Most Recent Reviews
Review of Columbia Harbour House
Reviewed by meltort Review Date: 04/26/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
The servings were very large. My 15-year-old daughter and I both ordered the fried shrimp platter. We left the equivalent of 1 full meal behind from our plates combined. Next time we will share. Except we both probably would want our own delicious cake!
Pros:
Large servings; chocolate cakeCons:
NoneReviewed by kekmouse Review Date: 04/29/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
This is the perfect resort for families. There's plenty of activities for kids, large grounds for them to run around and be loud after a long day at the parks, and a number of different pools that never felt crowded. Here are a list of my overall experiences.
Rooms: We were 2 adults and three children staying in Alligator Bayou so we had two queen beds and a pull down. All of the beds were comfortable. The fridge had room for all our snacks and leftovers. The bathroom was slightly smaller than we expected, but there was a lot of space in the area with the sinks for changing. Outside noise was never an issue, even with a pool nearby. If I had one issue with the room, it was that there wasn't much storage space. Only three drawers with the pull down bed, but we were also provided with a large clothing rack and hangers so it evened out pretty well.
Transportation: We relied entirely on the bus/boat service for transportation and I was having anxiety about that before we left. Thankfully, it was unfounded. By using the smaller depots as opposed to the main hub (South Depot) near the lobby, we were always able to get a seat going to the parks and the only day we waited more than ten minutes was the one time we used the South Depot. If you can get to the West. North, or East easily from your room, use those. Be warned though, because Riverside is so large the buses were always crowded on the trip back to the park.
For travel to Disney Springs, we opted to take the ferry in. While they do have buses to take you there in what may be a shorter amount of time (The boat trip was about fifteen to twenty minutes), the boat ride is so relaxing and lacking in crowds that I recommend that. It will drop you off at the Market Side dock though, so be prepared to either walk or take a second ferry if you're trying to get to the other side of the area.
Food: To be honest, we had a lot of our meals planned for off property so we only ended up eating at the food court twice. However both experiences were great. There's a large variety for breakfast and lunch/dinner and some great options for kids. I highly recommend the pasta bar, very delicious and filling. It will get very crowded in the hall, but they provide an area with to-go containers so you can pack up your food and bring it back to your room if you'd like. We did not eat at the table service restaurant so I could not review that.
Recreation: There are five pools at Riverside. One is the large pool with the slide and bar. We never went there, but it always looked fun. There were lots of pool games and trivia so the kids were never bored, as well as several lifeguards patrolling at all times. We opted to use the "quiet" pool that was located near our room. There are four of them on property. There were no lifeguards, but the largest depth was just over four feet, I believe. As long as you're there to supervise them, your kids will be safe. Only the main pool provides towels so if you're going to the smaller ones, bring your own.
For other activities, there are horse-drawn carriage rides around the grounds, movie night for kids, bbq and campfire experiences, pole fishing early in the morning, and bicycles. We liked the carriage ride a lot. There's so much of Riverside to see and all of the grounds are amazing well kept. There's also a large gift shop and arcade. Fair warning, no prizes for the arcade. My munchkins found that out the hard way.
Staff: This was our one negative experience with the hotel. We had issues with housekeeping from the start. We had to leave extremely detailed instructions for what we wanted, (Extra pillows and blanket for the pull-down, more soap, etc) and even with that, we still had to contact guests services twice to get things we needed; basic things, like dirty towels being taken out of the room. Tables were never cleared off, even when what was on it was clearly debris, like leftover forks, and the beds were turned down so tightly we had to pull really hard to get the sheets loose. Every other member of the staff we met with was polite, smiling, and always ready to help. I hope our issues with housekeeping were just an anomaly.
Overall, our vacation experience was made more complete by how much we loved Riverside. All of things my niece and nephews said they'd miss most was at the hotel. If you're looking to spend a lot of time at your hotel property, go with Port Orleans Riverside. You won't regret it.
Pros:
Beautiful grounds, wonderful food court, great bus service, and awesome pool areasCons:
HousekeeepingReview of Trattoria al forno - Breakfast
Reviewed by MBodine Review Date: 04/28/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
Pressed pot coffee was the best! I had the polenta with tomato gravy and sausage and my wife and son had pancakes and the fixins. So good!
Pros:
Food!Cons:
—Review of Beaches and Cream
Reviewed by MBodine Review Date: 04/28/2016
Rating: (8) Recommended
We had burgers and onion rings and of course dessert. The burgers and rings were pretty good. I have had better. The star of the show are the desserts. We had the banana bread dessert with the ice cream and peanut butter sauce. One of the best ice cream desserts I have ever had! Why is this place so small and so hard to get into?!
Pros:
FoodCons:
noneReview of Spice Road Table
Reviewed by MBodine Review Date: 04/28/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
What a hidden gem! We had lunch here and loved the view of the water and Spaceship Earth in the distance. We had the lamb sliders with hummus fries. SO GOOD! We will definitely be back!
Pros:
Food and ambienceCons:
noneReview of La Hacienda de San Angel
Reviewed by MBodine Review Date: 04/28/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
Wonderful food and neat atmosphere! We had an 8:30 seating and were able to sit near the window for Illuminations! We absolutely loved the food and the ability to watch the fireworks from our table.
Pros:
Food and ambienceCons:
noneReview of Sci-Fi Dine-in Theatre Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by MBodine Review Date: 04/28/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
Good food (wish there were more choices), and neat ambience. We had a great server who sang to us and took our picture. We will definitely be back. We've been to WDW so many times and had always skipped this one. I am glad we finally tried it.
Pros:
Ambience and foodCons:
noneReview of Tusker House Character Breakfast
Reviewed by MBodine Review Date: 04/28/2016
Rating: (6) Recommended
Great food and character interaction, but definitely only for those on dining plan. . .which we were not. Over $120 for breakfast for 3 was a bit hard to swallow.
Pros:
Yummy food and good character interactionCons:
priceReview of Beach Club Villas (Disney Vacation Club)
Reviewed by MBodine Review Date: 04/28/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
Our home is VGF, so this was our first DVC stay away from there. We really enjoyed the proximity to Epcot and DHS. The entire resort loop of BW, B&Y, Swan and Dolphin is really neat. Love the beach, the pool area, and the running loop. We will definitely be staying in this area again.
Pros:
Location, size, amenitiesCons:
NoneReviewed by hammons16 Review Date: 04/30/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
I have absolutely zero complaints about the resort. Our room was perfect, updated and clean. Not dingy at all. We got the pool view and stayed in 2339. I dreaded the third floor at first but we loved having an upper level view and the walk was still not bad. The kids loved having a view of the pool and it added ot the excitement of the trip and I would book that same room again. Every CM we encountered was very friendly. I had read reviews that were contrary but this was certainly not our experience. I love the fact that the food court is small.. sure it can get cramped just a little, but it is not a loud overpowering gigantic food court like POP. When you order your food they give you a buzzer and you can go sit back down and not stand in line (like burgers, nuggets, etc). I thought this was an awesome service. Our daughter has a shellfish allergy and the chef was super friendly and did not treat our requests like a burden in the very slightest. Every CM behind the grill was friendly. Mousekeeping was the best that we had ever encountered. I think I told my husband one day that our mousekeeper was the bomb because everyday I was impressed. I could tell they went the extra mile. They even wrapped up my phone cord and set my daughter’s stuffed dinosaur up on the bed with her pillow one day, and rearranged our soaps. The pool staff was also very friendly.
Busses were prompt and maybe 1 or 2 times we waited more than ten minutes. More often we were running after the bus that was already sitting there. On our last trip we remembered having to drive all over POR every time we went somewhere and this was seldom the case. I also loved the fact that they have the screens now with the updated bus times and now a CM frequently waits at the stops and clarifies time (once there was a wait time for DHS for 40 minutes and he checked into it). My son is begging to go back to "the same room with the same pool". We can't wait to come back.
