Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter

My husband and I stayed for 6 nights and 7 days. We had the most amazing stay. We loved the New Orleans style to the resort. We utilized the boats several times to go to Disney Springs and used the buses to take advantage of early access in the parks. We found the food at Sassagoula to be very good and reasonably priced. The beignets at Scat Cat were delicious. The pool area was very nice. Our only compliant is that we wish there were multiple hot tubs or that they had a bigger one as it was often filled with children and families would stay in a very long time.

1st part of my trip 10 nights was spent at Port Orleans French Quarter and I really enjoyed it. Loved the location found getting to the parks not long at all even animal kingdom. Stayed in a newly renovated room and thought it was great. Had everything we needed. Beds comfortable and considering this is a moderate resort so I expected to hear noise outside as people passed but it was so quiet. Stayed in 4316 which was a perfect spot for all the facilities and buses. Food is the same each day but I was off site for lunch every day and upgraded my dining plan to table service of an evening which makes all the difference and is worth the upgrade price in my opinion. However I still found the onsite restaurant to have a decent choice of options when needed. However I've been coming to Disney since 1998 I have a 30, 16 and 12 year old. As much as I still love it I feel it is becoming far too expensive. The fast passes being removed, que times high especially during school holidays. I've never been to Disney and experienced the parks so packed it was shoulder to shoulder. We purchased lighting lanes for all the parks for 4 of the days at an additional cost of roughly £350 for 3 on top of the £610 ticket price per person plus a ticket to get us on guardians. It no longer feels like a magical place and it's likely to be my last trip. Nothing magical about making my holiday each time more expensive and removing some of the things that made it a wonderful place to take my family.

So, some good points, some average and some bad points of Port Orleans Disney resort. The good points are the complex is very clean and feels safe and the staff are very friendly as you would expect from American hospitality. It was very easy to travel to all the parks from the resort using the free Disney bus service and the river boar to Disney Springs. The average points are there isn't too much on the resort itself beyond a nice pool area suitable for adults and children and a bar which has some evening entertainment. I assume they want you to spend you time in the parks along with your money. The food is quite average and the menu doesn't change at all which if you are there for 2 weeks gets a little monotonous. Again if you have booked the dining plan package you feel like you need to use them but we ended up with plenty of meals left over as we had to eat out to get a bit of variety. The free refill cups are only refillable at the resorts themselves so we found this a bit annoying as you had to take them for breakfast for a coffee or cold drink and then carry them around with you during the day or take them back to your room. You can of course fill these with water in the parks but nothing else. The rooms are pretty basic and look a little dated but we were aware they were renovating the resort. I assume the room we had wasn't one that had already been renovated. The beds are very comfortable though. To the not so good points. The music in the resort, whilst charming for the first day or two gets very annoying, especially when you then get on the bus with equally annoying music. May not annoy all but it's very repetitive. The other thing I found with staying on Disney is you stay in a Disney hotel, get a Disney bus and go into Disney parks which starts to feel like your a member of the cast of the Trueman show. I think next time I visited Orlando I would stay offsite for a little more variety and to avoid the annoyingly cheesy music and repetitive daily routine. The other thing, and this won't affect everyone or may be a bonus for some people, is if you are a smoker or vaper you can't smoke or vape anywhere apart from designated areas (apparently) which aren't sign posted and nobody tells you where they are. As a vaper I don't impose my habit on anyone and try to find quiet places away from people to vape but you go from a resort on to their bus and then into their parks which all have these restrictions. After being shouted at several times it got a little annoying and I felt they lacked in the provision of areas for this. The parks themselves I found to be lacking in traditional roller coaster type thrill rides and the I found the quantity of rides across all four parks wasn't enough which leads to long queue times if you don't buy the fast passes. Albeit the rides and experiences are generally pretty good, just not enough of them. And lastly, if you want Disney clothing to wear in the parks I would recommend buying something before you go or from one of the offsite stores available. The onsite prices are pretty steep and the whole place feels like a bit of a money making machine rather than the magical experience you expect. Probably the reason the queue at the Disney outlet mall store was pretty big as I suspect they were much cheaper. On that subject the outlet malls are well worth a visit if you're visiting from out of the country as there are some great bargains and it gives you a little break from the parks. Hope this helps. In summary, Disney is a good place to visit, the hotels

Excellent Disney Resort with spacious rooms and a small resort footprint for ease of walking. We stayed in a standard 2 queen bed room in 4216. The room had luxurious, plush mattresses, a beautiful walk in shower, and large double vanity. The rooms have been recently renovated and the refresh had elevated the space. It is our new favorite Disney Resort. Definitely will come again