POR preferred

[jlk0809]

Hi all! I have POR standard view 5th sleeper booked for 6 nights in Feb. It's actually part of a split stay, but it's the last and longest portion of our trip. Two questions: is it worth it to upgrade to preferred? I booked via bounceback and by my math if preferred is still available it would cost about $200 more. I think we will mostly eat in the parks, but we do have one full resort day planned, and probably at least one half day. There are 5 of us. 2 adults and 3 kids ages 8, 6, and 2.5.
My other question is, do ALL of the preferred rooms have 5th sleepers? The 5th sleeper is a must for us, so I don't want to risk switching if there's a chance we will be put in a sleeps 4 room. The system won't default us to a 5th sleeper since my youngest isn't 3. Thank you!

 

[Jadyreen1282]

All preferred rooms have 5th sleeper. They are all in AB. As for the worth, the location is the main reason to book being close to main bus stop and main building. You may still get a parking lot view there.

 

[migirl]

POR is huge and a preferred room will save you a lot of steps. I think it’s worth the extra $.

 

[HopperFan]

From Port Orleans Org ~

"Preferred Location (Alligator Bayou section ONLY): These rooms offer close proximity to the restaurants, transportation and main buildings at Riverside. Preferred rooms are ONLY located in Alligator Bayou lodges 14, 15, 18 or 27 — there are no preferred locations in the mansion buildings or at French Quarter. Views vary and can include parking lot or bayou/stream/garden outlooks — but not pool/river views."




I stayed Building 14 and NEVER AGAIN. Trucks, pizza delivery, guests walking by all hours. It was a very loud location.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

I can only give you my families perspective. We have stayed at POR a number of times and have never felt like we needed a preferred room. The resort is so nicely themed that we enjoyed walking around there. We were in the back on 1 of our stays and it was a 10 minute walk to the lobby. So, if your family does not really like walking that much then I would suggest a preferred room.

 

[SL6827]

From Port Orleans Org ~

"Preferred Location (Alligator Bayou section ONLY): These rooms offer close proximity to the restaurants, transportation and main buildings at Riverside. Preferred rooms are ONLY located in Alligator Bayou lodges 14, 15, 18 or 27 — there are no preferred locations in the mansion buildings or at French Quarter. Views vary and can include parking lot or bayou/stream/garden outlooks — but not pool/river views."


View attachment 801033

I stayed Building 14 and NEVER AGAIN. Trucks, pizza delivery, guests walking by all hours. It was a very loud location.

Wow. Nice info there about #14.

 

[motherdaughtercruisers]

I’ll just add my experience/opinion and you can take it FWIW. We stayed here once after a cruise (last minute decision - as in we called and made reservations as we were driving from PC) & we later found out that it happened to be the weekend of EPCOT’s 40th anniversary (we had no idea) and of course we were only going to go to EPCOT for 2 days because I love GotG and wanted to ride it. Anyway, we ended up in a building that was like between two bus stops and about equidistant and depended which bus driver or CM you asked on what day as to which one to use - so it was always a toss up. But I don’t think we ever took the same route to our room twice. One night we got lost coming back from EPCOT because it is very dark and the arrows that “point” are not very obvious which way they are pointing because there are sidewalks that curve and wind and go every which way everywhere and then when we finally found our “building” we had to walk around the darn thing about 10 times going up and down the stairs because they don’t interconnect (strangest thing I have ever experienced in my life!) It was awful. (And it was likely made even worse because I must have eaten something that was bad/did not agree with me at EPCOT or got over heated that was worsened by my sunburn from CC on the cruise and I was . And all my anti nausea meds were in the room, so I was just so dang desperate just to find the room!) We vowed we would never stay there again. And I learned to always keep at least one anti nausea pill on me at all times.

But I hope you have a MUCH better experience!! I guess if I was forced to do it again, I would do whatever I had to do to make sure I got a building that was right next to the bus stop and a building that faced the parking lot because you can seriously go in circles in that place and have no idea where to go.

 

[jlk0809]

I’ll just add my experience/opinion and you can take it FWIW. We stayed here once after a cruise (last minute decision - as in we called and made reservations as we were driving from PC) & we later found out that it happened to be the weekend of EPCOT’s 40th anniversary (we had no idea) and of course we were only going to go to EPCOT for 2 days because I love GotG and wanted to ride it. Anyway, we ended up in a building that was like between two bus stops and about equidistant and depended which bus driver or CM you asked on what day as to which one to use - so it was always a toss up. But I don’t think we ever took the same route to our room twice. One night we got lost coming back from EPCOT because it is very dark and the arrows that “point” are not very obvious which way they are pointing because there are sidewalks that curve and wind and go every which way everywhere and then when we finally found our “building” we had to walk around the darn thing about 10 times going up and down the stairs because they don’t interconnect (strangest thing I have ever experienced in my life!) It was awful. (And it was likely made even worse because I must have eaten something that was bad/did not agree with me at EPCOT or got over heated that was worsened by my sunburn from CC on the cruise and I was . And all my anti nausea meds were in the room, so I was just so dang desperate just to find the room!) We vowed we would never stay there again. And I learned to always keep at least one anti nausea pill on me at all times.

But I hope you have a MUCH better experience!! I guess if I was forced to do it again, I would do whatever I had to do to make sure I got a building that was right next to the bus stop and a building that faced the parking lot because you can seriously go in circles in that place and have no idea where to go.

That sounds rough! It really wasn't my first choice, but it made the most financial sense for our family size and bounceback offer availability.
We do have some room in the budget for Minnie Vans, which I believe can take you straight to your building, so I will definitely keep that in mind for days that we come back after dark!

 

[motherdaughtercruisers]

That sounds rough! It really wasn't my first choice, but it made the most financial sense for our family size and bounceback offer availability.
We do have some room in the budget for Minnie Vans, which I believe can take you straight to your building, so I will definitely keep that in mind for days that we come back after dark!

Absolutely do what is best for your family!! Just remember my story and your solution if you find yourself in my situation! Lolol!! You’ll have a great trip!