Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside

“The BEST resort - a fantastic stay!”

This resort is fantastic. We stayed for two weeks in early October 2024. We miss it terribly and are already thinking of our next Walt Disney World adventure! Sure, it costs a lot of money to go to Disney. For us it was worth every single penny. The value for money is insane, and Disney go above… more

This resort is fantastic. We stayed for two weeks in early October 2024. We miss it terribly and are already thinking of our next Walt Disney World adventure! Sure, it costs a lot of money to go to Disney. For us it was worth every single penny. The value for money is insane, and Disney go above and beyond to make your trip special. We were in Port Orleans Riverside for hurricane Milton. The resort and cast members took such good care of us. Their communication through the Disney app was fantastic, and they handled the approximately one millions locked down guests really well, especially in the food court. I can't imagine how stressful it must be trying to feed 2,000 rooms (all fully booked from what we could see!) all at the same time, and prepare them for staying indoors for one day. The site was trashed after the hurricane. But this is Disney! We went for a walk to the French Quarter and by the time we returned (maybe two hours later), the entire resort was back to normal. Trees cleared, pools cleared, paths cleared, restaurant ready to go - and every cast member smiled at us and thanked us for being there. Amazing culture, amazing people, amazing amazing amazing. -The room A huge room with two massive beds. Lots of useful storage space and plenty of under-bed storage for our suitcases. A useful bedside table in the middle of the beds. One on the other side of the beds would have been useful. The bathroom was very clean and perfect for our needs. Shower over bath. Shower pressure wasn't great but again, nothing to complain about. We appreciated the double vanity sink. We liked the drying line over the bath (came in very useful!) and all of the hanging space in the sink area. The safe was useful. Our room was a 7 minute walk to the lobby and food court and 3 minutes from our nearest bus stop. Bell services helped us with our bags - fantastic service - just call them up from your room phone. Mouse-keeping visited our room every other day and they always did a great job. We saw the staff around our building frequently. They seemed incredibly hard working and were always super friendly! -Check in and check out So quick. We checked in online using the Disney app and our room was ready when we arrived at 3pm. We went to check in physically with a cast member also. Loads were available in the lobby and all friendly, polite and super knowledgeable. I love online check in but also really appreciate speaking to humans for more personalised recommendations and suggestions. Check out was seamless. Our room bill was emailed to us and bell services collected our bags (make sure to pre-book this with bell services in advance). Bell services held our bags whilst we had one final Disney adventure before our flight home. We collected our bags and grabbed an Uber back to the airport. Plenty of Ubers available, usually only had to wait 5 minutes for one. Ubers will only drop you at the main entrance and you then walk to your room, or ask for bell services if you've got bags. -Disney transport What a fantastic service! We used this several times daily. Never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus. All bus stops had a screen letting you know when the next bus was due! We sometimes had to stand during busy times (just before park opening and immediately after park closing) and very occasionally had to wait for the next bus to arrive if the previous one was full (maybe this happened once? And the next bus showed up straight away!). We didn't mind standing because all buses went directly to the parks so at most the journey was 15 minutes; most of the time less! The buses were always beautifully air conditioned and this was super welcome in the Floridian heat and humidity. We also used the boat to Disney Springs - such a special experience from the resort. We used the Skyliner and Monorail from other resorts. If you're worried about standing on the busses, perhaps book a resort that's connected to the Skyliner or Monorail. You then have more options that don't involve potential standing. For example, the Caribbean Beach Resort is connected to the Skyliner, connecting you to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. Or, Ubers are readily available and cost very little, or perhaps rent a car. -Food court We enjoyed breakfast in the Riverside Mill Food Court daily. Plenty of breakfast options and enough to maintain variety for our two week stay! We had dinner on a few evenings and we really enjoyed the food here. We took advantage of "Mobile Ordering" as much as possible, especially around the parks! I honestly don't get why everyone doesn't use this. Perhaps it's for the best that everyone doesn't! There were plenty of soda dispensers available. My only suggestion for improvement here would be to offer actual silverware (we didn't care for the plastic cutlery greatly, but we also didn't lose sleep over it) and offer a wider selection of sugar-free soda (Fanta Zero, Sprite Zero for example - like over at the French Quarter). We ate at Boatwrights once and had a really tasty meal and excellent service. It was extremely cold in there so bring a sweater :) -Carriage ride around the resort My wife treated me to this and it was so incredibly special! Our driver, Chris, arrived on time with our horse - Zilly. Chris took us on a beautiful trip around the resort. The sun was setting and the resort really showed off how beautiful it was! I would highly recommend this to anyone visiting. A really memorable way to see the resort. -Walt Disney World in general Sure, this trip costs money and prices have increased since our last stay 8 years ago (where haven't they?) and Disney now charge for queue jumps, but boy, are they worth it. Controversially, I really enjoy the new system compared to the old fast pass system. Fast pass only allowed three selections per day, and limited ability to select more throughout the day. I loved the lightening lane multipass system - select three in advance and then book another attraction the moment you've scanned into your first ride! We must have got in 8-10 lightening lane rides per day using this! The virtual queues were very easy to figure out. Just be on the app at 7am on the dot and you're in! We used this for two weeks and always got a boarding group for the days in Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. Yes, you need to have your phone on you but who doesn't have their phone on them? That said, I did not spend all day on the phone. Once I checked into a ride I spent maybe one minute whilst queuing booking another ride. I then put my phone away and enjoyed the ride. I would sometimes spend 1-2 minutes modifying the existing reservation for a more convenient time, but never would I spend long on this. The parks are fabulous and Disney are constantly building new stuff and designing new experiences for us. All whilst maintaining that magic. I'm 36 and I still adore the magic of the place, every time! The cast members are still such a huge asset to Walt Disney World. Most were incredibly helpful and friendly - and consistently went above and beyond to provide you with a memorable visit. We now have new core memories to treasure for a lifetime. Thank you Walt Disney World, and Port Orleans Riverside - we miss you!

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