Tell me about Riverside/Royal room, please

[disneyandme]

My kids asked if we could switch from French Quarter to a Royal room. With the deal I got, the different in price is reasonable, so I said yes. We've never stayed at either resort- but I've been to visit French Quarter. Can you tell me all I need to know about Riverside, Royal rooms, and the quick service food?
Also, we will have both a stroller and a blow up twin mattress- will we have space for both?

If it matters, I booked a River view Royal room.

 

[Babsy]

There is a lot of information on www.portorleans.org about both POFQ and POR. You might want to visit that website.

Riverside (POR) is a few minutes walk along the river from French Quarter (POFQ). It is a 'sister' resort which means that you can use the amenities at both resorts regardless of which one you are staying. If you are staying in a royal room you will be in one of two 'mansions' - Parterre place or oak Manor. Parterre Place is a little bit further from the main building/themed pool than Oak Manor. It is closer than Oak Manor to POFQ but the mansions are on the opposite side of the river, so once you cross the distance is really about the same, I think. Oak Manor and Parterre place have a quiet pool and laundry facilities between them. We really like staying here. All the rooms are the same size.

The Royal Rooms are beautiful, with over the top "royal' theming in the rooms. The headboards on the beds have a button that you press for a 'fireworks' display that lights up and is quite pretty, but short. River view rooms have nice views of the river, but you have external walkways outside your window, so you mostly see the 'view' when leaving or coming back to your room. You might want to request a room closer to the main pool or closer to the small footbridge that is between the two 'mansions'. take a look at the maps online and decide which area will work best for you.

The food court at POR is much larger than the one at POFQ and we like it better. There is also a TS restaurant available at POR. POR has a horse and carriage ride that you may like as well as surrey bike rentals. The paths and grounds are gorgeous at POR!

Some people dislike the multiple bus stops at POR. We have never had a problem with them, but it depends upon how you feel. You are also able to use the POFQ bus and walk back to your room from there. We have done that on occasion when we wanted to pick up some beignets from the POFQ food court.

POR is an awesome resort! We prefer it overall to the POFQ, despite the larger footprint.

Enjoy!!!!

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I stayed in a royal room a couple years ago.
Loved the details in the room but other than that not much to tell.
You can likely fit a twin air mattress and a stroller especially if the stroller is folded.
It's a bit of a hike to the main building.
On that trip I was on the go and didn't eat at the QS but walked through and would have loved to eat there.

 

[kaytieeldr]

You can likely fit a twin air mattress and a stroller especially if the stroller is folded.

The rooms at French Quarter and Riverside are exactly the same size. If you fit in one, you'll fit in the other

 

[ejyip]

We just stayed in a Royal Room at POR last month. It was my nephew's first trip to Disney, so we opted to go for the extra cost. Room-wise, it's pretty much on par with everything else. The theming is prince/princess based and the headboards had a fireworks display that he made sure that he pressed the button to watch every night. The only issue that we had was it ended up being a long walk to the lobby/restaurants/sundry shop. There are 4 bus stops for POR so that wasn't too bad as there was one close to the room through the parking lot. If you have kids, then it may be worth it to do once but beyond that, we probably won't do it again.

 

[Tonberry]

We stayed at a Royal Room last year. Had mixed feelings. The room is beautiful. The buildings and landscaping are beautiful. They're the closest to French Quarter if you plan on walking there during your trip. The distance to the bus stops, main building, and pool were more than I bargained for. We also has oppressive August heat and nasty rain/thunder showers which didn't help one bit!
If I were going back (which I plan on), we're going to get a prefered room which are closer than the Royal Rooms to everything except French Quarter.

 

[debjk4]

We stayed in a Royal Room and loved it! We were by the quiet pool and didn't think the walk was too far at all. Enjoy!

 

[mn51]

We've stayed quite a few times and love the area. The grounds are beautiful and there are spots here and there to sit. Love watching the Disney Springs boat go by. We never felt that it was a long walk as we really enjoyed walking over the bridge. Have a great trip!

 

[buzznina]

We have stayed there a number of times and did not think we had any long walks. As a matter of fact, we actually got off at the front of the resort to enjoy the walk back to our room. We stayed in Oak Manor and found that everything (pool, bus & lobby) was within a 5 minute walk. Here's a great site with probably everything you would need to know about POR www.portorleans.org