Planning our first trip arriving in next 10 days and I found the touring plan room finder. Very few rooms seem to be Garden View as we have booked. Is it worth asking for a room upgrade? Not interested in pool view but maybe river view.
Also comments indicate trying to be close to West side bus stop…the hotel seems so big and everything seems far from something?
Way back (as in, 22+ years ago) we stayed in one of the Alligator Bayou buildings. (In those days, Port Orleans Riverside was considered a separate resort called Dixie Landings, and Port Orleans was the resort called Port Orleans French Quarter now.)
You are correct that it is spread out, but that’s part of the charm of it. I don’t recall it being a big deal. It was kind of nice to take a stroll to the Mill for breakfast, etc. Walk to the bus I don’t recall being an issue either.
I also don’t know that the view matters so much. It is all fairly pretty…besides, how much time will you be in the room looking out the windows during the day? Probably not much. (When we were there, it was our honeymoon, so any time spent in the room had the curtains decidedly CLOSED.)
I think the first thing I would decide is what theme you like. My sister loves alligator bayou, I never want to stay anywhere other than the mansions. The grounds are beautiful and my room has never felt too far from the main building or a bus stop. As @ryan1 said, the walkways go past the rooms so our drapes are always closed. View does not matter at this resort.
If staying in Alligator Bayou I would upgrade to Preferred location to be closer to Riverside Mill, but have stayed in bldg. 27 which is not preferred and it wasn’t too far.
Agree with others that view is not important at PoR because with the outside walkways we nearly always kept the drapes closed.
I was just about to say this. I find with the moderates, I keep the drapes closed because of the public walkways outside the room.
Based on your description I’m leaning towards the Mansions and since I’m hoping for ground floor I’m assuming the drapes will be closed more often then not!!