Review: Port Orleans Riverside Alligator Bayou Rooms

For the first page of this review of Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort, see this.

THE ALLIGATOR BAYOU ROOMS AT PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE

Port Orleans Riverside has two areas and three distinct room types.

Its Magnolia Bend area has two room types, Royal Rooms and Standard Rooms, each sleeping four in two queen beds.

Its Alligator Bayou area rooms sleep five in two queen beds and one short (~66 inches long) Murphy bed.

Rooms in the Alligator Bayou section of Port Orleans Riverside are one of only two traditional moderate resort spaces that sleep 5 (refurbed rooms at Caribbean Beach are the other) and these rooms are as a result very important to families a little larger than average.

For families that don’t need the extra bed, these rooms have so-so theming, are kind of ugly in spots, and are thin on storage. Such families have better options.

REVIEW OF THE ALLIGATOR BAYOU ROOMS

Both Port Orleans resorts were renovated in 2011-2012, with the most important part of the renovation being the replacement of the old full beds with queen beds.

Even before the renovation with queens, Alligator Bayou rooms slept five–back then, the fifth spot was a trundle bed that rolled out from underneath one of the full beds, and occupied the space between that bed and the connecting door area.
Since the renovation, the spot for the fifth person is now a drop-down Murphy bed that lowers in front of the TV. See the floor plan.

The Murphy bed is comfortable and fine for sleeping a kid five feet tall or shorter. And the sleepy gator is drop-dead cute.

But the design and placement of this bed means both that the room has very few drawers (just three) and also that these drawers are inaccessible when the bed is lowered.

When you enter the room, you’ll see two queens and the connecting door (if the room has one) on one side.

Here’s the same beds from the back of the room. Moderate rooms have always been large, and they fit the queens quite easily.

A closer view of one of the beds. Note the backwoodsy styling of the headboard.

Between the beds is a bedside table (themed as river cargo) with storage below…

…and a drawer with plenty of room for important books.

There’s some art on the wall between the beds and bath.

On the other side of the room you’ll find a table and chairs, an object that contains the Murphy bed and drawers, a TV above, and a mini-fridge and set of shelves.

The TV side from the back of the room. Less than half of the rooms have the two windows you see here.  The rest just have the one to the left of the table. If you want both windows, request a corner room.

These rooms are lightly themed–and not that much too their benefit–to a rustic woodsy/bayou-side look. The table is a little too large for its area, and heavy. Its design suggests construction from branches. You can also see in the image the rug, meant to be reminiscent of a planked floor.  The depiction of wood grain does not quite work.

Further down this side of the room is the object with the Murphy bed, TV above and a bench and drawers below. The bench is not comfortable to sit on–the seat area is not long enough front to back, and the 90 degree seating angle is awkward.

As noted, there’s only three drawers. This entire object is themed to be something, perhaps a packing case. Note the “stenciling” on the center drawer–a reference to the groundbreaking Mickey Mouse cartoon Steamboat Willie, released in 1928.

The drawers have an OK size…

…but as you can tell from this shot with the Murphy bed down, they are hard to access when the bed is in use.

I measured the Murphy bed as 66 inches long by 30 inches wide.  The framing does not much impede the mattress.

At the bath end of this side of the room you’ll find a mini-fridge, a small set of shelves, and the coffee maker, with a hat rack above.  The shelves offer a little additional storage.

The mini-fridge with my usual scaling objects.

Typical of the moderates, the bath is split into two spaces…

…and the sink space can be closed off with a privacy curtain. The curtain continues the river cargo theming, because kids love river cargo.

Note the clothes hanging area on one side–there’s also an ironing board and wall safe in this area.

The sink is themed with a washboard surface, and has an overall grace to it rare in the rest of the room’s theming.

Note that the area under the sinks (including behind the washboard) can be used to stash clothes, making up a bit for the lack of drawers in the room.

The bath/toilet area is enclosed in its own space.

This space functions fine, but the theming of the room is at its worst here. The shower surround is meant to mimic wood construction. While the wood grain is modeled better here than in the rug, the upshot is a tub with mud-brown walls.  This is not something that most of us would regard as either fun or lovely!

These rooms are a godsend for five-person families.

Otherwise, I can’t really recommend them.  For families that don’t need the Murphy bed, the small number of drawers, theming both too subtle and too ugly, and the extreme distance of many of these rooms from the central services of Port Orleans Riverside makes them not the best choice. Families who don’t need the Murphy bed, but are committed to Port Orleans Riverside, would be better off in one of the rooms in its Magnolia Bend section.

PHOTO TOUR OF AN ROYAL ROOM AT PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE RESORT

This review continues here.

TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE RESORT

• Overview of Port Orleans Riverside
• Photo Tour of Standard Magnolia Bend Rooms
• Photo Tour of Alligator Bayou 5 Person Rooms
• Photo Tour of Magnolia Bend Royal Rooms
• Amenities at Port Orleans Riverside
• The Pools at Port Orleans Riverside
• The History of Port Orleans Riverside

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!