Maintenance Updates & Management Restructuring News

News Updates about the Port Orleans Resorts.
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The Sassagoula Sentinel
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Maintenance Updates & Management Restructuring News

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A quick roundup of the latest news on the various refurbishment projects going on around Port Orleans, plus a bit more on the current Management Restructuring process.

French Quarter Children's Water Play Area

Work was originally scheduled to be completed by 24 December 2015 but work-permit issues delayed the planned re-opening date until 19 January 2016. However construction is obviously overrunning considerably beyond that based on the photos taken on 23 January which show water piping is still being installed and they haven't even started on laying the flooring yet. The information that I'm hearing at the moment is pointing towards an opening date of around 29 February 2016.

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Riverside Ol' Man Island pool refurbishment

Work commenced on schedule on 11 January 2016 and the target completion date is still 4 March 2016. The work is mostly routine maintenance and perimeter fencing modifications. All of the through-route walkways, the children's playground and the fishing hole currently remain open, although letters recently sent out to guests indicate that some pathways may need to be temporarily closed during the work and the children's playground may also be affected at some point. There are no evening campfires at Riverside at the moment, but the French Quarter alternative is still available daily. A free shuttle service to French Quarter is in place, and the five quiet pools at Riverside are open as normal. The River Roost Lounge in the main building is opening a little earlier in the day than normal to compensate for Muddy Rivers being closed.

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Riverside Magnolia Terrace roofing work

The building 85 roofing work will be split into five phases, and is expected to run through until 15 July 2016. The first phase has already commenced, which comprises the whole of central section of the building. That section should come back into service on 26 February and then work will commence on each of the four outer 'wings' in turn.

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For more information and photos, see the Refurbishment News page.


Management Restructuring [Minor details updated 10 Feb]

A major reorganisation of the management structure at Port Orleans (and many other areas of Walt Disney World) is currently in progress, and some details are now starting to emerge. The following information is pieced together from multiple sources, but I'm sure there's more news still to come:
  • The current Port Orleans General Manager, Suzette Noble, will now become the General Manager for Port Orleans Riverside, while Port Orleans French Quarter will get its own General Manager (still to be announced).
  • "Proprietors" appears to be a newly-created level of management overseeing multiple areas such as guest service, front desk and recreation, reporting directly to each resort's General Manager. The current Guest Service Managers (Lon Rydberg at Riverside and Stefanie Shomper at French Quarter) have been promoted to this new role, while the original front desk/guest service management positions have been renamed as Guest Experience Managers, reporting to the Proprietors.
  • The former Food & Beverage managers, James Campbell and Matthew Vaché, will now take on additional overall responsibility for the Merchandise departments at Riverside and French Quarter respectively.
  • The exiting French Quarter Merchandising Manager has been transferred to the All Star Resorts as Duty Manager.
  • There will also be separate Executive Housekeepers at both properties instead of the current combined operation.
Good luck to everyone in their new roles - I suspect it's going to be a busy adjustment period!
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