Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Hotel

All the areas look magnificent. The rooms, the river, land scaping, everything looked great. Staff was on par with Disney standards. Only thing is kind of a good walk to get from one place to another. Other than that it was magical. The best thing was a boat that would take people to a back entrance of EPCOT. We didn't even know about it till we went on that boat. The walk along the river was so peaceful.

Had a great time at PO Riverside.. rented bikes and toured the whole complex (which is pretty spread out), and then rented a boat to go to Downtown Disney area. Plenty of amenities and things to do at resort. Pool area very nice and big. Rooms were comfortable and very well kept .

Edit... sorry, posted wrong pics.

Our family of 5 has stayed at Port Orleans Riverside (specifically the Alligator Bayou section) on 4 or 5 different occasions. Although some people do not like the distance to the food courts we find it to be our favorite part of the resort. The winding pathways are filled with beautifully themed buildings, dense natural landscaping and yet, even during the busiest summer months it still maintains a secluded feel. Vacations are meant to be relaxing and this resort will not disappoint. No sounds of traffic and plenty of native bird sounds, rustling waters, and a nice mix of sunshine/shade add to the experience of the "Bayou" feel. The rooms, though on the small side, have never bothered our family (2 adults, 2 teens, 1 child) as we really never spend much time in the room except to bathe and sleep. The multiple quiet pools are simply that....quiet, and the larger community pools are more crowded and busy. The quiet pools also have a small laundry building so that your family can swim while you do laundry. You don't often find the quiet pool area being too noisy or crowded and once again they are hidden amongst the back drop of dense trees and landscaping. This resort is a hidden gem and it would be quite a challenge to find another hotel with this particular "feel" at such a major vacation destination.

This was our first trip to the world and we stayed at Riverside. Because we are a family of five and could not afford the deluxe hotel options, we pretty much only had this as our choice to stay (the suites at All Star Music were actually more money!). We did a bit of research and knew what the hotel was going to be like--that we may be in a room that could be bit of a walk to the lobby. When we got there, what we did not know ahead of time was how beautiful the grounds were and that while we did have a bit of a walk to the lobby (maybe six minutes with our slow 3-year-old walking) it was like an adventure to our three kids. They loved to stop and look at all the critters and creatures along the way. We were also about a 5-6 minute walk to both of the bus stops.

We were there for seven days and ate lunch at the hotel almost everyday. The kids loved their options and since the portions were pretty large, we usually only got two kids meals and the three of them split the meals.

Any staff that we encountered were very pleasant. We had to go to the check-in counter after the second day because my 5-year-old decided to rub his key card up against one of our cell phones and render it useless. They replaced it with no issues at all. Then the next day, we had to come back to the hotel shortly after we got to one of the parks because my husband lost his keycard alltogether (which had our credit card info linked to it). The hotel staff was quick to cancel the missing card and issued a new card with no issues. We were extremely happy that they were able to take care of it quickly and did not make us feel like we were complete fools...

Our room was clean when we arrived and was cleaned every day. The size did not seem different than any other hotel we have ever stayed in, so that was not an issue. Even though we did come back every afternoon for the little one to take a nap, we were hardly there.

The only thing that was a bit annoying was that the bus rides to anywhere seemed to take a long time and were usually pretty crowded. Bus service was also shared with the French Quarter so coming back to the hotel at the end of the night--especially at the end of Magic Hours--we would sometimes have to wait for 1 to 3 bus loads before we could actually get on a bus and most of the times all the seats were full and people were standing.

Overall we had a fantastic time and will definitely stay again!

We visited the Port Orleans resort Thanksgiving week of '07 and we wouldn't go back again. The grounds are beautiful, the lobby is also. The rooms are quite small and so are the bathrooms. The biggest problem was the walk to the lobby. Many of the buildings are so far away, it was quite a walk just to go to eat. They have a cafeteria sort of eating area, which has horrible lines, and the food is just ok. The restaurant in the lobby was just ok, the menu was pretty limited. For a family of 5, it was a cramped 7 days in the room. The next time we visit, we would stay at the deluxe resorts, mainly because of the convenience of taking the monorail or boat to the parks. The bus rides are horrible. They pack as many people on there as possible, some standing for a 10 minute ride to the park. I would pay the extra, it would be worth it.

The hotel itself was OK. The biggest problem I had was how far away it was from the parks. I was also put off by how far away our room was from the bus stop and front desk. It was about a ten minute walk just to catch the bus. I had three children with me and all the walking just to get to our room once we got off the bus from the parks was a bit much. I was disappointed considering how much Disney charged us to stay there.

The restaurant at Riverside was pretty bad too.