Port Orleans News

As we indicated at the end of January, for stays commencing in 2026 there will be a complete overhaul to the available room categories at both Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter. In a nutshell, all of the previous booking options which used to provide guests with specific view types will be eliminated, replaced with simplified categories that instead define physical areas within the resort. The thought process appears to be that at Moderate resort hotels - with external walkways and no balconies - guests are less likely to want to pay for the view outside the window, but more for easier access to the facilities and transportation.

So it is important to note that NONE of these new categories will allow guests to choose specific river, pool or garden views, nor will there be any way to categorically avoid a parking lot view. Guests will still be able to add such requests to their bookings in advance - for example by using the Chat feature in the My Disney Experience app - but there will no longer be any pre-paid guarantees.

We can now reveal full details of how the new Booking Categories will work:

• Port Orleans French Quarter will have a new booking category, Preferred Location, which will include all of the rooms in buildings 2, 3, 4 & 5, which are the closest sections to the main building, pool and bus & ferry transportation.
• All of the rooms in the other three French Quarter buildings, 1, 6 and 7, will be categorised as Standard Location.
• As part of the upcoming room refurbishment program at Port Orleans Riverside, when building 90 (Oak Manor) reopens in the summer, all of its rooms will have been reverted to regular mansion building layouts. From then onward, only building 95 (Parterre Place) will provide Royal Guest Rooms - 256 in total.
• Port Orleans Riverside's Preferred Location category will be expanded beyond its current four Alligator Bayou lodges (14, 15, 18 and 27) to also include the river-facing halves of buildings 85 (Magnolia Terrace) and 90 (Oak Manor) which are in the Magnolia Bend mansions area. Note: this means that this Category will no longer guarantee a fold-down murphy bed
• Standard Location rooms at Port Orleans Riverside will be located in building 80 (Acadian House) and the rear, mainly parking-lot facing, halves of buildings 85 (Magnolia Terrace) and 90 (Oak Manor).
• Standard Location 5th Sleeper rooms at Port Orleans Riverside will be located in the other twelve Alligator Bayou lodges, and this is the only Category that will guarantee a fold-down murphy bed.
• King Bed rooms at both resorts won't change from their existing locations, and they will remain scattered around any of the previously mentioned buildings with the exception of the one remaining Royal Guest Room building (95) and building 90 which will probably not have any new King Bed rooms added during its refurbishment.

Walt Disney World released most of the 2026 room and package rates, for arrival dates up to 31st October 2026, on 22 April 2025 at 6am ET. The remaining dates up to the end of the year will be issued at a later date (much like they did last year, when the 2025 rates were split-released in late-February 2024 and late-October 2024). [Update: the rates for the remaining dates in November and December 2026 were released at the start of October 2025]

Guests can book directly with Walt Disney World online at www.disneyworld.com, or via the USA telephone Reservations Center on 1-407-WDISNEY (1-407-934-7639).

The Disney Parks Blog states that they will also be offering Children's Dining Plans for free when adults book their own Dining Plan packages in the same room. The remainder of the blog post seems to just reiterate all of the current amenities and perks of staying on-site, no other new or restored features are listed.

As previously expected, the only booking categories for Port Orleans French Quarter in 2026 will be:

• Standard Location
• Preferred Location [new]
• King Bed

• Standard Location
• Standard Location - 5th Sleeper
• Preferred Location
• King Bed
• Royal Guest Room

• Riverside Standard Location — min $314, max ~$494 (vs. $289—$475 in 2025, 9% / 4% increase).
• Riverside Standard Location 5th Sleeper — min $352, max ~$551 (vs. $317—$519 in 2025, 11% / 6% increase).
• Riverside Preferred Location — min $404, max ~$643 (vs. $367—$565 in 2025, 10% / 14% increase).
• Riverside King Bed — min $351, max ~$550 (vs. $351—$541 in 2025, flat / 2% increase).
• Riverside Royal Guest Room — min $398, max ~$613 (vs. $368—$570 in 2025, 8% / 7% increase).


• French Quarter Standard Location — min $314, max ~$494 (vs. $289—$475 in 2025, 9% / 4% increase).
• French Quarter Preferred Location — min $346, max ~$560 (vs. $310—$528 for Garden View in 2025, 12% / 6% increase).
• French Quarter King Bed — min $366, max ~$580 (vs. $341—$569 in 2025, 7% / 2% increase).

Receive a free Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan for everyone in your room when you purchase a minimum 4-night, 4-day non-discounted package at select Disney hotels. Must include a ticket with Park Hopper option for each guest.

Valid at both Port Orleans resorts, for arrivals most nights from:
June 29 to September 30, 2025
October 20 to November 1, 2025
December 6 to December 22, 2025

These deals often sell out quickly, so start looking for your dates now. disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/late-2025-free-dine-offer/

At the end of January 2025 the Walt Disney Travel Company in the UK started listing its 2026 package holiday prices for WDW, and its revised UK offerings seem to tie in with some “phantom” booking categories that we noticed on the US website back in October 2024 (for which there was no booking availability).

The aim for 2026 seems to be to simplify the current overly-complex categorisation options by merging the existing Standard, Woods/Garden, Pool, and River views into just one “Standard Location” category. Other booking categories, such as King Bed, Preferred Location, and Riverside’s 5th-Sleeper and Royal Rooms, also do not seem to have any View choices. So for now it seems that there will be no way to categorically avoid parking lot views, at least from what the UK Disney site is currently quoting (which to be fair is not always complete, or even 100% accurate in its descriptive small-print wording, so that may still change). I suspect these changes will be wider than just Port Orleans, but will leave that to other websites to cover.

Port Orleans Riverside

• Standard Location (non-Royal mansion buildings)
• Preferred Location (presumably still Alligator Bayou buildings 14, 15, 18 and 27. Maybe even some extra rooms in the mansion buildings?)
• Standard Location - 5th-Sleeper (anywhere in the other twelve Alligator Bayou buildings)
• King Bed (could be anywhere except Royal buildings)
• Royal Guest Room (Royal mansion building)

• Standard Location
• Preferred Location (perhaps buildings 4 or 3, and/or the near ends of 5 or 2?)
• King Bed

Riverside’s Magnolia Bend mansion buildings are due to commence guest room refurbishment early May 2025 [was originally announced as early April] and work is currently projected to last until the end of February 2026 [was January]. As with previous refurbishments, work will be carried out one building at a time, during the daytime only, so guests should not be significantly impacted. Exact dates are subject to change as the project progresses, but the first section to undergo work is likely to be building 90.

There has been much discussion about how the Royal Room refurbs will progress (the original “soft goods only” concept from 2020 having long since been abandoned) and it has recently been revealed that when building 90 (Oak Manor) reopens in the summer, all of its rooms will have been reverted to regular mansion building layouts. From then onward, only building 95 (Parterre Place) will provide Royal Guest Rooms - 256 in total.

Update 18 March 2025: Following up on an enquiry from a perplexed future guest, I've just done some spot checking on random dates throughout every month this year, and even on the quietest days when there is good availability for every other room category at Riverside, there is nothing at all showing beyond 2nd April 2025 for any Royal Room categories.

Update 22 March 2025: It looks like they have restored some dates back into inventory on the booking system for Royal Rooms. I see generally good availability up to the night of 7th June, but nothing at all from 8th June onwards for the rest of the year. Whether they are still working on this, and may extend availability further later, I’m not sure - so it’s always worth continuing to check.

Update 17 May 2025: Availability of Royal Room inventory now seems to have been extended until 1st August 2025, after which point it is still blocked out until the beginning of 2026.

I’m pretty sure that at least some of these blocked-out dates are precautionary as they can’t know for sure which buildings will be closed for how long, so they are just erring on the side of caution to avoid accidental overselling of Royal Rooms and thus having to disappoint too many guests. There will be existing bookings that should still be honoured for most dates — although it is likely that there will be a period later in the year when building 95 is closed for refurbishment that no Royal Rooms at all are open.

And if any rooms in an open Royal building do still happen to be free (but were not pre-bookable) when you arrive, the Front Desk might be able to switch you.