Upgraded to Royal Guest Rooms at POR for Free Dining

[StephGreg]

We are going to Disney in November and had booked POFQ. We chose this one because we wanted a smaller resort and easy to get around. Our children will be 4 years old and 10 months old at the time of our trip.

Once we got our pin for Free Dining, for some reason it was not available at POFQ and we had to switch resort to apply it. it made sense to stay and book at POR.
I have read all the cons about POR and my question to you is:

did anyone of you walk from the royal guest rooms building to the POFQ bus station to guarantee a seat on the bus. Or is it too far and it makes more sense to go to the stop next to the lobby.
looking to reading everyone's opinion.
thanks so much!

 

[shannonstar]

I would not walk to POFQ. And the two resorts do not always share buses, so getting on the POFQ bus at a resort if they aren't sharing may not be a good idea (ask the bus driver first).

The royal rooms are very close to the lobby and you should be more than able to get a seat on the bus. If you want a great map of the resort and the locations of the Royal Rooms, www.portorleans.org has some great maps/pictures/etc.

 

[Missytara]

I would not walk to POFQ. And the two resorts do not always share buses, so getting on the POFQ bus at a resort if they aren't sharing may not be a good idea (ask the bus driver first).

The royal rooms are very close to the lobby and you should be more than able to get a seat on the bus. If you want a great map of the resort and the locations of the Royal Rooms, www.portorleans.org has some great maps/pictures/etc.

Actually that is partially incorrect. Only preferred buildings in AB are very close to the lobby.

Oak Manor is close to the footbridge to the food court side, and you walk out to the lobby. Parterre Place has some rooms that are close to the footbridge to the lobby side, but also has some of the most remotely located rooms in the resort. Thus making them more enticing to book. Similar to the Pirate rooms at CBR, they are the farthest away.

Getting a seat on the bus has to do with what time of day you show up to catch the bus. Also, as you stated, it is not advantageous to pick up the bus at POFQ, because at busy times they share and you end up riding the entire loop.

 

[StephGreg]

thank you for your comments! i think that we will then wait to see the resort and explore to assess the bus situation

 

[Pixiedust34]

If you're on the very edge of Parterre Place, take a close look at the map. It could be nearly the same amount of walking to get to POFQ's bus stop as it would be to get to the South Depot. If you're in Oak Manor, the POR bus stops are much closer.

 

[jenlw]

We switched for free dining too. We had a discounted room at the Wilderness Lodge, so we could not do free dining. It was more cost effective for us to let our discount go and take advantage of the free dining. So. we switched to the moderate Port Orleans Riverside. The bus situation is the only thing that makes me nervous. I'm hoping that since it is November the busses won't be terrible? I usually stay at a monorail resort, so busses will be new to us. Even when staying at WL with no monorail, we had the ferry. I'm hoping the POR busses are managable.

 

[Tink415]

The busses at POR are usually very good. There could be an occasional problem, just as there can with any kind of transportation at WDW.

The busses at POR will be better than the buses at a monorail resort

 

[StephGreg]

We switched for free dining too. We had a discounted room at the Wilderness Lodge, so we could not do free dining. It was more cost effective for us to let our discount go and take advantage of the free dining. So. we switched to the moderate Port Orleans Riverside. The bus situation is the only thing that makes me nervous. I'm hoping that since it is November the busses won't be terrible? I usually stay at a monorail resort, so busses will be new to us. Even when staying at WL with no monorail, we had the ferry. I'm hoping the POR busses are managable.

Us too, the bus is the only concern and the last 2 years we stayed and the Contemporary and GF so we'll see how it goes. I know that the week after Thanksgiving is usually not crowded at all but i would not want to wait for 45mn for a bus after leaving a park at night! i heard that happened to someone.

 

[darrengs]

I would not sweat the buses, you guys will be fine.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

One of the reasons POR is my least favorite resort has to do with our experience with the buses. That's also why we rarely pick the mods. Bus stops are close to each room area (i.e the walk from the nearest bus stop to your room is usually short), but buses make a lot of stops going to/from the parks, so it takes a while.

That said...the princess rooms are very tempting.

If you operate like we do, then it probably would not a be a big deal to take the POFQ bus vs. POR bus. For us, we usually go from our room in the am, to breakfast in the food court, from there directly to the main bus stop.

Likely the walk from your room to the POFQ food court will be longer than the walk to the POR food court, but room location matters quite a bit. We stayed at POFQ in March. Our room was on the very farthest side of POFQ, but we still managed to walk back from POR fairly quickly.

I have to disagree that POR buses are better than transportation options at CR. CR is the only resort walking distance to MK and the the MK bus stop.

All that said....mods plus a rental car is anice combination....the week after Thanksgiving you could probably get a great deal.