Disney's Port Orleans Resort - French Quarter

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

My first time staying here was in May 2015. It was a situation where my travel agent asked which hotel, and I pretty much drew a moderate out of a hat. But, for that trip with my mom, we loved it. Known as Disney's smallest resort, I think what they have in being small they make up for in substance. We spent 8 days here in 2015, building 7, and loved it. Since then, any time we have been in Orlando, we have gone here for some beignets and to use the boat to Disney Springs. Don't sleep on the boat. Even if you are afraid of boats or water (like my mom) take a chance. My mom loves it and it has helped with her fears. Our next stay was this past December, 2024. When I was booking our 10 day Disney vacation, I asked my mom where she wanted to stay, offering all of the moderates as a choice. Right away, it was French Quarter. I could not sway her decision, no matter what I did. We booked and, upon checkin with Tyler Grace (shout out-I also did the cast compliment for them), we were able to move our room to building 3, ground floor, and an accessible room. You see, between booking this trip in September 2023 and going in December 2024, we found out that my mom needed a knee replacement (literally 3 weeks before our trip). She was using a walker for this trip. I did try to change our room on our reservation but was not successful. Upon checkin, I asked Tyler-Grace if there was anything we could do. A building close to the main area, a ground floor, anything. A couple of quick calls and we got that building 3 accessible room which, I have to say, made my mother's trip. Not climbing into a tub for a shower. Guard rails in the bathroom for her. A little extra room for the walker. Amazing. Our room was perfect but, I also have to comment on the service throughout. Guest Services was amazing. We needed to get a few packages, and I always had the same cast member there. I did not get a name but, she was amazing. I tried to tip, she wouldn't take it. She deserved it though. The cast members in the gift shop were so helpful and accommodating. We had one issue where we bought distilled water while waiting for our room to be ready and asked if we could leave it behind the desk. That was fine but, when we came back, we were asked to pay for it again. It was a lot of conversations but, we worked it out in the end. I wish our name had been on it. The service in the quick service again was excellent. I was always reminded how to make the most of my dining plan and was given tips on which food to order for the best experience. My only complaint here is I guess I was supposed to receive a bounce back offer in my room, it was not there. I only found out about this after our trip (I called Disney and they said it was too bad, even though it was only 2 days after our trip-not impressed). Also, I was supposed to get luggage tags, which did not happen. There were a few others things I was supposed to get in my room or checkin (n

It was a pleasant surprise to see that the French Quarter appreciated our last year's TA review. We did spend an afternoon there again, on this year's Orlando visit; enjoying the festive Mardi Gras themed Xmas splendor. The only difference; this time we indulged in Mickey's premium ice-cream bars versus beignets, while listening to the music. Exploring the Disney resorts during the holidays, is a wonderful way to begin immersing into the spirit of the season. And, the French Quarter is one of our favorite locations within the "Disney bubble"; to start the process. We're already looking forward to next year's return.

We stayed one night as part of a split stay and in glad it was just one night. As soon as I walked in, there was a dirty tissue on the floor at the foot of the bed. I wanted to make coffee and good thing I looked in the coffee maker first…there were little pieces of what looked like carrots in the water chamber. That disgusted me after my kid said what if that came out of some little kids mouth! Ewww! The pool was under refurbishment but we faced it and the water playground thing was extremely loud. My son did love the gumbo in the quick serve restaurant. I probably wouldn’twouldn’t stay here again though.

Disney properties are the best! Their attention to detail is un-matched. The options of things to do on-property is varied (running trails, pool/spa, arcade, etc). Transportation options on-site make it easy to navigate to Disney springs and all the Disney parks.