Port Orleans News

The December 2013 Recreation Activities and Movie Schedules for Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter are now available. See the main Recreation Activities Schedule page for full-size PDF versions, or click on the images below.

The outdoor movies will start at 7pm and the daily campfires commence at 5pm this month.

Don't miss the seasonal musical presentations in the run-up to Christmas. Special events including games, activities and Character Greetings will take place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and more fun is planned at Riverside for New Year's Eve from 9pm until midnight.

I've just had confirmation that the long-awaited shipment of replacement in-room refrigerators for Port Orleans Riverside is now due to arrive at the resort later this week. It will obviously take a little while to get more than 1,200 fridges installed into guest rooms, but they will be starting as soon as the delivery arrives and are hopeful that all rooms should be completed and have working fridges by 20 November, just in time for Thanksgiving vacationers. (As previously posted, French Quarter was completed last month)

The Port Orleans French Quarter swimming pool, Doubloon Lagoon, will be closed for refurbishment from mid-January until the end of February 2014 (which includes the busy President's Day week). The dates are tentatively 13 Jan - 28 Feb, but that may change slightly depending on how long the work eventually takes. Disney will be running a free shuttle service between POFQ and POR during the closure to allow guests to use any of the six Riverside pools in the meantime.

The POFQ hot tub will also be closed for some of the time, but not necessarily for the whole of the refurbishment period. The laundry and kids playground will remain open, but the Mardi Grogs pool bar and the restrooms will be closed.

Update on 28 Jan: Rather than running large shuttle buses from the front of the hotels, they are using the small 'golf-cart'-like pargo vehicles to take guests from the front of the pool area at POFQ directly over to the pool at Riverside in a few minutes. Very little hanging around, just hop in and go. Return trips are just as easy.

Update on 27 Feb: The POFQ pool is due to re-open on Tuesday 4th March.

Touringplans.com, the web presence of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World guidebook, has just unveiled a superb new resource for anyone planning a trip to Port Orleans (and many of the other Disney hotels). They sent photographers round every single floor of every building, capturing a snapshot of the view that you will see from the window of each of the 3,000+ rooms at the resort.

So finally questions such as "how much of the river can I see from a River View room?" and "what are the parking lot views like?" now have definitive answers for everyone to see. Some elements of this new section are still being adjusted, but it is already an excellent place to peruse if you're planning a stay on Disney property. (Quite aside from their existing superlative park touring resources, which can save you a lot more time in line than FastPass+ is ever likely to do)

French Quarter maps and photos can be found at: touringplans.com/hotel_maps/disneys-port-orleans-resort-french-quarter

Riverside maps and photos can be found at: touringplans.com/hotel_maps/disneys-port-orleans-resort-riverside

The November 2013 Recreation Activities and Movie Schedules for Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter are now available. See the main Recreation Activities Schedule page for full-size PDF versions, or click on the images below.

The outdoor movies will start at 7pm and the daily campfires commence at 5pm this month.