Peaceful Promenade at Port Orleans Riverside
When it comes to “best places to go for a walk at Walt Disney World,” Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter rank highly. In terms of hotels, they’re right behind the Magic Kingdom and Crescent Lake Resort Areas, but ahead of Barefoot Bay, Disney Springs, plus the Saratoga & Old Key West Area.
To their credit, the Port Orleans Resorts have horse-drawn carriages, Mickey beignets, and beloved nighttime entertainment. They’re also just underrated settings with spectacular atmosphere. While so much has changed at Walt Disney World in the last 5 years and is slated to change in the next 5, not much is different at Port Orleans as compared to a decade ago. Sometimes the best things at Walt Disney World are the constants.
Wanting to take my own stroll down memory lane, I was recently going through photos from our last stay at Port Orleans Riverside. These included a lot of sunrise, sunset, and nighttime photography–I thought maybe it’d be worth editing some shots and doing an peaceful photo post from these resorts (mostly Riverside) with my random thoughts mixed in along the way…
When it comes to choosing between these hotels, or any of the Moderate Resorts for that matter, we have a really difficult time. The easy answer is “not Coronado Springs.” After that, it’s really difficult. The last couple of years, it’s also been a bit easier due to construction at Caribbean Beach, which is otherwise one of my favorites.
When comparing Riverside and French Quarter, it depends upon whether you want a sprawling resort to explore or something compact with only one bus stop. For a while, we went with a “best of both worlds” approach, staying at Port Orleans French Quarter so we’d be close to the bus stop when we were in a hurry, and able to walk over to Riverside when we wanted to slow down.
Our most recent stay at Port Orleans Riverside reminded us of how nice it is to actually be there. It’s truly a setting like no other, and the last sprawling unspoiled Moderate Resort.
As regular readers know, we love Caribbean Beach. In the last couple of years, we’ve paid it disproportionate attention due to the developments there, which have enhanced its convenience. There’s no denying that the Skyliner is a huge advantage, as are the amenities and dining offered by Disney’s Riviera Resort.
In terms of places to be, none of the Moderate Resorts hold a candle to the Port Orleans Resorts. Arguably, no other resort at any tier does, period.
While almost every other hotel at Walt Disney World has had Disney Vacation Club or some other ill-advised expansion shoehorned in, Port Orleans remains true to its original design. If anything, it has aged like a fine wine, with trees maturing and wildlife returning as the resort has aged.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the Alligator Bayou section.
This area is akin to if Fort Wilderness had clusters of guest rooms, and is very taste-specific. Thematically, it’s a gem–perfectly secluded and feeling a lot like a bayou (that probably is home to some real alligators).
We love both Fort Wilderness and Alligator Bayou, but prefer simply walking through the latter while staying in Magnolia Bend.
The buildings look nicer, the grounds are meticulously manicured, and the rooms themselves are more to our tastes.
There are also a lot of unique details and flourishes around each building.
Moderate Resorts already have a bit too much of a motel vibe, and the mansion theme helps balance that out. At least, in our view.
One of the most popular room types in Magnolia Bend is the Royal Guest Rooms, which have princess-inspired decorations.
Check out our Review of the Royal Guest Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside for more photos and video.
In recent years, the layout and style of the Port Orleans Resorts, with a central lobby and amenities area surrounded by outlying clusters of guest buildings, has fallen out of favor among Walt Disney World guests.
Instead, self-contained towers–like what you’d find in a major city–are all the rage.
Caribbean Beach Resort saw some of its buildings replaced by the towers of Disney’s Riviera Resort by Coronado Springs was likewise ‘supplemented’ by Gran Destino Tower last year.
We’ve long been proponents of the cluster approach. A sprawling resort like Port Orleans is much more unique, and one of the upsides of Walt Disney World’s “blessing of size.”
Convenience-wise, it’s easy to understand the complaints.
Navigating the sprawling resorts to use the amenities or eat can be a hassle, especially with small children. Transportation is also more time-consuming, especially at resorts with internal loops or multiple bus stops.
On a go-go-go Walt Disney World vacation, this can become frustrating.
We usually favor slowing down and savoring the resort experience–but we also have the luxury of visiting more often and not feeling so rushed.
Regardless of the past pros and cons, we anticipate a resurgence in the popularity of sprawling resorts.
Going forward, there’s definitely something to be said for exterior hallways, wide open-air pathways, and not needing to use an elevator to get anywhere.
Obviously, these are all minor things in the big picture, but every bit of mitigation will help, or at least be valued by some guests.
We have no Walt Disney World hotel stays booked, but we’d definitely be picking the space and open air of Port Orleans over the convenience of Gran Destino Tower in the next couple of years.
This particular stay, however, was at a more carefree time when none of that was encumbering our experience.
We chose Port Orleans Riverside simply to savor the serenity of the experience.
And savor we did!
After a late evening spent photographing an empty Port Orleans Riverside, I left our room super early the next morning for sunrise.
Rounding the corner here, I was struck by the steam fog glowing pink as it was illuminated by the morning light.
The photo doesn’t do the scene justice, but it was the epitome of Port Orleans Riverside’s tranquility. I almost felt disappointed about not seeing another guest for ~15 minutes while lingering around this area as it was unfortunate no one else got to enjoy this.
Recreation is one of the many highlights of Port Orleans, including surrey bike rentals and the marina (among many other things).
Our favorite thing is simply taking a ferry boat down the mighty Sassagoula River to French Quarter or Disney Springs.
If French Quarter is our destination, we typically just take the pathway–it’s about a 10 minute walk, lobby to lobby.
This is one of the nicest and unheralded jogging trails at Walt Disney World. Including both resorts, it’s a beautiful 1.7 mile trail.
About 75% of my Port Orleans French Quarter photos feature this alligator band.
Another 20% are of the Doubloon Lagoon feature pool:
Substantively, Doubloon Lagoon is not one of my favorite pools at Walt Disney World.
Ol’ Man Island over at Riverside is generally better suited to our pool purposes, but it’s also blander. Even though I don’t generally use pool slides, I appreciate the larger-than-life, over-the-top style of Doubloon Lagoon. It has more eye candy and feels more distinctly Disney, if that makes any sense.
All in all, Port Orleans Riverside is a romantic and charming place for a peaceful promenade, and strolling through the serene scenery here feels worlds away from Walt Disney World in many spots. Hopefully this was a fun and relaxing post that helped illustrate why we love Port Orleans so much.
If not–or if you want to know more (room photos, dining, comparisons, etc.) about both Port Orleans Resorts, please consult our French Quarter v. Riverside showdown, and our separate full review of Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter Resort and our Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort Review.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Which of the Port Orleans Resorts do you prefer, Riverside or French Quarter? Do you appreciate the romanticism and serenity of a stroll along the Sassagoula? More of a rustic Alligator Bayou person or Magnolia Bend mansion-dweller? Are you more likely to stay at one of these sprawling resorts in the future? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I love French Quarter. The food, the small size, and how peaceful it is. And being able to take a boat instead of a bus. We haven’t stayed there recently because it’s never part of the free dining promotion.
We stayed at POFQ in 2017 and absolutely loved our experience! Our boys still talk about the beignets and the boat rides from the hotel to Disney Springs. I never even realized until reading this post that there was a pathway connecting French Quarter and Riverside. Riverside looks stunning, I’m so sorry we missed seeing it! This January we stayed at Caribbean Beach and fell in love with it’s atmosphere and the ease of the Skyliner to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios (our families two favorite parks). Of course being currently stuck at home I’m sure we’re all dreaming of our next Disney getaway right?! Now I can’t decide if we should plan another Caribbean Beach stay in the future to have that awesome Skyliner convenience or try Riverside for something more relaxing and serene. (Does anyone happen to have a recommendation on which resorts food they prefer (CBR or POR?) Either way I can’t wait until we can all have some more Disney parks magic back in our lives! Thank you for all the posts Brickers, always gets us smiling- so appreciated under the current circumstances!
I love the Skyliner, but Riverside is my favorite resort at Disney (except maybe Yacht/Beach Club – that pool is incredible!). I would definitely try out Riverside, especially if you’re planning to factor in relaxing downtime at the resort. One thing you could consider is a split stay, staying at CBR for part of your trip and going to Studios/EPCOT while you’re there, then moving over to POR for a few days of resort time. It’s super easy to do a split stay between Disney resorts, they will move all of your stuff over for you and then you get to experience two resorts!
I’d never even considered a split stay, thank you so much for the input Sydney that’s a great idea!
I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside when it was Dixie Landings in the mid-1990s and again during a quick trip in December 2019. I’ve only walked the grounds of French Quarter. I love the theming of these resorts and I consider the theming on par with the deluxe resorts. If I wasnt a DVC member, these would be my go to resorts since the deluxes are too expensive.
The only drawback of Port Orleans is the bus situation to MK. There were terribly long waits to go to the MK so instead I chose to drive to TTC and ferry/monorail to MK.
Thank you for this wonderful post and the beautiful photos. I needed something uplifting today!
We’ve stayed at both POR and POFQ and loved them both. During our last visit, we didn’t stay there, but ended up booking a carriage ride to celebrate our anniversary. I timed it so that we’d be riding during sunset. It was magical, and one of my fave experiences from that trip.
I have a trip planned for next January (that I sure hope I’m keeping!) and am staying at OKW for the first time. How does the walking around ambiance compare to Port Orleans?
We’ve done both and much prefer POR. 2 key reasons; food at OKW is very poor and it has a tiny QS window almost like Yak & Yeti Local Cafe. The other is that the resort is not as pretty and has fewer pathways that aren’t pavements (sidewalks). OKW can have a big advantage though – the rooms are pretty big. The Studios are huge by comparison to those at other resorts built after. They have 2 double beds and still have quite an amount of space left. Quite a few have little balconies too.
We have stayed at POFQ several times. We love the ambience of walking along the river and through the grounds. We have walked over to Riverside too. The boat ride to Disney Springs is a definite plus and…beignets! I think only the ambience of Wilderness Lodge beats Port Orleans in my mind. Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures. I’m feeling both happy and sad at the same time reading this.
Back in 2017 before Irma hit my wife and I were faced with a choice: Add a few more days to vacation and get there early in case the hurricane hits or cancel our vacation. We chose to go early and ended up riding out the storm at Port Orleans French Quarter. I wasn’t exactly our plan to see one of natures greatest shows (second only to the Country Bear jamboree) but we live in Alaska so it’s a long way to travel and our plans need to be made 9-12 months in advance for our jobs. A decision to cancel means no vacation for that year.
We hadn’t specifically chosen Port Orleans French Quarter resort based on any reviews, but rather it’s price as a moderate resort, the boat transportation, and having stayed at Port Orleans Riverside the previous year and walked between the two resorts. I don’t know the correct words to say how impressed I was with guest services or how well those two resorts held up to the hurricane. That experience solidified for me how important safety is for Disney and the standards they build towards.
It would be pretty cool before this upcoming hurricane season if you did a post about Disney safety that wasn’t just focused on hurricanes or COVID-19, but rather on a “toes in toes out” virtual tour of everything you know about how Disney is keeping you safe while on vacation.
Hi. Is there a post that explains the different areas in Port Orleans resort? I’d love to know more!
Try this site, Amanda. Found it very useful – https://www.portorleans.org/
Plus, Touring Plans also has a “Room View” feature – if you subscribe – I don’t subscribe to their notion of touring plans but the site has other useful features – so it’s worth a few $ during a WDW vacation year.
We stayed at Port ORLEANS Riverside in 2015 based on your wonderful recommendations (Alligator Bayou) and my only regret is we didn’t spend more time AT the resort! Thank you for this beautiful post !
Had a rat run in are room NO JOKE. We were next to the laundry area. All around are room was huge laundry rolling units. Not good. Had to complain. They had no other rooms available. So we got upgrade to a much larger room at Old Key West. With a kitchen unit and a view of the golf course. I THINK THE RAT WAS ATTACKED TO THE DIRTY LAUNDRY, OR THE CRAZY AMOUNT OF LIZARDS AT RIVERSIDE. I KNOW WDW HAS LOTS OF LIZARDS BUT THIS PROPERTY HAD SO MANY RUNNING AROUND the walking paths. I love the look of the resort but it does have it’s set backs.
We have our trip planned for June that was suppose to be on my daughters birthday in March. It is in riverside in the royal guest room! It will be our first time staying at any resort; so we’re excited; but worried it may not happen. We’re just waiting to hear news on Disney opening or not.
Love all your posts..I have a question im dying to ask.. Do you and your wife have regular jobs? Curious since you go to Disney weekly. Does this blogging for Disney resorts offer any salary? Sorry to be so nosey . Answer by email if you like. Thank you
I’ve been a huge fan of Riverside since my first stay in July, 1992. I agree with every observation you offered, Tom. I find peace in the paths around the resort and joke to my husband that early mornings at Riverside ALMOST make me feel like becoming a jogger. I do wish we could still rent canoes from the marina. Some of my best memories with my friends in the 1990’s are from paddle trips we took down the Sassagoula.
We stayed at Dixie Landings once in the mid-1990s, but I didn’t even realize they used to rent canoes. That’s awesome!
Remember coming home late one night walking to Dixie Landings room and meeting a local astronomy club out with telescopes aimed at the night skies at trailside. Just one of the reasons we go again and again. Magic
If my 11-night WDW trip does indeed go down next month, I’ll definitely be spending time walking around the Port Orleans Resorts. It’s something I do on almost every trip, despite the fact the fact that I haven’t stayed at either one since the early Nineties. I stayed at “Dixie Landings” just months after it opened in 1992.
I agree that Alligator Bayou is an especially magical area of this Resort, and always alternate walking through it at day or night on each trip. Both are such unique experiencs.
I’d love to go back & stay at the Port Orleans Resorts again at some point, but being DVC Members for so many years, we’ve always got points to use, and I’ll admit I’ve pretty much gotten addicted to having a balcony at WDW for morning coffee & & evening cocktails. That’s the one chink in the armor for moderates & values.
“I’ve pretty much gotten addicted to having a balcony at WDW for morning coffee & & evening cocktails”
I’m the same way with a balcony, but it’s a double-edged sword: not having one “forces” me to wander the resort more, whereas having one makes me lazier about exploring the ground. Pros and cons to both!
So true.
I stayed at All-Star Music a couple years with a friend, and found myself up & around exploring all over the All-Stars before 7am. I enjoyed it.
But there’s pretty much zero chance that would’ve happened if I’d have had a balcony to sip coffee on.
We stayed at French Quarter this past August for a last minute trip and enjoyed it very much. We enjoyed walking around both resorts. Actually I stayed at Dixie Landings back in 2000 when my children were young and took advantage of the playground and pool. Great resort at decent price too.
Love the post. Was very relaxing. Definitely dreaming of our next trip (or just leaving the house in general).
Thanks for this post. I have stayed once at POFQ & once at POR (royal room) and enjoyed both. I would definitely like to revisit these resorts on a trip where I have more time to wander & appreciate the resort. I got a lovely taste of each the first time, but a return will be wonderful to savour. Thanks for providing this lovely stroll before bed. Perfect relaxation to send me to sleep dreaming of these resorts!
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It’s been 2 years since we had the best vacation ever at Port Orleans Riverside. We stayed in alligator Bijou and loved the quiet, beautiful setting. The food was amazing and just hanging back at the resort at night was what we loved after a busy day. The horse and buggy was a romantic ride with my husband. I can’t wait to go back. Beautiful, romantic and fun. I even toasted marshmallows every night!
Have really wanted to stay here! I’m almost sad we bought (resale) DVC because there were some moderates I was interested in trying but we likely won’t. (We are also a large party, so two rooms at a moderate isn’t super appealing.). We’ll have to visit and explore the grounds, though.
As determined as I am to stay off-site when we eventually make it to Orlando (it’s not a cheap holiday when you’re coming from New Zealand), articles and photos like these make staying on site so tempting. Port Orleans looks breathtaking.
I love these photos. I have stayed at Port Orleans Riverside a few times and really like it there. In fact, that’s where I stayed on my first trip to WDW when it was still called Dixie Landings.
Amazing photos! The walk from POFQ to Riverside is incredible and the boat ride on to Disney Springs is the icing on the cake. I actually think there are a lot of overlaps with Saratoga Springs in this respect which is (oddly, given such few plaudits) another of my favourite resorts to walk.
One question I’ve considered a fair bit is whether – in an imaginary scenario (because pointless hypothetical are always fun 😉 ) – I’d take the theme parks (but without the rest of the resort), or the entire resort (but without the theme parks). I hesitate even as I say it, but I think I’d take the resort without the parks. This long-standing hypothetical became more real recently when considering whether I would go to WDW if the resorts were open but the theme park experience was degraded to the point of being unenjoyable. Easy “yes”.
If I can limit this to a year of either theme parks or resorts, I’d choose resorts. More to do that’s our speed–walking around, dining, enjoying leisurely transportation, etc.
However, I’d probably change my answer if we’re talking longer term. I wouldn’t want to never set foot in Epcot or Magic Kingdom again just so I could wander around OKW and CBR, ha.