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

[Missytara]

I have to agree with Andre. I stay in Oak Manor, which I think is equally close to the main building. Even parts are Parterre Place are close to the second bridge, that takes you to the front of the main building (but farther from the food court.).

I always do the waterview room, and request being near the quiet pool and I have gotten it pretty much every time.

This year, I got a riverview room and it was - in a nutshell - won-der-ful. I pulled my chair out into the alcove every night and watched the last of the water taxis come back to the marina. Couldn't get any better than that.

 

[Missytara]

I get so worried when I read reviews on Trip Advisor and other sites. Thanks for any info.

You are more apt to find the one person that has a gripe will automatically post - while the hundreds of people who went and absolutely enjoyed won't bother to post. While it is sad, it is the reality. Those that had a great time, don't seem to have to the need, while people who feel they have been wronged in some way - feel the need to let the world know about it.

I have a friend who had me recommend a hotel in Williamsburg, VA. I go there every year and stay in a wonderful Days Inn right near to everything. It is wonderful, clean, and quiet. The staff is absolutely wonderful.

Well, she came back and screamed at me that she will never stay at a place where a bunch of phony, inept people work who don't know how to do their job (I should have prefaced this by telling you that she NEVER travels). She had to reserve the room on her credit card and told them when she checked out she would be paying cash.

Check-out was 11:00 am, so they decided to pack up the car and head up to the main desk - at which time it was 11:10 am. So her card had been automatically charged. She claimed she was going to sue them for ALL the interest she was going to be charged.

When she finally returned to a normal state of mind, I politely explained to her that is how the hotel industry works in the entire country. And all she had to do was go to the bank, deposit her cash and write a check to her credit card company before the next month's payment was due and she was NOT charged any interest.

She looked at me dumbfounded - she didn't know that you didn't get charged on a credit card as long as you paid it within the month.

I found out later she had gone on a few travel sites and badmouthed this particular hotel - for absolutely no reason but her own poor knowledge about traveling.

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Hi! My family went to POR for the 4th time for New Years Eve - the 7th. It was wonderful as usual. We usually get a pool view from the AB section, but this year we stayed in the Mansion section. It was better than ever. Our room faced the waterway (we alway get water view), And we were right next to the bridge that takes you to the main building and the food court. The walk literally took us only 5 minutes! The Riverside resort is so beautiful and mousekeeping was excellent as usual.

 

[anorman]

For my money, if I was paying for Preferred, I'd probably stump up the extra few bucks and get River View, virtually all of which are going to be fairly short walking distances and the views from outside your window are gorgeous (and yes, you can still enjoy the views even if there are exterior walkways).

Andre

I have asked this question a couple of times and haven't received much of a response so here goes again.....

Do you know what rooms are included when you pay for a river view room in the Mansions section? I wondered if it was only the rooms by the pathways that were river view or does it include the ones that are set way back.....still facing the river but IMO would be more of a courtyard view. Is there anywhere that I could find out this information?

I don't mind spending the extra money for a river view but I think I would be quite disappointed if there were an entire courtyard between my room and the river. Any thoughts?

 

[Missytara]

I have asked this question a couple of times and haven't received much of a response so here goes again.....

Do you know what rooms are included when you pay for a river view room in the Mansions section? I wondered if it was only the rooms by the pathways that were river view or does it include the ones that are set way back.....still facing the river but IMO would be more of a courtyard view. Is there anywhere that I could find out this information?

I don't mind spending the extra money for a river view but I think I would be quite disappointed if there were an entire courtyard between my room and the river. Any thoughts?

I can say I had a "riverview" room this year in Parterre Place and it was right on the river.

IMHO, with the old waterview category only, you could get anything from a view of a fountain to a pool to the river. I think it stands to reason that a riverview room as a separate category now means that if you are paying extra, you are going to be on the river side facing the river. A view farther back with some small visible view of the river is going to be a standard water view room.

You do have to note that there are a few river view rooms, like the room next to mine in Parterre Place on the first floor, was slightly obstructed by the stairs to the second and third floors.

Again, this is all conjecture on my part - I am just looking at the descriptions of the categories and "thinking outside the box."

 

[andrewilley]

I think it stands to reason that a riverview room as a separate category now means that if you are paying extra, you are going to be on the river side facing the river.

I agree with you - but this is Disney we're talking about here, not always sure about their logic when it comes to being able to charge people extra money...

I guess the way for us to tell would be to find out exactly how many rooms fall into this new category, or for someone to ask a supervisor at the front desk, because Disney's website certainly isn't giving much useful info on the subject. Odd, that.

Andre

 

[anorman]

Thanks. I may clarify this with the Disney people as my trip gets closer.

Hopefully, Missytara, you are right.....I would be requesting top floor anyway so hopefully the stairs would not be an issue. In my past trips, I've had my requests granted for the most part. Andre, it would be great if someone could check with the hotel staff on-site to know for sure. Thanks again.

 

[jewelmicky]

Do all the Mansions have elevators? I requested top floor in the mansion area, but just decided at the last minute to break down and rent a scooter for the week.

Thanks

 

[andrewilley]

Do all the Mansions have elevators? I requested top floor in the mansion area, but just decided at the last minute to break down and rent a scooter for the week.

Yes they do, in the middle of the central (three story) sections.

Andre

 

[janiejake]

I can say I had a "riverview" room this year in Parterre Place and it was right on the river.<>You do have to note that there are a few river view rooms, like the room next to mine in Parterre Place on the first floor, was slightly obstructed by the stairs to the second and third floors. Again, this is all conjecture on my part - I am just looking at the descriptions of the categories and "thinking outside the box."

We supposedly had 'waterview' rooms a few years back, when we were placed in Acadia House. There was NO waterview from the windows or door...just 'greenery'. Those rooms MAY have been waterview when the resort was built, but with the passage of time, tree and plant growth, things change. Those who assign rooms to certain 'fee added' categories, need to walk the resort to be sure people are getting what they are being charged for.

 

[andrewilley]

We supposedly had 'waterview' rooms a few years back, when we were placed in Acadia House. There was NO waterview from the windows or door...just 'greenery'. Those rooms MAY have been waterview when the resort was built, but with the passage of time, tree and plant growth, things change. Those who assign rooms to certain 'fee added' categories, need to walk the resort to be sure people are getting what they are being charged for.

That's a shame. If you paid extra for a water view did you complain, or a least let them know that the room wasn't exactly what you were paying for? That's the only way things will get changed.

Andre

 

[Missytara]

We supposedly had 'waterview' rooms a few years back, when we were placed in Acadia House. There was NO waterview from the windows or door...just 'greenery'. Those rooms MAY have been waterview when the resort was built, but with the passage of time, tree and plant growth, things change. Those who assign rooms to certain 'fee added' categories, need to walk the resort to be sure people are getting what they are being charged for.

Waterview rooms can be a variety of things; fountain, pool, river, etc.

Now there is a distinction between waterview and riverview.

I would have also gone back to the front desk to find out why I didn't have some view of a water feature.

 

[KELLY]

We are now going for 10 days so we are going to upgrade to a moderate. We have stayed at POFQ quite a bit. Right now I'm leaning towards POFQ again beacause the rooms will be refurbed by the time of our trip mid September.

But when will the rooms be started at POR and when they are expected to finish? I would rather stay POR since we are on the QSDP and seems to be more choices at the food court there. Plus I really like the theming of POR. WE are only 4 so what are our chances stayiing in the Alligator section? We are going during free dining but I missed the booking so we are under the kids free promo.

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Hi We were just at the POR in January. We stayed in the mansion section, and the rooms seemed to be in good shape. Our room was very clean, no noticeable nicks on furniture, and there were no stains on the carpet. It did'nt look like it needed to be refurbed. Have a great time.

 

[kaffinito]

Can't help laughing over the "water view" category. On our first trip there I was told that we had been upgraded to a "water view" room (in building 14) but it wasn't until the last day that we actually found the "water"

But all of this does have me wondering about the "preferred" booking category, especially since I'm traveling solo. I'm wondering if they'll try to put me in Mansions instead of AB, and then tell me it's the "preferred section" ....

 

[eemmie1]

Four more days untill my first stay at POR!

 

[janiejake]

Four more days untill my first stay at POR!

Luggage packed? hope you're having a wonderful time anticipating my favorite resort! Three weeks til I'm antsy to get on that plane, myself! (heck, I'm antsy now, but that won't make the days go by any faster...)

 

[SarahKate]

We just stayed at POR Feb. 10-17 and LOVED it. I just asked DD8 what was the first thing that came to her mind when she thought of our trip. She said it was the resort!

We were in building 85 in the Mansions, very close to the bridge. First floor, pool view room. Very convenient to everything - parking lot, not a long walk to the main building, etc. We found out mid trip that we were in an upgraded room. We'd requested AB, but not available. So they put us in the Mansions section and put a cot in our room. The cot was GREAT. It was basically a fold-out twin bed and my DD loved it.

As far as the room goes, you could tell it need some love. But things were holding up nicely. The room was clean, which is all we were worried about.

We had the BEST mousekeepers. I think we had towel animals over half the days we were there. And on days that we didn't, they arranged all of DD's stuffed animals and dolls into cute arrangements!!!

Our room key would not charge for the first couple days. We went to the desk and they supposedly fixed it, but still didn't work. So they reissued the cards and all was fine. It wasn't that big of a deal, since we had our debit cards to charge things.

I don't think the resort was 100% full. Because it felt very uncrowded walking around the resort and the parking lot was NEVER full. But you would think they were stuffed to the gills in the mornings at the food court! It was always sooooo crazy in the mornings. We finally picked up on the fact that we could take our trays over to Boatwright's and that made the experience SO much better than having to look for a table in the food court area. We really liked the food court's selections.

We will definitely stay there again. It felt like home.

 

[andrewilley]

Can't help laughing over the "water view" category. On our first trip there I was told that we had been upgraded to a "water view" room (in building 14) but it wasn't until the last day that we actually found the "water"

So where did they place you? I thought the only original water-view category rooms in building 14 were the 16 that directly face out over the river? i.e. 1409-1416 on the ground floor and 1441-1448 upstairs.

But all of this does have me wondering about the "preferred" booking category, especially since I'm traveling solo. I'm wondering if they'll try to put me in Mansions instead of AB, and then tell me it's the "preferred section" ....

As far as we can tell, the only preferred sections are AB buildings 14, 15, 18 and 27 - which are all very close to the main building. No mansion building rooms are preferred.

Andre

 

[kaffinito]

So where did they place you? I thought the only original water-view category rooms in building 14 were the 16 that directly face out over the river? i.e. 1409-1416 on the ground floor and 1441-1448 upstairs.

Andre

That was the funny thing about it - we were on the second floor of building 14 - the set that's next to the parking lot on the map, but on the side facing the river (which we couldn't see) in the horseshoe part of the building. I thought it was funny at the time, to make a big deal out of "water view" without a view of water.

We did find some "water" before we left, and we all called that our "water view". We still talk about our first trip and our "water view" room. I really didn't care either way - we had a good location I thought, and it was my pre-DIS trip....

Oh, and thanks for the info about preferred - I would rather be in AB than be in Mansions.