Port Orleans News

Disney has recently made a few tweaks and adjustments to the free bus system which transports guests from the Port Orleans resorts to the theme parks. The route changes actually make a lot of sense, and should make the service generally more consistent and predicable for guests when visiting the different parks - and hopefully reduce some of the confusion that has been reported over the years.

The bus information page at portorleans.org/buses.php is now fully up-to-date with the new details, but the main points to take away are:

• Buses now start running at 7am (whereas the first buses used to be around 6:45am).
• The first few buses of the day all run as shared services from French Quarter and Riverside (apart from the Animal Kingdom buses for some reason).
• For the rest of the day, more of the routes now operate as independent services rather than having so many shared French Quarter/Riverside routes. Both the Magic Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios now appear to have their own separate services running to and from Riverside and French Quarter all day for example.
• Whenever bus routes do happen to be shared, the first call is now always French Quarter rather than one of the Riverside stops (which used to vary park-by-park).
• The Riverside pickup order for all of the theme parks now consistently has the West Depot as the first call, then North, East and South.
• The Disney Springs buses continue to also act as an Internal Resort Shuttle service, with stops at French Quarter, Riverside South/West/North/East and then back to French Quarter again before heading onward to Disney Springs.

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The December 2015 Recreation Activities and Movie Schedules for Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter are now available. See the main Recreation Activities Schedules page for full-size printable PDF versions.

The evening campfires will commence at 5pm this month and the Movies Under the Stars will be screened at 7pm daily at both resorts. The campfire events will this month take place on alternate days at the two resorts — Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday at Riverside, and Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday at French Quarter. The main feature swimming pool hours will remain at 9am—10pm for the rest of December, but will be reduced during January/February.

Special Festive Events:
December 16: Holiday Performers 8:30am & 9:30pm, French Quarter Lobby
December 17: Holiday Performers 7pm & 8pm, Riverside Lobby
December 18: Holiday Performers 7pm & 8pm, French Quarter Lobby
December 19: Holiday Performers 8:30am & 9:30pm, Riverside Lobby
December 20: Holiday Performers 8:30am & 9:30pm, French Quarter Lobby
December 21: Holiday Performers 7pm & 8pm, Riverside Lobby
December 22: Holiday Performers 7pm & 8pm, French Quarter Lobby
December 22: Cast Member “Deck the Gingerbread House” Competition Guest Voting 9am—5pm, Riverside & French Quarter Lobbies
December 23: Holiday Performers 8:30am & 9:30pm, Riverside Lobby
December 24: Character Greetings in the Lobbies (8am—9:15am at Riverside, 10:30am—11:45am at French Quarter), 1pm—3pm Festive poolside activities, 4pm Campfires, 5pm—9pm Meet Santa Claus in the Riverside Lobby, 6pm Holiday Treat Decorating, 7pm Christmas Movies Under the Stars
December 25: 1pm—4pm Festive poolside activities, 5pm Campfires, 7pm Festive Movies Under the Stars
December 31: 8pm—midnight New Year’s Eve Parties in both Lobby Courtyards, Ring in the New Year with festive fun and a live countdown to 2016!

Continuing this month: The Disney Junior Pool Party (1:30pm daily) features music and activities from some of your favourite Disney Junior shows. Join in with awesome activities and games such as Sofia Says, Doc McStuffins Trivia, sing-alongs and much more! Mickey Tie-Dye: Please join us at 1:30pm at the Riverside lobby courtyard on Sundays and Thursdays for our Mickey Tie-Dye activity (chargeable purchase).

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The planned dates for the Port Orleans Riverside Ol' Man Island pool closure are now set as 11 January 2016 to 4 March 2016 . This includes the main and children's pools, the hot tub and the Muddy Rivers pool bar - but the campfire, kids' playground, fishing hole and through-route walkways will remain open. This work could potentially run a little longer, but that's the most accurate information I have at present.

Also, construction work on the new Port Orleans French Quarter children's water play area is running slightly behind schedule due to some permitting issues, and it is now scheduled to open on 19 January 2016.

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Denise and Jeff from MouseSteps.com visited Port Orleans for Halloween and posted this great video of the cast members' annual pumpkin decorating contest. They really went to town with the beautifully detailed and fun designs this year, and pumpkins included Muppets, Scrooge McDuck, Star Wars BB-8, Genie, Inside Out and even a candy apple design - and I especially liked the multi-layered Alice in Wonderland/Cheshire Cat creation.

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