Port Orleans News

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French Quarter Building 1 completed, work has started on 2

Posted Saturday 12th March 2011, 6:00am (EST) by The Sassagoula Sentinel

The latest reports from Port Orleans French Quarter indicate that the three-week timeline for the refurbishment of each building is still right on schedule. Building 1 is now fully completed and occupied, and work commenced on building 2 on Monday 7th March. This should hopefully mean that the final building (number 3) will start work around Monday 28th March and the whole resort will be complete by the weekend before Easter, just in time for the very busy Easter break period.

I'm guessing that work on Port Orleans Riverside’s Parterre Place will not start until after Easter, so maybe we’ll see work commence there around Monday 2nd May? Keep watching here, or subscribe to our Image RSS News Feed, for the latest updates.

 
 

Mardi Gras 2011 at Port Orleans

Posted Tuesday 8th March 2011, 6:00am (EST) by The Sassagoula Sentinel

Every year, the cast members at the Port Orleans resorts get the opportunity to enter a fun competition to see which department can dream up the most creative, best themed Mardi Gras parade floats based around the resort’s “pargo” vehicles. The cast members get to parade their floats around both resorts for guests to see on the official Mardi Gras “Fat Tuesday”, and it all kicks off at 1:30pm on Tuesday 8th March.

If you happen to be visiting over Mardi Gras there are lots of other fun activities around the resort which guests can take part in too — look out for the signs, or ask at the front desk desk for information.

PortOrleans.org wishes all of the 2011 Pargo Parade contestants the very best of luck — have a great day!

First timescales for Riverside refurbishment program emerge

Posted Tuesday 22nd February 2011, 6:00am (EST) by The Sassagoula Sentinel

With the Port Orleans French Quarter room refurbishment now approaching its two-thirds stage, and completion looking to be on schedule for before Easter 2011, firmer news is starting to emerge about the second phase of the project, Port Orleans Riverside. One guest recently received an email from Walt Disney World Guest Relations indicating an expected time scale for this work:

Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World® Resort.

In order for Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside to continue to flourish as a magical destination, it is necessary for us to make enhancements from time to time. As a result in May 2011, the resort will begin going through a refurbishment to replace the double beds rooms with queen beds. The refurbishment work is expected to continue through Spring 2012 for our Guests' future enjoyment.

Disney has also applied for the necessary work permit in order to start refurbishment work on the first Magnolia Bend mansion building, Parterre Place, which was approved on 17th February (thanks wdwmagic.com). This time Disney will be using a different contractor, New Horizons Construction Services, instead of Friedrich Watkins Company. Although both companies have a proven track record of undertaking major construction projects for Disney, presumably this will mean that any possible last-minute delays in the completion of French Quarter will be unlikely to effect the start date of work at Riverside.

The last guest room refurbishment at Port Orleans Riverside took 12 months to complete, with Magnolia Bend taking from March 2004 to August 2004 and Alligator Bayou taking from August 2004 to February 2005. Thus we should probably expect the mansion buildings to be completed sometime before Thanksgiving 2011, and Alligator Bayou by April/May 2012.

There is, incidentally, no confirmation at all as to whether the previously rumored Royal/Princess themed rooms might be added to any of the Riverside mansion buildings during this refurbishment. One or two cast members have hinted that this might be the case, but it’s just as likely that they have merely been reading the various speculations on the internet. Personally, I’m keeping a very open mind on this one at the moment.

 
 

French Quarter Building 5 completed, work has started on 1

Posted Thursday 17th February 2011, 6:00am (EST) by The Sassagoula Sentinel

The latest reports from ‘the Port’ indicate that building 1 of Port Orleans French Quarter commenced its refurbishment work around Monday 14 February, and that building 5 is now either fully complete or almost there.

It looks as though the schedule is calling for work to start on each new building at three-week intervals, but this is currently slightly overlapping with completion of the final touches on the previous one. At this rate though, the whole resort could possibly be done by around the end of March.

DIS Unplugged podcast reviews French Quarter stay

Posted Wednesday 16th February 2011, 6:00am (EST) by The Sassagoula Sentinel

The DIS Unplugged audio podcast today ran a detailed review of their recent stay at Port Orleans French Quarter. Despite enjoying previous visits to POFQ, to say that their experience this time was “somewhat disappointing” would be a gross understatement! Listen or download the show via this LINK to find out what happened.

Thankfully, the problems that they encountered don’t seem to be a general reflection of the state of the resort, but it does show how easy it is for things to slip. Hopefully, management have now taken note and appropriate measures have been applied.

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