Port Orleans, Riverside

This is a Disney resort?

Our last trip down to WDW was in September, 2007. We took advantage of the free dining plan Disney was offering. We don't normally stay in the resorts since we have 3 kids which means we can't stay in any of the "cheap" rooms. However, I discovered while looking this time that the Port Orleans Riverside resort has rooms with a trundle bed which allows for a family of 5 without upgrading to a suite.

Another tip I discovered while trying to decide where to stay is that Disney has added a few suites to its value resorts. These suites are still more expensive than staying at the moderate priced Port Orleans Riverside, though, but they do have the added benefit of separate rooms. In the end, we decided that we would rather save the extra money and stay in the nicer resort than to have the separate rooms that the suite provides.

We had the liberty of checking in on a Friday and thus avoided the mad (and I do mean MAD rush of guests checking in on Saturday. I ventured into the check-in area on Saturday to find a long line of travel weary families waiting a line that extended out into the parking lot. The lesson I learned was don't arrive on Saturday if you can help it.

Port Orleans, Riverside has a very non-"resorty" feel to it once you get past the check-in area. The main building has a working water wheel, which we all enjoyed. We always tried to find a table near the gears when we ate at the restaurant that was (compared to the other resorts) and spread out. The landscaping is very nice and gives you the feeling next to the water wheel. The hotel buildings themselves are fairly smallll that you are more isolated than you really are. The downside is that you end up doing a lot of walking. I ended up carrying our 4 year old more times than not between meals and the bus stop unless we had a lot of time.

The swimming pools at the resort were wonderful. One of our regrets was that we didn't spend more time at the resort. We spent one whole day just at the resort, but we easily could have spent more. The kids loved the Ol' Man River swimming pool. It has a slide and numerous waterfalls. Because there are 5 other pools it wasn't extremely crowded at the main swimming pool, either. We also went to the main pool at the French Quarter, but the kids didn't enjoy that pool as much because the slide was much smaller.

The room was very nice and well thought out. Granted it was small and I would not have wanted to spend vast quantities of time there. We had 2 full size beds, which I would have preferred to have been queen sized, but we were generally tired enough that it didn't seem to matter. The trundle bed worked out well. The kids took turns sleeping on it. We thought our 4 year old would sleep in it all the time, but our 8 and 9 year old wanted to have a turn sleeping in it, too. It's basically a twin sized bed. I think the trundle bed would be fine even for a teenager or an adult as long as they didn't mind being down at floor level.

The room had a small refrigerator in it, which we used for water bottles which we purchased ahead of time. It also had a small safe, which was a nice extra feature. Another nice touch was that the bathroom sink area had a curtain that could be pulled for privacy while dressing.

More information...
For more information on Port Orleans, Riverside you can check out the official Disney page,
but the best page I found was at Kingdom Magic Travel. I found the page at AllEarsNet to be informative, too. The official Disney web site tends to be pretty, but not very informative, in my opinion. AllEarsNet also has a page with a lot of pictures, which helped to give me a better feel for the resort when I was trying to decide. Also, here's a link to a map of the resort.

Conclusion
After viewing quite a few of the resorts, I think we made the right decision. Without upgrading to one of the upscale resorts like the Wilderness Lodge or the Animal Kingdom Lodge, I don't think we could have done any better. All-in-all, I would have to give Port Orleans, Riverside top ratings. For a family with 3 kids it has to be the most economical choice due the trundle bed vs. getting a suite at any of the other resorts. However, I have to say that we probably still enjoy staying off-site more. The rush of eating out at every meal is more hassle than we like. Also, we do not enjoy going to the park on consecutive days, so being away from the parks is nice.

For more on staying off-site, click here