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To put the ongoing debate to bed once and for all (to use a very suitable metaphor) I had a great meeting today with someone who can give us an absolutely definitive answer on the extra bed in Alligator Bayou question. (Thank you for your generosity with your time if you are reading this)

So YES, the fifth person bed option IS staying, but not as a trundle bed (as they won't fit with the new queen beds). The new option will be a fold-down bed which is actually slightly bigger than the current trundle beds, and it will allow smaller adults to use it rather than just kids. It will be located on the wall, beneath the new flat-screen television (which will also be wall-mounted) and will fold down on top of a lower, wider drawer unit. Princess and the Frog fans will spot some fun themed details on the inside of the new fold-down unit and also on the comforter pillows on the main queen beds. Oh, and AB fans will love to hear that the existing floor tiling in the bathroom and vanity areas will be staying, as it was only installed fairly recently. The general rustic concept will be staying too, but "on steroids" as one resort manager commented.

On the downside, one other thing that I learned it that the option to have an extra roll-away bed brought into the other areas (Magnolia Bend and French Quarter) will no longer be available with the queen beds, meaning that Alligator Bayou will be the ONLY option for families of five. There will also definitely be no King Bed rooms available in the new Royal Room areas (which we already knew from the booking site).

On the recreation front, the new poolside game activities, movie screenings and campfires at both resorts will be staying year-round rather than being seasonal, which will please a lot of people.

I hope to be able to get some detailed photos from Magnolia Terrace (which comes back into availability in a few days) before I leave and will post them when I do.

Thanks for the great info! And thanks again!

That is great about the extra bed option in AB, do you have to request the extra bed instead of the trundle? Our they in only bldg. in AB?

As always thanks

All AB queen bedded rooms will have this new option, it will be built in to the room. Not sure about Kings though, forgot to ask!

Andre

I don't know if this will help out but we just returned from a twelve day trip to Riverside, and were the first to stay in our room in Magnolia Terrace. We had the option of a rollaway bed in our room with the new refurb but did not need it, however I am not sure if this is chaniging after the new year. Half of Magnolia Terrace was still being refurbished while we were there. Took pictures will post if anyone wants to see them, just not exactly sure how to. It was our third year in a row there and we absolutly love the refurbish and have no desire to go anywhere else. Our Daughter loved how they incorporated The Princess and the Frog into the headboards of the new beds.

What about POFQ will have sofa beds too!

JEANYLASER wrote:What about POFQ will have sofa beds too!

No. As you know Jeany, the POFQ refurb was finished earlier this year.

Andre

I got confused! thanks Andre!

Hello,

i am not sure about the 5th person option. I am going to POR on march 4th to 11th. I spoke to disney cast member on the phone and they told me that there are no royal rooms for 5. Are you sure about this information ??

Thanks

Stephan

Yes, I'm sure that the fifth person extra bed option will be retained in the Alligator Bayou queens rooms, just as I wrote above, but the cast member you spoke to is quite correct in that none of the Royal Rooms (which are all in the mansion buildings) will have the extra beds.

Andre

ok i see...... the regular rooms in AB will have the 5th person option, right ?

but the newly renovated princess storybook royal rooms will not be available for families of 5... am i getting this correct ?

Basically, my question is : Can i get a 'special room' like princess and the frog or something like that for a family of 5 in riverside.

Thanks !

sbonnevi wrote:the newly renovated princess storybook royal rooms will not be available for families of 5... am i getting this correct ?

Correct. The Royal Rooms are ALL located in the Magnolia Bend section of the resort, and will thus not have a fifth-person bed option.

That option was only ever officially available in the other section, Alligator Bayou, presumably due to fire code regulations based on the number of floors and smaller number of rooms in each AB building.

Andre

By the way Stephan, congratulations on being our 1,000th member on these forums. Not a massive number compared to the big boards, but a satisfying number for a small specialist site none-the-less.

Andre

FYI: In re: to roll away beds in refurbished rooms @ Magnolia Bend: I just spoke with a cast member at Port Orleans and asked specifically about requesting a roll away bed for a 2012 resevation (we ALWAYS request one). I was told that we DEFINITELY would be able to have one. When I mentioned the rumor that roll away beds were no longer available she said she would have certainly been notified about that. So, she double checked for me to make sure and was told that there are no restrictions on roll away beds. She even pulled up a few 2012 reservations that showed roll away bed requests and said if there was going to be a problem she would not have seen the requests included in the reservation. Can't wait for our stay this Feb.!!!

I also just got off the phone with "general admissions/reservations" just to make sure they were on the same page as Port Orleans and they reassured me that roll away beds will be available in Magnolia Bend. I did not specifically ask about the Royal rooms but he did not say "available EXCEPT in the Royal rooms." Hope that helps!

Thanks for the info Lisa. That's not what I was told by senior resort management a few weeks ago regarding when the whole refurbishment process is completed, but perhaps the plan has been changed now? I do hope so as a lot of people found them useful.

Andre

Regarding the Alligator Bayou fold-down bed (that replaces the trundle bed) that you reported on.

I checked the official Disney 'Aulani' site and the 1-bed DVC suites have:

1 king-size bed in master bedroom; 1 queen-size sleeper sofa in living room and
1 pull-down bunk-size bed in living room"

But try as I might, I cannot see any photos of the living room area of the 1 bed on the official site. However, there is no problem seeing the living room of the 2 bed and Grand Villa DVC units at Aulani - which do not have "pull-down bunk-size beds" (they have sleeper chairs like BLT, AKL and OKW do).

But you can Google for images of the living room area of the Aulani 1-bed DVC suites - and you should be able to find a photo of the Aulani living room that has a small bed that folds down from the TV furniture - just as you described. However, this is a private photo so I'm not going to post it here, but will post a link if you can't find it.

My theory is that the bunk-size pull-down bed at Aulani and the ones that you describe for Alligator Bayou are/will be similar and that Disney has - for now - kept pics of the pull-down bed off the official Aulani site.



PS: I'm new here. Stayed at POFQ earlier this month and found this site a valuable resource. I am returning to POFQ in December and I'm really looking forward to it.