Apr30-May4

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!
pcarney1984
Posts: 7
Joined: March 16th, 2010, 5:58 pm

Apr30-May4

Unread post by pcarney1984 »

Our trip was an adventure to say the least, but Disney made it an incredible experience. We booked our room and flight through Orbitz and were happy to find out we were still able to use the Magical Express and Online check-in even though we got the room cheap on Orbitz. We arrived Friday and had a great day hopping from restuarant to restaurant at Downtown Disney. The boat ride in was terrific, we took it everytime we went to downtown. We ate at Boatwrights that evening and enjoyed drinks near the pool. It was a terrific day and evening. Saturday didn't start as we had planned. Our goal was to go to parks on Sat and Monday, and upgrade my Give-a-day get-a-day to a park hopper. I was by the concierge at the resort that this isn't possible, which I found hard to believe, but it didn't matter much as on Sat morning I started passing a gallstone! Not the way you want to wake up on the second day of your honeymoon. We called the front desk and they called an ambulance....I was transported to Dr. Phillips Hospital. I was at the ER for about 5 hours. Disney called us a cab, and even paid for our cab ride back to the resort. This was going above and beyond to me and I was greatly appreciative. It was only 20 bucks, but it still showed me something. They also followed up everyday after to check up on me to see how I was feeling. This was also a nice touch. We spent the rest of the day Saturday hopping around all of the boardwalk resorts, It is like going to Epcot for free, shopping in all of the different resort shops and just walking around was a great time. The Dolphin has an amazing pool! On Sunday we took our only trips to the park. However when we got to Epcot I realized I didn't have my license with me which was with all the medical documents back at our resort. Lucky for me the guest relations person took my school id and my key to the world card and accepted it for the Give-a-day voucher which saved us an hour of getting back to the resort. Also the person told me you can in fact upgrade your voucher to a hopper by paying the dif, which is what I had thought. We saw Boston performing in Epcot and spent most of the day shopping, Epcot is by far my fav of the parks, especially when it's just adults. I was a lil frustrated by how hard it was to find food I could eat though since I wasn't allowed to have any fat after passing the gall-stone. All in all a great time. Monday was spent at the resort and hopping around the Bay Lake resorts(The GRand Floridian which we didn't really see the appeal of, the Polynesian, really neat Wilderness Lodge which looked awesome, and The Contemporary. My wife and I were the only ones on the monorail when it broke down...this gave us the perfect chance for an impromtu photo shoot. THis was great fun lol. My wife and I got to goof off for about 20 mins in the tram by ourselves taking all sorts of funny pictures. Finally we went to Boma for dinner, we had heard great things about Animal Kingdom but I have to say, we were not impressed at all. It's fun seeing the animals but there are only a few out, and I found Boma to be waaaayyyyyy over priced. The buffet at the Crystal Palace is way better, also the only reason we ate there was because of a cast member telling us it was the best place for healthy food, this couldn't have been more wrong, even the salads were dripping in mayo, my wife did enjoy the desserts though! Monday we got our biggest suprise of the trip...We had seen a garden snake earlier in the weekend when returning from a bus which is no big deal, but when coming down the stairs to check out we saw a 3 foot Racer Snake, it was at the bottom of the stairs...I was scurred lol...I've never seen a snake that big not at the zoo. I was happy to find out they aren't poisonous. All in all we made a great time of what could've been a terrible honeymoon and we owe alot of that to the great staff at Disney's Port Orleans Riverside. The resort is the most beautiful of all the ones we visited and has tons to do from the biking to boats that can be rented. Just watch out for the snakes!!!
twinmama
Posts: 6
Joined: May 16th, 2010, 12:44 am

Re: Apr30-May4

Unread post by twinmama »

This is the 2nd comment I've seen involving snakes! My family is due to stay in 2 weeks, myself and children are very afraid of snakes, regardless of if they are harmless. Now I'm afraid we will be spending vacation terrified!! Are snakes commonly seen at POR?
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Re: Apr30-May4

Unread post by Admin »

I've never seen a snake there myself, and I've been going to Port Orleans for 15+ years, but I have heard comments from other people about seeing them. I've seen tons of little lizzards, rabbits, birds and other wildlife though. You do need to remember that regardless of the Disnification, this is still Florida, and so it is a natural environment for snakes - they were there first.

I guess you are probably more likely to see them in the Alligator Bayou section though, as the themeing there involves very lush vegetation, so perhaps if you request a room in the mansion buildings instead, ideally on an upper floor, you will minimise the risk of seeing anything. But it's honestly not a major issue, and I wouldn't let it bother you too much.

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- The Unofficial Visitor's Guide to the Port Orleans Resorts in Orlando, Florida -
disneygirl
Posts: 70
Joined: October 19th, 2009, 12:19 pm
Location: Surrey UK

Re: Apr30-May4

Unread post by disneygirl »

I have also been going to Port Orleans for over 15 years, 3 weeks at a time, and have NEVER seen a snake. I really don't think it will be a problem. My advise is 'Don't look down!!!' Have a nice time. :lol:
First Visit to POFQ May 1995
Off site in Kissimmee June 1996 (never again)
POR nearly every year since although we did go to Wilderness Lodge one year which was also really nice.
Off site LBV this year 2011 (Wyndham LBV - was just OK but never again)
Disneyland Paris - too many times to count but prob about 20 (not a patch on WDW)
The hubby has been to Disneyland California but was too young to really remember much.
pcarney1984
Posts: 7
Joined: March 16th, 2010, 5:58 pm

Re: Apr30-May4

Unread post by pcarney1984 »

We were in the mansions, but like you said I'm sure it was a freak thing seeing two. The second one was a beast though lol. Don't let that deter you though. The resort is in a word, breathless. We took advantage of the bounceback deal and are coming back in December. I had never stayed at a Disney resort before this trip, but I must say, I'm hooked.
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