There have been some minor changes in options and prices at both of the food courts and at Boatwright's Dining Hall over the past couple of months. The listings on the site now reflect all of the current offerings and prices for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner for both adult and kids' meals.
Brand new ‘RFID’ locks are being installed on the doors of all guest rooms during October. French Quarter is now complete [17 Oct] and Acadian House and then the rest of the mansions will come next, followed by Alligator Bayou. These new locks are triggered by tiny proximity-activated chips embedded within the key cards which are issued to guests, allowing the door to be opened by simply placing the keycard near to the new Mickey-head sensor on the door (this one is from Acadian House; the Royal Rooms will have a slightly different style):
This is much easier to use than the old “slide in, pull out” method as far as guest access is concerned, and it also has a number of advantages from an operational point of view. For example, it will no longer be necessary to reprogram keycards at the front desk in the event of a guest issue or a room change, but simply to remotely reprogram a different door lock to accept the same card. The upgrade process should be transparent to guests, who could be issued with chipped Key to the World card in the morning and then return after a day at the parks to find the updated locking system is now on their door.
Support poles for new hammock loungers were reported to have been installed last week alongside the pathway just beyond the fishin’ hole on Ol’ Man Island. Apparently there are going to be eight of these located around the resort, sounds like a lovely little addition. [Update] Here's an image of one of the three new hammocks now located on Ol' Man Island:
General work has been continuing around the resort, such as upgrades to the pathways and bridges around the Alligator Bayou section to provide easier access for guests with impaired mobility.
The parking lots outside of the main lobby buildings at both Riverside and French Quarter now have rather ugly metal mesh fences around their perimeters. Also the first parking lot exit at Riverside (closest to the South bus depot) has been blocked off, leaving just the second exit, closer to the main road. Presumably this has been done for pedestrian safety reasons, but you would have thought it would have been possible to find some fencing that was more in keeping with the theming of the resort rather than this rather nasty generic metal barrier.
The old flip-over price menu boards at the Riverside Mill food court are now gone, replaced by cabinets for flat-screen displays. Until the electronic displays were ready recently, printed signs were being placed in front of the screens daily for the breakfast and lunch/dinner menus.
Room and Package Discounts for Fall/Winter 2012/13
Earlier in the week, Disney released Room and Package Discount offers for Fall and Winter 2012/13, which include giving up to 30% discount on Port Orleans Riverside room rates and up to $600 off some packages. See our Discounts and Special Offers page for full details and links to the Disney website offer pages.
Fall 2012 Offer
Save up to 20%/25% on stays at Port Orleans Riverside for most nights from 1-Nov-2012 to 22-Dec-2012 (excludes Thanksgiving week, 17-23 Nov).
This is a room-only offer, however tickets and Dining Plans can be added at extra cost. Book by 31st October 2012 via the Disney Reservations Center on (407) W-DISNEY, or contact a specialist travel agent and mention offer code G97.
Winter 2013 Offer
Save up to 30% on stays at Port Orleans Riverside for most nights from 2-Jan-2013 to 7-Mar-2013 (stays from 18-20 Jan are available at some resorts but may have different discounts).
There is also a “Play, Stay, Dine and Save” offer covering the same time period (and including both Riverside and French Quarter) which gives discounts of up to $600 on 5-night/6-day Magic Your Way package prices with the Disney Dining Plan included.
You need to book these offers by 31st December 2012 via the Disney Reservations Center on (407) W-DISNEY, or contact a specialist travel agent and mention offer code Z3K for the room-only offer or Q83 for the package offer.
October 2012 Recreation Activities and Movie Schedules
The October 2012 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 8pm and the daily campfires commence at 6:30pm. A separate schedule will be released for Halloween closer to the end of the month.
Final touches to the POR Lobby Refurbishment now complete
Yesterday the final new custom-made rug carpet, which was originally scheduled to be delivered in October, arrived early and has been laid in the previously-empty open space on the Marina side of the lobby. This has allowed the remaining furniture to be set out too, which was being held back to avoid damaging the new tiles in the meantime. This now concludes the lobby refurbishment, giving a pleasantly consistent look to the new area.
This was the refurbished lobby just prior to the new details being added - click on the image below to scroll around the lobby:
