Late June - July 4 Trip

How was your stay at Riverside? Leave your comments or full trip reports here. Photos welcome.
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This forum is for Port Orleans RIVERSIDE Trip Reports, not for general questions. Please try to keep your reviews relevant, informative and useful to other visiting families. Thanks!
daveag
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Late June - July 4 Trip

Unread post by daveag »

Our family: me, wife, and daughter aged 5 are looking forward to our first proper Disney trip, staying at Port Orleans Riverside. I'll post photos, updates for our trip here.

I just wanted to say thanks for creating this staff. The wisdom and joy others have shared have answered lots of questions.
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Re: Late June - July 4 Trip

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Looking forward to hearing about your trip, I hope you all have a great time.

Andre
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- The Unofficial Visitor's Guide to the Port Orleans Resorts in Orlando, Florida -
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MardiGroggy
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Re: Late June - July 4 Trip

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Also looking forward to your report. Have a GREAT time!
MardiGroggy
Aka: Steve

"Laissez les bons temps rouler!"
daveag
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Joined: May 9th, 2014, 11:29 pm

Re: Late June - July 4 Trip

Unread post by daveag »

Okay,

We're back from WDW and somewhat rested up. I wanted to share our experiences.

The Resort and Room
We reserved a Standard Royal Guest Room for a week. As others suggested, I sent a FAX asking for any accommodation that could be given for my 5 y.o. daughter and her first "proper" visit to WDW. Boy were we surprised! In addition to a paper copy of Tiana's "note" and a balloon for my daughter, they put us in a corner, river view RGR near the bridge back to the main lobby/ South Depot. My daughter was enamored by all the little touches.. as were we, if we're honest. We were a little disappointed we never got to see THAT movie at the 9p outdoor movie since our stay overlapped months. The beds were comfortable, although I was expecting something a little more spartan and elaborate at the same time (I attached an image of the white linens). I know some complain about the big pool at POR not being kid friendly enough, but that was silly. Our daughter had a perfectly good time.

Housekeeping
This was a let down. We got back after the first day at the park with a messy room, a plastic bag of towels, and a note that said, "we got your request to leave your room alone", which we had not done. While housekeeping did return for the rest of our visit, we regularly found carpet with crumbs still there or dirty table or counter space. We even had a tv remote go missing. On the last day, on my daughter's bed was a teddy bear of sorts made from wash clothes and stickers. A sweet gesture.

Food
Looking back on it, we probably should have done the Meal Plan. We broke even between eating on site at hotel, eating in the park, and schlepping around Lunchables and snacks. We did the refillable mugs, not reading the details that they were only good for the resort. That said, the food at quick service was decent enough and we really enjoyed our meals at Perfectly Princess Tea Party, Be Our Guest, Mickey's Back Yard BBQ and Akershus Royal Banquet.

Transportation
We never used our car once we got to the resort; we took buses the entire time. We found being immersed in the bubble and not long wait times perfectly acceptable--enjoyable, even. The music on the buses really set the tone... a nice touch. But the last night we were in Orlando we were coming back from Downtown Disney. We got on our bus to head back to POR. It was crowded since the rain had started and many kids were standing. As we were pulling out of the bus station, the bus stopped and the driver opened the door, yelling expletives at his supervisor. He pulled away, taking corners faster and accelerating quicker--though not speeding--than any bus we had been on all week. Not kid friendly and I reported him to the manager at the hotel as soon as we got off the bus.

The Parks
What can you say? Let the memories begin!

I was expecting worse crowds than we actually experienced. I was thankful we had a long stay so we didn't feel guilty leaving the park early or showing up well after rope drop.

Closing
In summary, I'm torn. We had a great stay at POR and look forward to going back. At the same time, I think it would be fun to stay at some of the other on property resorts to experience how different resorts do things different. For example, we stopped and had beignets at POF and the doorman handing out doubloons was priceless. There was no equivalent at POR.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy!
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Royal Guest Room
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Re: Late June - July 4 Trip

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Glad you had such a good time, and thanks for coming back here to let us know. Sounds like your housekeeper left a bit to be desired though, did you say anything while you were there, or was it more "niggles" rather than specifics?

The refillable mugs can be used at all the resorts, not just your own hotel, but not in the theme parks or water parks (that would be really good if they did that, but I'm sure they'd charge a lot more for those!).

Arniel the doorman over at French Quarter is great isn't he? The kids love being given beads and coins to throw into the fountain.

Andre
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MardiGroggy
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Re: Late June - July 4 Trip

Unread post by MardiGroggy »

Dave,

Thanks for the report. Sorry to hear it wasn't 100%, but it sounds like you kept it all in perspective and had a great time overall. Don't feel conflicted about your interest in other resorts. Although this is a great site about the PO resorts, I seriously doubt Andre, or any of the rest of us, expect blind loyalty to just these two properties. I have stayed in several different WDW resorts over the years and I do appreciate the differences. How else can you develop your "favorites" if you don't explore a bit? Right now, it is a tie for us between Riverside and French Quarter, as each has its own charms. The "plus," as Disney says, is that they are together and you can enjoy them both on the same visit! It is reports like yours that can help others make their choices of where to include on their adventures, so thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with us.
MardiGroggy
Aka: Steve

"Laissez les bons temps rouler!"
daveag
Posts: 4
Joined: May 9th, 2014, 11:29 pm

Re: Late June - July 4 Trip

Unread post by daveag »

Admin wrote: did you say anything while you were there, or was it more "niggles" rather than specifics?
Andre
No, I gave praise where praise was due and let mgt know where I had hoped for better. Even still, I didn't let it ruin my trip or let it sully our experience on-site.

Thanks, again!
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