Port Orleans News

Disney has just expanded its relatively limited Airport Luggage Transfer trial service to include both Port Orleans resorts.

By registering in advance, your luggage can be transferred from your arriving flight directly to Bell Servies at the resort without you needing to collect in the meantime. Bell Services can then bring it to your room upon request, but you will need to be present.

When leaving, you can drop your bags at the resort and they will be forwarded directly to the flight and you will collect them as normal upon arrival at your destination.

Currently only domestic flights using Orlando International Airport with a small selection of airlines are supported: American Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. These options may be increased in the future. Allow at least four hours for the transfer process.

disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/airport-luggage-transfer

Scat Cat's Club at Port Orleans French Quarter refurbishment work will be taking place starting 6th October 2026. The closure is expected to last until January 2027. You may notice construction activity in the area during daytime hours as this work progresses.

• Beignets and coffee will remain available for purchase at the nearby Sassagoula Floatworks & Food Factory food court. Ghoulish beignets will be available until Nov 1.
• A temporary bar will be available near Scat Cat’s Club Café from 5 pm to 11 pm.
• Live entertainment performances will be presented inside the lobby at French Quarter on Thursdays through Sundays, beginning at 7 pm.

This week sees the final section of Port Orleans Riverside commence its guest room refurbishments. During the last week of August, the parking lot behind the 'thirties' Alligator Bayou buildings was partially closed to create a staging area for the work, and building 38 is the first of the sixteen to be shut. Work will continue, closing entire buildings at a time, until August 2027.

Hopefully we should see the first refurbished rooms reopen around Thanksgiving.

Rack Rates for World Disney World room and package bookings for 2027 have just opened, allowing guests to book for Port Orleans (and other) stays commencing from 1st January 2027 until the end of October 2027. Note: November and December availability has been held back again, as with several previous years' releases. One addition for this year is the ability to book the Deluxe Dining Plan again (providing two table service meals) but at first sight it seems that the free child Dining Plan offer from 2026 has not been extended.

Guests can book by calling the Disney Reservations Center on 1-407-WDISNEY (1-407-934-7639) or online at disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts. You can of course use travel agents too.

The incremental pricing structure for the different booking categories has remained similar to last year, with Riverside’s Royal Rooms and Preferred Location rooms being the most expensive nightly rates of either resort. At French Quarter, Preferred Location is now more expensive than King Bed, which were originally the other way around when the new Categories were first introduced for 2026 - on average, Preferred has increased by around 9%, while King Bed has unusually dropped by a couple of percent.

The bizarre and inexplicable first-weekend-in-October blip is back again. For 2027, this happens to occur on Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd Oct, but it has floated around those dates over the past few years as the calendar varies. It doesn’t seem to be related to Disney World’s opening anniversary, nor to the start of the Walt Disney Company’s commercial year, nor to any other regular event or holiday that I’m aware of. So I’m still unsure as to why that one very random weekend at the start of October should be the most expensive three nights of the year, barring Christmas week) at all resorts. Those three days are at least 10% more than any of the surrounding half dozen off-peak weekends, so definitely best avoided if you can.

The following prices include 12.5% sales tax and would be the rate charged if you are not entitled to any special discounts. For many seasonal periods Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday are the cheapest nights, then Sunday & Thursday, and finally Friday & Saturday are the most expensive, with the total cost of your stay calculated on a night-by-night basis. Expect Christmas week to be significantly more expensive, up to 10% more than the current highest figures. See our Room Rates Page for more details.

On Sunday 5th April, the refurbishment of Building 95 at Port Orleans Riverside was completed and the new "Royal Rooms" were opened to greet their first guests. The initial reactions have been somewhat underwhelming at best, as rather than being rethemed they appear to have been broadly dethemed. I always try to be positive about this wonderful resort, but am finding it really hard to find very much to praise about the Imagineering aspects of these new rooms.

First, the positives. The rooms have all of the fresh light style, new features, and practicality of the other Magnolia Bend rooms in buildings 80, 85 and 90 which have already been beautifully refurbished and welcomed by guests. However they have exactly the same layout, features, colour scheme, white bedlinen and identical scatter cushions, long dresser/counter, table and chairs, artwork, wooden flooring and bathroom tile patterns, door & curtain designs, ceiling fan, TV, USB outlets, etc. EXACTLY the same in fact - at first glance you could not tell them apart from regular Magnolia Bend rooms.

To maintain the distinction between the different booking categories and price points, there are a few modifications though - but nothing anywhere near to the detailed, immersive theming that we've become used to, where everything was unique to the Royal Rooms and featured detail elements invoked by various princesses and princes from multiple Disney movies, even down to Aladdin's magic carpet depicted on the floor and ornate custom design faucets and light switches. Probably the biggest difference now is that while the headboard artwork is admittedly the same bayou scene as featured in the regular rooms, in the Royal Rooms it lights up with LED effects mimicking an evening view of the scene with gorgeous illuminated flickering fireflies. While perhaps not quite as compelling as the previous firework effects, it is still very pretty. They have however removed the downlighters which are located above the beds in the regular Magnolia Bend rooms.

Other additions include a decorative hanging lantern light over the table, and while the construction of the round table itself is the same as the other rooms, the top surface is slightly more elaborate with a letter from Tiana printed upon it. The chairs however are exactly the same. The drawers in the (again, otherwise identical even down to the handles) dresser/counter have swirly flourish patterns on their fronts, and the mirror in the bathroom has a wavy outer frame with Tiana's logo at the top. While the oval wall-picture of Tiana and Naveen is the same as that featured in the regular rooms, the other two pictures have been replaced with a single larger portrait of Tiana. Oh, and there's a decorative wallpaper border around the top of some of the walls and different white/grey wall tiles in the bathroom/shower area. However there is nothing invoking any of the other Disney movies beyond "The Princess and the Frog", so just like the regular Magnolia Bend refurbishments (and French Quarter too) these are all purposefully Tiana-only rooms.

So the big question has to be are these new style Royal Rooms now worth an extra $95 per night (average rack rates) compared to the other refurbished mansion building rooms? Honestly, it's very hard to justify that expenditure for an illuminated headboard, an extra ceiling light, and a different wall portrait of Tiana, in otherwise identical rooms.

Some early photos posted by Facebook Group member Johnathan Cole:






For comparison, a regular (around $95 cheaper) Magnolia Bend room looks like this. Spot the difference?




Reactions from members of our Facebook Group have been broadly very positive about the fresh look and feel of the Magnolia Bend style rooms in general, but broadly negative about the specific distinctions of the updated Royal Rooms:

• "Woah! These are the royal rooms now? I don't like. How underwhelming"
• "POR needs to kick this up a notch or they will get so much backlash. The previous royal rooms were magical and absolutely gorgeous! If this is it, I'm disappointed."
• "it is beautiful but I prefer the other one! It was definitely more immersive."
• "Underwhelming to say the least"
• "Another drab, cheap reno."
• "Who would ever pay more money for these? They look like regular rooms"
• "Disney dropped the ball here if this is the finished product. Don’t up-charge a significant amount for a room that is the same as a standard room just for essentially a headboard. Nothing makes these 'royal' compared to the standard rooms. Incredibly disappointing."
• "This is the most disappointing thing I've ever seen. The true heart of the princess rooms is gone."
• "This looks no different than the regular room refurb. Seriously this is a disappointment if its Royal Room and you're paying more for what?"
• "we had a royal room booked for May... you have inspired us to change to Caribbean Beach"
• "I’m so glad I’m still in my reservation change window. I think I’ll be heading to the art of animation for a themed room."
• "I’m there in two weeks so too late to change my reservation… Bummer."
• "These are absolutely horrible!"
• "Why is Disney so determined to make everything so boring?"
• "They ruined the royal rooms! Those were our favorite."
• "What’s “royal” about these?"