Home at Last: Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside

Oh, it’s so good to be home! :)  Although I haven’t enjoyed the mountain of laundry and dirty dishes…uh, can you say “room service?” lol.

We did manage a quick stop at Disney World on the way home.  That place was PACKED!  We couldn’t believe it.  We normally go this time of year for ds1’s bday and it’s never crowded.  This time we had to *gasp* stand in line…for everything!  My poor bladder was glad to get back to the hotel that night lol.  You ladies know what I mean…the ladies’ room is ALWAYS crowded and this time the lines wound out of the buildings.

So, we left Jacksonville Friday morning and headed for the World…got there around 10 a.m.  We checked into our hotel but had to wait for a room to be open, so of course we hit the parks.  This is the first time we have stayed in a moderate resort.  We normally get a good resident or passholder rate on either a deluxe resort or two rooms at a value resort.  But everything was full, so we got a room at the Port Orleans Riverside…it has two full beds and a trundle, so we could all fit.

There is no denying, it’s a beautiful resort.  We did get lost, however, as it is a BIG resort.  That is one reason why I have shied away from moderate resorts at Disney…they are so big that they require 4 or more bus stops to cover the whole area!  We came back from the parks and stopped at the west depot…at the Port Orleans French Quarter instead of the Riverside.  We were hunting and hunting for our car, and went in to report it missing, only to find out we were at the wrong place lol.  It was cool, though, we got to take a boat over to the other side and found out that the boats will also take you to downtown Disney.

Here’s our boat!  It is a very serene and scenic ride.

See?  We went under several of these neat bridges.

We finally got to the right hotel and found our room.  We were in Alligator Alley.

Here is the view from our balcony.  Of course we only stayed one night and didn’t get to enjoy the pool or boats and other amenities the hotel offers.  Personally, we won’t be staying again.  We just prefer other resorts.  It’s just that this time staying in the value resort, with two rooms at peak season pricing, was more expensive than one room in the Port Orleans. 

As with all resorts on the Disney property, the scenery and wildlife are incredible.  A cute little bunny escorted us along the path to our room and later on we saw a beaver in one of the lakes!  Dh and the boys even saw deer outside the window on a bus ride to the parks.

Well, I must get back to the dishes and laundry.  Next post will be about our first day in the parks. :)