The New and Updated Port Orleans Riverside FAQ Thread for 2008 --- NOW CLOSED

[sarbah77]

I hope when the pool goes down for rehab that they put towels at the quiet pool. We were in building 28 and when we decided we wanted to soak our feet in the pool, we opted to use our room towels rather than walk all the way over to the main pool to get some.

We had a nice stay, again. My first time, I stayed in Magnolia Bend. This time, we were put in Alligator Bayou. I think that the tour groups that were in our hotel were probably in the Mansion section, since I never saw them (other than when their private bus dropped them off one night) at our resorts otherwise.

One of the newer people at the concierge desk wasn't terribly well trained but her coworkers stepped up to help her. Someone at the Riverside Mill food court charged my husband for a TS meal instead of a CS meal, and the concierge tried to argue with us when we went to get it fixed. (One of her coworkers agreed with us that it was a CS and not a TS and, after some help, she got it fixed)

Other than that veryveryvery minor hiccup, it was a nice stay. We hadn't requested anything but being "near" my family (we ended up in the same building - close enough!). The fridge kept our items nice and cold. The ac and heat worked well enough. The beds were SUPER comfortable - perhaps the most comfortable hotel bed I've ever had.

We did have one bus issue - on Friday, Epcot's EMH, it took us over an hour f to get from the resort to Epcot. One bus came, was filled up by people who arrived after us, and it was over HALF AN HOUR until the next one. But any other day? No problems at all.

 

[B9erSteve]

Just wanted to quickly mention that I've just finished coding a completely new navigation structure for www.portorleans.org which should make it much faster and easier to use without changing the overall look and feel of the site too much. It should also make bookmarking pages a lot simpler, plus a host of other background improvements.

I know the Visitor Forum and the Gallery pages both load outside of the new menu structure, but I want to make sure everything else is working OK before I fully incorporate those into the new format. There may also be some issues with the Videos page in some browsers which I need to check further.

Anyway, if anyone has any problems with their current saved links breaking, or any pages not working, please let me know via the technical topic in the site's visitor forum. Thanks.

I hope you all like it!

Andre

thanks Andre! My son and I have enjoyed your site immensely!

 

[emh1129]

We just returned from a lovely stay at POR. We were in Alligator Bayou, bldg 35. It was lovely, but very far from the main bldg. I wish I had known more about this resort ahead of time- this thread is packed with great info!
We hadn't planned to stay there, but we ended up changing hotels partway through our stay. We thought it was beautiful, though, and look forward to returning again someday!

 

[andrewilley]

We hadn't planned to stay there, but we ended up changing hotels partway through our stay. We thought it was beautiful, though, and look forward to returning again someday!

Glad you had a nice stay at POR - where were you staying originally and why the change of hotels? How did they compare?

Andre

 

[MomtoGKC]

Hi! Thanks for all the great information on this thread. We leave for POR on Thursday!!

My first question is about the campfire - I read that you can buy smores kits, but is it OK to bring your own stuff? I think they let you do that at FW (not positive) and with three kids who will probably want two each it would save a little money if I could just bring my own supplies!

Next question - another building question. We're staying in AB. We don't use the main building much so I thought I'd request a building that is really close to a bus station instead and maybe I'd have a better chance of getting my request. But about how long is the walk from the back (like building 34 area?) to the main building in case we do want to get there? Or should I just hope it's not such a busy time and request the building closest to the front?

Thanks - we're looking forward to seeing this resort for the first time!

 

[andrewilley]

I don't see why you can't take your own supplies, but I've never been there when the campfire was operating. Please let us know more about it when you get back!

The maximum walk back to the food court from the furthest buildings is about 500 yards, so it can't be any further than that. That doesn't sound too bad when you read it, and it's fine early in the day, but can be a bit of a chore after you've spent all day walking round the parks. Given how quiet the resort will be I'd suggest asking for 14, 16, 18 or 27 to start with, and if they can't offer you those ask to see what other options they've got.

Have a great time anyway!

Andre

 

[khighgirl]

I thought I had read somewhere that they were transferring all the moderates to queens instead of doubles. Did I make this up or did it get put on the backburner with the economy? Anyone know?

Thanks,
Kelli

 

[andrewilley]

They have done so at Coronado Springs (which is a conference resort, so that may be partly the reason) but not at any of the other mods yet. Not sure whether it is planned for the other mods for the future though.

Andre

 

[MomtoGKC]

I don't see why you can't take your own supplies, but I've never been there when the campfire was operating. Please let us know more about it when you get back!

The maximum walk back to the food court from the furthest buildings is about 500 yards, so it can't be any further than that. That doesn't sound too bad when you read it, and it's fine early in the day, but can be a bit of a chore after you've spent all day walking round the parks. Given how quiet the resort will be I'd suggest asking for 14, 16, 18 or 27 to start with, and if they can't offer you those ask to see what other options they've got.

Have a great time anyway!

Andre

Thanks so much - I knew you'd have some answers. I guess I'll request the close buildings then see what I get when we check in. I requested a certain building when we stayed at CSR and when we got there we got a different building. I mentioned it to the CM and she said let me see what I can do - she went in the back and came out with a totally new section but it was a building right next to an outer bus stop - we loved it. So maybe we'll get lucky again.

We're not sure if we'll get up there on time for the campfire (we're driving), but if we do we'll let you know all about it! It's supposed to be freezing this Thursday so it would be a good night for a campfire!

Two days!!!

 

[emh1129]

Glad you had a nice stay at POR - where were you staying originally and why the change of hotels? How did they compare?

Andre

We were staying at All Star Movies but had a problem with mold, so they moved us to POR.
We found the relaxing atmosphere of POR quite refreshing (ASMo was a bustling place!). The bus service was fantastic, too, and almost every time we were greeted with an empty bus to board at the West Depot. In the evening we were also generally the first to be dropped off.

When we were leaving the parks, there was never a problem getting on a POR bus. Sometimes it was even there waiting for us. It was more chaotic trying to catch a Movies bus (or a general All Stars bus that would go to all three hotels- I hate it when they do that!).

Oh, and the beds were so much more comfortable at POR!
I loved the theming of the Alligator Bayou rooms- they were beautiful.
The offerings in the food court were nice, too. The make-your-own pasta was a hit with our family
So all-in-all, we really liked POR a lot. The only thing I would have done differently would be to request a closer building and maybe a ground floor room. It was tough in the evening to carry a stroller up a flight of stairs.
We are planning to go back next January and I'm thinking we will stay at POR again.

 

[Yarna]

I'm glad you had a great stay at POR, emh1129. My partner and I are headed back to POR this Saturday for our 2nd stay in as many years. I've requested a room in AB (crossing my fingers) but if that doesn't work out it'll be allright, the mansions were very lovely last year.

 

[cmsanto]

Thanks so much for posting the information about your recent trips. We're headed there in early March and I cannot wait!!!! Someone mentioned something about jogging trails. Anyone ran them and know the distance?

 

[andrewilley]

Someone mentioned something about jogging trails. Anyone ran them and know the distance?

Here's a MAP of the jogging trails for you. There's a 1-mile and a 1.7-mile route.

I've walked them, but I can't say I've exactly jogged...

Andre

 

[sarbah77]

Thanks so much for posting the information about your recent trips. We're headed there in early March and I cannot wait!!!! Someone mentioned something about jogging trails. Anyone ran them and know the distance?

My husband, post-marathon, ran the 1.7 mile route. He really liked it (probably because it was flat)! He ran it twice (in a row) the two days he ran!

 

[Carrie772]

Was wondering if I could ship items home via UPS from POR? Or would it be better to allow WDW to ship as I purchase. Space is limited in the van, so I would like to send stuff home if I can!

 

[cmsanto]

You guys are awesome. I'm packing my running shoes. And Andre, you must live on these boards thanks for the useful map.

c.

 

[happybratpack]

Hi Everyone..

We'll be checking into Riverside on Thursday, I started a live report (link in my signature) in case anyone wants to follow along. I'll take a ton of resort pics and post them this week. If anyone wants me to check something out just let me know on the report and I'll let you know.

 

[Yarna]

Well, this is my last post before our 9-day extravaganza at WDW and POR! See ya'll on February 2nd for the post-vacation briefing.

 

[McKelly]

Was wondering if I could ship items home via UPS from POR? Or would it be better to allow WDW to ship as I purchase. Space is limited in the van, so I would like to send stuff home if I can!

I shipped our purchases home from POR. I took everything to hem back by the package area in the gift shop and they boxed them and packed them up and shipped them. Very nice service. I don't know if it was UPS or USPS, it took about a week to get it and we live in WI.

 

[Luv2Diz]

Just wanted to quickly mention that I've just finished coding a completely new navigation structure for www.portorleans.org which should make it much faster and easier to use without changing the overall look and feel of the site too much. It should also make bookmarking pages a lot simpler, plus a host of other background improvements.

I know the Visitor Forum and the Gallery pages both load outside of the new menu structure, but I want to make sure everything else is working OK before I fully incorporate those into the new format. There may also be some issues with the Videos page in some browsers which I need to check further.

Anyway, if anyone has any problems with their current saved links breaking, or any pages not working, please let me know via the technical topic in the site's visitor forum. Thanks.

I hope you all like it!

Andre

Great job with this site. Incredible wealth of information. And the maps are very helpful. I am even more excited about our September trip! Thanks for your great work on this.