POFQ and September crowds?

[Gotta Love Eeyore]

Hubby has surprised me with an upgrade to POFQ from a value resort for our September trip. I know Sept crowds are good overall, but how at the crowds/buses at POFQ during Sept? Is it hard sharing a bus with POR?

[Mickey91]

Port Orleans was the most popular resort last Sept. Our line for the busses looked like a Value line. But, at the same time, we would have 3 or 4 busses show up and take care of our entire line in a minimal wait versus some less popular resorts where only a family or two were waiting over 20 min. They were crowded but since you were planning on a value anyway, this shouldn't be any different and you have a very relaxing atmosphere and a cool water slide!

[#1donaldfan]

We have always stayed at the Riverside in the summer months.....a very busy time, but we love it... the busses from the resorts to the parks start at FQ so you at least have a seat, from the parks back to the resort we each have our own depots so no problems there either..

your going to have a great time, don't forget to go over to Riverside and eat breakfast at Boatwrights.....it's the best of any Disney eatery......:thumbsup:

[WriteDisney]

Great question! We're going in September too and staying at POFQ, I love the responses to far :thumbsup:

[FromKnoxvilleto Disney]

We went last sept. and stayed at FQ and had a great time. The great thing about FQ is the resort is so small it never seems crowded there. The bus service was pretty good especially to MK where we always had our own bus and did not share with POR. The crowds in the park were great with the only ridiculous long wait being Soarin' (big surprise). The free dining made the TS meals more crowded but we had no trouble being seated at our ADR time even with a party of 8. All in all a fantastic time to go especially with free dining.

[pdrlkr]

It was very crowded last year!

[wdwnomad]

I was there during the last week of September during free dining. Personally, I didn't think it was crowded at all. However, my perspective might be a little off because the previous two years were at a value. The buses were great. In the mornings and evenings POFQ had its own bus. During the days at MK and to and from the other parks it shared with POR. It was first on and first off which was nice. When the buses did share sometimes it got filled up after the first stop at POR then we went straight to the parks.

[cheshirekitty]

We stayed at POFQ last week of September 07. We had a fabulous time. It was a bit more crowded at the resort and at the parks than we expected but was not horrible.
Resort - We had an end unit in the last unit on the left. It was very quiet and clean.
Dining was hard. Make sure you have your Ressies well planned out. There will be no walking up to a restaurant, any restaurant, for table service. We had one last table service to make and ended up eating at POR, Boatwrights, as it was THE ONLY place still with an opening. What a happy mistake on my part. I had a spicy Tilapia with stewed tomatos that was excellent and I still crave. Have tried looking on-line for the recipe. The service was also excellent.
As far as the parks go - in the evenings around dusk was the best time to be at the parks. We always went to park that DID NOT have extra magic hours because we believed that just about everyone visiting Disney at this time of year would have the EMH option as they would be staying on-site as well. This worked very well for us and had wait time of 5 minutes in the evenings for popular rides that had had 30 min wait times earlier in the day.
Transportation - would get a rental car. We got the grand tour of POR everytime we stepped on the bus and the bus became very crowded. We would leave our children sitting but my husband and I always ended up giving up our seat to people with babies etc. The whole bus experience was very frusterating to us and we would absolutely get a rental car next time.
Downtown Disney - we enjoyed taking the boat to DD and my children loved DisneyQwest. (they were 7 and 10 years old at the time).
Have a wonderful time! Post back after your trip and let us all know how Sept 2008 was!

[RockinRollerMom]

I have never been to POFQ in September, however I have been there in early May and early December. Overall I really like this resort. Grerat theming, a great pool and the boat to DTD is a lot of fun. That being said, my biggest complaint about POFQ is the buses. Yes. it is nice that POFQ is picked up first before Riverside. The buses to the parks were rarely the problem. (even though sometimes they were time consuming because of all the riverside stops) The problem were the bus rides back. My DH, DD7 and myself would joke nightly walking up to the buses, that we didn't even need to look at the map to see where our bus was. All we had to do was to look at all of the lines, find the longest and know that was ours. I am not kidding it was the case EVERY time. Now granted we do stay at the parks late, and I know all of the buses are crowded late at night. However, I really felt that that the PO buses were the worst.

Also just to fair warn you. People will not give up seats for the elderly or children. I have traveled with disabled DF (who walks with a cane) and VERY rarely would anyone offer him a seat. Yes, this a personal pet peeve of mine. (especially these young men you have a disabled person and/or very young child standing next to them and don't offer them their seat)

However, with all of that being said, I would stay at POFQ again. I think you will like it better than a value. Just go into it knowing that if you stay at the parks late, you will most likely be waiting for a bus.

[Darbylew]

We like POFQ. I have never stayed there in
September but have been there in October. It
is a nice resort, love the theme, the pool is
great, the grounds are lovely and the food is
good at the food court. There is only one bus
stop but it is a small resort. I think you will like
it. There is a boat to DTD which is a nice ride.
We enjoy POFQ. :number1: