Port Orleans TR

[Travisma 1,317]

Not going to rehash a lot of things you all probably know about the French Quarter.  Just going to go over some highlights of our trip.

Start with the Cons:

We had signed up for the bypass the front desk option.  3 O'clock rolled around and we still hadn't gotten our room assignment, and we were about 20 minutes away.  My wife called and eventually got thru and got our room number.

Frozen drink at the Riverside poolside bar was tasty, but seemed to be light on alcohol.

There was a Code Brown at the pool just as we were going to it.  They got it cleaned and tested real quick.  It was only closed about a 1/2 hour so not a big deal.  We thought it was funny seeing the CM come around the corner with a huge pole mounted skimmer basket wearing rubber gloves.

Pros:

It was great going right to the room!  In-laws didn't do the by pass and they waited about 40 minutes to check in.

Bartender told me I could get the drinks in regular glasses instead of the souvenir ones.  Saved $5 on mine and $7.50 on my granddaughters !!  

Fantastic room!  Had a corner on the 3rd floor in building 5 close to the pool.  Had 2 windows overlooking 2 great views.

Friendly staff.  We went to the campfire marshmallow roast.  There were 5 CMs there.  For a while they out numbered guests. They supplied sticks and marshmallows for free!  S'more kits were available to purchase. They gave a safety lecture to adults and kids before handing out the sticks.  They did story telling and really interacted with all the guests.  It was like the Disney of old.  4 of the 5 CMs worked the pool party the next day.  One recognized my granddaughter and got her to join in on the activities.

We did the scavenger hunt over at Riverside.  Again friendly CMs and my granddaughter got two $3 arcade cards as a prize.

Food court was the best I've ever seen anywhere at WDW.  Great selection, pretty fast service considering most of the dishes were made to order and fresh, huge portions and really tasty/well made. .  My granddaughter was getting a cup of Gumbo.  She can over with a soup bowl full. I asked if she changed her mind and she said no, this is the cup size.  The bowl serving was the size of a dinner plate. The Beignets were fantastic.  They are my granddaughters new favorite food.

The poolside bars had free pitchers of ice water.  The FQ one had 2 plain, and 2 with fruit in them.  Filled my Yeti cup up at least 6 times.

Beautiful grounds, easy to get around.  I think this is going to be our go to Disney Resort from now on.

 

We ventured out to Disney Springs Saturday night on the boat.  Forgot it was Christmas in July.  Got pictures with Summer Santa in a beach scene.  DS was a madhouse, like the MK on the 4th of July. We only went as far at the bus stop and left.

 

 

[Tony 27]

Sounds like a great trip so far! The pros out weigh the cons for sure and you gotta love that. Thanks for sharing, you have me excited about about checking out PO for a weekend very soon.

[Travisma 1,317]

1 hour ago, Tony said:

Sounds like a great trip so far! The pros out weigh the cons for sure and you gotta love that. Thanks for sharing, you have me excited about about checking out PO for a weekend very soon.

We had visited a friend over there, and also took a boat ride, but had never stayed there.  It was a fantastic experience and we would definitely go back.

There are a lot of things to do between the 2 sections.  They don't offer most of the things everyday.  FQ movies were 2 nights and I think Riverside was 3 nights.  The marshmallow roast was I think 1 night at each resort. But the FQ was very laid back and relaxing, and easy to get around.  Even the furthest building is not that far from the pool and food court.

And the cons were really nothing that big.  I just had to throw them in to show that I wasn't paid off like some of the bloggers that find no fault in anything Disney! 

 

I want to add, that other than the boat to DS, we didn't venture off property.  I can't attest to transportation to the parks.  It was easy to get to the bus stops, but I don't know how often they ran to the various parks.

[Tony 27]

I've only walked through once or twice when i use to resort hop a lot but have never stayed there. After hearing about your experience its on my do to list now 

This is why i love the trip reports, several friends have stayed there, even said I'd like it because its laid back But the details you get from the reports is what makes me want to take the family and experience it first hand. One day when i grow i'll have to try my hand at a TR

[Travisma 1,317]

21 minutes ago, Tony said:

I've only walked through once or twice when i use to resort hop a lot but have never stayed there. After hearing about your experience its on my do to list now 

This is why i love the trip reports, several friends have stayed there, even said I'd like it because its laid back But the details you get from the reports is what makes me want to take the family and experience it first hand. One day when i grow i'll have to try my hand at a TR

If nothing else, visit them just for the food court.

I had a rice bowl, choice of steak, shrimp, chicken, sausage, or tofu.  Choice of red or black beans, and choice of white, yellow, or dirty rice.  It was enough for 2 and it was $13.  Same with the shrimp and grits.  Same price and enough for 2.  The had I think 5 different food stations.

[Tony 27]

14 minutes ago, Travisma said:

If nothing else, visit them just for the food court.

I had a rice bowl, choice of steak, shrimp, chicken, sausage, or tofu.  Choice of red or black beans, and choice of white, yellow, or dirty rice.  It was enough for 2 and it was $13.  Same with the shrimp and grits.  Same price and enough for 2.  The had I think 5 different food stations.

Wow thats worthy of a day trip this sunday!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

I have heard such great things about this resort. I definitely want to check it out sometime.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

 

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

We've taken the boat from there...always thought it was a pretty resort.  Thanks for the feedback on the food court.  I'm a basic food/meats & potato kind of gal, but it still sounds like a neat place to try!!

[Travisma 1,317]

2 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

We've taken the boat from there...always thought it was a pretty resort.  Thanks for the feedback on the food court.  I'm a basic food/meats & potato kind of gal, but it still sounds like a neat place to try!!

One of the food stands was burgers and sandwiches.  They did have dinners also.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside in August of 2004 for our son's wedding at Sunset Pointe behind the Polynesian.  We absolutely HATED POR.  The rooms were so dark that I could barely see well enough to put my makeup on.  But this was before the reno.  Hopefully that issue has been resolved.  Also the grounds were so dimly lit that we could barely find our way back to our room.  
 

Last fall we visited POFQ and were pleasantly surprised with the grounds.    It is obviously a better resort than POR.

[Travisma 1,317]

28 minutes ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside in August of 2004 for our son's wedding at Sunset Pointe behind the Polynesian.  We absolutely HATED POR.  The rooms were so dark that I could barely see well enough to put my makeup on.  But this was before the reno.  Hopefully that issue has been resolved.  Also the grounds were so dimly lit that we could barely find our way back to our room.  
 

Last fall we visited POFQ and were pleasantly surprised with the grounds.    It is obviously a better resort than POR.

We had no issues with the light in the room.  I was surprised with the bathroom layout.  The sinks were behind a curtain.  No issue for us getting changed, but I could just see someone with 2 kids, one being an imp, whipping open the curtain while their sibling was butt nekkid!

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

2 hours ago, Travisma said:

One of the food stands was burgers and sandwiches.  They did have dinners also.

Thank you!!

[Travisma 1,317]

On 7/21/2017 at 11:20 PM, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Thank you!!

We went back there Saturday night for dinner.

One of the windows has a Meat and Three selection.

Your choice of a meat and 3 side dishes

Prime Rib $17.99

Fish or Chicken $14.99

Ribs $15.99

You could add shrimp to any meal for an additional $5.

Saw quite a few people with the prime rib.  It was a decent sized piece, looked like it was cooked properly.  It just wasn't as thick as some pieces I've seen at a classier restaurant.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

9 minutes ago, Travisma said:

We went back there Saturday night for dinner.

One of the windows has a Meat and Three selection.

Your choice of a meat and 3 side dishes

Prime Rib $17.99

Fish or Chicken $14.99

Ribs $15.99

You could add shrimp to any meal for an additional $5.

Say quite a few people with the prime rib.  It was a decent sized piece, looked like it was cooked properly.  It just wasn't as thick as some pieces I've seen at a classier restaurant.

Thank you, that's really helpful.

[Mrs.TN22 12]

We resort hopped to POFQ and POR on our last trip - we were really impressed with the QS at French Quarter - the only negative we saw was that they didn't have pomegranate lemonade at the mug refill stations.  Therefore, DH said we couldn't stay there.  priorities

[Travisma 1,317]

1 hour ago, Mrs.TN22 said:

We resort hopped to POFQ and POR on our last trip - we were really impressed with the QS at French Quarter - the only negative we saw was that they didn't have pomegranate lemonade at the mug refill stations.  Therefore, DH said we couldn't stay there.  priorities

But the ice water in the coke machines is really good.  Must have really good filters on it!  And the poolside bars had pitchers of ice water with chopped fruit in it.