Port Orleans News

Receive a free Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan for everyone in your room when you purchase a minimum 4-night, 4-day non-discounted package at select Disney hotels. Must include a ticket with Park Hopper option for each guest.

Valid at both Port Orleans resorts, for arrivals most nights from:
June 29 to September 30, 2025
October 20 to November 1, 2025
December 6 to December 22, 2025

These deals often sell out quickly, so start looking for your dates now. disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/late-2025-free-dine-offer/

At the end of January 2025 the Walt Disney Travel Company in the UK started listing its 2026 package holiday prices for WDW, and its revised UK offerings seem to tie in with some “phantom” booking categories that we noticed on the US website back in October 2024 (for which there was no booking availability).

The aim for 2026 seems to be to simplify the current overly-complex categorisation options by merging the existing Standard, Woods/Garden, Pool, and River views into just one “Standard Location” category. Other booking categories, such as King Bed, Preferred Location, and Riverside’s 5th-Sleeper and Royal Rooms, also do not seem to have any View choices. So for now it seems that there will be no way to categorically avoid parking lot views, at least from what the UK Disney site is currently quoting (which to be fair is not always complete, or even 100% accurate in its descriptive small-print wording, so that may still change). I suspect these changes will be wider than just Port Orleans, but will leave that to other websites to cover.

Port Orleans Riverside

• Standard Location (non-Royal mansion buildings)
• Preferred Location (presumably still Alligator Bayou buildings 14, 15, 18 and 27. Maybe even some extra rooms in the mansion buildings?)
• Standard Location - 5th-Sleeper (anywhere in the other twelve Alligator Bayou buildings)
• King Bed (could be anywhere except Royal buildings)
• Royal Guest Room (Royal mansion building)

• Standard Location
• Preferred Location (perhaps buildings 4 or 3, and/or the near ends of 5 or 2?)
• King Bed

Riverside’s Magnolia Bend mansion buildings are due to commence guest room refurbishment early May 2025 [was originally announced as early April] and work is currently projected to last until the end of February 2026 [was January]. As with previous refurbishments, work will be carried out one building at a time, during the daytime only, so guests should not be significantly impacted. Exact dates are subject to change as the project progresses, but the first section to undergo work is likely to be building 90.

There has been much discussion about how the Royal Room refurbs will progress (the original “soft goods only” concept from 2020 having long since been abandoned) and it has recently been revealed that when building 90 (Oak Manor) reopens in the summer, all of its rooms will have been reverted to regular mansion building layouts. From then onward, only building 95 (Parterre Place) will provide Royal Guest Rooms - 256 in total.

Update 18 March 2025: Following up on an enquiry from a perplexed future guest, I've just done some spot checking on random dates throughout every month this year, and even on the quietest days when there is good availability for every other room category at Riverside, there is nothing at all showing beyond 2nd April 2025 for any Royal Room categories.

Update 22 March 2025: It looks like they have restored some dates back into inventory on the booking system for Royal Rooms. I see generally good availability up to the night of 7th June, but nothing at all from 8th June onwards for the rest of the year. Whether they are still working on this, and may extend availability further later, I’m not sure - so it’s always worth continuing to check.

Update 17 May 2025: Availability of Royal Room inventory now seems to have been extended until 1st August 2025, after which point it is still blocked out until the beginning of 2026.

I’m pretty sure that at least some of these blocked-out dates are precautionary as they can’t know for sure which buildings will be closed for how long, so they are just erring on the side of caution to avoid accidental overselling of Royal Rooms and thus having to disappoint too many guests. There will be existing bookings that should still be honoured for most dates — although it is likely that there will be a period later in the year when building 95 is closed for refurbishment that no Royal Rooms at all are open.

And if any rooms in an open Royal building do still happen to be free (but were not pre-bookable) when you arrive, the Front Desk might be able to switch you.

The Doubloon Lagoon feature swimming pool at French Quarter, presumably along with the children's splash play area, will be closed for maintenance for a few days from 16 to 21 December 2024. All of the Riverside pools will remain open and guests can use those in the meantime if they wish. Work was carried out on the decking and pool edging areas.

[Final Update noon EDT, Thurs 10 Oct 2024]

Shelter in Place ended 9:30am Thurs 10 Oct, but there is still a lot of debris (leaves, small branches, etc) around the resort which will be cleared as quickly as possible during the day today. No reports of any structural damage or injuries at Port Orleans.
The theme parks, water park, Disney Springs, transportation, etc will remain CLOSED all day today, reopening on Friday. Recreation activities will be available in the main lobbies all day, but pools, cycles, water craft, etc are not available yet.

[Updates 9/10 Oct]
Storm is advancing slightly quicker than originally predicted.
Shelter in Place (stay indoors, in your room or building) in place for all Disney hotels from 8:30pm Wednesday.

• Hit land around Sarasota as Category 3, 100+ mph winds with a 10-12 ft storm surge, at around 9pm on Wednesday 9th October.
• Hit the Orlando/Disney area as Category 1 with 90mph winds, at around 2am EDT on Thursday 10th October.
• Now closing in on the Space Coast (5am).
• Note: extreme winds and rain from the outer bands will start to build up many hours before the centre of the storm arrives, and with possibly even stronger winds behind it.

• If you are staying at a Disney hotel, follow Disney's advice including staying in your room if instructed. Staffing levels will be reduced, people have their own homes and families to consider.
• Expect early theme park closures on Wednesday, and likely remaining closed on Thursday.
• The Port Orleans resorts are providing entertainment activities in the main lobbies until around 8pm on Wednesday, and the games arcades are operating for free. While possible, they will try to ferry guests back and forth from the more outlying rooms by pargo.
• Charge all portable devices and power banks as power supplies could be affected, and fill a bucket of ice before the storm arrives. If you have a torch and/or radio, make sure it has fresh batteries.
• Disney will sell emergency food packs closer to the time (expect long queues) but otherwise expect restaurants and shops to be closed.
• You should purchase your own bottled water and non-perishable snacks NOW as stores are already running low on stocks.
• Watch local TV news or websites for updates as exact tracking and severity can alter. For example:
  https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/hurri ... rd-florida
  https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/hurri ... dates-10-9
  https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/hurri ... in-florida
• Official National Hurricane Information Website: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?start