WALTHEAD
Registered: August 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Wed August 1, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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I've stayed at PO FQ at least 15 times. I feel it's the best of the moderate resorts for the following reasons: Decor - I love the New Orleans theme. Quiet - The resort seems to draw less children than PO Riverside and Carribean Beach. Walking opportun
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Cons:
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Miss the sit down restaurant, especially their fantastic french toast. Nothing special in the food court. Sharing bus with PO Riverside. Too, too much soap and shampoo. Every day, I got an over abundance of shampoo and soap! OK, not really a complain
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My favorite of the moderate resorts.
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grumpy of ohio
Registered: October 2007
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Wed August 1, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Compact resort, location fairly decent, queen beds a plus
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Cons:
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Other than being not close to a park, but it's a moderate... No cons!
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Being deluxe snobs with over 40+ trips to the deluxes, we stepped down this trip to try POFQ....we always visit this resort during our trips for their food offering....this trip was me and the wife, our daughter and husband and 2 children ( both girls, one 2.5 years and the other 3 months old).
I must say we were quite impressed overall on everything at the resort...other than not being close to a park, it could pass for a deluxe ( plus the outside corridors too, which we hardly noticed). Bus travel was decent, never stood either coming or going anywhere, food at the food court great with many choices, pool excellent, plenty of tables and chaises, really enjoyed the boat to DTD, and POR, and the total decor, and location to our building ( building 5, second floor corner room) easy to get everywhere...
Pool games most of the day, marshmallow roast every night in a neat location and movies each night in a grassy courtyard a pleasant evening ( they ought to haul a pop corn wagon there and vend the pop corn....
All in all, fantastic resort and a big savings over a deluxe ( which we hardly missed). ....would gladly recommend this resort to anyone over the other moderates and values... It's a moderate with a deluxe taste and feel...We were the mid July 2012....
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melissasbargains
Registered: July 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Tue July 24, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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small, beautiful grounds, queen size beds, refrigerators, free Wi Fi!
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Cons:
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none!
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This was our first stay in a Disney Resort hotel and after doing much research, we settled on Port Orleans - French Quarter. We were so happy with our choice!
This is one of the smaller Disney hotels and we loved it because we could easily access the pool, lobby, food court, arcade, gift shop, and bus stop. The grounds are absolutely beautiful and soft jazz music plays as you walk through the gardens and park. The pool has a serpent themed water slide and my kids absolutely loved it. They have lots of activities for kids at the pool in the afternoons including Bingo and Disney trivia. There is a campfire in the evening and Disney movies under the stars at night!
French Quarter shares some bus stops with Port Orleans - Riverside (which is much larger), but we were always the first stop and never had to deal with long lines or overly crowded buses, even during peak times.
The rooms were recently renovated and one of the big selling points for us was two queen size beds. The rooms also include a refrigerator, free Wi Fi, and double vanities.
Maid service was great, too, and we loved finding themed towels in our room. We will definitely be returning to this location!
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Alice Bibbidi
Registered: July 2012
Location: New York
Posts: 3
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Review Date: Sat July 14, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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small grounds, lovely and detailed theming
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Cons:
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certain cast members (will explain), buses
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Love Port Orleans French Q! I got back today from my trip with my sister; we stayed six nights, and we have stayed here with family several times, and I have stayed here twice with friends. I'm a big fan of POFQ!
The trip this time around was great. The biggest selling point in French Quarter's favor, in my opinion, is it's size. It is not a large resort by any means. I have, in the past, stayed at Caribbean Beach and Coronado Springs resorts; they are quite large, and, for my friends and me, Coronado Springs was almost unwieldy in size. French Quarter is accessible and easy to get around. No golf carts needed here!
The Room: My sister and I requested to stay in a building close to the main entrance, since we're two girls going alone, and French Quarter obliged. We stayed on the second floor of building 3. The room was nice, and Mousekeeping did a great job; our room was clean by 11 AM every day (we're park hoppers, and we usually stop in the hotel for a few minutes in between park hopping). The room was nice, clean, quiet, and we felt safe.
The Hotel (Theming!): The theming in French Quarter is fantastic. I know Disney is known for its theming but...it's just so evident and fun at French Quarter. Mardi Gras and New Orleans are the names of the game here, and the cast members working at French Quarter definitely get into it. I love the older gentleman in the Mardi Gras mayor garb who greets you when you walk in (although he was only out once this trip! Sad!), the beads they give you at check in, the beignets...if theming is your thing, French Quarter has it in spades.
Dining: Sassagoula! Sassagoula is jus quick-service stuff, but it's fun (THEMING AGAIN!), and the food is good. I liked the salad bar (not a buffet-I do not eat at buffets): you tell the cast member what you would like in your salad and they create it for you. The beignets are a fun little addition to the menu (theming again), although, for me, fried dough is fried dough whether its donuts or zeppolis or beignets. Beware though: Sassagoula says it opens at 6AM, but you can only get cold breakfast and muffins and beignets at that point. Usually I'm good with a yogurt and an apple, but I do like a Bounty Platter (eggs, MIckey waffle, sausage, etc) once a trip, and they don't really get the grill going until 7, so keep that in mind. Sassagoula is usually open till around midnight during peak times, so if you need a late-ish night snack, you can get it here.
Cast Members: I mentioned them as a negative in the above, and I'm a little sad to report that I did not find cast members as...Disney-friendly as I have in the past. On two occasions I felt they were a little brusque with me. I was never short-tempered with any of them; I am always friendly and polite when talking with service people of any kind because I recognize that their jobs are difficult and they are dealing with lots of different kinds of people and requests. So I was a little peeved when on two occasions cast members were less than Disney in their approach to things. Incidentally, both occasions took place at the front desk, and each time I was asking about the Magical Express and boarding passes. Standard questions, I wasn't asking the cast members to actually do anything for me...I don't know. Usually it's not like that.
Buses: Finally! Last thing! Ok. The buses themselves can take up to twenty minutes, yada yada, we've heard Disney give us that speech before, am I right? That's not the problem. I just don't like it when they lump French Quarter with Riverside. True, French Q is usually the first stop when this happens, and it doesn't always happen, but I was in Disney last year, same week in July, and I never had to share a bus with Riverside.
Anyway, despite some very minor negatives for me, French Quarter is my resort of choice when staying at Disney, and I have stayed at the two other moderate resorts I mentioned (Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs). Gooo French Quarter!!
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Chrim
Registered: March 2008
Posts: 18
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Review Date: Sat July 14, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? No
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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small size, queen beds
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Cons:
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food court, basic decorations
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I found my stay at this resort a mixed bag. This was my first stay here, and based on my preferences, perhaps will be my last (but others might like it better).
The good:
- compact resort, so shorter walks around the place.
- convenient parking if you have a car.
- elevators in all buildings, plus some real ground floor rooms (unlike parts of the Port Orleans Riverside where there are a few steps to get up to some "first floor" room).
- fast service at the front desk.
- renovated rooms have two queen beds of decent quality (instead of doubles), or one king.
The not great:
- Food court is small with very limited selections. Since this is the smallest Disney resort, there seems to be the least attempt to provide a variety of food.
- The decor of the resort was not inspiring or special to me. This is a personal decision, but my favorite WDW resorts for decoration are Port Orleans Riverside, All-Star Movies, and Animal Kingdom Lodge (with honorable mention to Wilderness Lodge, Yacht Club, Coronado Springs, and Pop Century).
Mixed bag:
- my room was mostly quiet, although in the first/ground floor I did hear the sprinklers running in the morning to water the landscaping
- a bus driver told me that there were tour groups staying at both French Quarter and Riverside and they sometimes swamped the bus service -- but I did not have any problems during my stay.
- The resort had its own bus for Epcot and Magic Kingdom, but shared with Riverside for some other locations (like Downtown Disney), which means either direct service (yay!) or 4 long, tedious extra stops before your destination (boo!)
- The bus stops for French Quarter (and Riverside) at all the parts were better (i.e. less walking) than average, although not as good as many deluxe resorts.
In the end, I did not think this resort was worth the large price addition over the cost of a value resort. Nothing was terrible, but it just wasn't good enough to justify the price. Riverside is still my favorite moderate resort, although the spread out nature of it is a negative.
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mmeb144
Registered: January 2006
Location: Fowler, IN
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Tue July 10, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Small size, nice theming
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Cons:
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Smallish rooms
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This was our 4th visit to this resort. We had a second floor room, which is a first for us. Usually we get a 1st floor room. The view from the room was nice, we had a fountain to look at.
The room was a bit small for us. We have 4 people in my family, me, my husband, and 2 teens. In the past we have been able to put 2 twin air mattresses on the floor for the kids, but with the queen beds, there is only room for 1 twin air mattress now. It all worked out. I shared a bed with my daughter.
The food court was good, as usual. Port Orleans Riverside is close enough to drive to for a meal if you want something a little different. They have create your own pasta bowl at Riverside. My son got that when we visited Riverside food court.
Love the pool and hot tub here. The slide seemed a bit faster than I remember from other visits. Very fun!
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denrah4
Registered: November 2006
Location: Abingdon, MD
Posts: 27
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Review Date: Mon June 25, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Size of resort, castmembers, cleanliness, etc.
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Cons:
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None
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Arrival: We arrived on Magical Express by 10:30am. We had done online check-in. POFQ was the last stop of the ME bus and maybe one or two other families got off with us. I went inside while my DH and kids grabbed the luggage (they were given Mardi Gras beads while getting the luggage). There was no one in line (regular or online check in). The person checking me in told me our room was all ready. Off to a good start. I did not put in any requests at all so I was curious to see where we would be.
Room: We were located in Building 5, third floor, room 6307, garden view. We paid for garden view as standard was not available. It was just over a 2 minute walk to our room. We took the elevator and we had our luggage. Upon entering the room I first noticed a Mickey head towel animal on one bed. If you are curious, we did receive one other towel animal during our stay. While my two kids explored the pool area, my DH and I gave the room the old once over. Very clean. I am a bed checker so we pulled off sheets and checked mattresses. Everything actually looked quite new. OK now that my inspection was over, we unpacked. We mostly hung our clothes up so three drawers was plenty to hold our socks, bathing suits, underwear, pjs etc.
Room noise: pretty much non-existent. Our room had a connecting door so I had hoped we wouldn't hear any neighbors. Never heard them till our last day and I heard the toilet flush and heard them leave their room. I saw they were checking out - can't believe we never heard them cause I hear everything. There was also never any noise coming in from the outside. The four of us slept so soundly all week.
Food: We had bkfst at the resort a few days. Finally got to try the Beignets I've been hearing so much about. All bkfst items we tried were good (eggs, pancakes, oatmeal). Had dinner here twice (chicken quesadillas, ribs, sandwiches. All were very good. Desserts were very good also - we had a lot of ice cream.
Grounds: Very clean and nice. While the resort was very pretty I feel if we had a riverview it would have been a lot nicer. We only saw the river if we walked over to it. All in all still very nice but no wow factor on looks.
Castmembers: Everyone was friendly and helpful when we needed it. I needed something to put my syrup in to get back to the room and someone went in the back for me and got me a cup with a lid. Yep - all very nice workers there.
Transportation: Took the boat from the resort to DTD on our first day to have lunch. We did not fit on the first boat as it already had guests from Riverside on it. So we waited at least 20 mts. for the next one. Again, only a few were able to get on but luckily we were able to board. Felt bad for the people behind us as they were starting to have a long wait. Took the boat back one other day from Riverside to POFQ. Only waited a few mts that time. Buses: Ok - I'm going to say we did pretty good with them. We shared with Riverside every time except for two trips to and from the MK and our trip to and from AK we stopped at a water park (sorry forget which one it was). On one of the MK morning trips the Riverside people were already on it - huh? I was surprised at that. On at least 5 different occasions the bus was waiting when we got to it. That is such a good feeling. We did stand a few times going and I think only once at the end of the day. One time we let a full bus go by because we wanted to sit. So I think we did pretty good. The one time we had a long wait was our AK morning. We waited at least 40 mts. for a bus. The bus stop was packed. Two buses came at once and still couldn't fit everyone. We were late for the park opening but that was the only time all week. But I will say a few times when we got to the bus stop, even though we caught a bus fairly quickly the bus stop was packed so some people had long waits but not us but I just wanted to mention that since that happened a few times also.
Mousekeeping: They did a good job. Coffee, soaps, shampoo replaced everyday. Room always made up by the time we returned.
Pool: Used it a few times. Was pleasantly surprised cause i heard it was small, etc. but it was fine for our needs. Slide was kinda lame. My son said he even stopped on it - lol. But the pool wouldn't be a deciding factor for us. Thought we'd hit Riverside's pool once but it didn't seem worth going there for us.
I hope I hit on everything. Sorry but didn't mean for this to be so long.
Would we return? For sure. I really feel the small resort sold me. We previously stayed at CBR and CSR. While I loved both and rec. both it was truly nice being so close to the food, pool and bus stops. I had to laugh - on our next to last day we realized we could go down past Building 4 right to the bus stop. We had been going thru the main building area and then back tracking. Duh. So a 3 mt. walk could have been a 2 mt. walk. Can't beat that for sure.
Oh and my DH used the laundry facilities one evening when he realized he didn't pack enough shorts. He said that went very smoothly. I think the only thing my DH didn't like was being on the third floor. He would have preferred ground floor. My DH runs marathons but hates stairs. Go figure. I kinda liked it cause I kept telling myself lizards won't get in - lol.
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jbald
Registered: June 2010
Posts: 11
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Review Date: Thu June 21, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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relaxed atmosphere
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Cons:
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pool
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We stayed here for 7 nights. I had requested bldgs 6 or 4. We were able to stay in 4. Thoroughly enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the resort. Housekeeping was great. We walked over to Riverside and my daughter enjoyed the pool over there more than the pool at FQ. We only ate at the restaurant twice and the food was good. Bus service was up and down. Cast Members were helpful and friendly.
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summersalt
Registered: February 2008
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Mon June 18, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Size
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Cons:
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Transportation
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This is a lovely resort. The grounds are beautiful and no room is too far from the food court or the transportation. The food court doesn't have very much variety but what they do offer is good. Now the ugly side: The bus transporation was terrible! Every bus to and from the resort was full to capacity. We didn't have long waits but the fact that the buses are shared with POR made for overcrowding. Totally unnecessary and preventable in my opinion.
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Crow
Registered: June 2006
Posts: 22
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Review Date: Tue June 12, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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atmosphere
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Cons:
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rm reserved was not available
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Water view rm reserved, upon check in was told it wasn't available. Offered a garden view or a water view at POR. I asked if i could get a deluxe and was told no. Mgr never came over to say sorry, CM was very nice but had to go to him a few times. I took garden view w a credit for the difference. The Atmosphere was nice, rm in building 2, but parking was a walk. Beignets good, boat to DD good. And walk to POR nice. I'd probably stay again as it is a fav for mod.
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chrismouse
Registered: June 2012
Posts: 12
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Review Date: Fri June 1, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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everything
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Cons:
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none
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Stayed here 5/19 through 5/28/12. Nice room, comparable to a regular hotel room. Comfortable queen size beds. Double adult-height sinks, separate toilet and tub area. Even being back in building 1, it was not a bad walk to the bus or the restaurant. The buses were never too crowded and the boat to Downtown Disney was fun and convenient. The kids enjoyed the pool, and the laundry facilities were fine. We asked about staying one extra night, and they had availability but were going to move us to another room. We thought that was a bit unncessary after being there 10 nights. Why not just assign the new folks to a different room before they even arrived and leave us where we were....so since we had to move anyway, we chose to move off property and save $130 for our last night.
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jamiewils
Registered: May 2012
Location: Ijamsville, MD
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Tue May 29, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Wonderful theming, very "kid friendly" ammenities, pleasant bussing situation
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Cons:
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none for us!!
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After many years of staying at Riverside and even a "splurge" on the Beach Club a couple of years ago, my family and I decided to try French Quarter for our most recent visit. We were blown away!! The resort is not quite as sprawling as Riverside which made the pot luck of room assignments less worrisome. We like to take full advantage of the refillable mug program (especially in the evenings) and the walk to the main dining area for refills was easy as could be. On a few occasions we even strolled up to Riverside (to rent a pontoon boat and to check out their pool) and it was very manageable.
The theming is really interesting and architecturally speaking FQ is every bit as well done as Riverside. The boat to Downtown Disney is a home run (especially at night after a long day of parks and DD shopping). Our kids could not get enough of the pool area and keep asking when we can go back to the "Dragon pool". We're heading back in October for Food and Wine and MNSSHP and we're heading back to French Quarter.
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bellebookworm9
Registered: May 2009
Location: 1,194 Miles from Disney World
Posts: 131
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Review Date: Sun May 27, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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I had been wanting to stay here for years, so when I room opened up for the night of 5/26, I booked it immediately. It was was a riverview room, which I thought was a little unnecessary for one night, but I took it anyway. No requests were made at booking, and when I did online check in there was nowhere to put any.
I arrived at the resort around 9:30pm and there was no line at the desk. Jenny gave me my folder and she was very friendly! I had been assigned to room 7346-top floor of building 7. This is a compact resort, but my room was so far away that I was literally almost in Riverside! After a 12 hour shift at Epcot, this felt like the longest walk in the world.
Bell Services brought/picked up my bags in a timely manner. I liked the new rooms, as purple is my favorite color, although the queen bed was not a big difference from the full sized one at All Star Sports.
I used the hot tub and it was nice, if almost a little too hot. It wasn't very crowded, only a few other people. I also passed by the courtyard where they were showing The Muppets, and a lot of families were on the lawn to see it.
The food court was fine, although they did close off one side of the soda area around 10:15 or so, which led to a long line on the other side.
When I woke up this morning, I saw that I did have a beautiful view of the river. I only wish that I had been able to stay longer to enjoy it!
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tjm6515
Registered: May 2009
Location: Jax, FL
Posts: 41
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Review Date: Wed May 16, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Newly refurbed rooms, great service
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Cons:
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A/C broke, food selection, boat noise, hard beds
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We stayed 5/4 & 5/5, our 3rd time at POFQ. Little did we know the rooms had been refurbished. It wsa nice having queen instead of full beds, and liked the themeing better. Also as usual great service at the front desk. Cons were our Air Conditioning did not come on the first night, called front desk, and they said sometimes it takes a while. By midnight the room was at 75 degrees, thankfully the ceiling fan worked. In the morning we called front desk, they sent a repairman, after about 45 minutes we had working A/C. We were at building 7, right next to the water, the boats tooting their horn was aggravating at times, but at about 11pm they stopped.
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rickmc
Registered: May 2012
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Tue May 15, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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well maintained, quiet, clean, beautifully themed
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Cons:
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parking not near to building 5
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I've been to WDW several times over the past several years. I have been to OKW, CB, Polynesian, and now FQ. Tonight we are all packed and ready to leave this amazing resort. I will miss the feel and ambiance of this place. It well exceeded my expectations. I loved OKW but the expense ruled it out this time. I read that this resort had a lot of similarities and after spending a week here it was so true. I will miss this place and will come back again next year, God willing!
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