Disney's PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE RESORT Information & Questions

[Elle23]

Also, as a note, the pick up/drop off order for buses was West Depot, North, East, then South.

We never stopped at the South Depot when we left the resort for the parks. They must have had their own bus? (We were the north depot and the last stop was always the east depot).

 

[Mome Rath]

We never stopped at the South Depot when we left the resort for the parks. They must have had their own bus? (We were the north depot and the last stop was always the east depot).

Yes, in the morning the South Depot usually has their own for pick up because it tends to be the busiest (in fact, there were 3 buses at once for Animal Kingdom when it opened early for EMH!), later in the day the bus would hit all 4... or actually 5 if French Quarter was counted. I think they have a system depending on the number of people in line/on the bus already.

 

[mhartman09]

I think with that many rooms, I'd just ask for them to be close together rather than a specific building or area of AB. I'd also highlight in your request that nothing else matters, just that they're close together. Good luck!

I agree too. And with that number of rooms I'd suggest sending the fax a bit earlier than my standard advice - maybe as early as ten days out - as that is the sort of booking for which they might want to block out rooms in advance.

Andre

Thanks! I was hoping we'd be able to request a building or at least an area, but since us all being near each other is way more important to us I'll stick to that. Also thanks Andre for the heads up to send the fax earlier than I would have. I didn't even think about that.

 

[Hatwriter456]

I just called and requested a room that has been dog-free and also asked for the deep cleaning to make sure the room wouldn't be a problem for our allergies. The cast member was very nice except she said that I have a garden room and those are the ones assigned to dogs...I kind of felt like she was trying to push us pay more money to upgrade our room. Hopefully our room - whatever we get - will be fine. She was nice and added our celebrations to the reservation...maybe pixie dust and they will upgrade my room? Is it possible to get a free upgraded room with a request for a deep clean?

 

[JennyMP03]

Getting so excited about staying at POR in May.

How do you guys like the food court and bar? Anything particular you recommend trying? I've read about Hummingbird Cake and Yehaa Bob at the bar and am looking forward to experiencing both!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Getting so excited about staying at POR in May.

How do you guys like the food court and bar? Anything particular you recommend trying? I've read about Hummingbird Cake and Yehaa Bob at the bar and am looking forward to experiencing both!

We ended up eating quite a few meals in the food court, including a couple lunches and dinners. I found the carving station to be a great value. They gave us enough food that we could share the meat and some of the sides. DH liked the pulled pork sandwich. I liked the "make your own" salad.

We also stopped at the bar for drinks in the late afternoon and they have some good appetizers on the bar menu. I don't think we had any at that time but we may eat there at a later date. We saw that plenty of people were ordering from the bar menu.

 

[ChristineOH]

I just called and requested a room that has been dog-free and also asked for the deep cleaning to make sure the room wouldn't be a problem for our allergies. The cast member was very nice except she said that I have a garden room and those are the ones assigned to dogs...I kind of felt like she was trying to push us pay more money to upgrade our room. Hopefully our room - whatever we get - will be fine. She was nice and added our celebrations to the reservation...maybe pixie dust and they will upgrade my room? Is it possible to get a free upgraded room with a request for a deep clean?

There are far more garden rooms than any other category, so it seems kind of silly to imply you were upping your chances by that. It's always possible to get an upgraded room, but I don't think you change your chances by requesting the deep clean. I think you will be fine, but if not, you can always go to the desk and ask for your allergies to be accommodated.

 

[Hatwriter456]

There are far more garden rooms than any other category, so it seems kind of silly to imply you were upping your chances by that. It's always possible to get an upgraded room, but I don't think you change your chances by requesting the deep clean. I think you will be fine, but if not, you can always go to the desk and ask for your allergies to be accommodated.

I wasn't trying to increase my chances of getting an upgraded room with a garden room...I'm very happy with the garden room and picked it because it's my preference to be around more greenery (we are a party of 5 and will be in AB). The cast member who helped me told me that I could upgrade my room if I wanted to make sure that I had a dog-free room. But, that kinda made mad because I booked way before this dog trial started and I don't want to pay another $35/night since we are staying for 11-nights.

My question, and I guess I worded it not so well before, is since I requested a deep cleaning for my room is a chance of an upgraded room gone? For example, what time of the day do they do the deep clean? Or when would they decide it upgrade a room? The only reason I'm wondering about the upgraded room is since the cast member said those are the only ones not allowing dogs and I requested to be in a room that was dog-free. Getting an upgraded room is not my goal - only a room that won't bother our allergies.

 

[Amy11401]

Personally I feel it is wrong that all standard rooms are able to have dogs in them. Someone should not have to pay extra to get a room that did not have a dog in it.

 

[andrewilley]

Personally I feel it is wrong that all standard rooms are able to have dogs in them. Someone should not have to pay extra to get a room that did not have a dog in it.

That's completely untrue. I wish the Disney call center operators would stop spreading misinformation.

The Port Orleans Riverside room assignment team would prefer to place guests with dogs in building 24 if they can, however should a guest in ANY booking category turn up with a pet then they will need to be given a room in the category that they have booked. There are other locations that have been assigned as backup dog-friendly areas for guests with Preferred Location, River View, or Royal Room bookings (none of which can be accommodated in building 24) but even those cannot be 100% guaranteed.

As far as I've been able to ascertain, suggesting that paying more money will in any way guarantee you a room in which no dog has ever been present is a complete lie.

Andre

 

[ChristineOH]

I wasn't trying to increase my chances of getting an upgraded room with a garden room...I'm very happy with the garden room and picked it because it's my preference to be around more greenery (we are a party of 5 and will be in AB). The cast member who helped me told me that I could upgrade my room if I wanted to make sure that I had a dog-free room. But, that kinda made mad because I booked way before this dog trial started and I don't want to pay another $35/night since we are staying for 11-nights.

My question, and I guess I worded it not so well before, is since I requested a deep cleaning for my room is a chance of an upgraded room gone? For example, what time of the day do they do the deep clean? Or when would they decide it upgrade a room? The only reason I'm wondering about the upgraded room is since the cast member said those are the only ones not allowing dogs and I requested to be in a room that was dog-free. Getting an upgraded room is not my goal - only a room that won't bother our allergies.

I guess I wasn't clear in my response. Because there are so many garden rooms, I think your chance of getting one a dog has been in is very small. I don't think the CM should have tried to scare you into upgrading your room just to guarantee your allergies won't bother you. And I agree-- you shouldn't have to pay extra just because they started allowing dogs.

As far as the whole deep clean thing, I really don't know how it works, but I think anyone's chance of getting upgrades is pretty small, and your deep clean request probably won't matter much either way.

 

[keahgirl8]

We ended up eating quite a few meals in the food court, including a couple lunches and dinners. I found the carving station to be a great value. They gave us enough food that we could share the meat and some of the sides. DH liked the pulled pork sandwich. I liked the "make your own" salad.

We also stopped at the bar for drinks in the late afternoon and they have some good appetizers on the bar menu. I don't think we had any at that time but we may eat there at a later date. We saw that plenty of people were ordering from the bar menu.

I have eaten the kid's meal from the carving station many times. For any runners staying at POR, it's a great semi-bland, but delicious option and it is plenty of food. When I say semi-bland, I don't mean that it has no taste. I just mean that it is something that won't upset your stomach if you're worried about that.

 

[NavyDad]

DW and I stayed at POR a few weeks ago for an anniversary trip and it was great. We stayed in building 90 in a Royal room. We were on the first floor towards the back with a path that lead right from our door to the East Depot. Very quiet and relaxing resort. I surprised her with the royal room and she thought it was neat and said it made her feel like a kid again so that was a nice touch. We didn't see any dogs but we did think one area of the walking path near East Depot did smell a little bit...

We did online check in and never got a text for a room. We left our luggage with bell service and hopped on the boat to DS. That was a nice relaxing ride. It's nice having all of the shopping and dining options just a quick boat ride away. Still didn't get a text so I checked my MDE app on the phone and it showed our room number so we rode the boat back and went straight to our room and our magic band worked. We were very happy with the room. Loved all of the princess touches. Our two DD's would have LOVED this room. Our luggage was not in the room so I went and picked it up from the luggage storage room. That was a bit of a mess. The people in there are nice but just too much going on or something. Eventually I just went inside and found my own luggage because they couldn't find it.

We LOVED the Riverside Mill food court. It was never overly crowded which has been our experience at Pop and AoA. The food was excellent at every station we tried. We only planned on eating there once or twice but we loved it so much we ended up cancelling our ADR's at Boatwright's and two different table service places inside the parks. I ended up having the Bayou Burger twice and it was great both times. DW enjoyed her flatbread and the make your own pasta. We both enjoyed the carving station another time. We agreed it was nice having turkey and fixings for one meal which felt a bit more like "home cooking" while on vacation. We ate breakfast there on our last day and it was fantastic. Honestly Riverside had some of the best food we had the entire trip and we probably saved a bunch of money over eating at the sit down ADR's we had cancelled.

The buses were very smooth except for our first night going to MK. For some reason we ended up having 3 buses come for every park before a MK bus came. That first night MK closed at 8 and we wanted to spend the last couple hours in the park time to catch the Christmas decorations before they were taken down. We walked up to the depot at 5:50 and the screen said the next MK bus was supposed to arrive at 6:05. No problem. Well, the arrival time kept getting pushed back until it finally arrived at 6:35. We waited over 45 minutes. After the first two rounds of buses for every other park I started asking the drivers why there was no bus for MK. They all called it in and finally a bus showed up. The rest of the week we had no issues whatsoever and probably didn't wait for more than 10 minutes for a bus. Whenever we left a park the POR bus stop was one of the first in the row and there was always a bus pulling up within a few minutes. We did share a bus with POFQ a couple of nights when we left MK late.

We thought the resort was more compact than people described. Very walkable nice lush landscaping. One of our more peaceful stays even in comparison to Beach Club and GF. We were able to use the main pool one day when it was warm enough. The pool was nice with a cool slide but kind of small. Good pool - not great. The canals are are cool and its neat to see how the landscaping near the water changes in different areas of the park.

Overall one of our favorite places we have ever stayed. Quiet and peaceful. Convince of a nice foodcourt like the values but the "nice" feel of a deluxe without the huge price.

 

[mn51]

We just returned from a mother/daughter trip. Spent 10 nights in Oak Manor (garden view). We declined housekeeping and were given a $90 electronic gift card which we put towards the Disney After Hours on January 30th. We had a great time and were thankful that we had done planning (dining reservations and fastpasses). We were at Disney last year at about the same time and found this year more crowded than last year. The Disney After Hours was so worth the money. We rode rides several times and the rides were walk-ons (including Seven Dwarfs).

 

[OddDisneyFan]

That's completely untrue. I wish the Disney call center operators would stop spreading misinformation.

The Port Orleans Riverside room assignment team would prefer to place guests with dogs in building 24 if they can, however should a guest in ANY booking category turn up with a pet then they will need to be given a room in the category that they have booked. There are other locations that have been assigned as backup dog-friendly areas for guests with Preferred Location, River View, or Royal Room bookings (none of which can be accommodated in building 24) but even those cannot be 100% guaranteed.

As far as I've been able to ascertain, suggesting that paying more money will in any way guarantee you a room in which no dog has ever been present is a complete lie.

Regarding the "pet friendly" rooms, I've heard Building 80 and now you are saying Building 24. A WDTC rep initially told me that pets could be in any room of any building, and when I challenged that answer she put me on hold, supposedly spoke with Guest Services, and came back to tell me that at POR and YC they are trying to keep pet friendly rooms together in one building. Obviously, as has been mentioned many times before, service dogs may (and could always) occupy any room in any building.

However, I do not want my vacation disrupted by the sound of barking dogs while in my room. WDTC said that they couldn't "guarantee" that I would be placed in a separate building from the pet-friendly rooms; when I then said I'd cancel, they talked with Guest Services again, and came back to tell me that Guest Services would guarantee it. So we will see. From the reports that I've read on these forums, it sounds as though the number of pets has been relatively small versus the overall population at the resort, so the chance that a pet-free person will end up near to a pet-occupied room is likely rather small to begin with.

Regarding the deep clean (which I also requested, due to allergies), I made the request through WDTC but someone posted in another thread that you really should call the "Guests With Special Needs" number to make that request. I can say that when I verified that the request had been placed on my reservation with a call-back to WDTC, it was not there. I have not yet called the special needs number to see if that makes a difference.

 

[RocketCityMama]

Getting closer, 111 days to go til we leave and head to WDW!! For funsies I checked the summer deal program where you get the 1 qs meal free, I picked ASM I think since it was the cheapest and for the same amount of nights and tickets with ph and mm, it was nearly $1000 more than my current POR trip! Oh yeah I chose the right place! We are not doing the dining plan, it was $1700 for the 5 of us for the 1qs/1ts/2s deal and I think we can eat for less than that during the week (or two we will be there)! A lot of times I find we don't eat as much because it's hot, just plan to stay hydrated, eat when we are hungry and have snacks and easy breakfast stuff at resort in the room rather than eating out all the time.

 

[Muskegon78]

We've been here since 2/1 and have loved it so far. One thing I've noticed is that all of the quiet pools have towels and towel drops, I had read that they did not

 

[Sue M]

Getting so excited about staying at POR in May.

How do you guys like the food court and bar? Anything particular you recommend trying? I've read about Hummingbird Cake and Yehaa Bob at the bar and am looking forward to experiencing both!

I love the make your own pasta bar. Take a short 15 min walk along the river to POFQ for some beignets!

 

[AllthingsDisMom]

I love the make your own pasta bar. Take a short 15 min walk along the river to POFQ for some beignets!

Yes the beignets and all the dipping sauces that come with it! SD: Huge portions!

 

[JennLTX]

Getting so excited about staying at POR in May.

How do you guys like the food court and bar? Anything particular you recommend trying? I've read about Hummingbird Cake and Yehaa Bob at the bar and am looking forward to experiencing both!

Our first stay at POR, I decided one evening I really ought to eat SOME kind of vegetable that wasn't a french fry (it was not an easy decision). I tried the Customize Your Own Salad and Oh. My. LAWD. A metric ton of really fresh greens and toppings, and they toss it all with the dressing in a big bowl so what you're served is coated perfectly. One of the best salads EVER.

I then celebrated this salad with a Magic Cookie Bar. Because I am only human.