Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside

My wife and I have been to Disney a bunch. We don't 'like' Disney per se, but we have to come here to see family as they like coming. This was the first time I actually enjoyed Disney in a long time, primarily because we stayed at this resort. To be able to sit by a river and read a book or take a walk through the forest, lay on a hammock or roast marshmallows over the bonfire was perfect. We took the boat to Disney springs for lunch and then took it back before our reservation at another resort (as people told us not to eat at Port Orleans, saying the food was avg). Coming back to our resort and walking through the lights over the river was perfectly peaceful in a theme park of noise. We don't have kids so I dunno how the family aspect would be affected by staying here, but for us it was great. We have stayed at poly, grand Floridian, akl, beach club, and others. This resort was easily our favorite. Are the rooms spectacular? No, they are just fine. Remember, They are hotel rooms. They have beds and sinks and a shower. Don't go in thinking you're getting a room with a bidet and private Butler. Go, enjoy the quiet and ride the boat. It's great.

I was there in January 2020, stayed on Alligator Bayou at.building 17. When I booked I didn't find a good explanation why I should pay more for a preferred room. Let me tell you, if you don't pay you get stuck on the buildings that are far from the bus stop and far from the main building.But what really make me want to write a review and rate average (it should be poor) is that you pay a lot of money for a Disney Resort, expecting amazing rooms. The rooms were not up to par. I stayed in 1742. Second floor, and only stairs. You carry your own suitcases upstairs. The bedroom claim to be to 5 people We were 3: myself, my husband and my elderly mother *87 year-old). She is very active not your average 87 year old. We had basically no place to storage our clothes nor lay down our suit cases to use as our own storage. We had to use the little bench that if you have to lay down the bed they claim it is for the 5th person, I have no idea what the rest of belongings go to. The beds were very uncomfortable and unusual high. I am 5'7" and my husband 6' tall We couldn't seat on the bed and tie our shoes with our feet on the ground. My mom had a very hard time getting on and off the bed. I think with small kinds they may climb but really never being in a hotel with a bed like that. For some oddly reason that I couldn't get an explanation from the manger, they do not use fitted sheets, when you pull the comforter and cover sheet out of the folding they do, the sheet covering the bed come out. I had to fix the bed every night. My mom was drinking the tea they provided with the little coffee machine. They have 2 kinds but she likes the earl gray. The room service didn't put any back. My husband had to walk (5 min) to the main lobby to get the tea and they gave him the green tea. He has to fight to get Earl Gray. Then the hotel send tea to my room, 6 packs of green tea. I called the front desk and said we need Earl Gray not Green Tea. Get at the hotel after the park, and guess what? 6 more packs of Green Tea. And they tell you to have a magical day on the phone. Just get me the right tea and I may have a magical day. The other thing the air conditioner unit is under the window and very loud and noisy. And if you close the "nice" touch of the curtain to separate the sink are from the rest of the bedroom, you just have your own sauna. They may want you to have your own bayou heat. I don't think worth the money to stay in this hotel. You need to really to know so many details that requires lots of reads of people that stay there and can give a honestly opinion. The Disney Vacation website do not help you with these. For example, the West Depot is the first bust stop when you get inside the Riverside Property. Being in Building 17, I had to go to the last stop (South I guess), the one next to the main lobby and walk 3 to 4 min to get to my building, and take the stairs up. The reason for average rate is that the grounds are beautiful, But Really, I felt I waste my money. The Extra Magical hours is one of the benefits but be aware, not all attractions are open. And if you don't plan everything in detail it is hard to hit the 8:00am to 9:00am because you stay late at the park, need to walk to grab some kind of breakfast at the main lobby, plan for 30 min to 1 hour to walk to the bus station, wait for the bus, walk to the park entrance and then clear security and scan you magic band to finally be there. And the bus start only 45 min before the park opens. I used one extra hour in Epcot and wait 45 min to ride the Frozen attraction cuz everybody else wants to do the same thing and you have this as basically the only worth ride open. Most of the park closed at 9pm and the extra hours were from 9pm to 11pm. I think I could have stayed in a room with decent storage space, better quality of mattress and a decent bed and payed the $100 for after hours. That you really don't have lines. I would not recommend any of my friends to stay at this hotel. I tried to place a formal complain with the hotel manager, but I had a dinner reservation at Sanaa and she wanted to call me like 11pm to the bedroom where my mom was already sleeping. I will persuit to make my complain with Disney. They charge a lot of money for everything there, so they need at least give me what I can get in a Holiday Inn in any corner of this country.

We are Disney Vacation Club members with our home resort being Wilderness Lodge. We booked our stay for the year already. We decided to offer our twin sons the choice of a party or a Disney trip for their 9th birthday. They selected a trip to Disney. I tried to rent DVC points but none were available. We decided to try Port Orleans Riverside instead. The property was beautiful, our view of the river was nice. We got a studio so it felt a little like just a nicely decorated hotel room. The pool was nice and the boat going to Disney Springs was nice. However, we missed our deluxe amenities. There is a slide at the pool but not comparable to the slides at the deluxe resorts. We had to pay for parking (DVC members staying on DVC properties don’t pay for parking). There was no DVC community center for us to play a game of checkers or do a craft. We mostly missed having a kitchen. Would we stay at Riverside again? Yes. Do we prefer to stay in a deluxe resort? Yes. PS-The hammocks were awesome!!