POFQ May 11-15, 2011

How was your stay at French Quarter? Leave your comments or full trip reports here. Photos welcome.
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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!
immatty
Posts: 2
Joined: May 16th, 2011, 3:03 pm

POFQ May 11-15, 2011

Unread post by immatty »

Our first trip to POFQ was overwhelmingly positive. I changed our reservation from Riverside to French Quarter after reading the information on this site, and I'm glad I did. For those who are still deciding, I found the grounds of Riverside to be more beautiful and preferred the theme. Forgive me, FQ fans (and I am one -- truly!), but the whole Mardi Gras theme with the huge masks and ice cream cones, etc. strikes me as a bit tacky. BUT, I loved the size of FQ, loved how close it was to transportation, loved that we were steps away from food (and good food) and the pool and playground, etc., etc. On the last day, after checking out of our room, while waiting for our bus to the airport, our four year old could sit on child-size rockers and watch cartoons or color with crayons and paper that had been left out for kids in the lobby. Most all the staff was lovely, Riverside and all of its amenities were a short walk away, and the FQ rooms were lovely. We were placed in Building 4 in a corner room -- highly recommend a corner room with the extra window and lots of light. Was worried about noise as we were the closest room to the food court, but the rooms are amazingly quiet. My husband and mother (next door in connecting room) did comment about the flushing toilets from other rooms but I didn't notice. The buses came fairly quickly and it was rare that we had to wait for a second bus. We did not share a bus with Riverside to MK, but did share a bus to Epcot. The only park that took a long time to get to was Animal Kingdom, just based on its location.

My only real complaint stems from our check-in service. They had trouble locating my mother's reservation -- not sure what the problem was there as we had a confirmation number and everything. Anyway, we were told that they would text us when our rooms were ready. I received a text on my cell phone around 1:30 pm informing me that our room was ready. When we returned to the resort around 4, my mother had still not received a message. They were fairly short with her at the desk and said it could be as late as 5 for her room to be ready. The man's words were "If we said we'd text you, we'll text you, ma'am. Please be patient." He did not look up her name or her room in the computer. Since we knew we had connecting rooms, and we already had the room key (you get the card at check-in but not the room number until the room is ready), we simply opened up the connecting room, and, yup, it was ready. Her suitcase was sitting there and she had a message from Goofy, left around 1:30 pm, welcoming her to Disney. We met a family the next day who came in early and wandered around all day (miserably!) with their 3 year old daughter before discovering that they too had not received the promised text and their room had actually been ready hours earlier. So, it pays to check and be persistent if you haven't heard anything about your room. I understand that it must be annoying for the front desk staff to be flooded with requests about "why isn't my room ready," but honestly, if their system isn't working, they are going to have to put up with these requests!!

One last thing, I learned a lot about late checkout. We had a 9 pm flight out of Orlando. Checkout is 11 am, and I called the front desk the night before in the hope of getting a late checkout. Housekeeping determines such requests, and I was lucky enough to talk to the woman in change. Apparently, it is more or less, first come, first served. So if you need/want a late checkout, call to arrange it the day you arrive. A computer program makes the decision based on the number of requests (and perhaps on the number of requests in which area of the resort?). If granted, you can checkout as late as 1 pm. After that, there is a charge. (No idea how much). I calmly and politely explained that we had a 4 year old and a 9 pm flight and that it would be so helpful to have a late checkout in either room (either ours or my mother's). After she explained that the computer system decides and they had already reached the number of permissible late checkouts, I simply stated that I should have arranged it earlier and thanked her for checking. Then, much to my surprise, she said she had an override code and although she really shouldn't, she would use it to give my family a little extra time to get ready the next day. So, although I do NOT recommend stating that you read on the internet that they have an override code (as I think that approach would backfire quickly), I do think it's worth calmly and respectfully explaining your circumstances and reasons for needing a late checkout.

Done with my novel now . . . Have a magical time at Port Orleans everyone!
kiligi
Posts: 4
Joined: April 17th, 2011, 8:26 pm

Re: POFQ May 11-15, 2011

Unread post by kiligi »

Great review. We loved French Quarter as well, but are actually planning on going to Riverside on our next trip. We loved the theming at Riverside, and the grounds are super pretty. But even more importantly, we loved the quiet pools over at Riverside. And the walk between the two locations is so easy that you really do get two resorts for the price of one. :)
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