the kids a gift box the day before. It will have the magic bands (they know exactly what these are from our visit last fall), a $50 Disney gift card for each kid for Souvenirs, 75 pins that I ordered off ebay for trading, and an invitation from Mickey Mouse that says "See ya real soon....how about tomorrow!" We will kick off the 1st night with a Fantasmic show. Ahhh... I.CAN'T.WAIT. I'm faxing my request today, and will do online checkin.

 

[LisaTC]

I've been working on a few ideas to update the user interface at portorleans.org and make it a bit easier to use (also using the screen space better and hopefully making the code more scalable for mobile devices at a later stage). I don't want to turn the site into some ghastly Microsoft-like mess of large mostly-empty square boxes but just to make it a bit more of a pleasant experience without losing the basic look-and-feel.

Anyway, if anyone would like to comment, I've got a few test pages converted. All the menu links go back to the main site if you happen to click on them, but the pages should be suitable for trying out in different browsers, etc.

www.portorleans.org/testmenu.php
www.portorleans.org/testmenu2.php
www.portorleans.org/testmenu3.php (try clicking on items in the questions list)
www.portorleans.org/testmenu4.php
www.portorleans.org/testmenu5.php
www.portorleans.org/testmenu6.php

I'd be interested to know people's thoughts.

Andre

WORKED LIKE A CHARM. Love it! Awesome job, per usual. I tell people about your site all the time.

How did you keep this a secret??? lol Hubster & I are like little kids and told princess the day we decided to cancel our big anniversary trip to Alaska and go to Disney instead

Easy knowing full well that DD would be so distracted at school thinking about it. Her teachers thanked me for NOT telling her! LOL Also, I didn't have to hear, how many days, when are we going, how many days, when are we going? Etc.

It was killing us when we were hiding the Poly Trip, we wanted to so much burst the bubble and my wife kept saying, "I want to tell her, I'm going to tell her". Our Daughter that is. I was don't do it. Just imagine the shock! Well we get to the airport because we lived in VA at the time and loved the food at this restaurant there that my mother in law was going to park the car but she was dropping us off at the ticket area then meet us inside. Well once we got out I whipped the camera out and started recording. The little one was in denial the whole time even as my wife told her and I pulled suitcases out of the trunk. Even at the counter she kept saying no way are we going. Then at passenger check in it hit her and started flipping out overwhelming joy and even crying of happiness.

It was the best surprise ever that we did. But ever since she never trusted us when we are whispering.

Very similar to DD's response. Both her trips were surprises. She had no clue, she was surprised and had tears both time. It was priceless. One time we made it all the way to the airport parking lot and had the camera on, too....she was disbelieving. The next was the very night before & I had gotten her some Disney shirts for the trip and she was puzzled and I said that might need these sometime...like tomorrow, when we go to Disney, so you better get packed. Awesome, again!

 

[hunmcbunny]

Our 1st surprise in 2010 went over like a lead balloon! Kids were 2,4 & 7. It was their 1st Disney trip. We woke them up early, and they were completely underwhelmed. This time, we planned better! Plus, they KNOW how awesome Disney is this time. They are 5,7 & 10. I hope to get the same reaction you guys got!



We bought annual passes when we were there last September. The kids KNOW we are going September 2014. So, if we ever slip...we play it off like we're talking about the fall trip. Thus far, they keep saying "what can we do over spring break? can we do something fun?"

We leave Sunday very early am. We plan to give the kids a gift box the day before. It will have the magic bands (they know exactly what these are from our visit last fall), a $50 Disney gift card for each kid for Souvenirs, 75 pins that I ordered off ebay for trading, and an invitation from Mickey Mouse that says "See ya real soon....how about tomorrow!" We will kick off the 1st night with a Fantasmic show. Ahhh... I.CAN'T.WAIT. I'm faxing my request today, and will do online checkin.

wow thats awesome! I wish I had the will power to surprise her...hmmm maybe there's a way! We can always tell her we had to postpone the trip but keep everything as planned. Just gotta figure out how to pack without her knowing lol

 

[snorkelyn]

wow thats awesome! I wish I had the will power to surprise her...hmmm maybe there's a way! We can always tell her we had to postpone the trip but keep everything as planned. Just gotta figure out how to pack without her knowing lol

This has been a challenge. Especially since we still have snow on the ground here at home! I have had to buy some new summer things for the kids (they keep growing??) and I just tell them that the stores all have spring and summer stuff out now, so I'm just getting ready for warm weather.

We are telling the kids 24 hours ahead of our flights. This will give me time to build their excitement and finish up the packing.

Surprises are fun!

 

[cindermama32]

Hi everyone. I have been following this and the old thread and have been to the unofficial site many times. I have read that there are refrigerators in all the rooms but I just read a Trip Advisor review from today that said they only give fridges for medical reasons. Is this true? I have a 3 & 1 yr old and I will need a fridge. We are staying in a royal room if it matters. Thanks for your help!

 

[ncc1701]

Hi everyone. I have been following this and the old thread and have been to the unofficial site many times. I have read that there are refrigerators in all the rooms but I just read a Trip Advisor review from today that said they only give fridges for medical reasons. Is this true? I have a 3 & 1 yr old and I will need a fridge. We are staying in a royal room if it matters. Thanks for your help!

There were issues with the fridges and they had to replace them at many if not all of the resorts.From what I remember reading on the boards that was completed. Sometimes people post on Trip Advisor months after their visit. Double check Andre's www.portorleans.org site

 

[chirodoc78]

I have a question. I'm looking at room rates for late September this year (just to get a ballpark figure for our trip in September next year). I am on the disney website looking at POR preferred rooms. There are 10 of us going, therefore I will need to book two rooms. For the first room (a preferred room that sleeps 5), I put in 4 adults 1 child and get a certain price that comes up for room only. When I enter 3 adults 2 children for the second room (also a preferred room that sleeps 5), I get a completely different price for room only. If I'm looking at the same category of room, that sleeps the same number of people, for room only, for the same dates, why would they have two different prices?

 

[lillykat]

I have a question. I'm looking at room rates for late September this year (just to get a ballpark figure for our trip in September next year). I am on the disney website looking at POR preferred rooms. There are 10 of us going, therefore I will need to book two rooms. For the first room (a preferred room that sleeps 5), I put in 4 adults 1 child and get a certain price that comes up for room only. When I enter 3 adults 2 children for the second room (also a preferred room that sleeps 5), I get a completely different price for room only. If I'm looking at the same category of room, that sleeps the same number of people, for room only, for the same dates, why would they have two different prices?

I take it there is a charge for more than 2 adults in the room.