Riverside-June 27-29, 2015
Posted: July 2nd, 2015, 1:57 pm
We are now back from our 3 day weekend at Riverside, which went quite well in spite of the oppressive heat. Now, I was born and raised in Florida, so heat in the summer isn’t unknown to me, but this year’s early summer heat spell has been brutal by any standards. We adjusted our activities accordingly, so here are some things that may be of interest here. We arrived early, as usual, but our room was ready and exactly as requested (by fax) in the Alligator Bayou section (Bldg. 36). We were in our room by 2:15pm, then off to a late lunch reservation at DTD. Apparently there was a storm that had passed through the area shortly before out arrival, as the boat transportation had been suspended for a while and was just re-starting as we reached the dock, so we were on the boat fairly quickly and had a smooth ride to DTD. We stopped at Design-a-Tee to make up a shirt for Riverside (already had one for FQ), as there are still no Port Orleans resort specific clothing items, other than the blue ball cap for Riverside. Andre has a couple of pictures of the shirts I had made up, so perhaps he will post them here for me. I don’t have the tech savvy to do that on my own yet. Anyway, construction is running full blast, still, at DTD as they work on turning it into Disney Springs. We saw the Boathouse restaurant from the water side, but did not try to eat there. ($$$$) It looked interesting, at least. We limited our walking due to the heat, but had a great lunch at Rainforest and dessert at Ghirardelli. Then back to Riverside for some quiet time before YeHaa Bob in the evening.
Throughout the visit I was feeding photos to Andre so he could update this site, although most of them were more informational (signs, etc.) than scenic. All in all, the place looks great, but was quite full of people for the weekend, so there were lines and lots of activities all around. When we visited FQ it was noticeably more subdued, but FQ was not available on the FL resident deal they were running, so that is why we were at AB. I sent Andre photos of the FQ bus stop, although it doesn’t look much different to me, other than some evidence of road and curb changes in front of the shelters. I checked about current entertainment at Scat Cat’s and was told that there is a DJ there on Saturday and Tuesday nights, and a “guy who plays the guitar” on Sundays and Mondays. Well, we spent Saturday evening with Bob, so I went over to Scat Cat’s on Sunday evening. I was pleasantly surprised that the “guy who plays the guitar” was a fellow named Andy Burr, who frequently plays at a number of other (non-Disney) venues and in a variety of music styles. We chatted for a while and he said that he is currently booked there sort of on a week to week basis, with no long term commitment from Disney. He also said that he usually performs with at least one or two other musicians, sometimes with a full band, but Disney didn’t have the budget for more than a solo act. Andy seemed a little anxious about being alone on the stage, but he should not have been. I was impressed with his song selections and his arrangements, which were his singing along with his guitar and harmonica, plus some backing tracks on his computer. He clearly has done his homework on the venue, as he performed mostly tunes that reflected the French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana, Creole, Zydeco and Pop/Jazz theme of the resort. Also, he was engaged with the audience and reasonably relaxed for being in that one-man hot seat. I did not stay for the whole evening (early rollout for the Train tour the next morning), but by the end of the second set he had three young girls (I’m guessing between 5 and 10 years old), who were there with their parents, up and dancing around with his “party songs.” It has been a while since I have seen that kind of energy at SC, so I took that as a hopeful sign. I sincerely hope that Disney keeps Andy on at SC, including expanding his days or even enable him to bring his other band mates, as I think he will be well received and bring some life back into the club. I have already sent an email to WDW Guest Communications to that effect, so I hope they listen. By the way, I think I recall correctly that he said that he had a spot at Riverside for the July 4th activities, so if anyone is going to that, keep an eye out for him. He’ll be happy to see you. I gave him the info for this website (he was not familiar with it), so he may check in here. I’m sure he would be glad to meet anyone who stops by for any of his shows, and I certainly hope that he is still there when Andre is in town in August. Unfortunately, the photos I sent to Andre were taken with my iPhone and the lighting in the club only yielded mostly fuzzy photos. I will be trying to send one other Andy photo to Andre, so maybe he can post it here. Andy’s website is: http://www.MountainBrew.net
Otherwise, I was also pleased to see that Scat Cat’s had a table server on duty the night I was there. Apparently this is a fairly new addition to the club, and a welcome one as far as I’m concerned, as we always had to order at the bar in the past. Keep your collective fingers crossed on that one, too. There were a few resort themed items in Jackson Square, as reported elsewhere on this site, but still no hats or clothing items. They had a FQ plastic tumbler that I don’t recall seeing before, that looked from a distance like a Tervis, but it was not. The label said: “hand wash,” if that tells you anything. The rest of FQ looks pretty much the same as when we were there last fall, so nothing else new to report that I know about. Again, Andre has updated menu info for the Floatworks, Scat Cat’s and Mardi Grogs.
On Sunday we were also able to get a reservation for Boatwrights on relatively short notice (using MDE on the iPhone), so my wife decided that my “birthday dinner” would be a day early, since Monday was going to be an early day at MK, with a 3 hour drive home. Also on Sunday I tried doing my best manatee imitation at the quiet pool next to our building, as a respite from the heat. The pool was anything but quiet that afternoon, mainly because of the full house bookings, but it was still quite refreshing just being able to find a quiet spot on the shady side of the pool and just veg out for a while. The main pool on the island was crowded, but full of the usual activities. I stopped at Muddy Waters to check on the food service, and it is continuing at this time, with apparently some thought to having a wandering server to help with orders for the bar and the limited food service. All good things, as far as I’m concerned.
We left early on Monday for MK, but all was as it should be all weekend with our room condition, so we were very happy with the value for the money we spent on the lodging this trip. We’re still waiting to see how we can make the most of the new room rates that are coming, but I’m concerned that we retirees may be getting priced out of our home away from home. Time will tell.
Several of you have expressed an interest in the “Behind the Magic of Our Steam Trains Tour.” I will add info about that later, when I have time to type it up. It was a great tour and well worth the money, and even worth the before dawn checkout we had to do to get there in time. More on all of that later.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Throughout the visit I was feeding photos to Andre so he could update this site, although most of them were more informational (signs, etc.) than scenic. All in all, the place looks great, but was quite full of people for the weekend, so there were lines and lots of activities all around. When we visited FQ it was noticeably more subdued, but FQ was not available on the FL resident deal they were running, so that is why we were at AB. I sent Andre photos of the FQ bus stop, although it doesn’t look much different to me, other than some evidence of road and curb changes in front of the shelters. I checked about current entertainment at Scat Cat’s and was told that there is a DJ there on Saturday and Tuesday nights, and a “guy who plays the guitar” on Sundays and Mondays. Well, we spent Saturday evening with Bob, so I went over to Scat Cat’s on Sunday evening. I was pleasantly surprised that the “guy who plays the guitar” was a fellow named Andy Burr, who frequently plays at a number of other (non-Disney) venues and in a variety of music styles. We chatted for a while and he said that he is currently booked there sort of on a week to week basis, with no long term commitment from Disney. He also said that he usually performs with at least one or two other musicians, sometimes with a full band, but Disney didn’t have the budget for more than a solo act. Andy seemed a little anxious about being alone on the stage, but he should not have been. I was impressed with his song selections and his arrangements, which were his singing along with his guitar and harmonica, plus some backing tracks on his computer. He clearly has done his homework on the venue, as he performed mostly tunes that reflected the French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana, Creole, Zydeco and Pop/Jazz theme of the resort. Also, he was engaged with the audience and reasonably relaxed for being in that one-man hot seat. I did not stay for the whole evening (early rollout for the Train tour the next morning), but by the end of the second set he had three young girls (I’m guessing between 5 and 10 years old), who were there with their parents, up and dancing around with his “party songs.” It has been a while since I have seen that kind of energy at SC, so I took that as a hopeful sign. I sincerely hope that Disney keeps Andy on at SC, including expanding his days or even enable him to bring his other band mates, as I think he will be well received and bring some life back into the club. I have already sent an email to WDW Guest Communications to that effect, so I hope they listen. By the way, I think I recall correctly that he said that he had a spot at Riverside for the July 4th activities, so if anyone is going to that, keep an eye out for him. He’ll be happy to see you. I gave him the info for this website (he was not familiar with it), so he may check in here. I’m sure he would be glad to meet anyone who stops by for any of his shows, and I certainly hope that he is still there when Andre is in town in August. Unfortunately, the photos I sent to Andre were taken with my iPhone and the lighting in the club only yielded mostly fuzzy photos. I will be trying to send one other Andy photo to Andre, so maybe he can post it here. Andy’s website is: http://www.MountainBrew.net
Otherwise, I was also pleased to see that Scat Cat’s had a table server on duty the night I was there. Apparently this is a fairly new addition to the club, and a welcome one as far as I’m concerned, as we always had to order at the bar in the past. Keep your collective fingers crossed on that one, too. There were a few resort themed items in Jackson Square, as reported elsewhere on this site, but still no hats or clothing items. They had a FQ plastic tumbler that I don’t recall seeing before, that looked from a distance like a Tervis, but it was not. The label said: “hand wash,” if that tells you anything. The rest of FQ looks pretty much the same as when we were there last fall, so nothing else new to report that I know about. Again, Andre has updated menu info for the Floatworks, Scat Cat’s and Mardi Grogs.
On Sunday we were also able to get a reservation for Boatwrights on relatively short notice (using MDE on the iPhone), so my wife decided that my “birthday dinner” would be a day early, since Monday was going to be an early day at MK, with a 3 hour drive home. Also on Sunday I tried doing my best manatee imitation at the quiet pool next to our building, as a respite from the heat. The pool was anything but quiet that afternoon, mainly because of the full house bookings, but it was still quite refreshing just being able to find a quiet spot on the shady side of the pool and just veg out for a while. The main pool on the island was crowded, but full of the usual activities. I stopped at Muddy Waters to check on the food service, and it is continuing at this time, with apparently some thought to having a wandering server to help with orders for the bar and the limited food service. All good things, as far as I’m concerned.
We left early on Monday for MK, but all was as it should be all weekend with our room condition, so we were very happy with the value for the money we spent on the lodging this trip. We’re still waiting to see how we can make the most of the new room rates that are coming, but I’m concerned that we retirees may be getting priced out of our home away from home. Time will tell.
Several of you have expressed an interest in the “Behind the Magic of Our Steam Trains Tour.” I will add info about that later, when I have time to type it up. It was a great tour and well worth the money, and even worth the before dawn checkout we had to do to get there in time. More on all of that later.
Please let me know if you have any questions.