#Ask It: Port Orleans – Riverside vs. French Quarter
Two resorts. One shared name. Some shared buses. And one river. So how do YOU choose between Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter?
Today’s question is:
Which is better at Port Orleans?
- French Quarter (56%, 330 Votes)
- Riverside (44%, 260 Votes)
Total Voters: 590
Loading ...Voting is open here and on Twitter. Talk about your choices in the comments. Bonus points for whoever is #first with the Dixie Landings reference.
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We have stayed at POFQ twice. The last time was over 4 years ago. At least at that time, the buses picked up at FQ first and dropped off first. If that is still the case, I would choose FQ over POR for that reason alone if I was planning to use the buses.
My then-girlfriend (now wife) and I stayed at POR when it was called Dixie Landings* (Alligator Bayou) back in 1997 and loved it. We visited FQ – nicely themed, conveniently compact — and gave consideration to whether we wanted to stay there on more recent trips, but never felt like it was where we wanted to stay, so we returned to POR. Being more spread out has its disadvantages, but also lets us feel a little less crowded (at a place where feeling crowded is kind of the norm!).
*Do I get the bonus points, at least for here in the blog comments section? 🙂
I’ve loved Riverside since my first stay, the year it opened. Have since stayed at both, but I love the varied theming between buildings at POR. More amenities, better pools and the flip down bed in Bayou have kept this one my family’s favorite moderate.
Riverside. AKA my family’s refuge from the construction site that our actual favorite resort, Coronado Springs, is right now. We love…er…moderates of size.
Riverside has wonderful landscaping, but I greatly prefer the compact size of French Quarter. Last stay at FQ I requested a standard room on floor 3 of building 4 and was only 100 yards from the bus stop, food court and pool. Plan to request the same building & floor this year.
French Quarter’s layout and small scale is awesome. Short walk to the bus stop and feels more authentic New Orleans to me. Wish they would update the beds in both FQ and POR, though. Definitely the worst beds I’ve ever slept on in any hotel.
We stayed at both, twice at FQ and three times at Riverside. With kids under 9 I liked FQ as it is small and the pool is great for littler ones. I believe it also now has a great splash play area too. However now we are all adults/older teens I’d choose Riverside. Quiet pools, great food court and a lovely resort to walk/jog around. We love Ye Haw Bob too and it’s convneient to have a sit down option. That said I really prefer the Beach Club (!) but Riverside is our go to moderate resort now.
How about neither? I haven’t stayed at French Quarter and have no inclination to do so in the future. Riverside is nice but is too “un-Disney” for my tastes – nothing to distinguish it – just another hotel. The best thing I thought was the boat ride to Disney Springs.
I disagree. FQ is a very “Disney” hotel per Disneyland FQ area and RS reminds me of Frontierland, The Boatworks food court is very cool theming as well as Old Man Island.
When my wife and I got married at Disney we stayed at French Quarter, so there is some bias there. However we had stayed there before and really enjoyed the size of the resort, the theme and of course the Beignets. Access to Disney Springs via boat is a plus of course but both have that.
I’m highly curious to see the results of this and the comments. I’ve thought for years that our next stay would be at POR, but now it’s booking time and I’m having doubts. Without kids and because we enjoy walking, we’re definitely attracted to the extra amenities at POR: sit down restaurant, more quiet pools, carriage rides, Yeeha Bob, bikes, fishing, etc. But we might use all that stuff once each, maybe just for one or two “hotel days”. We’ll spend way more of our time over the full vacation in the parks and actually in the room. POFQ is supposed to be more convenient for park access and the rooms just seem to be decorated a little nicer. (Not a big fan of the interior bayou motif, though the exterior looks great. POFQ just seems nicer in and out overall.) So maybe we’re better at POFQ for the everyday stuff, then walking to POR a couple times to enjoy everything there. Would love some input from the TP community.
Carriage rides available at POFQ too.
There are some advantages to POR, most especially the pool. The POFQ pool is colourful and the theme is fun, but unfortunately it’s actually pretty lame, and has *easily* the worst slide at WDW.
That said, the size and overall them of POFQ makes it the winner her for me. If you pick your room right, you can be seconds from both the main building AND the buses, something no one staying at POR can ever claim.
If you switched the pools, and stole yee haw bob, POR would have no reason to exist.
I like them both. I prefer the theme and layout of French Quarter a bit more.