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

[Pixiedust34]

Is walking from POR to Epcot completely out of the question?

Yes. You'd have to take the bus or drive to Epcot.

 

[bjscheel]

My daughter wants to stay in the mansions so she can indulge her delusions of grandeur! I've seen some pictures, hope that it seems like a mansion to her. Since we are a family of four, I suppose we will get our request.

How are the beds? We thought CBR's in 2009 were hard, but, after a day in the parks it started to not matter

 

[seadd67]

The refurb will have only just started really. However they will only close one building at a time (maybe two for Alligator Bayou?) and the reports coming from FQ are that most guests hardly even notice work is going on.

Andre

thats good to know, i kind of wish you could of just told me that there going to be all tore up,now I still have to make a deccission??

 

[seadd67]

Heres a question out there,i threw this out on the POP borad and did not get much of a feed back.
So like I said I have a rev at POP set up for 9 nights in late sept. I was thinking of possipley changeing it to POR. We have stay at POP the last,what 4 trips, love it it no problems about going back. The last couple of years we have thought about staying back at POR,ok me my DS does not care. POR was the very frist WDW resort we had ever stay at.

So If money was not a object, and this Is out to the Dis folks that have stay at both,wich one would you chose??. I guess I am pulling at my hart,and i do not really want to split stays. So just a oppion,what do you think?

 

[creativeamanda]

I would definitely stay at POR. The rooms are larger, there are double sinks in the bathroom, the themed pool has a slide, the quiet pools are awesome, the landscaping is wonderful, and it just feels like home to me.

 

[andrewilley]

You're probably asking in the wrong thread as to whether POR is better than Pop.

Naturally, I'm going to vote with good old Riverside... for all the reasons the previous poster has said, plus the boat and cycle rentals, the fishing hole, the ferry boat service to Downtown Disney, a full service restaurant as well as the food court, Yee Ha Bob Jackon playing at the River Roost Lounge (that's a good reason to switch on its own!).

The only reasons I'd go with Pop would be the funky decades styling (if you're really into that sort of thing, as POR is a lot more subtle and laid-back in its theming) and maybe the food court at Pop, as some people prefer it to POR's.

But yeah, if money is no object then I'd switch.

Andre

 

[seadd67]

Thank you, no this Is a perfect fourm. I love the oppions. I truly love both, thats the truth. Picking one over the other is going to leave me with some loss for the other.
The price between the two Is not that great to make me pick one over the other. I guess I just want others to get from.

 

[andrewilley]

If you don't mind me asking, if the price is roughly the same what would you find about Pop that would entice you there over POR? (except maybe the single bus stop?)

Andre

 

[kaffinito]

So I've been following along with the preferred room questions, and have one of my own.

I'm trying to decide where to stay for a solo trip during Spring Break, and wanted to know - if I book a preferred room at POR and request a king bed, how likely am I to get it?

 

[lisam427]

we have a free pay it forward swap going on for both port Orleans resorts. there are many openings especially for feb and march. please check out the link in my signature if you-are interested.

 

[andrewilley]

I'm trying to decide where to stay for a solo trip during Spring Break, and wanted to know - if I book a preferred room at POR and request a king bed, how likely am I to get it?

Hmm, well there are more Preferred Rooms (256) at the resort than there are King Bed rooms (85), and some of the King rooms in building 14 are also designated as Disability Accessible rooms. Not sure how this would effect your chances either way though - I guess it depends on which feature is the most important to you.

I think I might book a King Bed room and request a preferred location (or at least a room close to the main building).

Andre

 

[livie1205]

Hi! We are going to POR in April for a week...we have not been to POR in 5 yrs(since I was pregnant with dd5) ...we norm do AKL or a value but we got a pin that gave us a king room there for less then 150.00 dif then a value and we wanted to do some water rentals so we can not wait! We wanted somewhere that we can just take it easy and do some things around the resort PLUS take the boat to downtown disney in the evenings.Have that did any improvments in the rooms in the last few years?
We asked to be put in the mansions area, its our annv. so we wanted something nice but we just took the whole family to AKL CL in dec for christmas so we wanted to budget a little...we are even trying out the QSD plan instead of the reg ddp.We have never tried to QS plan but we didnt want to run around to ADRs this time.I did make a oop ADR for ohana and the GV tea.What is the closest building in that area to the main building?We are doing water view but we wanted a fast walk to the front..

 

[andrewilley]

The rooms at POR are due to be refurbished (flat-scren TVs, queen beds, etc) starting sometime around April, so you'll just miss the changes I'm afraid. That said, the current rooms are fine, you won't have any problems - see my detail photos from our Acadian House room at the end of October last year in http://www.portorleans.org/gallery-POR-MB-Rooms.php.

River-view rooms in Magnolia and Oak have great access to the main building via a quick walk over a bridge and/or Ol' Man Island. See the map in the first post of this thread.

Andre

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

The rooms at POR are due to be refurbished (flat-scren TVs, queen beds, etc) starting sometime around April, so you'll just miss the changes I'm afraid. That said, the current rooms are fine, you won't have any problems - see my detail photos from our Acadian House room at the end of October last year in http://www.portorleans.org/gallery-POR-MB-Rooms.php.

River-view rooms in Magnolia and Oak have great access to the main building via a quick walk over a bridge and/or Ol' Man Island. See the map in the first post of this thread.

Andre

Andre, do you have any word on how they will work AB with queen beds and still allowing 5?? I'm wondering if they are going to omit the trundle, it seems there wouldn't be enough space?

 

[kaffinito]

Hmm, well there are more Preferred Rooms (256) at the resort than there are King Bed rooms (85), and some of the King rooms in building 14 are also designated as Disability Accessible rooms. Not sure how this would effect your chances either way though - I guess it depends on which feature is the most important to you.

I think I might book a King Bed room and request a preferred location (or at least a room close to the main building).

Andre

Thanks Andre! I'm looking at Bldg 27 for the DSA, so maybe I'll just pay for preferred and ask for "near a DSA" and see what happens.

If I can make up my mind, that is...

 

[andrewilley]

Andre, do you have any word on how they will work AB with queen beds and still allowing 5?? I'm wondering if they are going to omit the trundle, it seems there wouldn't be enough space?

Nothing official at all - but then Disney have not even officially announced that POFQ will be getting a refurb, and that's already half completed!

I did get an off-the-record comment from one CM that they had seen plans which showed that the trundles may be getting replaced with a different third-bed option, but there's a lot of time for that to change in the meantime.

Andre

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

One more question for ya and then I'll quit making you speculate! Based on how long refurbs usually take, in your opinion, do you think POR will be finished by the end of Sept/beginning of Oct???

 

[jen42002]

One more question for ya and then I'll quit making you speculate! Based on how long refurbs usually take, in your opinion, do you think POR will be finished by the end of Sept/beginning of Oct???

Since POFQ has 1/2 the number of rooms and will take about 6 months to complete, I would think POR would take about 12 months unless they increase the amount of construction personnel.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Since POFQ has 1/2 the number of rooms and will take about 6 months to complete, I would think POR would take about 12 months unless they increase the amount of construction personnel.

Thanks! Makes sense!

 

[andrewilley]

One more question for ya and then I'll quit making you speculate! Based on how long refurbs usually take, in your opinion, do you think POR will be finished by the end of Sept/beginning of Oct???

I would reckon it'll take at least six months to do the Magnolia Bend section, and at least the same again for Alligator Bayou - maybe more, as access isn't quite as easy at Riverside as it is at French Quarter.

So if they do start around the end of April (probably just after Easter, but that's not certain either) then we'd be talking of no earlier than April/May 2012 for completion.

Andre