Port Orleans News

With the reopening of the central Pleasure Island ferry dock at Downtown Disney on 17 May, the Disney Vacation Club Resort ferry service (for Old Key West and Saratoga Springs) will be relocated to that new dock. The Port Orleans (French Quarter and Riverside) ferry boats will continue to depart as they always have from the Marketplace dock, next to the Rainforest Cafe.

On 21 May, the new dock for the rebuilt Treehouse Villas will open for public use. When this happens, the DVC resort boats departing from Downtown Disney will run two separate routes — one service from Pleasure Island to Old Key West (with green flags and signs) and the other from Pleasure Island to Saratoga Springs and the Treehouse Villas (with blue flags and signs). The continuing Port Orleans service from the Marketplace dock will be marked with yellow flags and signs.

The internal Downtown Disney water taxi service will continue to ferry guests between the three Downtown Disney docks — Marketplace, Pleasure Island and West Side — and will be marked with red flags and signs. The various services will run every 10-30 minutes from 10:30am until 11:30pm daily. See the Ferry Boats page for further details.

This Easter Sunday (12 April) children can enjoy fun Candy Scrambles at several Walt Disney World resorts. Port Orleans Resort guests should meet at French Quarter Square at 9am to participate.

The UK Walt Disney Travel Company has recently been informing guests that Port Orleans Riverside will soon be removing all of the trundle beds from its Alligator Bayou rooms, citing that as these beds are so small the company has been receiving too many complaints about them.

In an attempt to clarify the situation, on March 19th I called the resort directly and after a little persuasion managed to get an answer passed on from the Office Operations Manager at Riverside who said (and I quote) “there is no way that they are going to get rid of the trundle beds.”

As the rumour still seemed to be spreading, on April 5th I called the UK Walt Disney Travel Company and at first the agent repeated their original information — i.e. that Riverside can no longer accept bookings for more than four people. However, when I asked if she could check again on the source of that information, she eventually came back to me saying that it is not the actual resort that has the limitation, but that “our UK partners are not contracted to be able to book those rooms”. She said that five-person bookings can definitely still be made with the US booking office, just not via the UK booking line.

Hopefully that will put everyone’s mind at rest for the time being at least. If anyone working at the resort can provide any further information, please get in touch.

Port Orleans Riverside’s fabulous piano-playing entertainer “Ye Haa” Bob Jackson returned to his regular gig at the River Roost Lounge on Wednesday 18 March after a month of recuperating from back surgery.

Walt Disney World’s online checkin facility is now available, allowing resort guests to pre-register for their stay via Disney’s website up to ten days in advance of their arrival date. This new system allows you to provide such information as full guest names, arrival & departure times, on-site (e.g. cell phone) contact details, a credit card number for room-charges and also any special room requests (although, as always, these cannot be guaranteed). A welcome folder, which will include your room key cards, will then be waiting at a new quick-pickup location in the resort lobby.

For more details, or to use the service, log in to the My Disney Vacation page at www.disneyworld.com or go directly to www.mydisneyreservation.com.

Walt Disney World Resort launched a new Online Check-In Service today, designed to simplify and streamline guest arrivals. The new service is complimentary and available to guests staying at select Walt Disney World Resort hotels and Disney Vacation Club resorts open as of February 2009.

Within 10 days of their arrival dates, guests are able to provide check-in information, advise the resort of their arrival times and request room preferences (although those cannot be guaranteed). Guests can also register the names of all the people in their party and provide a credit card to cover charges at the resort hotel.

Upon arrival at their resorts, guests visit a special welcome location where their room keys and other registration material are waiting. Disney cast members are also available to provide additional information and answer questions.

Meeting professionals can also arrange private group check-in at a Disney resort convention center or other locations.

“Our new Online Check-In Service offers added convenience and time savings for Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests,” said Kevin Myers, vice president of Resort Operations for Walt Disney World Resort. “It’s the latest benefit created as part of our continuous effort to provide a seamless and hassle-free arrival experience for our guests as they begin their Disney vacation.”

www.mydisneyreservation.com/guest