Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside

We spent Memorial Day Weekend at the Disney Resorts; Port Orleans has a great shuttle service by boat to the middle of Downtown Disney, which is a great benefit versus taking a bus or driving. There are several pools you can relax in and the dining service is pretty good too.

We previously stayed at Port Orleans "French Quarter" and wanted to try Port Orleans "Riverside" this time. We were not disappointed. A nice feature is that you can take a boat / ferry direct to the Downtown Disney area.

We have stayed in this resort before and we really like it. Love the boat to downtown Disney which is great to grab breakfast , lunch or dinner since the food court and restaurant in the resort are not that great. Rooms are ok for a family of three. Like the lounge with the fire place and piano entertainment. Also good bus service. The pool has a nice slide which my daughter loved. Room has a refrigerator and table which made it eaasy for us to storage some staples and snacks. Only thing I don't like is the message and early maid visit the day of check out.

Really Enjoyed staying at this Hotel! Loved the Pool, lots of Waterfalls and the slide! The hotel also had a nice place to run in the morning. At first we were reluctant to eat in the food court area but we had Breakfast and a laet Dinner there and it was great, Pasta station was awesome. I would definately recommend this hotel especially for the price. If we can't get one of the upper leve Disney Hotels for a resonible price then we will be coming back to Port Orleans Riverside!

Port Orleans Riverside offered easy water access to the restaurants and shops at Downtown Disney. We took this trip 3 times in our 6 day stay. Rooms were spacious and quiet. Pools were easily accessible and water the perfect temperature. Boatwright Restaurant offered delicious southern menu.

good

From the outside, the you'd think you were in Louisana. But my 2 worst experiences were - (.1) the bathroom. The shower curtain had a good amount of blood on it. I don't know if the cleaning staff cut themselves while cleaning, but it was disgusting. (.2) transportation. As a resort hotel, buses are supposed to come by every 15 to 20 minutes to bring you to various attractions. It took 1-1/2 hours and a lot of complaining to get a bus to bring us (and others) to Blizzard Beach. The 1st bus that stopped was full, and they said they'd call in another bus to pick up, but after 20 minutes, none showed, so we asked the next bus that stopped to call into dispatch, and they said they would, but still no bus showed. And now the number of people waiting is increasing, and we're 45 minutes late meeting up with our friends. And still no bus. So we had to walk all the way back to the lobby, and no one working at the resort could/would help us - told us they didn't support transportation, but to us the house phone, so I called dispatch, ripped them a new one, and finally, a bus showed up. But by the time we got there, it was a 2 hour ordeal!

This hotel looks great from the outside, but inside is another story it is a two start average motel. Very small rooms, thank goodness only there for 2 nights. The hotel simply did not live up to the website advertisement. [...] extra 10 dollars for internet [...]. The bathroom was clean, but everything was motel six qualities from the small towels to the little bottle of combo shampoo conditioner including the side of the room and old TV. There are better hotels for that price in that area. I DID NOT RECOMMENDED THIS HOTEL AT ALL

Port Orleans-Riverside is exactly what it says it is, a moderate, clean, family hotel that gives you all the Disney bells and whistles. The room is nothing fancy. We had two queen size beds that practically filled the entire room. There's a small refrigerator, a TV stand and a desk. There are two sinks at the back of the main room near the bathroom with a curtain that can be pulled to give privacy between the bedroom area and the bathroom area. The resort is large and sprawling with a nicely landscaped (but nothing spectacular) grounds. Hotel personnel are all very pleasant and helpful. There was a lively bar scene at night with an old fashioned piano player energizing the crowd. The best part about the resort is that it's a Disney resort which means you get to take advantage of all the Disney extras including their Magical Express service (delivers luggage from airport to your room, automatic check-in for your return flight, transportation to and from the airport, etc.), frequent (every 20 mins) buses to all the Disney resorts and Downtown Disney, Disney meal plans, etc. If you're visiting Orlando to go to the Disney parks and do not plan on spending a lot of time in your room, then this is a good resort.

I'm not sure where to start. The four Disney parks were great but our hotel experience soured our first trip to Disney. The customer service at Riverside was absolutely horrendous. Since we had two families with small children(5 year old, two 3 year olds, and a 3 month old), we were "promised" a conjoining room on the first floor. Instead, we were given two rooms on the second floor(w/o an elevator) that were neither conjoining or adjoining. In order for them to correct the mistake, we were required to pack/unpack and move our suitcases to other rooms 6 different times within the first 3 days. We had also requested a crib for our 3 month old daughter. When we checked in at 10:30 am, we were "promised" that the crib would be in the room(which was the wrong room anyway) after we returned from the park. That did not happen either. I actually had to make two separate trips to the front desk(which was about a half mile from our room) before the crib was finally delivered at 11:00 pm. On the second day, they gave us keys to a room that was already occupied by another visitor. Despite all of their mistakes, I had two separate managers try and tell me it was our fault. It seemed like every manager I spoke with was more incompetent than the last. Each one kept making promises that the next manager wouldn't/couldn't uphold. It was a customer service nightmare!! When I asked for some sort of compensation for our extreme inconvenience, each of them looked at me like I was crazy. Finally after three days of empty "promises", they gave in a credited us $100. $100 credit, are you kidding me?!? If you have ever been to Disney, you know that's not going a long way. As a family, we have been taking two vacations a year for some time now. This is by far the worst experience I've had with a hotel and it's staff. I don't want to come off as a bitter person because we had a blast at the actual parks. I just want to make sure everyone is aware of what they should expect if they decide to stay at Riverside.