review of POFQ Feb 09

How was your stay at French Quarter? Leave your comments or full trip reports here. Photos welcome.
Forum rules
This forum is for Port Orleans FRENCH QUARTER Trip Reports, not for general questions. Please try to keep your reviews relevant, informative and useful to other visiting families. Thanks!
pamelasu1
Posts: 1
Joined: February 12th, 2009, 11:18 pm

review of POFQ Feb 09

Unread post by pamelasu1 »

Here is a review of my recent trip to POFQ:

Cast: Me (Mom) and DD10

Dates: 1/31/09-2/7/09

Details: POFQ; 7 day MYW tickets (non-hopper); QS dining plan

We took a very early flight out of Chicago on Saturday, 1/31, leaving at 6:30am to arrive at MCO at 10:05am. Thanks to a brisk wind out of the north, we arrived at MCO about 30 minutes early. For the first time when fying Southwest, we had one of those hilarious flight attendants who made jokes throughout the flight over the intercom. It was great fun! After about a 10 minute wait in the ME line, we were on our bus and on our way. Our bus was a regular Mears bus with no video, but it did not matter, as we had the funniest and most entertaining bus driver EVER! He joked the whole way, engaging some of the passengers in his jokes. He also gave us info on points of interest as we passed by. He kept us in suspense about which resort he would drop off at first and we did not know for sure until he turned into the POFQ entrance. YEAH! We get to be the first dropped off!

We loved POFQ from the second we got off the bus. The grounds were lush and green and you really do get the feeling that you are in the real french quarter. A doorman held the door for us and gave DD her first of many coins (which she saved instead of throwing in the fountain). There was no line at registration as I walked up to check in (it was about 11am by this time). Check in went smoothly, the CM let me know that our room was not ready yet (which was expected and fine), but that we would be in building 5 as I requested. We stored our carry on bags and headed off to Epcot to soak up some Disney atmosphere and get our first meal on the QS plan.

Around 5pm, we were ready to return to POFQ, so I called the number on the card they gave us and was given our room number. We returned to the resort, headed to our room on the second floor and found our luggage already delivered by ME. The room was lovely! We have only stayed in values before and really noticed the extra space in the moderate room. We also loved having the fridge (which was bigger than what I expected from reviews I have read). The room was clean and comfortable. The only thing I missed from our last room at Pop Century was the clock radio that had sound effects to drown out noises. The clock radio at FQ was just a regular one. Other than that, everything about our was superior to Pop, IMHO. We were just down the hallway from the pool, with a pretty view of the courtyard. That was nice because we were so very close to the pool, but not facing it, so we did not hear any of the pool noise (not that it was all that noisy anyway....certainly it was much quieter than the main pool at Pop).

We ended up with a very nice Mousekeeper. We ran into her several times and she was very sweet to my daughter. She left her a huge towel animal (cat) the first day. Although that was the only one we got, we did not mind, as it was such a cute and creative one. She rearranged it with DD's stuff in different ways every day. DD got in the habit of leaving her some candy with the tip envelope I left out each day. The Mousekeeper really got a kick out of this and thanked DD several times. She was off our last 2 days there, so we missed saying goodbye to her :(

DD absolutely loved the pool, especially the slide. She had so much fun in the pool, even without any friends to play with. It was quite chilly while we were there, but DD said the pool water was nice and warm. She did not seem cold at all (Mom was not interested in swimming in this weather, though!) We did both enjoy the hot tub. There were always other people in the hot tub, but it was never too full for us to get in. I love the way it is secluded in a little grove of bushes and flowers. It really felt like a little retreat!

The grounds of the resort were probably the best attribute of all. First off, everyone is right about the size. You are never far away from anything. Even the walk to POR was much shorter than I thought it would be. Secondly, it is so relaxing to walk around the grounds or to POR. Everything is so beautiful and lushly green. There are all sorts of birds and small animals around. It's so quiet, you almost feel like you are walking through a nature preserve or something. We found it to be an incredibly relaxing alternative to the hustle and bustle that you find throughout most of WDW. Even when there were cheerleaders practicing in our courtyard, you could not really hear them in our room and they did not seem loud outside. It was as if all the lush greenery absorbs the sound. If you even walked to the other side of the building, you could not hear the cheerleaders at all (who I actually enjoyed watching and listening to...it was like having our own entertainment right outside our door) . BTW, the cheerleaders (and a show choir) who practiced at our resort only practiced at very reasonable day time hours. I did not find them to be a nuisance at all.

The CM's at POFQ were all very friendly and helpful. On our last day there, one CM even gave DD a special tinkerbell pixie dust trading pin, just because it was our last day. We did get to hear/see Eliot Dyson in the lounge a bit and I was amazed by his ability to play so many different instruments and sing. He was great with the audience and had everyone singing along and fully engaged. If DD had been more interested (not really her thing), I would have loved stayed longer at his show.

The food court was just okay. It was awfully crowd at breakfast and dinner. Much easier to navigate at lunch and during the daytime. There were long waits at all the stations in the mornings and from dinner until about 9pm. The food was fine, but not anything special. We did like the begniets, but the wait was almost always long for them. Since we were there at a really slow, quiet time, I kept wondering how crazy the food court gets when it is really "busy". We preferred to take the boat to DTD and use our QS meal credits there for some much better food choices.

Speaking of the boat to DTD...we loved it, too! Such a pleasant change from the buses...relaxing, refreshing, and some of the drivers were like tour guides, giving all sorts of interesting information. The boats were closed at one point due to the record cold weather (a boat driver later told us this is only the second time they have ever shut down operations due to cold), and we took the bus to DTD....not at all pleasant. It took much longer, was crowded, and we waited forever for it to come. The boat is definitely the way to go to DTD!

Otherwise, we did not have much trouble with buses. Buses during peak times would go straight to the park. At all other times, most buses would pick up at FQ first, then look through the POR stops. This takes a while, but we did not mind, as we always had a seat. On the way back, FQ was always the first to be let off. We did have to stand a couple of times on the way back from Epcot, but Epcot is a quick ride from POFQ and we were the first let off, so it was not a very big deal. The MK bus is a nice exception, as it was always a direct bus for FQ, not shared with POR. I think bus service was comparable to that of the value resorts we have stayed at. We did enjoy having a place to sit at the POFQ bus stop while we waited, though (and if it had been hot out, we would have been glad that it was covered, too).

DD enjoyed using the free 30 minute card that we got in the arcade. It's not very big, but she was satisfied with it. For some reason, it was very hot in the arcade. DD did not mind, but I waited in the lobby while she played. We both enjoyed the little store. It was not very big, but stocked a nice assortment of souvenirs and necessities. The store at POR (just a short walk away) was much larger with alot more variety.

I had originally intended on adding an eighth day to our tickets, but ended up spending one day at the resort without going to the parks at all. We enjoyed POFQ so much, we found it worthwhile to spend more time there than we ever have at a value resort. All too soon, our last day came. We had a 7:30pm flight, so we checked out around 11, stored our bags, and headed to MK to say goodbye to the castle and the mouse. Express checkout was smooth and easy. The ME bus showed up right on time (4:40pm) and we had an uneventful ride back to MCO (no entertaining bus driver this time, but we did have the video). The bus did stop at Key West and SSR after picking us up. We got to MCO about 90 minutes before our flight time, which was perfect in my book! Last time we used it, ME got us there a full 3 hours before our flight....that was a little too much airport time for me! Our SW flight took off on time, this time with a strong wind out of the south, so we once again landed about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. We did not get any entertaining flight attendants on the way home, either.....guess the magic is really over :(

All in all, we LOVED POFQ!!! If we ever get to stay in a moderate again, it will definitely be FQ. I see why there are so many fans of this little gem of a resort....it is fabulous!

Thanks for reading!

Pam :)
crigney
Posts: 3
Joined: January 31st, 2009, 12:33 am

Re: review of POFQ Feb 09

Unread post by crigney »

Great review! I will be visting WDW the first week of March with DH, DS (20 month and 7), my mom and step-dad. We can't wait! I've read so many great reviews about the FQ. I'll make sure I come back to the site and write about our trip. Thanks for helping to get me pumped about the trip.
Post Reply