Disney 2012 : Our Resort

There is just so much to say about Disney and I always get so many questions so I decided to break up my vacation posts into specific details - such as our resort, dining, and park experiences. This is the first in a series of posts I will try and get up over the next few weeks.

We love staying on property at Walt Disney World ... it really does make it so that the magic does not end. This year we decided to give Port Orleans Riverside {POR} a try. We have stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter on another vacation and enjoyed it.  All of Port Orleans has undergone or is undergoing renovation to the rooms. We requested a newly renovated room and received the exact building we had specifically asked for. Port Orleans is rumored to have some of the best theming and lush landscaping on property - we were not disappointed. Here is a view out our window of our resort room.

Our room had new Queen size beds {prior to this renovation the beds were doubles} and a Murphy Bed for one of our children. We were in the Alligator Bayou section of POR - which have rooms that can accommodate five. We paid for a preferred room location and requested Building 14 - bottom floor, for easy access to both the main building with dining hall, pool, and bus stop. Pictured below a shot from one of the dining hall windows back toward our building.

Loved the new decor! {Our room was in the bayou section so themed more that way - there are also mansion rooms to choose from with more elegant theming.} Beds were super comfortable and we really appreciate the fact that the bathroom area has a curtain which you can pull to give more privacy during dressing and undressing. Also, that the toilet is in a separate room from the two sinks. Not pictured below is the table with two chairs and a bench seat next to the window.

The kids could not wait to get back to our room each day to see what surprise the housekeepers had left them - some days it was towel animals and other days they had arranged the kids stuffed animals in a cute way.

Port Orleans Riverside has a great pool with a small water slide and great activities directors who always have something fun going on. There were even nightly marshmallow roasts by a fire and movies under the stars. Resort fun really can compete with the parks ... many times I think our kids would have been just as happy hanging at our resort then heading into Magic Kingdom or another park. {And, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that POR has one of the best game rooms on Disney Property.  The one night we had rain - all the games were free - needless to say I did not see my children for hours.}

We actually preferred the food court at Port Orleans Riverside over our other favorite resort's food court at Grand Floridian. POR offers several choices for each meal and one of my favorites was the carving station - with roast beef and turkey available. I am really pleased with the fact that Walt Disney World has many healthy options for children. Ava Mae is showing off her mini-cheese pizza in the picture below. She paired that lunch with unsweetened applesauce, grapes, and a bottle of water.

Another reason we loved Port Orleans Riverside, the leisurely boat cruise we could take to Downtown Disney. Always with a comical boat captain. So fun, just to sit back and enjoy the beautiful lush river landscape and all of the wildlife as you cruise the river.

For more information about Port Orleans I highly recommend this unofficial website - it gave us great pre-planning insight and is the reason we requested the building we did. And, while you are there, check out the new Royal Rooms they are opening, as of this month, at Port Orleans Riverside.