Riverside January 2010 Report

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quintenorth
Posts: 2
Joined: December 18th, 2009, 7:11 am

Riverside January 2010 Report

Unread post by quintenorth »

I just returned from a 1 week stay at Riverside from Jan 4 through Jan 11, 2010. My 14 yr old niece and I had a wonderful time at the resort and the parks. The downside to our stay was the cold weather. It was unseasonably cold with lows of 10 below F and highs of 53 to 55 F. This is extremely unusual for Florida and apparently our weather set a record low not experienced since 1921. One Disney shuttle driver explained that normal January temps are in the mid 60s to mid 70s and they often have 1 or 2 cold days but not an entire week. So don't be put off visiting Disney in January because of the weather. This cold weather appears to be a one off. There are huge benefits to staying at this time including less crowded parks, faster bus service to and from the parks, more room availability (possibly receiving a room in a building at the resort that you particularly wish), definitely lower prices (I purchased a pay for 4 nights, receive 3 nights free deal in November and stay availability included January and February ie. no availability for this price over the Christmas Holidays and during the March Break because of the higher demand and thus higher rack rate) and somewhat less crowded action at the cafeteria. We are from Canada so are acclimated to colder temps and we survived quite well with just doubling up on sweaters and wearing long pants. The locals, however, did suffer and it was not uncommon to see Floridians dressed in fur lined parkas with full face balaclavas at the parks. We thought that was a bit of an overkill but each to his own. Should you hail from warmer climates, are particularly susceptible to the cold, are bringing young children and are visiting in January, I would recommend that you wear at least a mid weight fleecy jacket to Orlando and pack at least 2 pairs of long pants, at least 2 pairs of warm, thick socks, a toque (a wool/fabric hat), a scarf and a pair or two of fabric gloves. You can purchase many of these items at the parks but they are to be had at a premium. We saw many Moms trying to bundle children up and resorting to socks for mitts because they just couldn't find mitts small enough for little hands.

Aside from the cold weather, which we and Disney had no control of whatsoever, the only other somewhat negative feature of Riverside is the crowded cafeteria in the mornings. This was the only comment (mentioned on a number of travel sites and online blogs) that I took seriously and it is quite true. Despite the lower numbers of guests in January, the cafeteria was a bit of a mad house. To get around this, I packed the mini Kellogg cereal boxes and granola bars as well as extra coffee and tea and we avoided the cafeteria completely except for one brunch. There is a general store on site where we purchased milk and there is a mini fridge in the room that made this route possible. This allowed my teenage niece to get at least an extra 1/2 hour of sleep (a plus for both of us!) and we didn't have to deal with the hassle of pushing and shoving at the caf just before jumping on the bus. When we did have the one brunch, the food was excellent and hot. I crunched the numbers and I estimate that the two of us saved approximately $180 for the week by bringing our own breakfast. As a result, I did not purchase the meal plan and found that by rolling this saved breakfast expense into some better lunches and dinners, we spent about $500 for meals - saving approx $100 by not eating on the meal plan.

We ate very well and enjoyed reservations (which now need to be booked at least 2 1/2 to 3 months in advance to secure the restaurants you want) at Epcot (Restaurant Marrakesh, Teppan Edo), Downtown Disney (T-Rex), Animal Kingdom (Rainforest Cafe), MGM Studios (Sci-Fi Drive in Theatre) and Magic Kingdom (The Plaza Restaurant - which I would highly recommend for a healthier dinner with fresh veggies served with sandwiches, particularly given that it is more challenging to find a non-character sit down restaurant in that park). We also made dinner reservations at the Animal Lodge's Boma Buffet and thoroughly enjoyed the African-themed dinner. It was great value for money and allowed us to snoop around that resort, see some of their animals and soak in the ambiance. However, when you compare the cost of staying at the Animal Lodge versus Riverside, and that most of us will spend the entire day at a park rather than at the resort, there is no contest and Riverside is definitely the hands down winner in terms of value.

At Riverside we took the boat to Downtown Disney, the boat to the French Quarter (and had beignets and beads thrown at us by the greeter!) and tried fishing at the Fishing Hole (no nibbles, too cold for the fish). Unfortunately, I couldn't coax the 14 yr old into swimming because of the cold weather so we did not try any of the pools (although they looked wonderful). We stayed at Lodge 14, Room 1457 in the Alligator Bayou and were very impressed. While not a corner room, it met our needs completely in that it was on the second floor and very close to the main south bus stop and resort restaurant and store. About 3 or 4 days before our arrival, I faxed a very polite room request to Riverside asking for a room in Lodge 14, on the second floor, explaining that we were a party of 2 women and when returning from the parks later in the evenings, did not wish to walk through the dark garden areas of the resort by ourselves. We received what we requested and were very happy. The room itself was in very good shape and while the bathroom is tiny, the double sink area adjacent to it makes up for this because it has a privacy curtain that allows you to change with more elbow room. The 2 double beds had firm mattresses which we found comfortable and the rustic theme of the room was very pleasing. We had exceptional housekeeping who made us a variety of towel animals and we really enjoyed the surprise of seeing her creations when we returned at night from the parks. I tipped her a few dollars after the first towel animal appeared, accompanied by a note thanking her for the great work and she responded by going all out with the towel critters and we then tipped every few days for the exceptional cleaning and animal creations that she provided. She was the friendliest Disney employee we met during our stay and we left a note at the front desk expressing our appreciation for her work and her friendliness. Because of the cold weather, the vast majority of Disney employees both at the Resort and in the parks were subdued if not outright unhappy because they were cold - their costumes, despite a basic overcoat, just didn't seem to keep them warm. And this is understandable when you consider they are standing outside in the cold for 10 plus hours. Our room did have a heater as part of the air conditioning system and we did turn on the heat on low every night, throughout the night.

I would strongly recommend staying in Lodge 14 or a building as close as possible to the South Bus stop as this is usually the stop first visited by the park bus coming and going to the parks.

As Canadians, arriving from an international destination (Toronto Airport), our travel agent (at CAA) was unsure if Disney would pick up our checked luggage or not upon our arrival at Orlando. We decided that the safe option was to go the luggage carousel and pick up our own bags. When they did not appear on the belt, we were told by an airport employee that it was at least 99% likely that Disney had intercepted our bags. We did see some baggage with tags destined for other resorts flying about on the carousel and so were a bit worried. We decided to take a chance and got on the Magical Express for Riverside. Our bags did appears in the room later that night after we returned from a few hours in a park. The safe bet for Canadians using Magical Express is still to proceed to the luggage carousel and check to seek if Disney has picked up your bags or not rather than leaving it to chance. Also, if this is your first visit to the Orlando Airport, be aware that there is no easy way to get from Terminal A to Terminal B on Ground Level. We flew in to Terminal A, checked for our luggage in that terminal, and then had to walk to Terminal B on the same Level before taking the elevator down to Ground Level/Ground Transportation to catch the Magical Express Bus. Just remember not to take the elevator or 2 escalators down to Ground Level until you pass into Terminal B.

We absolutely enjoyed our Stay at Riverside and would certainly choose this resort again!

The information provided on this site was extremely helpful and definitely made our trip so much more enjoyable. Thank you admin and all contributors for the hard work you do to help all other visitors to Riverside have the best vacation possible!
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Re: Riverside January 2010 Report

Unread post by Admin »

Great review, thanks for posting it. Glad you enjoyed Riverside, and that you found this site useful in your planning.

I've added some comments to the POR food court page about the breakfast crush - I do know what you mean about the madness at 9am! We often do the same as you and sort out our breakfast items the night before (or even take a quick trip to WalMart during our stay and get supplies in).

A.
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dringster
Posts: 5
Joined: February 11th, 2010, 6:10 pm

Re: Riverside January 2010 Report

Unread post by dringster »

Thanks so much for sharing your experiances, it's greatly received. Coming from the UK we have no idea of what to expect, now I'm even more excited!! Thank you x
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