Port Orleans News

A guest visiting the resort last week asked a manager at Port Orleans French Quarter about the rehabs and the possible new room themes. She was told that everything is still just conjecture at this point as far as the different themes go, but that if it did happen it would be only be a portion of the rooms, and that those rooms would be at Riverside rather than French Quarter.

The manager did however confirm that both resorts were definitely going to be refurbished and the work should take 18 months or so to complete. French Quarter would be started first (pretty much imminently) and would be completely finished by April 2011. She also mentioned that she had seen samples of the new carpet and it looked fabulous.

Back in March 2010, Disney filed work permit paperwork with the Orange County Comptroller’s offices for “guest room renovation” work to be undertaken at Port Orleans French Quarter by Friedrich Watkins Company of Orlando, FL — the same company which did the last series of Port Orleans room refurbs in 2004. This new work permit referred only to Building 7, and stated that the work must commence sometime before mid-March 2011.

More work permits were filed in June 2010 for room renovations to Port Orleans Riverside buildings 24 and 95 (Parterre Place) with commencement dates sometime before June 2011. Most recently, in July 2010, more permit paperwork was filed to cover all of the remaining sections of Port Orleans French Quarter (buildings 1 to 6), also with a requirement to commence work by March 2011.

There is still no official word from Disney about the refurbishments but the nearby DVC resort of Old Key West is in the process of having all of its rooms updated (based on permits issued at the start of April).

The last series of room refurbishments (2004/05) progressed at a rate of approximately 64 rooms per week and were carried out by the same company without requiring major closures or impacting on guest experience.

For other rehab news, check out Mouse Planet and wdwmagic.com.

A guest staying at Port Orleans Riverside this week has reported that they requested a room in the Magnolia Terrace mansion building but were told that the whole building is currently closed for refurbishment work. They checked later during their stay and noted that all of the rooms in that building did indeed appear to be unoccupied, however they did not see any actual work in progress. Hopefully this is for more than just the planned maintenance work on the elevators which has been scheduled. [Update: The building reopened a few weeks later, but without any noticeable room refurbishments having taken place.]

Disney released the room availability details for 2011 bookings this week, and there are a couple of surprises in among the usual annual price rises — which actually do not appear to be quite as steep as they have been in some previous years, mostly around $5 per night extra. This year there are a couple of new room categories available, “River View” and “Preferred Location” (the latter at Riverside only).

Port Orleans French Quarter now offers rooms in four categories: Standard, then King Bed or Water View (both charged at $25/night extra) and finally River View (for a further $5/night).

Port Orleans Riverside offers five options: Standard, then King Bed, Water View, or Preferred Room (charged at $25/night extra) and finally River View (for a further $5/night).

• Standard: These rooms offer general views of the resort, landscaping, courtyards or gardens (including the bayou area at POR). This category could also include rooms facing towards a parking lot.
• Water View: These rooms offer views of the river, a swimming pool or other water feature.
• King Bed: These rooms do not specify a specific type of view and could be located within any section of the resort.
• Preferred Room (Riverside only): These rooms offer close proximity to the restaurants, transportation and main building. Update: Preferred Rooms will be located in Alligator Bayou lodges 14, 15, 18 and 27. A few guests have been informed by cast members at the Disney Reservations Center that Magnolia Terrace and Oak Manor may also be included, but this has not been confirmed and currently does not seem very likely.
• River View: These rooms offer direct views of the riverfront, but they do not guarantee any particular proximity to the main buildings. Note: at Riverside, any of the directly river-facing rooms tend to give good access to the facilities areas anyway.

This one is most definitely in the “rumour” category, and may not even apply to Port Orleans at all (if anywhere!) but it’s interesting nonetheless. A number of guests who have stayed on-site at Disney resorts have recently been receiving survey emails asking whether they would be interested in staying at specially themed rooms in Moderate hotels. We know that the Caribbean Beach Resort already has some Pirate and Finding Nemo themed rooms, and Coronado Springs has been fairly recently updated and is targeted more towards the convention market anyway, which really only leaves Port Orleans as the potential target market — always assuming that Disney are not planning on building an entirely new Moderate hotel of course.

In each case during these online surveys guests were reminded that these would only be standard Moderate-sized rooms, and that there could be a premium of around $30 per night over the regular rooms at the same resort. The themes suggested were Royal (although not specifically “princess”) and Haunted Mansion, for which the descriptive texts were as follows:

In this special room, Tiana has hosted her royal friends from around the world. During your stay, you will discover that each friend has left Tiana a special thank you gift for her hospitality by adding touches of fun and sparkle to the interior decor. With magical fairy dust swirling above, you’ll recline in ornate canopy beds trimmed with velvet fabrics, carved detailing, and a bejeweld golden crest. Rich ceiling moldings, drapery, and custom linens further enhance the luxury of your special stay. Adorning the walls, signed portraits of each princess appear in jewel-set frames while princely swords and shields guard the entrance to the royal dressing room and bath.

It’s an enchanted stay as a special Guest of this “Royal Room.”

Come spend the night with a few of the happy haunts who play in an enchanted bedroom inspired by the Haunted Mansion. Rest atop the floating Doom Buggy beds with a couple of friendly spooks and watch glow-in-the-dark, cartoon-like footsteps mysteriously appear as the evening sets in. A sliding bookcase creates a hidden passage to the bathroom and is the perfect hiding place for a hitch-hiking ghost. Oversized furnishings with curvy lines and bright colors add to the whimsy in the room.

Guests will delight in finding the hidden special effects that play up the merry, rather than scary, room ambiance.

Concept Art of a proposed Royal Themed room



Concept Art of a proposed Royal Themed room



Concept Art of a proposed Haunted Manion Themed room



Concept Art of a proposed Haunted Manion Themed room