Disney's Port Orleans Riverside

I was surprised at how little I loved Port Orleans Riverside at the end of the trip. Our family was booked here as part of a Dance trip but looking at the photo's of the resort and with it being a notch above our previous Disney Resort ( Pop Century ) I had high hopes. We arrived early and were checked in with no real issues, we had a few hours until our room was ready so we decided to check our bags with the bell service and hang out by the pool. When we left the lobby we crossed the bridge to the pool but found it impossible to secure at least one available chair at 11am on a Sunday Morning. We eventually found someone willing to give up theirs and spent some time in the pool. Good size pool area but let down by a limited amount of chairs for the amount of people. We made our way to our room in the Oak Manor building and found it to be quite the hike from there to the main building, there was a pool that was a little closer ( Smaller ) so we spent some time there but found there to be no lifeguards on duty, Room was fine, clean with decent amenities. We found the on site restaurant ( Cafe not sit down restaurant ) to have limited choices of food and it gets VERY busy very often and I never saw more than 3 cashiers working at any one time...even though there were at least 6 registers. Last day was a let down, The previous afternoon I went to the front desk and requested a late check out the next day if it was available. I was told we were approved to check out at 12:30. The next morning I went into my Disney app and noticed that it still showed an 11am checkout, when I called the front desk they said they had no record of it and I would have to check out at 11am, I told them we already made plans that morning around the 12:30 checkout so they would have to honor it. 2 phone calls later I was told that due to our reservation being part of a group it normally wouldn't be allowed,but they would make an "exception". Look, if you weren't able to do that as part of a group maybe your desk staff should see that when they look up our reservation on their iPad and it shouldn't take 2-3 phone calls the next morning to get it sorted out. Annoying and honestly a pretty poor lack of communication. Would I stay here again ?? No. It's fine as far as Hotel's go but for me falls below the expectations the Disney experience should offer. Clean and fun in places but VERY spread out and with some glaring issues.

We had a lovely three night stay in a Royal Room. Our princess loving kiddo enjoyed the decor. We were in a renovated room and our kiddo didn't know any difference. The beds were very comfy and the space was ample for two adults and one child. The property was so nice and well kept. It's HUGE and the river with the ferry gives it a great touch. They also offer a horse and carriage ride, but you need to book that 30 days out and we did not. It was fully booked. The pool area with the slides and waterfall was a hit. My kiddo didn't want to leave. We did forget our brand new goggles and no one turned them in, I was pretty bummed about that. The food on the property was decent, we had it for breakfast only and we enjoyed it. If you're planning to visit the park, the bus ride was a 10/15 minute ride to the park. Very easy to catch from the resort with monitors informing you on the next bus and to which park. I'd definitely return, it was a nice place to relax, enjoy our visit to Magic Kingdom and our journey on to our cruise!

PROPERTY: Beautiful, lots of trees, really has the southern charm. Very clean everywhere we went. Boat to Dis Springs looked fun but we didn't have a chance to try it. This is a HUGE property, so finding our building in the dark was a little confusing the night we arrived, but there was staff around even that time of night, and she pointed us in the right direction. All the staff is friendly and fun: we saw them dancing each evening in the quick-service food area at the main building, heard them hosting games and fun at the pool with kids, had numerous staff ask if we needed help finding anything as we wandered. There is also a fun looking poolside bar, "fishin hole", and nice looking restaurant ... but we didn't have a chance to try these. ROOM: Large and comfortable, has a mini refrig but no microwave, coffee maker but no cups. Little water pressure in shower, one of my pet peeves with thick hair, but it was ok. Room is very clean, beds very comfortable. NOISE LEVEL: Loud during the daytime. Very quiet at night. This place is packed with families, multiple pools full of children. Not really my style since I no longer have young kids, but it did look like they were having a great time!! We would have loved it had we been Disney people when the kids were young. If I ever return, I will choose quieter next time, maybe French Quarter or Coronado, from what I read. BEST VALUE: The laundry room!! Seriously. I was able to wash and dry a weeks' worth of laundry for 2 adults for about $13. Machines were fast and dried in one cycle. Super nice guest gave me a couple of laundry pods when I couldn't get the soap machine to work (I guess that would have been another $5 or so). SO nice to travel home with clean laundry!! OVERALL: Beautiful property + comfortable room and beds ... I would stay again