Front Desk — Checkin / Checkout

When you first arrive at Port Orleans Riverside or French Quarter you’ll need to go to your resort’s Front Desk in the main lobby and give them the booking confirmation details for registration. Officially, rooms are not available until 3pm but the resorts operate a “Ready Room” system and sometimes you may find that a room may be available earlier — it can’t hurt to ask. As a word of warning though, at peak times — and especially at Riverside — this area can get very busy so be prepared for a wait.

At check in you will receive a welcome pack including a current copy of the Sassagoula Times resort information sheet, maps, park hours, details of current promotions, etc. If you want to do some planning before you arrive, recent copies of many of these items — including the Sassagoula Times — can be found on our Document Downloads page.

If your room is not yet ready when you arrive, simply complete all the paperwork and leave your bags with Bell Services and head off to enjoy the parks or the resort facilities in the meantime. You will be given a welcome pack and your Key to the World card at this time, but you will not be advised of your actual room number as yet. At the specified time you may either phone the resort or return to the Front Desk in person and they will then advise you of your room number. Once you get to your room, give Bell Services a call and they will deliver your bags. Note: Rooms will be held until 6am the following morning as long as a deposit payment has been made.

A new online checkin facility was launched on 26 February 2009, allowing resort guests to pre-register for their stay via Disney’s website up to ten days in advance of their arrival date. The system allows you to provide such information as full guest names, arrival & departure times, on-site (e.g. cell phone) contact details, a credit card number for room-charges and also any special room requests (although, as always, these cannot be guaranteed). A welcome folder, which will include your room key cards, will then be waiting at a new quick-pickup location located at the far end of the resort lobby. For more details, or to use the service, log in to the My Disney Vacation page at www.disneyworld.com or go directly to www.mydisneyreservation.com.

Checkout time is 11am. Again, Bell Services can collect your bags from your room and store them until you are ready to leave which allows you to spend the rest of the day at the parks if you wish. Express Checkout is available if you have already registered your credit card at the front desk, in which case an itemised bill will be left at your room by 8am on your departure day.

It may be possible to extend until your checkout time until 1pm without any extra charge, but this is subject to limited availability — ask at the Front Desk earlier in your stay to see if this option is available. If you need to stay later than 1pm, there will be a charge of 50% of the daily rate.

If you plan to hang around the resort for a while after you’ve checked out — for example if you are taking an afternoon flight — do remember that you still have access to all of the resort facilities. This includes use of the swimming pools, and there are free towels and changing facilities provided at both of the feature pools.

Mail

There are mailboxes located at both front desks and in the shops for sending mail, and you can purchase stamps from the gift shop. The shops have scales to weigh heavier items.

If you want to have letters or packages delivered to you during your stay, Disney recommends you ship to the following central postal address:

    Guest or Party Name (with Room Number if known, otherwise check-in date)
    c/o Disney’s Port Orleans Resort Riverside [or Disney’s Port Orleans Resort French Quarter]
    Post Office Box 10,000
    Lake Buena Vista
    Florida 32830-1000
    USA

If the delivery is for a guest not listed on the reservation, use the name of the primary guest on the reservation. If the guest has not yet checked in, the mail will be held for them. You will get a call or message from the Front Desk to notify you when a pacakge arrives. Do make sure you work your timings out so the package arrives in good time though, you don’t want to miss it!

Other Resort Services

Although there are no business bureau or computer rental facilities at either of the Port Orleans resorts, the Front Desk can send and receive faxes for you at a charge. Port Orleans French Quarter also has a small conference room available for hire. The Front Desk can also supply items such as electrical adaptor plugs/etc, and other essentials can be purchased from the resort gift shops.

There are film drop locations in both gift shops where you can take your photographic films to be sent off for developing and printing.

Pay phones are located near the Front Desks in both lobbies, plus close to the restrooms in the food/beverage locations.

ATM machines (cash dispensers) are located in the main lobby area at Riverside and beside the Front Desk at French Quarter, next to the Arcade entrance. Note: As with all such machines in Walt Disney World, there is a charge of roughly $2 per transaction for withdrawing cash.

A concierge (Guest Services) desk is located in each lobby area from which you can get general information, purchase park and other tickets, make dining reservations, etc. Their hours are normally 8am to 8pm, but you can also ask at the main Front Desk when they are closed.

Laundry

Coin operated washing machines and dryers are located in laundry rooms near to each of the quiet pools at Riverside and also behind Mardi Grogs (near to the Doubloon Lagoon pool) at French Quarter. Washing costs $2 per load, payable in quarters only, and individual portions of various detergents/etc — currently Tide, Clorox, Ultra-Downy and Bounce — are available for a further $1 if you haven’t brought your own. The dryers now cost $2 per hour, but if you have a big load you may still find that you need to use more than one cycle to get your clothes fully dry.

The location of these laundry facilities is very convenient as you can set a machine load going and then take a relaxing dip in the pool while you’re waiting for it to finish. The machines are available 24 hours, but if you’re a night-owl and plan to use the laundry rooms after midnight you’ll need to take your room keycard with you to gain access.

There is also a valet laundry service available weekdays and Saturday for which there should be a large laundry bag in your room. Place your items in the bag and fill out the form and it will be collected and then returned the next day. For express service, drop the bag off at Bell Services before 8:30am and it will be returned by 6:30pm the same day. It might be worth checking the rather expensive price list before you use the facility though!

Disney Valet Laundry Rates — 2009
Dry Cleaning	Price		Laundry	Price
Suits	$11.50		Shirts	$5.50
3-Piece Suits	$12.00		Pants	$6.50
Coats	$8.00		Socks	$2.00
Pants	$6.50		Undershorts/Panties	$2.00
Jackets	$7.50		T-Shirts	$4.50
Overcoats	$12.50		Sweatsuits	$7.50
Shirts	$6.25		Pajamas	$6.00
Sweaters	$7.50		Undershirts & Bras	$2.00
Ties	$3.50		Handkerchiefs	$2.00
Blouses	$6.25		Blouses	$5.50
Dresses	$11.50		Slips	$4.50
Gown/Jumpsuits	from $20.00		Nightgowns	$6.00
Skirts	$6.50		Tennis Shorts	$5.00
			Knit Shirts	$5.00
Press only: 75% of Dry Cleaning charge. Silks, linens, pleats: 50% surcharge. Lined: $1.00. Shirts folded on request: 10% surcharge. Minimum charge: $5.00

Room Facilities

An in-room baby-sitting service is bookable, contact the Front Desk for information. Disney generally recommends using Kids Night Out, but there is also the Fairy Godmother service. Both companies charge by the hour with a minimum of four hours, and Kids Night Out in particular allow you to specify your detailed requirements — even down to the age range and gender of the sitter. The sitters will bring along age-appropriate toys and can look after your children either in the room or take them out to the food court for meals, and then put them to bed if required. Note: sitters are not allowed to take children swimming or bath them for legal reasons.

Complimentary wireless internet access is now available in all guest rooms, plus in the main public areas — lobby, restaurants, areas surrounding the feature swimming pools, bus stops and Porte-Cochère. There is also an in-room High Speed Internet Access socket, currently charged at $9.95 per 24-hour period.

The Port Orleans resorts do not provide full room service facilities but pizza delivery is available to all guest rooms from 4pm to midnight. This service is provided via the Riverside Mill’s Sassagoula Pizza Express — phone 1-407-934-5787 or use the button on your room phone.

Ice machines are located on each floor of every accommodation building. At French Quarter and in the Magnolia Bend section of Riverside these are located near the elevators, and in the Riverside Alligator Bayou section they are located in rooms close to the junctions between the two halves of each Lodge. Ice buckets are provided in your room.

Snack, drink & confectionary vending machines are located near the ice machines and also at the guest laundry rooms.

Recreation

There are separate sections on this site for recreation and boat/bike rental facilities — please see the Recreation and Rentals pages.