Riverside vs French Quarter

[senderella]

Hi all,
I am going to WDW Feb 1st with my best friends (no husbands, no kids, no dirty dishes, no housework....you get the picture)
Anyway, I just realized my reservations are for French Quarter and not Riverside. I have walked around FQ, but never stayed there. Does anyone know if the rooms are the same size? What about the bus stops? I think there is only stop, but I am wondering how far the walk is to Riverside. Any info would be great help, I am just trying to decide if I should make the effort to change. Of course we will probably not be in the room much.
Thanks

[senderella]

Sorry, put the question in wrong section

[ibrowse17]

We are just back from Disney, and stayed at POFQ for the first time. We really enjoyed it. Staying in building 6, we were a short walk from the bus stop and about a 5-10 min walk to Riverside. FQ actually has 2 bus stops, placed a few yards apart. One has stops to MK and MGM, and the other was for all the rest. Not sure of the rooms, as we have not stayed at Riverside, but we found our room to be larger than we had thought. We will be there in early Feb also, so hope we both have a great time:thumbsup:

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We stayed at POR for our honeymoon a couple of years ago, and then at FQ for our anniversary and both were wonderful!

FQ is a lot smaller, and that is the draw for most people, no where is far from the bus stop or the main building and pool.

The rooms are the same at Riverside and FQ (except for the rooms at Riverside that have a trundle bed, but you don't need that this trip anyways).

Some rooms at Riverside can be a bit away from the mail building, but there are a number of bus stops and "quiet" pools around the resort. We've never walked from FQ to Riverside, but I did drive once and it took about 30 seconds! As well as walking, you could always hop on the boat!

Either way, you'll have a good time, we loved both, but go back to FQ for the size, DH prefer the theme, and DD loves the pool and slide.

Either way, enjoy your girls trip! :mickey:

[mook3y]

Other people have covered the basics already.

Foodcourts are similar. POR has Boatwrights. POR also has boat rentals if that interests you. Both have live music on some nights, POFQ has Jazz and POR has piano man.

We have stayed at both and are currently booked at POR for 2008. They both are nice, we just preferred POR.

Nice thing is, that they are sister resorts and you can use amenities from either resort.

[FromKnoxvilleto Disney]

We actually enjoy POFQ better for our family because of the small size of the resort itself. LIke others have said it is a very short walk to food court and bus stop. There are not any rooms far away. POR is a great resort but if you do not get a close room to the main building it can be a bit of a walk. Although I have never stayed in the mansion rooms I have heard they are slightly larger than the others, especially if you get a king bed. We like both resorts just prefer the smaller layout of FQ.

[moe513]

fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,

[Not2Loud]

I have stayed at both in the last year, and preferred POFQ myself. I liked the theming of the rooms better, not as many dark colors.

I love the pool at POFQ, plus the boat stop right there as well to take you to DTD.

Enjoy your trip!

[Kairi_7378]

We have stayed at FQ and RS. I preferred FQ, DH was enchanted by RS. I guess we have to continue trying the rest of the mods until we find our Disney home! On our last trip we did the walk between RS and FQ a few times and it is about 0.5 miles. Even in the rain, it wasn't a bad walk. I think the others have given a good rundown of the perks of both of the resorts. You really can't go wrong at either of them. But, FQ is harder to get into because it is a lot smaller, so you should feel lucky!
I think the rooms at the mods are all the same size. (Other than for the suites in CSR).

[#1donaldfan]

FQ has one bus stop, which has two stations....the rooms are the same, with just different themeing....I don't see much difference in the two, with FQ being smaller and Riverside being much more spread out....We love POR AB....it's got a very laid back feel, very quiet, it's sorta our home away from home......have fun choosing...:thumbsup:

[LudwigVonDrake]

Within the next week, I plan on booking Port Orleans FQ :mickey:

[Ms.Disney]

We stayed at POR in Sept. and LOVED IT! We walked around FQ but from what I saw I think we like POR better. It seemed more relaxed. :mickey:

[tinksmom02]

We've done both in 2007 and I prefer FQ, for all the reasons mentioned above.

We've done the walk to and from POR, not far at all, even with a 5 year old! You could take the boat if you'd prefer, but we walked and actually beat the boat.

I do recommend heading over to POR at least once to catch Bob Jackson's show in the River Roost Lounge!

[jenfriend]

My daughters and I rode the boat back from downtown one afternoon and got off at PRFQ just to look at it. It is much smaller than the Riverside resort; but with all the walking at Disney this is a plus if you ask me. The pool has a nice dragon waterslide, but looked more like a conventional pool than the fully-themed Tom Sawyer Island. The food court and jazz bar looked nice. We walked along the river, crossed a road, then back onto a paved trail on the far south or east (?) side of the Riverside resort. Our "mansion" was on this end of the resort. If we didn't have 5 in our group, needing the trundle bed option, we would give the French Quarter a try. The biggest difference is size and FQ doesn't have a restaurant; but we weren't impressed with Boatwrights anyway. You'll have fun at FQ, I'm sure.

I've never thought of going to Disney w/o kids - great idea for a girls weekend! Do you go into the parks and everything?

[DisneyCrazyET]

We have also stayed at both. I like FQ for its size. I think it has a cozy feeling.
(or maybe it was because we had the perfect room, in the middle, facing the pool, and not far from anything)
Both are good. Enjoy

[garymacd]

fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,fq,

Yeah, I have to agree. Love the size, love the theming, love the size, love the beignets, love the size.

The rooms are the same size, so don't worry about that. Everything is close by, so don't worry about being too far from the bus, the beignets or the bar.

Have a great time.

[Splashmom]

Your trip sounds great! I'm not sure what your plans are but beware that the pool at POFQ will be closed from Jan-mid March. Since there is only one pool, you would have to go to POR to swim. We really wanted to stay at POFQ but we decided to move because of the pool closure. Have a great trip!:mickey:

[krorx]

POFQ is my pick. Smaller, nicely themed, a food court that wasn't mobbed. I don't think you can go wrong with either but after walking all day, a smaller resort can be a huge plus. Have fun!:D

[senderella]

Thanks for all the great info! I think we will just keep our reservations at FQ. At least I can add another resort to my list.

I did know that the pool was going to be closed. I actually received a letter from Disney which surprised me since we stayed twice at Riverside while renovations were going on in the main building and was not notified at all.

Jenny had asked if we go to the parks without the kids.....ABSOLUTELY! We are there from the time it opens until it closes. We are also going to the Pirates and Princess party. It is fun to have no responsibilities and be a kid for a few days. I recommend this for everyone. I try to go at least once a year with a group of friends. The kids get to go at least two times during the year so I don't feel bad.

Thanks again for all the good information.

[browneyedgirl12]

I personally Love POR AB. If you stay in Alligator Bayou you're not that far from the lobby or the pool and even the walk to and from is beautiful. The pool is awesome there and there is a poolside bar. The foodcourt has many options and Boatwrights is a very good resturant. The lounge in the lobby is very nice and the piano man is very funny. He starts singalongs makes jokes etc. It is just more relaxed and more fun if you ask me. :mickey:

[Diz-Knee]

I agree with all of the above regarding POFQ - glad you are sticking to your original reservations. One thing I don't think I saw anyone mention was regarding the transportation perk at POFQ - you are the first stop going to the parks and dropped off so that was certainly a plus we found. The buses start at POFQ and go around to the other stops at the POR resort. Have a great time with your girlfriends! WDW is awesome with just grown ups. DH and I have a now 2 year old and had a chance to travel to WDW before him about 8 times.