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

[splashmtnfan]

Accessible rooms have two full beds. You may want to take an air mattress for your grandson.

You would actually have two reservations; not sure you can get free dining with both. You would have to check in a second time when the first group leaves and then the second group arrives.

Everyone will have to have the same package; so same number of tickets, same no. of days of dining etc.

You should link the ressies, so they won't make you have to move to another room for the second week.

I did request a trundle though... so is that NOT possible? I was under the impression that there were king beds in the accessible rooms... SOMEONE on here told me that a while back that Disney would have connecting rooms for that reason.

 

[bbnursie]

Help! I read on here by several people to request lodge 38. So I called and requested this building for upcoming trip in 4 days and then I just read on the site portorleans.org that lodge 34-39 is the farthest away and the most walking. I have never been to disneyworld before and now I am just a tad bit stressed about this. Any words of wisdom out there.

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

How long is the walk from the Acadian House to the food court and main pool? I see that the bus stop is relatively close.

 

[andrewilley]

How long is the walk from the Acadian House to the food court and main pool? I see that the bus stop is relatively close.

Not far, less than 5 mins. None of the buildings which are next to the river (including Alligator Bayou 38) are a very long walk from the main building to be honest - although some rooms can be slightly further if you happen to be located over on the parking lot side of a mansion building.

Andre

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Not far, less than 5 mins. None of the buildings which are next to the river (including Alligator Bayou 38) are a very long walk from the main building to be honest - although some rooms can be slightly further if you happen to be located over on the parking lot side of a mansion building.

Andre

Thank you, we are trying to decide what to do. We have resv to stay at POR, but the refurb will be happening during the time we are there. So, we are trying to decide if we want to stick with that, or switch to POFQ where there are already Queen beds available.

Do you think that during the refurb they will take down whole buildings like they did at POFQ or sections of them, and keep the rest of the buildings open? We really want to stay in the Mansions, and if we could get a Refurb Room that would be just over the top. But I know it would only be a request, but I can hope can't I?

 

[splashmtnfan]

Not far, less than 5 mins. None of the buildings which are next to the river (including Alligator Bayou 38) are a very long walk from the main building to be honest - although some rooms can be slightly further if you happen to be located over on the parking lot side of a mansion building.

Andre

Do you know if the accessible rooms are kings or are they doubles as someone else on here mentioned?

 

[andrewilley]

Do you know if the accessible rooms are kings or are they doubles as someone else on here mentioned?

Mostly Kings, but there are some doubles too. Someone mentioned that during the POFQ upgrade, some more of their existing King-bed Accessible rooms were converted into two-queen rooms.

Andre

 

[andrewilley]

Do you think that during the refurb they will take down whole buildings like they did at POFQ or sections of them, and keep the rest of the buildings open?

Not sure yet. Certainly for Alligator Bayou I'd have thought whole buildings at a time will be down. The mansions are pretty big and COULD be separated into wings, but the problem might be that there is only one set of lifts, in the middle of the building, which might cause problems with having sections open while work continues elsewhere. At POFQ, they did some partial re-openings (by floor), but mainly it was whole buildings down for the whole of the work period.

Andre

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

We decided to stay with POR and are so excited about it!!! The kids have no idea!!! They are going to love it there!!!

 

[anorman]

Anyway, this is what I have been told recently - but please take it as unconfirmed until we actually see the whites of the construction workers' eyes...

Acadian House: 19 June - 29 July 2011
Magnolia Terrace: 24 July - 2 September 2011
Parterre Place: 8 January 2012 - 17 February 2012
Oak Manor: 12 February - 23 March 2012

Andre

I was really hoping to be able to stay in Magnolia Terrace for our upcoming trip in August.....I guess that's not going to happen. OaK Manor would be our second choice although there seems to be a lot of designated smoking areas around the riverview rooms (which is the category that we reserved). Can anyone tell me if there is a strong smell of smoke outside of the Oak Manor rooms next to the river? I do like to spend some time out on the balcony/walkway area after the kids go to bed however I would be bothered by a strong smell of smoke. If it were to be an issue, I would request another building.

 

[BoomNLeon]

We will be staying at POR in two weeks! I'm so excited. This resort looks great but I did have one concern. Alligator Bayou looks a little too woodsy for me. I'm worried about running into creatures. How likely are they to put us in AB if we didn't make any special requests? Does anyone know how that works? I'm not sold on the interior look of AB and I prefer not to be terribly far from the main buildings. Would they be able to accomodate a special request for a mansion room this close to our arrival? I like that the mansions are more open and much less crowded by shrubbery. From my experience, they tend to put people far away when they don't make special arrangements. So what's my next best move? Thanks! This site has been so helpful so far.

The only creatures I have ever seen in AB are bunnies and birds with the occasional insect or spider - but nothing different that you would find anywhere else on property. AB is spectacularly themed and always feels like a relaxing respite from the parks to me. The mansions are nice, but on the other side of the Sassagoula and you would need to walk across one of the bridges or Ole Man Island. Although not that far, they are further than Building 14 in AB.

The whole resort is great and one of our favorites. We stayed here as often as we could before we bought DVC.

 

[Sammy Cat]

We are arriving on a Wednesday at POR. Knowing that most people arrive and leave on the weekend, will this effect the likelihood of us getting our room request?

Originally I requested a renovated room not knowing when they would be available, but now realizing that they are starting refurbs later than anticipated, I asked to be close to the main pool instead. I tried to ask our travel agent to confirm this new room request and she avoided answering, so how can I ensure our room request made it to the resort?

 

[jenn628]

Hello all, First post and super excited about first visit to WDW May 13-20. We are staying at POR and I just finished scanning this thread and now am super concerned we are going to end up in the far reaches of this resort. We did not pay for a preferred room, nor have we made any requests. Where are we most likely to end up at???

 

[andrewilley]

Might be worth calling the booking office and asking them to add as request for a room not too far from the main area. Doesn't need to be 'preferred' as such as there are still plenty of decent locations in the other buildings. (If you like the Alligator Bayou idea, try for building 16. If you prefer the mansions concept, ask for Magnolia Terrace if possible)

Andre

 

[splashmtnfan]

My plans have changed once again! We will have 5 people in our room for our two week vacation! NOW I am REALLY panicking! IF we have 5 people will there be room for our two ECVs in a room with two double beds and a trundle? I was under the impression that all of the accessible rooms in POR are Kings and we would be assigned a connecting room to accommodate the ECVs and room for the extra people... Now that I have recently learned that some of the Accessible rooms are doubles I am scared that we won't have room for all of our belongings for a two weeks stay and two ECVs with 5 people... So what do we do? Try to reserve another room or hope for the best?

 

[andrewilley]

I've already replied to your message via another forum, but in case you haven't seen it there I wrote:

Yes, I believe there are some accessible rooms with two double beds. If you have booked one room for five people, there is a very good chance you could be located in one of the rooms in Alligator Bayou - unless you have made any alternative requests? Certainly if you have simply paid for a room for five, you should reasonably expect that is what you will be given.

Have you spoken to the Special Needs / Accessibility Requests department? They can be reached on 1-407-939-7807 and should be able to look into any individual needs for you, and even pre-block specific room allocations if necessary.


Five people in a moderate room with a trundle bed and two ECVs for two weeks is just about do-able, but would not be my idea of fun to be honest!

Andre

 

[MsPeggySue911]

I was curious if the WDW website room pricing is still accurate. I had my package completely paid for when I called to add one more day to the front of our reservation and the total I now owe is $223.00. A preferred room is suppose to be $179 plus tax according to the current WDW website pricing under POR. Is there any reason why they would charge me $223 for one night?

 

[splashmtnfan]

I did read the post on the other forum. I am calling the special needs department tomorrow AM. I DID originally speak to one of them when we booked as we did have 5 on the original ressie... then one cancelled and we switched people around and now we ARE back to the original plan as we were hoping would happen so that we can get to see one special little boy whom we haven't seen in two years!
We were completely comfortable there before with one ECV in the room but have never had two before... We have also never been able to stay more than one week before... we are just so happy to get to share this time with a great family. Can we leave an ECV plugged in in the front lobby? We are fine with AB as we have done that a lot before and since my husband and his family are from New Orleans it is perfect. I know a lot have people did say that building 14 is where most accessible rooms are and that is fine with us. We have stayed in 27 several times but as I said before we only had one ECV then and we were not in need of an accessible room but due to new medical issues it is the ONLY way we can stay now. I hope there is a way to fit everything in the room or they let us store the other ECV.

 

[andrewilley]

I was curious if the WDW website room pricing is still accurate. I had my package completely paid for when I called to add one more day to the front of our reservation and the total I now owe is $223.00. A preferred room is suppose to be $179 plus tax according to the current WDW website pricing under POR. Is there any reason why they would charge me $223 for one night?

Room rates change by day of the week and by season, could that be the issue? What specfic dates are you talking about, as I can't see any dates during this coming year for which Rack Rates are as low as $179 for Preferred rooms (apart from a few weeks back in Value season, from 2 Jan - 16 Feb). I've got a Room Rates Page on my site if that helps.

I guess the WDW booking site holds the definitive prices though, no matter what any other pages may show.

[Edit: the pricing info on the official WDW web page for POR has a selector button near the top of the page to choose the Season which you wish to view - you did adjust that didn't you, as it defaults to Value Season?]


Andre

 

[Missytara]

I was curious if the WDW website room pricing is still accurate. I had my package completely paid for when I called to add one more day to the front of our reservation and the total I now owe is $223.00. A preferred room is suppose to be $179 plus tax according to the current WDW website pricing under POR. Is there any reason why they would charge me $223 for one night?

Rates change from day to day; for instance, when I switched arriving the Sunday after Thanksgiving, to the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I was charged peak season rate for the first day.

So it is possible that when you added a day, it was peak season, not value season like the rest of your ressie.