Port Orleans News

This weekend saw the refurbished opening of the first of the Preferred Location buildings in Port Orleans Riverside's Alligator Bayou section. Building 14 appears to have replaced building 39 in the refurbishment schedule, so with the reopening of building 38 last week, refurbished rooms are now available in AB buildings 14, 36, 37 and 38 (plus the Acadian House and Magnolia Terrace mansion buildings).

There will now be a short break during the holiday period and then work will commence mid-January on converting Oak Manor to the new Royal Rooms. The projected opening date for this section is 17 February, with Parterre Place following a month later. [Update: Opening of Royal Rooms in Oak Manor has been delayed by three weeks to 9 March]

We've just been told that a new free Wi-Fi internet service at Port Orleans is now ready for action, and will commence service today (Thursday 15 December 2011).

Update on 16 December:

In addition to the lobby, entranceway, bus stop and pool area, guest rooms have now been confirmed to be covered too, although there are some early reports of patchy reception in a few places. Speeds are generally faster in the common areas than in the guest rooms.

The SSID (access point name) that you should look for is "disneyguest" (unsecured).

For more information, please see our Internet Access page.

The official Disney Parks Blog has just unveiled a brand new preview video showcasing the new Royal Room designs at Port Orleans Riverside which are due to open early in 2012. Click here to read the article and view the video.

A visiting guest (KAE2008 from the DISboards) has just reported that refurbishment work has commenced on Alligator Bayou building 14, and possibly 15 soon - which is well ahead of the leaked provisional schedule that we had previously been sent. Looks like building 14 will be open by the weekend of 16 December, so at least one of the 'Preferred Location' buildings will have newly refurbished rooms before Christmas - excellent news!

The December Recreation Activities and Movie Schedules for Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter are now available.

The outdoor movies will start at 7pm this month, and there will again be a slightly reduced set of pool activities in the cooler weather. The daily campfires commence at 5:30pm.

There will be a separate schedule for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day which will be available via the resort's Holiday Activities Guide later in the month.

(click on the above images for printable versions)