Any major dislikes of PORFQ?

[barrettismyhero]

Looking at a potential trip for next year.. Thinking PORFQ is a possibility.

Does anyone have any bad experiences or stuff they didn't like about the resort?

 

[stuart]

I would have to recommend Riverside. That isnt to say POFQ is a bad hotel because it isnt, but in terms of theming / food court / pool Riverside is a nicer hotel.

You can see from my signature how many times we've stayed, and when abouts we have stayed. Apart from the Yacht/Beach - because you can walk to EPCOT there is no other hotel we would rather stay at.

Food Court - it does get busy, but so does the one at FQ or any hotel. We often find that the Riverside food court is quiet at 12-1 and 5-6 but if you go 1-2 or 7-8 it can be rammed.

Buses. Again we normally go last week of June first week of July or thereabouts and never normally have a problem with the bus service. In the morning buses are dispatched locally from the hotel. During the day its down to the Magic in Motion dispatch system. Magic Kingdom has a seperate service. EPCOT at times has a seperate service for return service only. Magic Kingdom buses at riverside do the outside stops then the front door. Same with the bus to downtown. We are very rarely beyond the 20 minute wait time.

Boats - the boat service down to downtown disney will depart riverside with space for guests at FQ. The boats after 4 run every 15 minutes and they check at FQ for how many are going down, so as to leave enough room on the next boat down from riverside. When the boat service is suspended due to the rain you'll find Disney more DD buses than required! As said previously, after 6pm the queue for the boat service does get pretty long.

Walking - We've met people before who bleat on about the distances of walking and how they've rated it down on trip advisor because of it. A tad annoying. It really depends on whether you are someone who likes to walk or not. The people who at home drive or get a bus everywhere or, are perhaps shall we say not keen on exercise / walking will be the ones who moan. Those who dont mind walking wont. If you think its going to be a problem for health reasons then just get in touch with the hotel before you go and they'll put you in a room near the main part of the hotel. We've had to do so twice in our years of going and we've had a room in an adjacent building. Your at most 10 -possibly 15 if a slow walker from the main part of the hotel. The furthest rooms are in the mid-high 30 blocks.

The thing with Riverside as well is that it has a number of 'quiet pools' where there is only the one pool at FQ which will obviously be busy most the time. At riverside if you cant get a seat / be bothered with the main pool then the quiet pools are a more relaxing option. FQ guests can make use of these but its a long way to go for a quiet seat by the pool.

What we like about Riverside is that it is spread out, its a nice quiet relaxing resort to walk around. Other hotels when you go about will appear busier even though in actual fact Riverside will be. You never see that many people when you walk about - you would only know its busy when you go to the main pool, or the main part of the hotel. You could say that FQ is the same but just on a smaller scale.

If your a music fan then FQ does get some good music at nights there

 

[tink2044]

My son and daughter-in-law stayed there last week and loved it. Small, quiet, good beignets and a jazz band everynight. They only had praise for the place. We stayed at Pop Century and were very pleased with our room, room service, the cast members couldn't have been nicer, but I sure wish I had gotten to taste those beignets. I love beignets and cafe au lait. Have pictures of French Quarter. My son said it made him think he was home since we are from that area.

 

[tink2044]

Sign at French Quarter

 

[barrettismyhero]

Most of what I half kinda expected so far.. This seems like my top choice for next year unless I get a pin code.

 

[echovictor]

We have also stayed at FQ several times at different times of year and it is our favorite resort. The only negative we ever experienced was the last week of Sept. in 2009. It was really hot and humid. We were in Building 1 right on the river. Every night when we came back to our room there were several brown frogs on our door and the surrounding walls, once even on the door . I'm not sure if this was just the time of year or if other resorts have the frogs too. We stayed at AK the same trip and never saw frogs anywhere. If frogs freak you out, you might want to choose a room further from the water.

Thanks for this^!
I have a strange, unexplained phobia of frogs. We usually go in Sept/Oct and are thinking of staying here for our next visit. I'll definitely try to get a room away from the water. I wonder if they are more likely to grant a room request if there is fear that the guest will run screaming through the complex

 

[mickeysshoes]

We have stayed there 2 time...back in 2000 has a great time....BUT 2009 was not as great. I think most of our problems were from management and how they handled the problems...but I dont think we will ever go back. We had room issues as far as not booked in what we paid for (view wise) and then had key probems in more than room. The card readers were not working and they sent maintance to our room at MIDNIGHT after I asked for them to wait for morning. They switched our room to what we paid for (water view) and then the this room had the same issue. I think in total we had 6 differnt set of room keys over 9 days. And once they issue new keys the old ones DO NOT WORK and we had tickets and dining plan on the keys and my DD were at dinner whem they issued new keys and could not pay for dinner...again after i asked that they wait until we got back to the resort before they issued new one. If they have worked the commuicaion issues and have better management you might be ok. We do love the boat ride to downtown....

 

[MichWolv]

Looking at a potential trip for next year.. Thinking PORFQ is a possibility.

Does anyone have any bad experiences or stuff they didn't like about the resort?

The beignets in the food court are way too tasty, thereby contributing to my need to go on a diet.

Beyond that, my only complaint would be the double beds (vs. queens), which has typically prompted me to favor Coronado (which has queens). I heard a rumor, however, that POFQ is upgrading to queens shortly.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

The beignets in the food court are way too tasty, thereby contributing to my need to go on a diet.

Beyond that, my only complaint would be the double beds (vs. queens), which has typically prompted me to favor Coronado (which has queens). I heard a rumor, however, that POFQ is upgrading to queens shortly.

The upgrades to the queen beds should be about complete now. Yay! :sohappy:

 

[HoneyMnShawnee]

I guess the only drawback to this resort for me is the lack of a sit down restaurant. I have stayed at French Quarter twice and thoroughly enjoy it's charm and coziness. The proximity of Riverside is also a great draw as it's a nice relaxing walk to check out the other side of the fence (so-to-speak). Our favourite feature of both resorts (we have stayed at both) is the boat service to Downtown Disney. To me nothing beats a nice ride to DTD and heading to Fulton's for a nice meal. Which ever Port Orleans resort you choose, however, you can't go wrong.

 

[Lucky]

Nothing bad from me. We stayed for a week in late summer 2006 and again in 2009.

The bus service was better than anywhere else we've stayed. (AKL, CB, Coronado, Pop)

The pool is great, and the food court - less hectic than at other mods - and boats to DTD.

We never eat TS at our resort anyway, but some people might miss not having one on site. But POR has a TS restaurant a short walk away.

 

[WDW 3]

Nothing bad from me either.
We prefered the smaller food court at FQ over RS. We thought the food court at RS was kinda caotic at breakfast with 2 adults and 1 teen trying to pick something, check out and find a table.
We aren't at our resorts ever for supper so the lack of a TS restaurant doesn't matter.
We love one bus stop.
We love the small resort.

 

[Epcot Dave]

It is much better than PORS. It is smaller, which makes bus transportation much easier, and the food area are less crowded. I love it personally.

I disagree on the food court point. Sure, at capacity the RS FC can be chaotic, but we went to FQ to their food court back in 10/09 and found it cramped, chaotic, and just as crowded, if not worse in the morning (on a Sunday). As it was, we had to wait some time for a table to open up and that was outside.

At off peak times, eating at the RS FC is nice because of its size from what I've seen over the years...you actually have the chance to sit without someone next to you.

I'm also not sure I get criticisms about RS being louder than FQ...my experiences have been just the opposite. The "Ol Man Island" pool is busy, sure, but I usually do the pool attached to our building at RS and find it much quieter. I doubt the main pool at either is quieter than the other.

I do envy the bus service at FQ, or rather I long for the days when both were seperate I suppose having to add a spot for a POP bus station at the parks nixed that. I have 2 little ones and a big ol stroller and we've made do several times there since 2005.

Both are nice resorts...it just depends on what amenities/bus service/decor/ambiance you like. At either, what you get for what you pay, especially in their location is pretty tough to beat in that price range.

-Dave

 

[onelivelygirl]

I prefer POR because of the tranquil feeling. I love the fountains and foliage and I enjoy sitting in front of the lake and people watching. However, I am a bit biased because I live in New Orleans. I think the FQ is a bit off. (Sorry. This is only IMHO.) I enjoy the way that RS is a bit more spread out. It feels as though the FQ buildings are a bit more squished. The previous posts have good insights on the aspects of bus transportation. I don't usually take bus transportation so I am not sure how the two compare. I would imagine that the buses take longer at RS because of the distance between buildings.

However, both are usually great for value and space when comparing with Value resorts. I prefer RS but FQ is still a nice resort.

 

[JEANYLASER]

POFQ is my favorite Resort!

 

[corey154]

Other than all the masks in the food court freaking DS out, not a thing :lol:

LOL, It kinda freaked out my son too. He kept his eyes on the one that looked like a king over us the whole time.

 

[barrettismyhero]

The beignets in the food court are way too tasty, thereby contributing to my need to go on a diet.

Beyond that, my only complaint would be the double beds (vs. queens), which has typically prompted me to favor Coronado (which has queens). I heard a rumor, however, that POFQ is upgrading to queens shortly.

Ive heard many good things about the beignets in the past.. Im sure Ill like them.

I think I'd be booking a king room.. So don't know if Ill have that issue or not.

 

[barrettismyhero]

I guess the only drawback to this resort for me is the lack of a sit down restaurant. I have stayed at French Quarter twice and thoroughly enjoy it's charm and coziness. The proximity of Riverside is also a great draw as it's a nice relaxing walk to check out the other side of the fence (so-to-speak). Our favourite feature of both resorts (we have stayed at both) is the boat service to Downtown Disney. To me nothing beats a nice ride to DTD and heading to Fulton's for a nice meal. Which ever Port Orleans resort you choose, however, you can't go wrong.

Im not too worried about the lack of a TS at PORFQ.. I stayed at POR last June and didn't even eat at Boatwrights..

---

Just happy to know that PORFQ is pretty much exactly what I think its gonna be.. Which should hopefully make for a great trip

 

[BeanSz]

We loved POFQ -- one of our favorites. We move around and try the different resorts. I think everyone hit on all the pros. The only thing we did not like was the rooms seemed to be in need of some TLC and did not like the full size beds -- of course, it has been 2 years since we stayed there, and I understand they are nearly complete with the room refurbs and new Queen size beds. Otherwise, loved everything about POFQ.

 

[JEANYLASER]

yeah me too! I love POFQ!