Review: Standard Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside

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

STANDARD ROOMS AT PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE

There are two Port Orleans resorts at Walt Disney World: Port Orleans French Quarter and Port Orleans Riverside.

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

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

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

This page reviews the Magnolia Bend Standard Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside.

All the rooms in Port Orleans Riverside were refreshed and updated as part of the rehab that finished in 2012.

As part of this rehab, full beds were replaced with queens across the resort.  The layout of the five-person Alligator Bayou rooms changed, and the rooms in two buildings in Magnolia Bend, Oak Manor and Parterre Place, were redesigned–and re-priced–as Royal Rooms.

But there’s also a group of rooms in Magnolia Bend in the Acadian House and Magnolia Terrace buildings which are neither Royal nor 5-person rooms.  We’ve stayed in these refurbed “standard rooms” at Port Orleans Riverside a couple of times since the refurb, most recently in February 2015, and they are the subject of this review.

For typical families, these Port Orleans Riverside Standard Rooms are the best choice. 

They won’t fit five–families that size at Riverside can only stay in the Alligator Bayou section.  And, while elegant, they aren’t as sumptuously decorated as the Royal Rooms.

But they are uniformly more convenient and less expensive than the Royal Rooms.

For most families, they are also a better choice than the Alligator Bayou rooms.

They are the same price as the Alligator Bayou rooms, but are more convenient than most.  Moreover, they have about 50% more drawer space than the Alligator Bayou 5 person rooms, their drawers can be accessed all the time, and their theming, while not quite as interesting as that of Alligator Bayou, is much less dark and murky.

A PHOTO TOUR OF THE STANDARD ROOMS AT PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE

The floor plans of the Riverside standard rooms (see above) are about as typical of the Disney World moderate resorts as you’ll find–similar to those of the Royal Rooms and identical to the floor plans of Port Orleans French Quarter.

When you enter, you’ll find two queen beds on one side. Each has its own separately controlled reading light.

There’s a blank wall space near the entry–this is where a connecting door would be in rooms so outfitted. You can see it on the far right of this shot from the bath area.

A closer view of a bed…

…and of the bedside table between the two queens.

Each bed has a different charming image set into its headboard.

There’s another image on the wall between the bed area and the bath that reinforces the overall “steamboat landing” theme of Port Orleans Riverside.

The other side of the room has a table and two chairs, a combined dresser/TV/mini-fridge, and a small ottoman with a coat rack above.

From the bath end.

The table and chairs.

The central thingy on this side of the room combines a TV, dresser drawers and a mini-fridge, and is also where you’ll find the coffee maker–which I usually move to the bath area.

All the Riverside rooms are short on dresser drawers, but these rooms and Royal rooms have the most, and most convenient, drawer space. (Alligator Bayou rooms have about 50% less space in drawers that are inaccessible when the Murphy Bed in those rooms is in use.)

The mini-fridge is similar to what you’ll find in other Disney World rooms. (I try to remember to put scaling objects in them so that you can get a better sense of the size of these fridges. I also try to remember to have something in focus…)

At the end of this wall, you’ll find a little ottoman with a coat rack above.

The bath area is separable from the bed area with a fabric screen. Beyond it, the sink area as is typical has a hanging area to one side, where you’ll also find an ironing board, iron, and safe.

I really like the detailing and color scheme of the sink area…

The tub and bath, as usual, are in a separate space. Here, too, the color scheme works for me.

For most folk who are committed to Port Orleans Riverside, these standard rooms will be the best choice.  They are more livable, less murky, and–mostly–more convenient than Riverside’s Alligator Bayou rooms. Riverside’s Royal Rooms are just as livable, but more expensive and less convenient and, to my taste, a little overdone.

PHOTO TOUR OF AN ALLIGATOR BAYOU FIVE PERSON 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

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