Port Orleans Riverside Guest Room “Soft Goods” Refurbishment starting in July

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The Sassagoula Sentinel
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Port Orleans Riverside Guest Room “Soft Goods” Refurbishment starting in July

Unread post by The Sassagoula Sentinel »

Now that notification letters and emails have started going out to guests who are booked in to Port Orleans Riverside during the second half of 2018, this seems a good time to elaborate on the refurbishment program that will be taking place there soon.

Once the Port Orleans French Quarter refurbishments are complete around the middle of July, work will commence on Riverside’s Alligator Bayou section, starting with building 37. This is currently scheduled to begin on 21 July, but please remember that maintenance plans and dates are always subject to change at any time. Each 64-room building should take around four weeks to complete, and there will be periods of overlap when two or more buildings may be worked on simultaneously. The entire Alligator Bayou section should be complete by the end of the year.

All of the work will be of a similar nature to the current French Quarter room refurbishments (new hard flooring, larger TVs, raised beds, new curtains instead of blinds, USB power sockets, wall-mounted soap-dispensers, etc) but since the bayou buildings are a lot smaller than those in French Quarter each one should be completely closed before work commences. There will be no major external work, just in-room redecorating, so there should be little if any disruption to anyone’s stay — if indeed you even notice at all.

I won't go into too much detail on specific start and end dates at this stage, as it's too far out to be sure that they will be accurate, but the following should be a good general guide:
  • Building 37: Starts 21 July 2018
  • Building 38: Aug 2018
  • Building 39: Aug 2018
  • Building 36: Aug 2018
  • Building 35: Aug/Sep 2018
  • Building 34: Sep 2018
  • Building 24: Sep 2018 [was Oct 2018]
  • Building 28: Sep 2018
  • Building 26 :Oct 2018
  • Building 25: Oct 2018
  • Building 27: Oct 2018 [was Sept 2018]
  • Building 17: Oct/Nov 2018
  • Building 16: Nov 2018
  • Building 15: Nov 2018
  • Building 18: Nov 2018
  • Building 14: Dec 2018
Updated 24 June: During the period when the buildings closest to the ‘twenties’ leisure pool are mostly unoccupied, that pool will be closed for maintenance. The original start date for this work was provisionally set for late September, but that has now been brought forward a little to 13 Aug until 5 Oct. Again, please remember that these dates are always subject to change. The room assignment team will be making every effort to avoid placing any guests with Pool View or Garden View bookings into rooms that are close to the twenties pool during this work, and the original September and October refurbishment slots for buildings 27 and 24 have been swapped to better fit around the new pool maintenance schedule.

Once all 16 Alligator Bayou buildings are complete, work will commence on the Magnolia Bend area. This section is expected to begin in early Spring 2019, and the four large mansion buildings should take a total of around six months to complete.

In advance of this work though, next week will see the start of installation of the new style wall-mounted amenity dispensers (shampoo, etc) in the bathrooms of the Riverside mansion buildings, starting with Parterre Place and working back to Acadian House over the next few weeks.

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Re: Port Orleans Riverside Guest Room “Soft Goods” Refurbishment starting in July

Unread post by Admin »

Update: During the period when the buildings closest to the ‘twenties’ leisure pool are mostly unoccupied, that pool will be closed for maintenance. The original start date for this work was provisionally set for late September, but that has now been brought forward a little to 13 Aug until 5 Oct. Again, please remember that these dates are always subject to change. The room assignment team will be making every effort to avoid placing any guests with Pool View or Garden View bookings into rooms that are close to the twenties pool during this work, and the original September and October refurbishment slots for buildings 27 and 24 have been swapped to better fit around the new pool maintenance schedule.
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md6379a
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Re: Port Orleans Riverside Guest Room “Soft Goods” Refurbishment starting in July

Unread post by md6379a »

I found a video on YouTube of a refurbished Alligator Bayou room, which shows more detail than those Instagram photos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSXuX_B0oJw

I think this update makes the theming weaker. The "branch" headboards and "branch" bathroom mirror frames definitely added a level of immersion that is lost here. The replacement of brown ceiling trims and bathroom/shower curtains with lighter-colored versions also weakens the unity of the aesthetic, in my opinion.

I've always picked AB over MB, with the room theming being a major factor. Would you say that the AB room theming is still more immersive theming than the MB room theming? I'm taking a first-timing visitor next year, and I was planning to request AB due to the room theming, but now I'm not sure if it's still more impressive than MB, unfortunately...
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Re: Port Orleans Riverside Guest Room “Soft Goods” Refurbishment starting in July

Unread post by Admin »

Thanks for the link, and I tend to agree with your comments (the best bit about the refit being the new divider curtain). The rest (bedhead, mirror, colour scheme) are very uninspiring.

They will be doing the Magnolia Bend rooms next year too, but if experience of FQ and AB are anything to go by I don't hold especially high expectations.

Andre
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Mgrayar
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Re: Port Orleans Riverside Guest Room “Soft Goods” Refurbishment starting in July

Unread post by Mgrayar »

Not sure which thread to ask this in. The refurb update page doesn’t list any buildings as in progress or work commenced. Are there any buildings being worked on or are they on a holding pattern until after the holidays?
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Re: Port Orleans Riverside Guest Room “Soft Goods” Refurbishment starting in July

Unread post by Admin »

Yes, they seem to be in a holding pattern at the moment having completed the 30s buildings.

Andre
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