Port Orleans Riverside Q&A Thread 2013, Part Three (NOW CLOSED, see 2014 thread)

[mum22]

Thanks Andre, called and booked the carriage ride for 7pm , hopefully we catch the sunset We can hardly wait!!!

 

[andrewilley]

The March 2014 Recreation Activities and Movie Schedules for Port Orleans Riverside is now available. See the main Recreation Activities Schedule page for full-size PDF versions, or click on the image below.

The outdoor movies will start at 8pm and the daily campfires commence at 6pm this month. On Sunday 2 March, the Oscars ceremony will be screened live at the Riverside Lobby Courtyard instead of the regular movie.

On Tuesday 4 March, Port Orleans will feature its annual Mardi Gras celebrations, including a mini-parade around the resort organised by the cast members - starting at French Quarter at around 1:30pm and getting to Riverside by 2pm.

Also, in what appears to be a massively short-sighted and very disappointing move, as from 2 March 2014 Disney has seen fit to permanently close the Port Orleans Riverside Levee boat rental facility. Very Bad Show, Disney - you are meant to be all about "plussing" your parks and resorts, not "minussing" them. If you wish to make your views known, ask for an explanation, or request that this decision be reversed, please contact wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com.

​

Andre

 

[LeahA]

How many drawers are in the AB room at POR? We will be there in 20 days and I am wondering how much space there is to unpack. Does anyone have any tips on staying organized?

 

[mrstomrice]

How many drawers are in the AB room at POR? We will be there in 20 days and I am wondering how much space there is to unpack. Does anyone have any tips on staying organized?

If you're traveling with kids, I pack an a outfit for each day in a large ziploc bag. It makes packing and dressing each day a piece of cake.

 

[DJFan88]

How many drawers are in the AB room at POR? We will be there in 20 days and I am wondering how much space there is to unpack. Does anyone have any tips on staying organized?

Don't forget you can do laundry there, so you don't need to go crazy with what you pack. Wow! 20 days!
Anyway, whenever my kids and DH are at the quiet pool I just throw laundry in when needed and it's perfect. Or other times as well. I bring a bag of those little gel cap things for detergent so it doesn't cost as much each washload. So, then you'd need quarters for the machines.

 

[LeahA]

I usually do throw a load in during the week no matter where I'm staying. I always overpack though! I think I might get one of those drop down drawer things you hang in closet for some extra space.

I used to do the Ziploc bag thing when the kids were little. I should try to do again for this trip!



Thanks for the advice!

 

[cadale]

Just a quick question - we will be coming from a 4 day cruise and checking in at POR on Thursday May 22. Right now we will probably be arriving around 9:30 am. I am not holding out hopes that the room will be ready but was wondering how busy the food court would be at that time? We figured we would wait and eat breakfast at the hotel.

 

[Three cats]

So sad about the boat rentals ending! We've always rented one when we've stayed at POR. Actually, even when we were staying elsewhere we'd come to POR to rent one.

 

[madzy]

We are headed to Riverside in 13 days I'm sorry if it was mentioned before but what does the campfire entail? Is it free? What types of activities do they do there? And also, is the main pool at POFQ open? My kids seen a pic of that pool and if it's open I would like to take them to it one day.

 

[siskaren]

Don't forget you can do laundry there, so you don't need to go crazy with what you pack. Wow! 20 days!

LeahA is going to be there in 20 days, not for 20 days.

 

[siskaren]

Just a quick question - we will be coming from a 4 day cruise and checking in at POR on Thursday May 22. Right now we will probably be arriving around 9:30 am. I am not holding out hopes that the room will be ready but was wondering how busy the food court would be at that time? We figured we would wait and eat breakfast at the hotel.

I doubt many people are going to be in the food court at 9:30 in the morning since the parks open at 9.

 

[JamieLM]

Hello, I am new to this thread and have a few questions. I have never stayed at the POR before and have been reading some of your posts.

We have a standard room booked in Oct for courtyard view. Is there a way to get a better view with a standard room. I also put a request in for staying close to dining and buses.

Also, there is mention or a carriage ride and a bike ride?? Can someone provide more detail as well as price. Thank you much!

 

[DJFan88]

LeahA is going to be there in 20 days, not for 20 days.

Oh, whoops! you're right! No wonder I really thought she was packing a lot of stuff and needed to know about laundry doing!
Can you imagine 20 days at Dis?! I know some people do go for about 13 or so though. We usually are there for 10.

 

[andrewilley]

I doubt many people are going to be in the food court at 9:30 in the morning since the parks open at 9.

Don't you believe it, from 8am-10am the food court can be pretty rammed, and even after then it doesn't always quieten off too much. I guess a lot of people feel that vacation time is not about getting up early and doing the parks from rope-drop.

We have a standard room booked in Oct for courtyard view. Is there a way to get a better view with a standard room. I also put a request in for staying close to dining and buses.

Also, there is mention or a carriage ride and a bike ride?? Can someone provide more detail as well as price. Thank you much!

Ah, it was Riverside you have booked for then. My comments in the other thread still apply, but more specifically: you could always ask for a "non parking lot view" - although technically that would mean a Garden View room, but they might have spare capacity and upgrade you anyway, or at least give you a non-direct view of the parking lots. For lots more advice on room locations at POR, try http://www.portorleans.org/room-requests.php.

Carriage rides are evening activities, and are best pre-booked. $45 for a 25 min ride. Cycle rentals can be done at any time and at fairly cheap (the four-wheel Surrey Bikes are very popular with families). See http://www.portorleans.org/recreation.php for more details and other recreation tips.

Andre

 

[ALD85]

I doubt many people are going to be in the food court at 9:30 in the morning since the parks open at 9.

Actually this will be one of the busier times in the food court.

 

[LeahA]

LeahA is going to be there in 20 days, not for 20 days.

LOL! I wish!!!!

 

[Texastiger]

Just returned from a stay in the RR at OAk Manor. We only stayed around the resort and room one day, but when we did, it was very loud. There is a lot of construction going on. If it was me, I would have switched to the Bayou if I had known about the work. Just my opinion.

I called yesterday to see if I could change rooms to the AB section. No rooms were available for our dates. I put in a request to be away from the construction work. Hope that works.

 

[Sue M]

Thanks for the update. My contact just let me know that the last day for guest water craft rentals will in fact be Saturday (tomorrow), although the CMs will be having a little farewell ceremony today.

Such a shame, it was a lovely relaxing thing to do at the resort, and I for one will miss it. The Disney ethic was always meant to be about "plussing" things, not "minussing" them.

I doubt enough people would make enough of a fuss to get it re-instated, but every comment helps I guess - emails and face-to-face complaints to Guest Relations wouldn't do any harm.

Andre

very sad news. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of minussing at wdw lately, most notably the new FP+ system where you are limited to 3 FPs, and the Tier system where you can only get 1 useful FP. Yet, they just raised park tickets again ugh

I am reading about the potential mess of the bus system....I've used it numerous times in the past without too many problems....is it POR that is particularly bad or do some just not like the bus system in general. We go the same week in June every year (starting with father's day) and have used the buses at CSR, ASM/S/MU, Fort Wilderness, and several others.

We just returned a month ago from 4th POR stay, and think the busses are fine 99% of the time. The odd morning you may get 3 or more busses each for every park but yours but that happens at all resorts!

 

[andrewilley]

I called yesterday to see if I could change rooms to the AB section. No rooms were available for our dates.

That doesn't actually make sense, unless you have a Royal Room booking (which would mean Oak/Parterre only) then you could be in either section of POR, and probably more likely AB to be honest. The resort is running at between 95% and 100% occupancy at the moment, not bad figures, but I just checked April and there is open availability for the whole month in pretty much all room categories (unless you are looking for offer packages, which may be more limited).

Andre

 

[siskaren]

Don't you believe it, from 8am-10am the food court can be pretty rammed, and even after then it doesn't always quieten off too much. I guess a lot of people feel that vacation time is not about getting up early and doing the parks from rope-drop.

Actually this will be one of the busier times in the food court.

Interesting. I'm always in the food court around 8, and it's packed then because I assume most people want to make rope drop, so I just assumed that once the parks open, it's pretty quiet.