The guest rooms in each of the three sections of the Port Orleans resort — French Quarter and Riverside’s Alligator Bayou and Magnolia Bend — vary in their theming and decor, but the actual room size, layout and amenities are identical (see list).

For a guide to the current room costs for staying at the resort please see the Room Rates page, or for tips on choosing the best room locations check out the Hints & Tips page.

The Port Orleans French Quarter rooms have a New Orleans flavour, decorated in a rich gold, purple and yellow colour scheme. All of the rooms have recently been refurbished (early 2011) to include queen beds and flat-screen TVs as shown below, please see our Refurbished Room Photo Gallery for more photos.

The Magnolia Bend section of Port Orleans Riverside is similar to the French Quarter, but this time the rooms portray the grand plantation mansions which thrived alongside the Mississippi in the antebellum South — think of the romanticised views of Gone With the Wind or Song of the South and you won’t go far wrong:

The rooms in the Alligator Bayou section of Port Orleans Riverside have a more strongly themed decor, designed to appear somewhat rustic as if these ‘tin roofed’ Lodges are located somewhere in the outlying regions of the cotton plantations. The bed frames appear to have been hewn from solid logs and rough-cut wooden frames surround the mirrors in the vanity area:

(Please see our Guest Photo Gallery pages for views of the new, post-refurbishment, Alligator Bayou rooms)

For lots more pictures of the room interiors, please see the Photo Gallery.

Room Categories and Views

There are currently six room categories available at Port Orleans (a new one was added in 2012) priced with varying nightly surcharges. Also, from 9 March 2012, brand new “Royal Rooms” will be available in the Oak Manor and Parterre Place mansion buildings at Port Orleans Riverside.

• Standard: These rooms offer general views around the resort and can include rooms which face towards parking lots — indeed, those will probably be the most common views for this category. Standard view rooms can be located in many of the buildings around both French Quarter and Riverside EXCEPT for Royal Rooms and Preferred Locations.
• Garden View: These rooms offer views of the gardens, courtyards (including water features and fountains), landscaping or bayou — but NOT of the parking lots. Garden View rooms can be located in any of the buildings at French Quarter and Riverside EXCEPT for Royal Rooms and Preferred Locations. $10 per night surcharge.
• Preferred Location (Riverside Alligator Bayou only): These rooms offer close proximity to the restaurants, transportation and main building at Riverside. Preferred rooms are ONLY located in Alligator Bayou lodges 14, 15, 18 and 27 (there are no preferred locations in the mansion buildings). Views vary and could include parking lot, garden/bayou or swimming pool outlooks. $25 per night surcharge.
• King Bed: These rooms feature one king-size bed only, and have a maximum occupancy of two persons. Views and locations vary around the whole of the resort but most King Bed rooms tend to feature pleasant garden/courtyard/bayou or river views. There is only a limited quantity of these rooms available — just 62 in French Quarter for example. $25 per night surcharge.
• Water View: These rooms generally offer swimming pool views, but if you happen to get lucky and the resort is not at 100% occupancy, you might even get to look out over the river. They are spread around many of the buildings at the resort, for example French Quarter 2 and 5, Riverside 16, 17, 24, 25, 35, 36, 39 and all of the mansion buildings (EXCLUDING Royal Rooms and Preferred Locations). $25 per night surcharge.
• River View: These rooms offer direct views of the Sassagoula River, but they do not guarantee any particular proximity to the main buildings — however at Riverside, all of the directly river-facing rooms tend to give fairly convenient access to the facilities areas anyway. River View rooms can be located in French Quarter buildings 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7, or at Riverside in Alligator Bayou lodges 14, 18, 27, 38 and the mansion buildings (EXCLUDING Royal Rooms). $30 per night surcharge.

Room Amenities

Each Port Orleans guest room is approximately 314 square feet (25½ ft x 12½ ft) and is laid out as shown below for a standard double room. This layout plan is also available as a more detailed PDF Document for easy printing.

 

The standard room facilities include:

• 2 Double/Queen Beds, or one King Size bed if you have booked that option. Note: Queen beds are being fitted as part of an ongoing refurbishment project which will be finished around August 2012; all French Quarter rooms have already been completed
• Remote-controlled colour TV (27" tube, or flat-screen in refurbished rooms) with in-house information stations and some (mostly Disney-oriented) cable channels. Click here for TV Channels List.
• Table and two chairs
• Bedside table with digital alarm clock/FM radio
• Air conditioning/heating via a stand-alone unit mounted under the main window
• Telephone with voice mail and a data socket should you wish to connect a modem (note: the old 75¢ per call connection charge seems to no longer apply, thus making all local and toll-free calls completely free)
• Complimentary wireless internet access (wi-fi is available in-room and in the main public buildings around the resort, see the Internet Access page for more details)
• High Speed Internet Access port and supplied ethernet cable (extra charge for this service, currently $9.95 per 24-hour period — see the Internet Access page for more details)
• Small wall-mounted key-lock safe (useful for money, credit cards, documents, keys, phone, iPod, etc — but not big enough for laptops or larger cameras)
• Ceiling fan
• Dimmable light over each bed
• Hanging rail for clothing, plus four storage drawers located in the unit which houses the TV
• Luggage Seat
• Small fridge (21"x16", no freezer compartment)
• Bathroom with toilet, bath tub and over-bath shower. Disney-branded soap and shampoo/conditioner are supplied
• Retractable clothes line over bath
• Separate vanity area with twin sinks, mirrors, etc. This area can be curtained off from the rest of the room if required
• Hair dryer
• Iron and Ironing Board
• Coffee maker (4-cup size, with basket type filter and complimentary coffee supplied). Not ideal for boiling water for making tea
• Ice bucket, which can be filled from the ice machines located in every building
• Baby cots/cribs (Pack’n’Play) and bed rails are available upon request
• Some rooms include a connecting door into the next room. Although Connecting Rooms can be requested, they cannot be guaranteed. Note: this is not the same as “Adjoining Rooms”, which simply indicates two rooms are located next (or near) to each other but they don’t have an internal connecting doorway
• Corner-rooms feature an extra window which can make the room feel more light and airy, especially if the room also happens to include a King bed (not all do!)
• Additionally, Alligator Bayou rooms (only) normally include an extra ‘trundle bed’ which slides out from beneath one of the double beds (not provided in King bed rooms). The trundle beds are approximately 70" x 30" and so are suitable for children aged up to about ten years, but would prove too small for most adults over 5 ft in height. Note: the only way to guarantee this feature is by having a party of five people in your booking, but requests are usually honoured
• As with all Disney Resorts now, the rooms are all completely non-smoking — including balconies and walkway areas. Designated open-air smoking areas are provided

Accessibility for Guests with Special Needs

A number of ground-floor rooms have been specially modified for disability access. These rooms normally feature one King Size bed rather than two to allow for more floor space to park/charge ECVs, etc. The vanity areas have been replaced with a separate room containing the toilet, easy-access hand basin and a curtained walk-in shower area with a bench seat. Other details include the wall safe and other fittings being mounted at a lower level to facilitate easier access from a wheelchair.

To discuss any special room requests based on medical grounds, or any other special needs, please call (407) 939-7807 well in advance of your stay and the cast members will do their best to ensure that your individual needs are met. Please don't leave it to the last minute to call though. The TTY number for the hearing impaired is (407) 939-7670.

Advantages for Guests Staying On-site

Extra Magic Hours. Extended access to selected parks on selected days (one hour before the general public on Early EMH mornings, three hours after normal closing time with Late EMH Evenings).

Free Use of Disney Transportation. Port Orleans has a bus service providing regular transfers to all the parks and water parks, plus a ferry boat service to the Downtown Disney shopping area, restaurants and the Pleasure Island complex. The monorail and other ferry boat services are all available for hotel guests too. This facility makes it easy to pop back to your hotel for a midday break or a refreshing dip in the pool.

Free parking at the Walt Disney World theme parks. You will be given a parking permit to place in the front dash of your car which entitles you to free parking at the theme parks for the duration of your stay.

Free Package Delivery to the Resort. Any purchases made around the parks or Downtown Disney can be delivered back to your hotel where they will be available to collect from the resort shop after 1pm the next day (or after 1pm the following day if you purchase your goods later than the pickup cut-off time).

Charging facilities. You can pay for shopping and meals pretty much anywhere inside Walt Disney World using your room charge card so you don’t need to carry a lot of cash around with you. To use this facility you simply register your credit card details at the Front Desk when you check in. Alternatively, you can opt to pre-pay with a cash deposit and then any remaining balance at the end of your stay will be refunded upon departure. Note: credit cards need to be charged as soon as your total outstanding balance reaches $1,000.

Disney’s Magical Express. Guests arriving at Orlando International Airport can make use of Disney’s free Magical Express service which whisks their baggage away directly to their hotel room while they catch the shuttle bus service.

Disney Dining Plan. For an extra charge, on-site guests can pre-pay for all their meals (one snack, one counter service and one table service meal per day for your entire stay). There is also a more inclusive Deluxe version of this plan at a slightly higher charge. Naturally, terms and conditions apply.

Key to the World card. Not only does this card act as your room key, but it also means that you’ve got less to carry around all day as it provides:

• Charging privileges for purchases and meals in Walt Disney World
• Park Admission (extra charge). Note: if you already have pre-purchased park tickets take them to the Front Desk and they can transfer them onto your Key to the World card
• Vehicle access at the resort entrance security barrier
• Extra Magic Hours ID Validation
• Disney Dining Plan credits (extra charge)

On the Other Hand...

It’s only fair to point out that there are a few disadvantages to staying on-site too. The first is obviously the price; for the same cost as one room at Port Orleans you could get a longer stay or a larger room at many major hotels off-property, or maybe even a vacation home/villa. You are paying a lot for the convenient location of the hotel and all the Disney extras which you receive for ‘free’ as an on-site guest.

Also, bus services to non-Disney parks such as Universal and Sea World are not provided by Disney, and you would need to arrange your own external transport (car, taxi or public transport from the Downtown Disney or Transportation and Ticket Center locations). Conversely, although it’s true that many off-site locations do provide their own bus services to Disney, these will be a lot less frequent and less convenient than the internal Disney transportation options. Please don’t be fooled by some of the more extravagant marketing claims from many of the off-site locations as none of them are really 5-10 minutes from the Magic Kingdom — well, not unless you have your own private helicopter anyway! If you’re staying off-site, you really do need to think about hiring a car.

While being located right in the heart of the Disney magic 24 hours a day can be a major selling point to some people — especially families — others feel that it can all get a little too much and prefer to get away from all the ‘Disnification’ when they return to their hotel. Luckily, the beautiful landscaping and old-South theming of Port Orleans really doesn’t force Mickey Mouse upon you at all (apart from in the resort gift shop, obviously) and it’s quite possible to chill out and have a relaxed ‘Disney-free’ day without ever leaving the confines of the resort.