Port Orleans Riverside 4/15/18 to 4/20/18

[ctguy1962]

Me (6th time staying here, other visits in 1995, 2000, 2004, 2009, and 2013), fiance, and her two kids (14 and 16). Early flight into Orlando and then we took the Magical Express to the resort. The ride can stretch out due to multiple stops before Port Orleans. I wore my Dixie Landings t-shirt and the cast members at the resort were oblivious to it. Park bus drivers and cast members in the parks did notice it later. I opted for lobby check in to get the personal touch and see if they could meet our room request which was Alligator Bayou. The cast member assigned us to Magnolia in Magnolia Bend. She never mentioned my room request until she had already assigned us. She said the resort was full and they couldn't accommodate our request (and it is a request not a guarantee). In fact they were giving us a standard view when we were booked a garden view. If we wanted the garden view we would have had to wait until after 7:00 P.M. Never mentioned that we should get credited for the different view room. I just accepted this at the time since we were getting our room before 3:00 P.M. She also offered a $40.00 credit if we would forgo room cleaning during our stay. I think Disney's thinking on this is ridiculous. We're not staying at an extended stay motel. Really?? We declined that option. We had trouble opening our room door with the magic band (a common theme during our stay, you need to really press the magic band against the activator). Housekeeping tried to help and then security was called. When the door was opened we found the room to be dirty and not ready for new guests. We got re-assigned to Acadian House. A cast member at check in made good on our inconveniences a day or two later when we went to talk to them about our experiences.

A fence has gone up around the main pool since my last visit. Lee remains working at Muddy Rivers like always. We sat and watched YeeHa Bob one night too. He's very entertaining. Getting through Riverside Mill in the morning can be a chore since with any Disney food selection or purchase there are multiple questions which slow things down. The gift shop now has a few resort specific items but once again no shirts or sweatshirts with the Port Orleans logo. I've commented before on this in this forum. Disney bottom line is more important than customer satisfaction. I would have actually bought shirts had they been available. They buy everything overseas anyway so I don't see why shirts can't be available. Even the bar soap in the room was foreign made in Indonesia. Disney guests need jobs to come to Disney resorts. How about supporting the American worker?

Bus service was decent but you always need to be prepared to watch your specific park bus pull away just as you're walking up. We never really waited too long and now they have bus time screens at the depots letting you know when your bus will be there.

Overall this remains a beautiful resort and we'd probably stay here again. Thanks to the webmaster who obviously puts in a lot of time on this website to keep everyone well informed.

[Admin]

Thanks for the honest report.

Sorry about the hiccoughs you experienced - not getting the room category you ordered until 7pm is most unusual, I can't think why that would have happened - and then you not get the Garden View that you had paid for is really bad, even if the resort is full (which is not an uncommon situation at Riverside). Did you do online checkin in advance, so they knew when you were arriving? Even if you also want to go to the Front Desk, there's no reason not to do OLCI too. I think I would have raised this with management, it's not a very welcoming experience for the money you pay to stay at Disney.

I'd love to see some shirts in the store too, they are about the cheapest and easiest souvenirs to make and everyone buys them, so I'd have thought it was a no-brainer personally. You can get some customised shirts with the Port Orleans logo on in Disney Springs by the way.

Andre

[ctguy1962]

I didn't do the on-line check in. Maybe I should have but don't they assign you the room at that point? The cast member checking us in said they had spent time separating a large teenage group to disperse them throughout the resort because guests were complaining about the noise they were making. This apparently had an effect on room assignments. Our room location wasn't the end of the world. I would think though as a repeat Disney customer not only here but at other Disney resorts that they would have made a better effort for us. But I imagine being sold out all the time puts stresses on their room selections. By the way the credit to go from garden to standard was $5.00 if I understood what the cast member who made amends for us was telling me.

What is driving this housekeeping credit push? Are they short staffed? I understand they are doing this at other Disney resorts too.

I miss the old resort newspaper, the complimentary post card in the rooms, sit down breakfast at Boatwrights, Dixie Landings/Port Orleans coozies at Muddy RIvers, boats at the dock, and other little things like that. I'm not sure if we even had a Disney pen in our room during our stay.

[Admin]

Online checkin can be done up to 60 days out and merely confirms things like your arrival time, whether you prefer to have requests granted in preference to having a room hopefully ready when you get there, credit card info on file, etc. It does mean that they will try to assign your room an hour or two before your expected arrival time, which might have helped you. That doesn't stop you visiting the front desk when you arrive though, and if you don't like the room you've been given they can look again at the time for you.

I agree with you on all those things that you miss by the way, it seems that for all the 'headline' stuff that Disney adds, they have chipped away at so much of the little stuff that made the place so magical over the years.

Andre

[wlbeard]

Sorry you went through that. I appreciate the advice to do the online check-in