Port Orleans Riverside Opinions needed!

[ninjaprincesst]

We usually stay at the Wilderness lodge but due to budget being limited with Covid 19, we are thinking of a moderate his time. I would really appreciate your opinions on Port Orleans Riverside, or really any of the moderates. We were thinking of Caribbean Beach due to the Skyliner but we both (Mom and Daughter graduation trip) have also thought that Riverside was so pretty, so we are considering it We would love to hear your opinions and experiences with the moderates. I know we have plenty of time to book waiting for reopening but I was thinking we still better book by June so we can make ADR and such, our trip will be December 10-18th. Thanks in advance for help and suggestions.

 

[UNCgolf]

Riverside is tremendous and I strongly recommend it. When factoring in price, I think it's the best resort at Disney. Sure, a hotel like the Boardwalk Inn is better overall, but it also usually costs at least twice as much per night (and often more).

It's much quieter than almost every other Disney resort and it has both a food court and a table service restaurant. It also has pretty easy access to the French Quarter's food court, which is better (at least for breakfast), depending on where you are located at Riverside. The boat to Disney Springs is a relaxing ride as well.

I like to stay in the Royal Guest Rooms, which are a bit more expensive, but have the best location (I don't care about the theming). There's a bus stop a short walk away, plus the main lobby bus stop isn't much farther (which means if you're ready to get off the bus, you can just get off at that stop without having a long walk back to the room instead of waiting for it to complete the circle). You can also get to the food court etc. in a short walk, and you can walk to the French Quarter in a relatively short walk as well.

There's also a bar with a piano player for evening entertainment. I've never eaten at the table service restaurant, so I don't have an opinion on that, and I don't think the food court is great (although that's true of most resorts), but I prefer going to Disney Springs or to other specific restaurants to eat anyways so that's not a big concern for me.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

We usually stay at the Wilderness lodge but due to budget being limited with Covid 19, we are thinking of a moderate his time. I would really appreciate your opinions on Port Orleans Riverside, or really any of the moderates. We were thinking of Caribbean Beach due to the Skyliner but we both (Mom and Daughter graduation trip) have also thought that Riverside was so pretty, so we are considering it We would love to hear your opinions and experiences with the moderates. I know we have plenty of time to book waiting for reopening but I was thinking we still better book by June so we can make ADR and such, our trip will be December 10-18th. Thanks in advance for help and suggestions.

I stayed there twice before and enjoyed it both times. We always went with alligator bayou as our section, but we happen to prefer that style.
Pros are that there are so many pools, the quick service food is decent and the lobby bar may be my favorite at any WDW hotel, when YeeHa Bob is playing piano.

 

[Jon81uk]

I loved riverside, fairly spacious resort with a laid back feeling, but if you get the right room its not too far to walk to the main building. The food court was lively and busy but I don't recall waiting too long or having issues. Boatwrights is also great for big portions of southern food.

 

[ZoneOfTheEnder]

Riverside is tremendous and I strongly recommend it. When factoring in price, I think it's the best resort at Disney. Sure, a hotel like the Boardwalk Inn is better overall, but it also usually costs at least twice as much per night (and often more).

It's much quieter than almost ever other Disney resort, it has a food court and a table service restaurant. It also has pretty easy access to the French Quarter's food court, which is better (at least for breakfast), depending on where you are located at Riverside. The boat to Disney Springs is a pretty relaxing ride as well.

I like to stay in the Royal Guest Rooms, which are a bit more expensive, but have the best location (I don't care about the theming). There's a bus stop a short walk away, plus the main lobby bus stop isn't much farther (which means if you're ready to get off the bus, you can just get off at that stop without having a long walk back to the room instead of waiting for it to complete the circle). You can also get to the food court etc. in a short walk, and you can walk to the French Quarter in a relatively short walk as well.

There's also a bar with a piano player for evening entertainment. I've never eaten at the table service restaurant, so I don't have an opinion on that, and I don't think the food court is great (although that's true of most resorts), but I prefer going to Disney Springs or to other specific restaurants to eat anyways so that's not a big concern for me.

We enjoyed staying at Riverside before becoming DVC members.

 

[DisneyFamily24]

I like Riverside. I personally choose POFQ as my top Moderate. No sit down restaurant, but I like the relaxed vibe.

 

[Rodb]

building 85 magnolia bend / garden view for me

 

[patsfan24]

Really hoping to stay here in November. Glad to be seeing great reviews!

 

[Skibum1970]

When we don't stay at Wilderness Lodge, we typically shoot for Port Orleans, Riverside first and French Quarter second. We love the feel of the rooms and the grounds. The resort has great walkways next to the Sassagoula River that make for a great way to enjoy the resort. It feels very peaceful at each and both resorts have fountains and flowers. The rooms are nice and plenty large enough. The quick service gets a little crowded at PORS but the resort has twice as many rooms available as Wilderness Lodge. One key difference is that WL feels more comfortable and rustic whereas PORS feels more spread out and manicured. While other people may feel differently, I haven't had problems taking the buses although end of day busing gets a little difficult. One nice thing is that POR/FQ are fairly close to Epcot, DHS, and MK with the ride times being 15-20 minutes from what I recall. AK takes a bit longer but it's the furthest away by far. When we stay at WL, we actually set time aside to visit PORS to walk around and enjoy the grounds.

Overall, PORS is one of our favorite resorts. Another site, PortOrleans.org has a lot of information and pictures of the resort.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Love POR!
We stayed in the royal rooms and the extra Disney movie details were great.
We also love the food options.
And as long as its not raining its nice to take the boat to DS.
The buses are also very reliable compared to other mods and deluxe.
The resort is spread out though. That's the only downfall in my opinion.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

I like Riverside. I personally choose POFQ as my top Moderate. No sit down restaurant, but I like the relaxed vibe.

I do as well. But I absolutely love how they re-did CSR (It's gaining ground - The lack of transportation options is what separates it). Dahlia has got to be one of my favorite spots to just relax, have a drink, and decompress.

 

[JIMINYCR]

DW and I choose POFQ over POR because of the smaller lay out and a bit more easier bus access. Despite the lack of a dine in restaurant, the walking path makes it convenient to have access at Boatwrights or the larger POR food court. Our DS has stayed many times at POR and he loves it there. If POFQ was not available we would not hesitate to book POR as an alternate. Horse drawn carriage rides, and Ye Haa Bob having a great evening entertainment thats family friendly that is also a wonderful plus that you cant get elsewhere.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I've only stayed at POR once. I was not a fan of the rooms/beds even though I loved the rest of the resort. My parents are FL AP and have had a few more stays at POR simply because they were usually able to get good discounts. During the constructions phases, they gave both CSR and CBR a chance and decided they preferred the updated rooms over POR. Once the Skyliner opened, CBR became their moderate of choice.

 

[StarshipDisney]

We stayed at POR in December 2018. Did not like the bus service but luckily we had a room that was only 50 yards from parking so after the 3rd day we just drove. Driving at Disney is not bad at all if you have a room that close to parking. Park trams are (can be) pretty close to parking also so overall we did not think bad of the situation.

We tried Boatwrights and it was pretty good. Liked the prime rib. We did the carriage ride (reservation 180 days out) and tried one night to go see Bob the Piano player. But unless you were there over a hour in advance you had no chance really. We did have a drink and listened to the show but could not see anything. The boat to Disney Springs was nice.

This was the first time we tried a moderate resort. Overall we thought it was okay but we really lucked out on location and having a room that close to parking. There can definitely be some long walks involved at this resort depending on where you are located. Not so sure we would always be that lucky on room location so may not go back.

 

[TPSou]

I love Port Orleans but prefer French Quarter. So far we've stayed at French Quarter, Wilderness Lodge and Beach Club and we much preferred FQ to BC, maybe on a par with Wilderness Lodge. It has the advantage of only one bus stop and many less people, but getting to Riverside's amenities is just a short walk up the beautiful waterway or you can even take a boat.

The atmosphere of both sides of the resort is absolutely spectacular and much calmer and 'away' from the parks than the monorail resorts we've looked around. I agree with all of the other comments on here that the food options are pretty good, a boat to Disney Springs is a big plus, and while there are some negatives to Riverside just in terms of its size, none of those really apply to French Quarter.

 

[UNCgolf]

This was the first time we tried a moderate resort. Overall we thought it was okay but we really lucked out on location and having a room that close to parking. There can definitely be some long walks involved at this resort depending on where you are located. Not so sure we would always be that lucky on room location so may not go back.

This is why I stay in the Royal Guest Rooms; they're all located in the same two buildings and the location is great. No walks longer than roughly 5 minutes.

I think getting a preferred room is similar in that they're always in the buildings located closer to the lobby, but its more variable.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Always, it depends what (features) you want in a WDW hotel. If a hotel appeals to you, that's likely to be your top pick.

For me, POR isn't my favorite WDW hotel, or even my favorite moderate. I find it a bit bland and too sprawling. One of my priorities is efficiency. I don't like losing time walking back and forth over winding pathways. I'm happy to walk 10+ hours in the parks, but don't relish long walks from my room to the resort food court.

While all the WDW hotel food courts generally feature classic food court foods (burgers, pasta, pancakes, classic egg platter for breakfast), POR's is one of the more classic ones. The pool is also a bit bland compared to some of the others, IMO.

That said, every resort has trade offs. Some resorts have fun pools, others offer efficiency, many have fun theming. Liking or not liking a resort is a matter of ranking those traits. My ranking probably won't be your ranking.

POR has some fun theming, and the grounds are certainly pretty, especially the Magnolia Bend theming (over Alligator Bayou). Though it has been a few years since I stayed in either, all room interiors have been refreshed since I have stayed there.

In moderate resorts, I like the new Gran Destino. Mostly I like how new it is, and staff is just super. Just all around above and beyond! The room layout is also very fresh, like the glass showers. The building exterior is perhaps a bit bland, and the old CSR food court was not great the last time we went there. I like the hotel pool theming. The slide is fun and the pool is relaxing. The downside of CSR is that it is also a bit sprawling, but when we stayed in GD, we didn't need to walk around the whole resort to go anywhere. It was very new when we stayed there, so I think the menus were still a bit in the experimental phase. We liked the food we had in the new tower. The menu options were tasty and modern. The original food court leaves much to be desired. (Long ago, it was SUPER. so it was painful to see how much the quality had diminished.) The old building has an okay grab and go area though. The room view was also excellent, but we got a bit lucky!

Just to give you some ideas...AKL and WL score high marks in theming, Poly has one of my favorite pools, AKL has some of my favorite theming, Contemporary scores high marks for efficiency. I'm also willing to stay in the values, with AoA among my top picks (or at least was as of last summer when the food court still had interesting entrée options.)

 

[Hcalvert]

I like the food court at Riverside. They have a good selection. I would book here again if I was staying moderate. Right now, I booked an extra week at Cornonado Springs before my CCV/BLT trip. I only chose CS because the passholder deal had it less than $200/night and I believe POR was about $25-$30 more/night.

 

[Orangeanna]

We always prefer pofq. Love to be by the river and we can take the boat to Disney springs, a huge advantage. Love the atmosphere and the small size. You can use 2 big pools( with slides) for the price of one. A huge plus for families. I always prefer a room with a door to the outside. I know many prefer tower style rooms that shelter your walk in the weather. I feel claustrophobic in those and I don't smoke so that's not influencing my choice. I want to wake up and go out and enjoy the early morning quiet. I also like to walk the grounds back and forth to por. The carriage rides, the movie nights and the marshmallow roasts, it's all great. My first trip back will be here. It's our home resort. I do wish they hadn't made the food court so bland but that seems to be happening everywhere at Disney now. A shame!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

POR is our favorite resort! We always stayed in the Alligator Bayou section. We loved the theming of the tropical setting. It has winding paths and little bridges, so secluded! The quiet pools in this section really are quiet! They have never been crowded and are great for a relaxing swim. I confess that we never ventured to the main pool,but were happy with our quiet pool.
Their resort store, Fultons, is the best of any moderate IMO. It is big and has everything you might be looking for! We also love the Mill quick service food court. It has a nice selection and great theming. We love to sit and watch the big wheel turn from our favorite table.
The carriage ride leaves from POR and goes to POFQ and also through the Mansion section. The cost is very reasonable. Some rooms can be a walk to the main building, but just study the map and re quest a section that you like. There are 4 bus stops. The buses have gotten a bad rap before, but we have been to POR multiple times and have not had a bad time at all. The waits for buses are about the same as the other resorts we have been to.
The boat ride to DS is an added bonus to us. The boat stops at POFQ at times too. You can walk to POFQ along the riverside path, which is a beautiful walk, short walk.
We now go to POFQ but only for mobility reasons. If we did not have these problems we would definitely never had left our favorite place in WDW, POR!