What to believe about the shape of Disney Port Orleans Riverside

[talonstruck]

I have been reading reviews of Port Orleans Riverside and frankly I am getting worried about making the right reservation for when we will be there in August. I am not finding very many positive reviews and the reason I booked this hotel was because in the past my family totally loved it. A lot of reviews are stating its rundown and the guest service is undisney like. Is this true or are people just using this as sounding board to gripe? Also which rooms will be shutdown for the refurb for the Royal Suites? Should I change my Reservations to a different resort?
Any Help will be appreciated!!

 

[dixiegirl]

Oh the whole thing with buses....I think its just Disney in general, sometimes its so quick and other times yeah not so much....Not just POR but every resort has had some issue, from reading it sounds like anyway!

 

[Tink28]

Stayed at POR in 2007 and have booked again for this September, we just loved it, I am travelling in Sept with my 83 year old Mother who loves the resort.
We had no problems with the rooms at all, the grounds are beautiful and we found them quiet, also had no problems with the buses.
My Mum just loves the boat to DTD!

 

[captainkidd]

I stayed there 4 years ago and thought it was very nice. It's big, but I found it easy to get around. The lobby, gift shop and food court area is wonderfully themed. The only part I didn't care for was the room. We were in the mansion section, and I didn't like the decor. If I were to stay there again, I'd definitely request AB.

 

[Minnie1976]

We stayed at Riverside once and it was so so. My son and his wife stayed st French Quarter in April and loved it. Of course, being from the N.O. area he said it was like being around home. He said the beignets were good. Wish I had gotten some.

 

[BeanSz]

A few recommendations -- I have friends that will only stay at POR and go about every other year. They love it and they are very particular. Our last trip we stayed at POFQ -- loved it. POFQ recently had all their rooms renovated so much like CSR, you get Queen Beds, new bathroom sinks, flat panel TV, etc. We are going to try CBR for our trip this September. I am not excited about that one, but the kids really want to stay in the Pirate Rooms and use the Pirate pool. We would go back in a heart beat to POFQ -- but we like to stay at different resorts each time as we feel it is a different trip each time. Relax, enjoy -- any resort will be fine. There are frustrations with any hotel or resort at times, so you have to be cautious of the reviews and consider the source.

 

[BeanSz]

One additional point -- even though you booked a promotion that is not currently available, from my experience, I recommend you call Disney and evaluate the changes. In the past for my trips, they have honored the promotion for changes to an existing reservation as long as I was not canceling and rebooking, and a room was available.

 

[goofysgurl]

My family and I stayed there last Oct and, like many others have said, my only complaint was about the bus service. The rooms and the buildings were very clean and well maintained from what I could see. The layout is large and depending on where you are located it can be a fairly long walk - but the grounds are beautiful so it makes for a nice stroll.

Hope you have a magical visit!

 

[ThinkTink721]

We just stayed at POR in Sept 2010 & everything was great! :wave:

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

POR is my favorite moderate. The only downfall is its size. As far as the mods go, POFQ is the only one that's not huge. It's my second favorite. POR is not run down. The bus system is fine. The QS is great. Boatwrights (TS) is okay.

 

[WorldKey]

I think that POR is underated by a few people that had a slightly bad experience and may be blowing it out of proportion.

POR is our favorite Moderate resort! The grounds are beautiful and the services are fantastic - great food court, plenty of recreation options, a fun lounge and nice restaurant and also the free river cruise to Downtown Disney (even for just the cruise itself). The themeing is well done.

We've stayed at POR 5 times and plan on going back - even when money is not an issue.

A lot of people talk about the size/walking distance. I think this is also exaggerated - unless you use a walker/wheelchair. And we've never experienced crowded buses...in fact, they seemed to be less crowded than at some of the other resorts.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Its a nice place. While you are going to be there right BEFORE the rooms get overhauled that does not mean that you should expect them to be a dump. If you have any issues with your room tell management. If your too worried, see if it is at all possible to move to French Quarter(doesn't hurt to call and ask) but my guess is that place is booked up, so relax, Riverside is very nice, and shoot for tha Alligator Bayou section!

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

stayed in '07

We stayed at the Port Orleans: Riverside (Magnolia Bend area) in '07. We loved it. It was beautiful, quiet and the grounds were great. We had no problem with the staff there at all. As a matter of fact we had on CM who helped us tremendously when my son lost an unused gift card with $100 on it. We'd definitely go back! :wave:

 

[ssnyder4]

loved riverside

My family of 4 stayed the week of thanksgiving in 2009. We loved it. The CM are great. The grounds keepers ride around their carts handing out mardi gras bead, the doorman throws coins for the kids to chase around the lobby. I bought a stamp for a postcard and left it on the counter and the CM found me to make sure I got my stamp. The CMs in the dining hall were really helpful with using the credits that we had left as we were nearing the end of our trip.

And of course the resort itself is beautiful. The room we had was clean and very quiet...bus service wasn't horrible and the play ground area was fabulous! We also liked the idea of the boat ride to downtown disney.

Hope this helps!

 

[emilymouse]

I've stayed at riverside almost every year since 1998 (with the odd visit to AKL) and have loved it every time. Our last visit was Sep 2010 and had no problems at all with the resort. The grounds are lovely, and depending on the time of year the smaller pools can be very quiet. We've always stayed in the mansions so I cant give any opinion on the bayous.

I'm heading back to riverside late October this year and am so excited (as usual)!! I too though am worried about which rooms may be being refurbished into the 'princess rooms'. does anybody know which rooms will be affected?

 

[KJ1081]

^ All I've heard is that the Princess rooms will be in Magnolia bend, not sure where exactly or if that whole section will be converted

 

[dsdmbU2]

Riverside

My wife, kids and I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside last May. I think it had (mostly) good qualities but some not so. The walk to the lobby, main bus stop, restaurants, marina, etc. was fairly long, especially from our building. We had a second story room and if there were elevators we couldn't find them!! This was only a big deal checking in/out with our luggage. Also, given the bayou setting we had LOTS of bugs hovering around our outside light. Since you enter/exit your room from the outside we had to rush in or risk several getting in our room when we returned at night. On the positive side, it is a very quiet and pretty setting. The pool is very cool!! If you use the marina you can take the boats all the way to Dowtown Disney. We would definitely stay there again but only after we hit a few more resorts at which we've yet to stay.

 

[talonstruck]

The royal rooms in today's disney blogs look very nice, will the completed rooms sit vacant while the rest are being done, or would they start filling them as section becomes completed. Also are those paintings on the wall like the portholes on the new Disney cruise ship?

 

[Club Cooloholic]

The royal rooms in today's disney blogs look very nice, will the completed rooms sit vacant while the rest are being done, or would they start filling them as section becomes completed. Also are those paintings on the wall like the portholes on the new Disney cruise ship?

I think they will start filling them as the Buildings are completed. That is what they did at FQ

 

[Zummi Gummi]

I didn't mind the massive size of the place, but I didn't like the decor very much. I was in Magnolia Bend and it all felt very generic to me. I feel like I could have gotten the exact same room at the Holiday Inn, Williamsburg VA.

There were no problems with the room itself (it was clean, well kept, all of that), but it certainly wasn't renovated recently (still had the old box TV).

I don't think I'd stay there again, given a choice of moderates. I'd go for POFQ or CSR before I went to PORS again.

 

[HoneyMnShawnee]

I just came back from a trip with my husband to Riverside about a month ago. This was our second trip to Riverside. We had a fine time and we were lucky to stay in building 18 in Alligator Bayou. The customer service was great as was the food and the cleanliness of the main building. The only complaint I had was the bus service. In the 6 times I've been there in the past 5 years, I have never had bus service so bad. We know that it's all about timing and sometimes you miss a bus here and there requiring you to wait a bit longer, but I would say that most waits were at least 20 minutes, many waits being quite longer than that. Quite a few people we spoke to were just as dissatisfied with the buses as we were. Don't let that stop you from trying out the resort as it really is a nice place to stay. I don't think we will be staying there again for a while as we are wanting to try a few new places.