wblucky9
Registered: November 2009
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Mon November 16, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Landscaping, Ambience, Cast Members, Boat Service, Price
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Cons:
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My parents and I stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside from 06/30/2009 to 07/09/2009; we had a standard room in Parterre Place. We had visited the hotel over a decade ago when I was a boy, but then it was called "Dixie Landings." We had a summer deal where the rooms were discounted to around $119 or $129 a night, plus the charge for the third person.
They were painting Parterre place during our entire stay, but the crew did a good job of being as invisible as possible. You had to take some detours around Parterre Place in order to avoid the painting areas, but it wasn't really an inconvenience.
Parterre Place is supposed to be the most stately of the manor houses due to the fact that the original "settlers" would use the best supplies on the first dwelling but slowly run out as the got down the river. You can see this transition from stately to more rustic as you move up the Sassagoula from Parterre Place to Alligator Bayou.
Parterre Place is the "mansion" house closest to Port Orleans French Quarter (FQ). By the way, the French Quarter is really nice. We walked over one day and road the boat back. The walk is really short and a trip to their bakery may be worth it. My dad actually said he liked the FQ more than Riverside, but my mom and I much preferred the look of Riverside Mill, Riverside's food court, to the look of the FQ's food court. Parterre Place also backs up to the 14th or 15th hole of the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course. The LBV Golf Course runs mostly through the Saratoga Springs and Old Key West Resorts. We played the course one day and my mom walked back to the room during the back nine (and she escaped a bad thunderstorm!).
I don't understand some of the negative reviews about the size of this resort. The resort is spread out, but not anything like the Caribbean Beach. The walk to Riverside Mill was no more than five minutes from our room and we got to experience the beautiful roses and fountains in front of our "Mansion." My mom and I took a quick ten minute stroll around the entire resort one day, and it was beautiful. I frankly don't know how people expect to experience anything in a resort where you don't have to walk anywhere to get to anything. In order to do any sort of theme, you have to spread things out. If you want a nice resort where you don't have to walk much, I suggest the Swan/Dolphin.
As I have said, the resort was beautiful, and having the Sassagoula River there made it even better. We waved to people on the large boats and the family paddle-boats. It was quite charming.
I read a lot of reviews that said breakfast was insanely crazy in the morning. We did not experience this. Yes, at times it was 80% full in the seating area, which seems crowded, but it was never so busy that you had to wait more than ten minutes to get food or ever stand in line for a table. Sometimes, there was really no wait at all for food and you had your choice of table, but other times you had a short wait for food and had to take whatever table was available. The Cast Members in the Riverside Mill were great with keeping the area clean. There is a large windmill outside of the back window of Riverside Mill and we watched that every morning as we ate.
On the subject of dining, we didn't go to Boatwright's and only ate in the Riverside Mill for breakfast. You have to kind of walk right past Boatwright's to get to the Riverside Mill, so we got to look at the menu. We were on the dining plan, so we had one table service, one counter service, and one snack per day, so we decided to use those at the better places elsewhere (i.e. Le Cellier, Crystal Palace, les Chefs de France). We did think the breakfast was good, though, and we liked the omelettes. If you are on the dining plan, I suggest riding the boat or driving to Downtown Disney (DD) for the Wolfgang Puck Express. It is only one counter service swipe on the dining plan, but it is amazing!
My dad went to the pool/hot tub a couple of times and he said it was always pretty crowded, even late at night. I don't think he tried the quiet pools. The pool at Riverside is on an island, and it is just fine and well-themed. Little kids will like the sea serpent slide at the FQ, however, so it is worth a trip over there as well.
The resort is very kid-friendly, so naturally you will see a lot of children. I think it is also just fine for adults as well.
We didn't use the bus service, because my parents drove their car down (I flew down and met them). We like using our own car because it cuts down on some of the waiting for transportation, and Disney gives you free parking when you stay on-site (parking rates just went up again!). Also, we were there at the time of the monorail crash, which was very sad. We had just used that particular monorail route the day before.
Cast Members were great at this resort. Check-in was a breeze and mousekeeping was good.
Fulton's General Store is a good shop. It seems to have a slightly different stock than the store in FQ, so you might want to check out both if you like to shop. Since Disney has a million shops, a lot of the stuff in Fulton's is in other places as well.
The only knock I have on this resort is the location. I guess it really isn't a fair criticism at all, though. I am just saying that I like the location of the Boardwalk, Yacht/Beach Clubs, Swan/Dolphin (non-Disney), Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and Polynesian better. Our goal is to stay at the Yacht/Beach Club or the Boardwalk in the future. It really isn't fair, though, because all these resorts are "Deluxe" and Disney gives all of the more expensive hotels a better location. The location of all of the moderate hotels is essentially the same. They are all spread out, having good themes, and are not within walking distance of a theme park. I actually think that the location of the two Port Orleans resorts is the best of all the moderates because of the boat service to DD.
I recommend Riverside (Dixie Landings) heartily, especially so now that they are offering these deals where the moderate hotels are basically the same price as the value hotels. We have stayed in the Pop Century before and it is fine, but the moderates are definitely a notch up.
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tommygunn
Registered: November 2009
Posts: 14
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Review Date: Thu November 12, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Beautiful Landscaping and Location, Great Value
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Cons:
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none
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I absolutely love this resort - especially for the money. It's the prettiest of all the moderate resorts. Would highly recommend to all. The landscaping is gorgeous. Only thing that keeps this from being a 10 in my book is that the Alligator Bayou side is not nearly as pretty as the southern plantation side. Definitely ask for the southern plantation side if you book. Bus system is good, not great. But you get that at every resort.
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max webster
Registered: November 2009
Posts: 3
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Review Date: Sun November 8, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Great Bus Service, Beautiful Landscaping
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Cons:
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Trundle Bed
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This was our first trip to WDW and we chose Port Orleans Riverside because it was able to accommodate a family of 5. Other than the trundle bed (you're basically sleeping on the floor) we loved everything about the resort. Bus waiting was minimal, landscaping and theming was fabulous, and our room was very functional. Plus mousekeeping surprised us with towel creatures almost every day. We would definitely stay here again.
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jberrong
Registered: January 2007
Location: Indianpolis, Indiana
Posts: 14
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Review Date: Sat November 7, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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great landscaping, quiet
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Cons:
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trundle bed is aweful!! So were the double beds
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This was my 3rd time at Riverside and it is a very nice resort. I really love the moderates but we have a family of 5. Riverside is the only moderate that can house a family of 5 in a standard room. The trundle bed was very uncomfortable. Luckily my daughter is only 4. It worked for this trip, but we are going to have to stay at the Contemporary or the Poly next time.
Our bed was just as uncomfortable! I woke up every 2 hours because someone moved and the bed squeeked or jerked.
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Maria Hearts Disney
Registered: November 2009
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Fri November 6, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Waterview room, Disney staff, Pool, Restaurants, Rooms always clean!
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Cons:
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I was both amazed and so pleased with our trip to Port Orleans Riverside. We checked in on Wed 10/28 which only took about 10 minutes. They answered any questions I had! I had called earlier in the week and asked if we could possibly get our room in either Magnolia Bend or Arcadia and we got a beautiful room riverview 2nd floor in Magnolia Bend. My children 15 and 7 were traveling with me and it was so nice to be in a corner room with that gorgeous view! Every time I called the staff on the phone or had a question about something they were very informative and didn't mind me asking something to be gone over one more time. The pool was nice and close and the kids and I took advantage of that every day...It was very humid when we were down there so it was nice to cool off in the pool. My only question regarding the pool area was that they did not have lifeguards on in the evening hours. I believe it was like from 7 pm to midnight. Although the pool is not very deep (6 ft) at most, I was surprised by the lack of lifeguards in the evenings when most people are using the pool after coming back from the parks.
The food at the one restaurant we went to Riverside Mill food Court for all of our evening meals on quick service - lots of choices and it all was delicious! We did our sit down dining at the Kingdoms via making reservations for lunches.
All in all this was a beautiful and relaxing vacation time for us! I definitely would stay here again - it really is a stunningly beautiful resort!
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ozmum
Registered: November 2009
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Wed November 4, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Beautiful setting
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Cons:
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Larger resort so takes a bit of time to find your way around
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Our family of 4 stayed ar POR for one month. Coming from Australia & our first trip with the kids (2) to WDW we were very excited & the first impressions of the resort was how beautiful it looked when we arrived early evening. We requested a corner room, ground level close to a bus stop & food court & we got exactly that. We were in room 8013 & it was a great size. Corner room meant 2 windows to let in lots of light. Plenty of space & we accumulated 8 cases & we still had room to move about comfortably. Everything was clean, fresh towels & bath products when we needed it. The housekeeping set up the toys in the room each day in differnt ways & fancy towel folding which the kids always enjoyed. It was our home for four weeks & we would love to go back one day. We had a short walk to the north depot bus & rarely had to stand in the buses. If the bus is full, just wait, always plenty of buses coming (especially at the end of the day) & if you miss a seat on the first, you will get one on the next. Worth waiting a few minutes for it. We travelled many times to the theme parks & only one time had to wait the full 20mins for a bus. We LOVED the boat ride to DTD. It was so relaxing & the evening trips were just gorgeous. It is such a pretty resort. Unfortunately we didnt get to the do the carriage ride this time. The food court was great. Had breakfast there many times & while it was busy earlier in the mroning, when we got down around 9.30-10am it was not so bad. Great variety of food & tasty. We used the laundry facilities & the pool a couple of times. Shopped at Fultons. Staff were very helpful & courteous. Online check in took a matter of minutes & they made us feel SO welcome. We needed a scwewdriver one time & they even brought that up to us. We really have no complaints about any part of the resort. It was picture perfect & all the staff went out of their way to ensure our needs were met. We had the dining plan (the free one!!) and that was THE BEST. Let's hope Disney offers that one again - free dining for a month made it possible for us to make the trip over from Australia. Highly recommend this resort!!
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rsnovak
Registered: October 2008
Posts: 12
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Review Date: Sat October 31, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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beautiful resort, calm, quiet
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Cons:
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non
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This is my favorite resort. I've tried others in different price ranges but I always come back to Riverside. I usually request Oak Manor in the Magnolia Bend section, but this time we were given a room in Acadian House. We had a water view room on the second floor, right in front. We were very close to the food court and the pool, but it was still nice and quiet. I loved our location. The cast members are very friendly and mousekeeping was great.Taking the boats to Downtown is very relaxing during the day and magical at night. At first I found the busing confusing. In the mornings they were combining Riverside and the French Quarter together, so when we were dropped off at the park and looked at our bus stop number, we assumed that's the one we got on at night, but at night they didn't combine anymore and we (and 12 other people) ended up on the French Quarter bus instead of Riverside. Our wonderful bus driver took us all to Riverside. Another time a bus said French Quarter on it so we didn't take it only to find out it went to both resorts and that's the one we were suppose to get on. We started asking the drivers after that--they were very helpful. To me, this is one of the most beautiful resorts I've stayed at---I will be back.
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BoomNLeon
Registered: July 2007
Location: SC
Posts: 128
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Review Date: Sat October 31, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Love this resort
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Cons:
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None
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Our 5th stay at Port Orleans since September 2007. Love this resort and the cast. Theming is great and the rooms are nice. The only challenge is that it is a large resort and if you are in a room far from Riverside Mill or bus stops, it can be a hike.
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kcwolf
Registered: October 2009
Location: Oswego, IL
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Tue October 27, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Beautiful grounds, great pool and food court
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Cons:
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long bus lines
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Very nice resort. Wonderful landscaping, very calm and quiet; perfect after a day at the parks! Rooms are nice, descent size, but a just a little dated. Main pool very entertaining and quiet pools very nice as well. Bus ride times are manageable, but buses usually crowed as this resort is very popular. That also means long lines for bus back too, but they seem to keep the buses coming, so wait not bad, just full buses. Food court is excellent, especially the salad and sandwich area; however, at busy times crowds at food court can be overwhelming. Definitely recommend for someone looking for Deluxe feel with Moderate price.
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MBalderson
Registered: May 2009
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 9
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Review Date: Tue October 27, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Beuatiful grounds and nice rooms
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Cons:
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none
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We spent an extended weekend here and it was great. The boat ride to Downtown Disney was nice and relaxing. Never had a long wait for the bus. The room was nice, clean, Mousekeeping did a wonderful job. For environmentalist, they had a card letting you know that if you wanted to help save water, you could put your towles in a particular spot, and reuse them instead of getting fresh ones. We will stay here again.
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Frau Siebenhuehner
Registered: October 2009
Posts: 7
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Review Date: Mon October 26, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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wonderfully themed, without being in your face
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Cons:
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the size of the beds and the uncomfortable mattresses
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I am afraid to recommend this place too much out of fear that someone will change the mattresses to pillow top and then turn it into a deluxe. Just kidding. This is our favorite moderate. We had the misfortune to split our latest stay between POR and POFQ. Oh how we longed to be back at POR. We love the lush landscaping, how quiet the resort is even when it is full. The other wonderful thing is the boat to DTD.
A gorgeous, understated resort. What's not to love?
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SuzieN
Registered: February 2008
Posts: 12
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Review Date: Sat October 24, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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beautiful grounds, friendly cast members
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Cons:
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none
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I just returned from my 3rd wonderful stay at POR!! Visited 10/14-10/21 with my cousin and another friend. We stayed in room 8408 in Acadian House in the Magnolia Bend section. Our room was spotless; truly the cleanest Disney resort room I ever stayed in. The grounds are gorgeous, particularly at night in the Magnolia Bend section. All of the cast members I encountered were very friendly and helpful. Everything we tried in the food court was good. I will definitely stay at this resort again!!
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MaryJaneClark
Registered: October 2009
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Thu October 22, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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service, comfort, beauty, boat rides, good food
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Cons:
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just a clean, standard room: nothing special, but fine!
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The only "moderate resort" I'd never tried previously, Port Orleans Riverside was my "home" 4-10 October - and I can hardly wait to return there again! Beautiful by day, this romantic resort is absolutely exquisite after nightfall.
My standard room in Magnolia Bend was close to a quiet pool and a short walk to the lobbey, game room, dining hall, etc. Housekeeping was accommodating and efficient.
All POR employees I met exemplified excellent Disney service; to a person, they were warm, courteous, clear, friendly, kind, attentive, and helpful.
I enjoyed an exceptional dinner at Boatwright's and several delicious meals from the food court.
I especially liked riding the boats up and down the Sasagoula River to visit Downtown Disney - and although I did not take a carriage ride, I enjoyed the beauty of the horses.
Following my own itinerary, I had no problems with the bus service and only once had to stand (which was fun on a short hop).
Honestly, I liked POR better than various other (wonderful) WDW resorts that have cost me significantly more (i.e., Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, Animal Kingdom Lodge, & Wilderness Lodge) and the other (wonderful) moderates (i.e., Coronado Springs, PO French Quarter, & Carribean Beach). THUMBS WAY UP for Port Orleans Riverside!
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jeffgrimes23
Registered: September 2007
Posts: 5
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Review Date: Fri October 16, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Mouskeeping, Quiet
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Cons:
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Crowded Buses
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My family stayed at POR from 10/3 - 10/10 for our first time. We had no problems with Mousekeeping and all of the cast members were friendly. I used the online check-in and it went quickly. We had a room in Building 95 which was a good location for getting to the main building. The food court had some great options that others doen't, but it is definetely crazy at breakfast. The only negative aspect was it seemed like no matter what time of day we went to the park the buses were crowded and we did a lot of standing. My suggestion would be to stay af the French Quarter since those bus stops are first.
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bizzi34
Registered: October 2009
Location: Lyons, IL
Posts: 13
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Review Date: Wed October 7, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Beautiful Resort
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Cons:
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Stayed here one night, Sept 26, before moving to Wilderness Lodge. Rooms are really nice and loved the landscaping of the resort. The food selections at Riverside Mill were great and the food was really good. Took the boat to the Marketplace, which was very nice. It rained (2 inches in 1 hour!!) that night and got a bit wet running from the bus depot to the main building and from there to our room! But, it's a beautiful resort and would definitely stay there again!
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