Disney Trip - The Hotel

This time we stayed at Port Orleans - Riverside.  I apologizer that I don't have any pictures of the room or the resort.  I really have no excuse...  The above Mickey greeted us on our first trip to Port Orleans in May 2009.

They have since redone the rooms.  We stayed in the Mansions both times.  To see pictures of the resort and the newly refurbished rooms in the Acadian House visit AllEars.com.

This is our favorite Moderate Resort at Disney World.  We find that setting to be very calming and makes us feel worlds away from the hustle and bustle of the parks.  (Though I will say that we feel that way at many of the resorts.)  We also love that we can a take a boat ride down the Sassagoula River to Downtown Disney.  It is so nice to feel so far away from everything, but be so close.

It is a good size resort, but if you request one of the rooms in a closer building the walk to the Riverside Mill Food Court (I will do a review of this in a day or 2) is not that bad.  There are several bus stops around the resort, so you don't have to walk to the main building to go to the parks.  We drove to the parks (it's easier with the double stroller), so I can't really talk about bus times to the parks.  Though I will say in general, this is the one frustration JGD and I have no matter which hotel we're in.  But it always seems like the bus we want is the one that is running off schedule or left just before we got there.

There are also several smaller pools in addition to the main one on Ol' Man River Island.  Sprout loved the big pool, the kiddie pool and the playground in this area.  She wanted to go down the slide into the pool, but JGD and I were not sure how Sprout would handle the splash at the end.  We would like her swimming to be a little stronger.  There were several parents with kids a little older than Sprout who were either catching their kids as they came down the slide or had them in life jackets.  Honestly, I had to laugh at the kids in the life jackets as the skidded across the surface of the water at the base of the slide.

A great perk of the resort is Bob Jackson, also known as the Piano Man.  He plays at the River Roost Wednesday through Sunday nights.  His show is a great one if you can catch it.  It's kept very family friendly, so have no fear about bringing kids to the bar to watch.  He sings plenty of classics (including some for the kids in all of us) and has a great time interacting with the crowd.  This was a great way to end the night and wind down.  You can see some of his performance here.

We definitely recommend this resort.

I will post more about our trip including restaurant reviews and thoughts about our days in the parks.