Review March 10-17

How was your stay at Riverside? Leave your comments or full trip reports here. Photos welcome.
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Halifax
Posts: 7
Joined: March 2nd, 2009, 6:30 pm

Review March 10-17

Unread post by Halifax »

Well our family just returned from the Riverside Resort this week! It was a perfect success, from the weather, to the service at the resort, to the transportation.

Our ride on the Magical Express was hassle free, and our check in was quick and painless.

Our room, on the mansion side, was wonderful, clean, and close to everything. We could walk easily to the pool, dining, bus, even to POFQ. The pathways are lovely and serene. I enjoyed walking along each morning drinking a cup of tea.

There was a cheerleading competition during our stay, and several teams were staying at the resort, and although they crowded the pools, they were not rude or nosiy.

We swam in three of the six pools, and they were warm warm warm! We even got into the hot tub a few times in the late evenings after returning from the parks.

The Disney buses were quick an efficient and we never waited very long. The rides to each park were short.

The food at the food court area was fresh and tasty, and even if the lines were long, they moved quickly. Our food never got cold. We ate in the restaurant one night, and the service was very good. The food was.....not great, but not bad. It was nice to be served. My 2 sons had their charactures done in the lobby and it was a highlight for them.

We took the boat to DTD, and that was the only time we had to wait for transport; it took about 45 minutes to catch a boat. I guess it was peak time! We took the bus back.

Every day we got towel creations from mousekeeping, and on my son's birthday they made a cake! There was always something creative. We saved our tipping for the last day.

The only complaints we had were not about the resort but about the Parks.....we visited Hollywood Studios one day and the one thing we really wanted to see was Indiana Jones. It was closed because they were holding the cheerleading comp there. We figured it would be OK because we would visit another day...but...unfortunately I misunderstood the magic your way passes. I though we had 7 days entrance to the parks, and we did, but from years ago I remember using 2 days in one, visiting 2 parks. You cannot do this anymore UNLESS you have the park hopper option. We went to MK one evening when they were going to be open late, and we were turned away. The kids were VERY upset. I asked if we could use another day of our pass, because we did not go at all one day (just stayed at the resort). They said no. At this point we had one day left of our trip and 3 days of passes left on our card. We never made it to AK at all. We did not get back to see Indiana either.

The last day was better; we visited MK for the morning and then headed back to the hotel for pool and sun. In the evening, we went back to MK, expecting it to be open until 10 as advertised. They announced at 7 pm that they would stay open until 11 just for fun! Most people had already made plans to leave so the last hour the park was almost empty. We went from ride to ride with no lines at all. The people working the Thunder Mountain ride were all revved up and hooting and laughing. It made the ride much more fun. I think they even made it faster...

I would encourage anyone to stay at Riverside; we've stayed at Coronado Springs, and I liked POR much better. If we go again next year we may try the CBR...just for a change, but The riverside is definitely a luxury resort for a mod price. On our evening when we were denied access to MK, we took the monorail to the Grand Floridian, and walked around. Except for the convenience of getting to the MK, there was nothing too special. The POR giftshop is much better, the atmosphere is better, the food choices are better for kids, and the price is better for all!

Yay POR!!!!!!
klmorg
Posts: 9
Joined: February 7th, 2009, 8:23 am

Re: Review March 10-17

Unread post by klmorg »

Thanks for a great review. We are heading to POR in 8 days for 8 days!! This will be our first time staying there. We have previously stayed at CT, WL and the Ft W. Cabins. We are SO looking forward to experiencing POR. We do have park hoppers and have a very full itinerary...but also have set aside some 'resort' time too!!

Glad your stay was awesome!! Hopefully ours will be too!
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