From Betty Lou: We have stayed "on property" 2 of the last 3 Christmas visits over the past 5 years. This was the first time at Port Orleans Riverside -- previously had been at Caribbean Beach. This was by far the most challenging of the three trips. My spouse and I traveled with my 8, 6 and 2 year old and my parents -- one in a wheelchair, and brother in law. For the most part the staff was very courteous and responsive with us. We were able to have not only rooms next door, but also with an adjoining door so that we did not have to go outside to visit each other -- nice touch!
We read to request building 14 for proximity to dining hall and bus stops -- this was accurate and a God Send!! We were pleased with not having to "hike" everywhere.
In Alligator Bayou however the beds are very high to accommodate the trundle bed found in the two rooms we had. My mom 5 foot tall and early Parkinsons (among other issues) had GREAT difficulty getting into the beds. We requested a stool and they brought a shower stool like you sit on -- not a step stool. They said this was all they had. -- NOT Adequate.
Resort to Park and Back Busing -- again NOT adequate. I honestly felt that we were the bastard resort. While at the parks we tried to leave at off peak times (before park close, yet night right after fireworks or whatever) since we required additional assistance with the wheelchair. There were times we waited up to 40 minutes for our bus while seeing other resorts with much fewer guests waiting in line getting 2 or more buses. There was more than one of these such occasions where people were even left behind because the buses were at capacity. I have no idea how much longer they had to wait though.
I would have been more accepting of this if we were at a value resort and the deluxe ones were getting the extra buses, as I know money talks, but these were other Moderate resorts getting the extra buses (same category). In general Riverside seemed to be the farthest bus stop before the value resorts also.
Magical Express was great when we got there -- the bags did "Magically" appear, but if your flight leaves before 8 am -- you have to check your own bags, and no matter what they tell you at the resort, for Delta, they DON'T take you to Level 3 where you catch a sky cap -- they take you to Level 1 where you have to walk haul your own bags up to level 3, stand in line with the masses, and hope you can get thru in time to catch your plane (we were last people loaded 5 minutes before we took off). **READ THIS** If you have a wheel chair make sure you tell them when you check at the counter -- only 20 of the 40 buses are accessible -- but they will arrange for one when needed.
