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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
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Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
Here is my resort review, I'll post a longer review of parks, rides, dining, etc later.
POR - Royal Room
POR is just gorgeous!! The grounds are SO beautiful and lush. The entire atmosphere is so serene and peaceful, you can relax on benches all around the property or comfy rockers on the back porch. Everywhere you look is simply beautiful. We did a horse and carriage ride around the property which was really nice and worth the $45! We've been at Riverside before so we chose to take the carriage ride around French Quarter.
The cafeteria in POR was just "eh". Nothing really special, just your typical selections, nothing inspiring. It's on the smaller side (MUCH smaller than the cafeteria at Pop or AOA) so it can be quite busy at meal times. There is a lot of seating though so that helps. The Mickey brownies and cinnamon buns were yummy!!
The arcade for the kids is pretty big, the lounge by the lobby was very nice and had some great drinks, and their general store was big and had SO many great things to buy!! ALL of the pools were very nice too! The main pool in Ol' Mans Island was a lot of fun and pretty big too. They had all kinds of water sprays, waterfalls, and even a water slide. There was also a kiddie pool area for the little ones. They have life jackets at all of the pool so you don't need to bring anything with you if you want to swim. The main pool closed at 9pm and had A LOT of life guards around when it was open. The "quiet pools" are open all of the time but they are just basic pools with NO life guards on duty so you swim at your own risk.
My ONLY complaint about POR is the buses. It's a BIG resort with A LOT of people staying there and out of all of the resorts, POR bus lines at the parks were by far the LONGEST. It got exhausting, we rarely got a seat and that was frustrating when you're hot, tired, lugging a stroller, and dealing with kids. VERY rarely does the POR bus go to FQ but even so, within POR there are 4 internal stops. Make sure you're aware of this is you stay there because if you don't get off at the right bus depot you could end up walking FOREVER to get to your room. The mansions, where we were, were the east and south depot stops. For the bayou, north and west were generally better. Basically, be prepared to wait when using the buses.
Also, if you have dining reservations, especially in the morning when the parks open, be sure to leave AT LEAST an hour of buffer time to get there. Between bus lines, security, and any transportation transfers it can eat up your time FAST!
The rooms are very spacious, the four of us fit easily with luggage. We had 2 queen beds and double sinks in the bathroom. There is a curtain partition between the main area and the bathroom area which was great in the morning when we were getting ready and the kids were still sleeping. The Royal Room was AWESOME!! The headboard fiber optics were SO cool, my kids loved them!! All of the finishes and little touches around the room really made it feel regal and stately. It was worth the extra money for the RR. There is a fridge, hairdryer, and iron in the room as well as a safe for any valuables. I brought a hanging organizer that hung from the rod in the bathroom so I had more space. It held all of the kids clothes and my DH and I used the drawers for our things.
FQ is a short walk and you can take advantage of everything there as well. I recommend checking it out, it has a whole different feel than POR. We took a walk over there one night to look at the property. The walkways are like little cobblestone roads and it really feels like you're walking around New Orleans. We stopped by their cafeteria and had a few delicious beignets and then took the boat ride back over to Riverside. It's so pretty!!
Art of Animation
We were only here for one night and we thought it was really cute, the kids loved the theming, but I'm not sure I would want to stay again. I like the elegance of the moderate/deluxe resorts over the value theming. We were in the Little Mermaid room which was SMALL, it's a real tight fit for four. AOA feels pretty much exactly the same as Pop. Laid out the same, buildings and rooms look alike, cafeteria the exact same. It has a value feel even though it's cute. It was fine for one night but any longer would've been too much..............at least in the Little Mermaid room. If we planned on being at that resort longer I would've gotten one of the suites for sure!
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Posted 5/15/17 10:08 AM  |
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BargainMama
LIF Adult
Member since 5/09 15657 total posts
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Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
That room looks great! Love it! But, I'm always turned off by the internal bus stops. We did that at Saratoga Springs and Coronado Springs and it was awful with the full buses, and taking forever to get anywhere! We stayed at FQ one year, and loved the rooms, the small resort, the one bus. I agree with your Little Mermaid room assessment....tiny!! We did 2 nights there after a deluxe stay one year.
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| Posted 5/15/17 11:27 AM |
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luvmykids8
LIF Adult
Member since 9/15 2050 total posts
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Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
The Royal Room looks beautiful!!!!!
I'm excited for AoA- we are a family of 5 so we need the family suite!!
Can't wait for more! :)
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| Posted 5/15/17 12:43 PM |
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ANewDayHasCome
Love multiplies, not divides
Member since 11/12 14481 total posts
Name:
Me
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Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
Great review. Bring on more lol
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| Posted 5/15/17 1:11 PM |
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lightblue
LIF Adult
Member since 1/17 2249 total posts
Name:
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Re: Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
Looks so nice! How did you like Pop? Just curious because that's where we're staying.
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| Posted 5/19/17 2:54 PM |
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BargainMama
LIF Adult
Member since 5/09 15657 total posts
Name:
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Re: Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
Posted by lightblue
Looks so nice! How did you like Pop? Just curious because that's where we're staying.
We have stayed at Pop a few times. Rooms are small, like Little Mermaid..although I think LM rooms are actually smaller...they seem that way to me! The resort only has one bus which is good. The tie dye cheesecake is good, and I like their food court offerings more than I liked Art of Animation's!
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| Posted 5/19/17 3:42 PM |
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Sparrow
LIF Adult
Member since 11/10 6826 total posts
Name:
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Re: Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
Thank you for posting this, I love reading Disney reviews! I would love to take an extended trip like you did but I don't think I could ever convince DH. Can I ask how you spent the days? Did you have down days where you did something other than the parks? I'm looking forward to your full review! 
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| Posted 5/20/17 11:45 AM |
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bear0524
LIF Zygote
Member since 4/09 48 total posts
Name:
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Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
Thank you for posting this. We are going to the Royal Rooms at POR next Friday. I can't wait to go! Was it far from the rooms to the big pool and lobby area?
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| Posted 5/20/17 1:24 PM |
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Re: Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
POR is really beautiful- we stayed at French Quarter last year and walked over to POR for dinner at Boatwrights which was excellent. Even though POFQ is very pretty, I almost preferred the openness of POR- but I didn't know that about the buses- because FQ is small there is only one stop and we never had an issue boarding at the resort.
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| Posted 5/22/17 2:36 PM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
So sorry I haven't posted a full review yet, I'm going to try and do that tomorrow and answer your questions too. 
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| Posted 5/22/17 10:51 PM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
Posted by lightblue
Looks so nice! How did you like Pop? Just curious because that's where we're staying.
Pop is cute but the rooms are small and very basic. The Little Mermaid room was very similar, I didn't find much of a difference between the two.
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| Posted 5/22/17 11:01 PM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
Posted by Sparrow
Thank you for posting this, I love reading Disney reviews! I would love to take an extended trip like you did but I don't think I could ever convince DH. Can I ask how you spent the days? Did you have down days where you did something other than the parks? I'm looking forward to your full review!
We got there late Friday because our flight had been delayed so our first full day was Saturday. We spent the day relaxing at AOA in the pool before checking out, then we went over to Disney Springs for the afternoon, checked into POR and had dinner and a horse and carriage ride, and then hung around the resort.
The rest of the time there we had full park days.
Sun - MK (all day and night)
Mon - HS (finished up by around 5:30 then headed back to the resort to swim and hang out)
Tues - Epcot (all day and night)
Wed - MK (came back for a swim mid afternoon and then went back all night)
Thurs - AK (finished up by 5:00 and then went back to the resort for dinner and swimming.)
Fri - Epcot (Disney Springs at night)
Sat - MK (took a break mid afternoon because it was crowded and raining and had lunch at the Boardwalk resort)
Sun - Home
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| Posted 5/22/17 11:06 PM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
Posted by bear0524
Thank you for posting this. We are going to the Royal Rooms at POR next Friday. I can't wait to go! Was it far from the rooms to the big pool and lobby area?
Not where we were. We were in Oak Manor which was right over the walking bridge from the lobby, bus depot south, and the main pool. Right outside of our room was one of the quiet, 24 hr pools which was very nice. Have an amazing trip, you're going to LOVE it!!!!!!!
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| Posted 5/22/17 11:07 PM |
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bear0524
LIF Zygote
Member since 4/09 48 total posts
Name:
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Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
I am so excited! We are going over this Friday afternoon. We live an hour from Disney and are taking our son for the first time. He will be celebrating his 3rd birthday next week. I booked the Royal Rooms since my son or husband doesn't care where we stay. This is great news to hear the resort is awesome.
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| Posted 5/24/17 9:59 PM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: Resort Review - POR (Royal Room) and AOA
Posted by bear0524
I am so excited! We are going over this Friday afternoon. We live an hour from Disney and are taking our son for the first time. He will be celebrating his 3rd birthday next week. I booked the Royal Rooms since my son or husband doesn't care where we stay. This is great news to hear the resort is awesome.
You will LOVE it!!!! Hope your son has a very magical birthday!!!! 
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| Posted 5/24/17 10:31 PM |
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