POR bad reviews - should I worry?

[mousetrapper]

I've seen a lot of bad reviews of Port Orleans on a few travel review sites -- outdated rooms, poor customer service, horrendous bus lines and overly crowded buses.

The only moderate we've ever stayed in is Caribbean Beach, which we love, but we thought we'd try something new this year. Based on pictures and descriptions, we chose Riverside and are hoping for Magnolia Bend.

What do you think? What's your opinion of Port Orleans?

[Snow's Mom]

I just saw a similar question from 2008 a few pages further in. Someone said Magnolia Bend was going to get a refurb starting soon---well, should be done by now!

We stayed at Alligator Bayou some years ago and loved it. So pretty and peaceful! Didn't like the full-size beds, but I read those have been/are being replaced by queens.

Hopefully, someone who has stayed there recently will give you some answers soon. But I'd go ahead and try it!

[mom2morgan]

I wouldn't worry at all. I LOVE POR. I've discovered that you can find negative reviews of EVERYTHING if you look on travel sites. Some might be a random bad experience; frankly, some of them sound made up!


I've seen a lot of bad reviews of Port Orleans on a few travel review sites -- outdated rooms, poor customer service, horrendous bus lines and overly crowded buses.

The only moderate we've ever stayed in is Caribbean Beach, which we love, but we thought we'd try something new this year. Based on pictures and descriptions, we chose Riverside and are hoping for Magnolia Bend.

What do you think? What's your opinion of Port Orleans?

[crltkcagle]

We LOVE POR!!! I have never seen overly crowded buses or experienced any rude staff there. It's a very peaceful resort. The only complaint I know of is getting lost in the Alligator Bayou section because all the buildings look the same and are spread out. Other than that I have never heard of anything bad about it.

[AmandaChan]

We stayed at POFQ and would have to take the bus over to POR and the grounds were beautiful. The plus side is POR is picked up after POFQ.. at least during May they are.. not sure about busier seasons..

and there are plenty of people that have bad reviews for every single resort. I keep reading bad reviews about CBR, where we're staying in June, but I also read plenty of good reviews for it and the people that like it love the resort for their own special reasons. Just do your research and pick out the building that is best for you.. and good luck.

BTW I loved POFQ. The grounds are amazing and where we stayed it was suchhh a small walk to the cafeteria and busses and we did not even have a preferred room. I liked and disliked the busses for specific reasons.. I liked them because when we went the lines were not bad and they were shaded. Which is different/better than having to wait in the gleaming sun at Pop for a bus for 20 minutes. I hated them because it felt like it took FOREVER to get anywhere. And I do believe that POFQ has one of the longest ride times to all of the parks. But we also had to ride all over the entire POR area and what felt like its neighboring stops which I did not understand but yeah.. if we ever stay in POFQ again we will get a rental.

[WDW&MK]

I agree with mom2morgan. I think there are people that have unrealistic expections or are generally negative and will post bad reviews about anything. Sure, buses can be crowded depending on time of day or time of year, but so can buses to any of the resorts. I personally LOVE POR as you can see from my sig. It is beautiful and relaxing. If you enjoyed CB, I think you will very much enjoy POR.
Have a super time :mickey:

Just wanted to add after I re-read your post that I have always had excellent customer service there and I find the rooms to be just fine. Disney refurbs things on a rotating schedule and the rooms have always met with my standards.

[MarkC]

POR is one of our favorite resorts. Great grounds, great food court, great atmosphere. I don't know if some of these reviewers normally stay at the Ritz Carlton or think they should be the only ones at Disney, but we always loved it. Hopefully you will too.

[forever a child]

Honestly, I don't pay much attention to Disney resort reviews from Non-Disney sites. I would be more concerned for negative review from my fellow Intercotes! As others have said...they could be first time quests that just has no idea of crowd levels, didn't know how to navigate transportation, used to 5 star hotels when POR is more of a 3 1/2 star resort, or just like to leave bad reviews.

We LOVE POR and can's wait to return especially now that it has been renovated! Hope you enjoy it. If you are interested...send me a PM and I will send you a link to a website that is all about POR and POFQ so you can learn all about the resort!

:mickey:

[alpro2]

No worries! POR is a great resort (we have been to all the moderates). :thumbsup:

[LVT]

Not much to worry about. The disney fan sites have thousands of positive reviews as well as the occasional problem report. Those are great odds.

[SandmanGStefani24]

I wouldn't worry at all. I LOVE POR. I've discovered that you can find negative reviews of EVERYTHING if you look on travel sites. Some might be a random bad experience; frankly, some of them sound made up!

i agree sort of. you can find negative reviews if you go looking for them, but take them with a grain of salt and ready carefully. plenty of bad reviews can be attributed to unrealistic expectations, or just one bad item.

i write reviews for a hotel review website and am always very objective and list good and bad. have only written one bad review in around 5 years or so...

if you're looking for a review about a WDW resort definately look around, but look here first! :rocks:

[buzznwoodysmom]

I really believe that you just have to try something for yourself to see if you like it or not. However, we've stayed at all 4 moderate resorts. We really liked CSR, we loved CBR, and POFQ is probably our favorite. However, I don't see us ever staying at POR ever again. We just didn't like it. I didn't like the room decor at all. To me it felt like I was staying in a cheap camp somewhere. Other than that I can't really put my finger on it, but we just didn't like it like we've liked other disney resorts.

[GrmGrninGost]

We've stayed at all the moderates and POR is my favorite! :mickey:

[goofygirl67]

I stayed there for the first time this year. I enjoyed the resort so much I booked another trip for this month. I liked the woodsy look I had in the room. Yes it did take a while for the buses but I didn't think it was anything different than CBR. My friend did not like it, he is a FQ fannatic and didn't care for the spread out area. I recomend a stay at the POR, at least once.

[KatrinaJ91]

We love POR! We have stayed at many different Disney resorts and POR is our favorite. We don't even have a decision to make when we are going to Disney....it's a no-brainer, we stay at POR from now on! The grounds are beautiful, the food court has really good food and great atmosphere, the pools are wonderful and you can't beat the boat ride to Downtown Disney!! Make sure you see Bob Jackson at the bar....he's amazing!

[Disney-4-Me]

Port Orleans Riverside is the only moderate we've ever stayed in and we enjoyed the stay. The grounds are beautiful, our room was clean and comfortable.:thumbsup:

[TheRustyScupper]

I've seen a lot of bad reviews of Port Orleans on a few travel review sites -- outdated rooms, poor customer service, horrendous bus lines and overly crowded buses.


1) There have been legit complaints about maid service.
2) Other than that, I would not worry about the other things you mentioned.

[A Big Kid]

The grounds are big and it seems like there is not a straight walk to any building, but we enjoyed our last stay there in january of 2010. The best kept food secret on all of wdw property is the build your own pasta at the food court.

[lovinmesomedisney]

We loved it when we stayed there and have done so four times. The quiet pool was awesome, even during busy times of year. We never had bad customer service and the boat ride to downtown Disney is a nice bonus. I don't know where you saw all the negative reviews, but I wouldn't worry about them.

[goofysbabe]

We've stayed at POR several times and we just love it!!! No worries, just enjoy yourself - like one poster said you'll find negative comments about everything sometime or another.

[#1donaldfan]

1) There have been legit complaints about maid service.
2) Other than that, I would not worry about the other things you mentioned.

Like mentioned before, if you're looking for negative, then you're sure to find some....but for us, and see my signature, we've stayed at POR many times and have ZERO complaints with mousekeeping ... NONE !!! Maybe it depends on your building...we have only ever stayed in building 18/14/15......NO WORRIES !!:mickey:

[mousetrapper]

Thanks to everyone for your responses! Very helpful. I agree that you can find a bad review -- as evidenced by the bad reviews of CBR I've seen which are completely contrary to my experience there.

So here's a more specific question. I'm planning to ask for Magnolia Bend vs. Alligator Bayou. What are your thoughts on that? Also, although I know no request is guaranteed, I'd like to ask for a building that is convenient to the bus stop but not too far from the food court, pool, etc. We always asked for Jamaica in CBR for this reason -- perfect location close to a bus stop and a quick walk to Old Port Royale.

Thanks!

[magicalmom]

We love the grounds at POR, and the amenities. The rooms are not deluxe, but they're clean, and have everything we need: fridge, TV (can't miss our Stacey!) beds for 4-5, two sinks, a safe, adequate storage - what's not to like? The Alligator Bayou rooms are rustic in theme; I'm told the rooms at Magnolia Bend are fancier, but we always stay at AB for the trundle beds. (Moment of panic: I don't know if the refurbs will change the trundle beds?)

As far as Mousekeeping goes - we tip every morning, to make sure that each maid who works the room gets her share. We've never had anything but fabulous from Mousekeeping. I can't say if there's a connection there or not.

[Young@Heart]

Glad you're more comfortable with your resort choice :) we have NOTHING BUT GREAT things to say about POR. We have always been treated with the best service there. The rooms are always clean and tidy and we've never wanted for space, even with 5 in a room. We've done two rooms at POP a couple times, and POFQ once...yes, part of the reason we chose POR is the trundle bed. But even without the need for the extra bed, we're sticking with POR for our "second honeymoon" trip. It has such charm and is such a peaceful and beautiful resort!

We've only stayed in Alligator Bayou, and at first, I was jealous of those in the Mansion rooms lol. But we really love Alligator Bayou. The decor is charming and just makes me feel cozy and comfy! And the quiet pools are amazing! Our kids love basically having a pool to themselves, even during the hot and humid summer months. And it's nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the main pool sometimes.

Either way, I think you can't go wrong at POR. It's definitely become our home away from home at Disney.

[squad51]

I have stayed in both sections of POR. AB is charming in its rustic look and feel. Mag bend has the feeling of sophistication. Mag Bend, to me, has the feeling of staying at Grand Fl (having never stayed at GF I can only imagine what it would feel like).

As for the transportation:
AB rooms are within short distance of the first two bus stops and should be able to get on any bus without trouble. MB has two bus stops, however, I would take a few minutes to walk to the main bus stop as I have had trouble with full buses by the time they get to the two MB depots. Last time we stayed at POR MB we just walked to the main stop at the lobby as it only took 3-4 min from the farthest south MB building.
The other nice transportation option is the river cruise to downtown. The boats are small, but the trip is quite relaxing and a nice change of pace from the buses.

I would stay at POR again, but alas we will be just down the river at POFQ come June.:joy:

[Goofster]

We stayed at POR for one night on our last trip before switching to Boardwalk and we loved the resort. It was very cozy and charming. We stayed in AB for the trundle bed and we actually plan on staying there for a full trip next year--that's how much we loved the resort. :thumbsup:

We only rode the bus once to the MK and it was full. We got on at the main stop in the front by the lobby and it went straight to the MK rather than making any additional stops at the resort. So I can't comment on the transportation.

The only other moderate we've stayed at is CSR, which we also really enjoyed. But I would choose POR over CSR.

[Mitzie]

I agree with everyone else about the bad reviews. I once read a bad review about POR...they complained that the weather was bad on their boat trip to DTD...like that is the resorts fault...Disney can do great things but controlling mother nature is not one of them. We have stayed twice at POR and loved it both times..it is so beautiful and peaceful after the crowds and such at the parks. This most recent trip we were in building 38 in the AB section. We were real close to Acadian House and the North Depot was close as well. It was maby a 5 min. walk to the main pool and slightly longer for the main buildings. We had a standard view and we looked at a very pretty little courtyard. We just love POR and would go back in a heartbeat.

[JWB3]

POR is our favorite resort. We've stayed in both AB and MB and found the rooms clean and quiet, and each time they've honored our requests (floor, building, section). The quiet pools are very nice, and just walking or biking the grounds is a lot of fun. Even as a moderate, we liked it more than WL and AKL. Can't beat the boat ride to DTD either - overall a great place to stay - enjoy!!

[darthmacho]

We stayed at POR in 2010, in Magnolia Terrace, we loved it, and are considering staying there again in the future.

I loved the atmosphere there, the theming and decor were fabulous, and the restaurant and food court were very good.
We had few problems, if any, getting around via the bus, though they tended to be quite crowded at night on the way home after park closings. That seemed more of a WDW issue than a POR issue.

The only minor complaints we had were a red stain in the bath area we originally feared was blood, but then realized was probably nail polish, the food court was really crowded early mornings and late at night, and lastly that they made us check out at the end of our stay. Seriously? I really felt they should have let us stay indefinitely for no charge. What's up with that? :mickey:

Long story short: POR was a good choice of accommodations.

[txdisneyfanatic]

We absolutely LOVE Port Orleans! It's a FANTASTIC hotel and I would have no worries whatsoever. You will love it 2!!:mickey:

[Cinderelley]

I would take POR over CBR in a heartbeat. Jamaica is a great section in CBR. I would recommend Magnolia Terrace. There is a bus stop right out the back of the building. The main building is a shorter walk from Magnolia Terrace than it is to go to Port Royale from Jamaica.

And the build your own pasta station is awesome :)

[DisneyGirl85]

We love POFQ! It is my favorite moderate resort that I've been to. The New Orleans theme is cool, the bus stop is never crowded, the quick service food is good with a big selection and the CM's are great! The last time I was at POR was when it was Dixie landings. I liked the resort too but I would pick French Quarters over Riverside.

[KatrinaJ91]

We prefer the Alligator Bayou...ask for Bldg 15 or 18...very short walk to everything! Bus stop, food court, main building and main pool! This is where we always request and have always been granted our request!