Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside opened as Dixie Landings at Walt Disney World in 1992 in the Disney Springs resort area, joining its sister property Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter. Celebrating the spirit of rural Louisiana, the resort includes Southern-style mansions (Magnolia Terrace) and cottages (Alligator Bayou) along the Sassagoula River, plus iconic entertainment (Yehaa Bob Jackson at River Roost), recreation, pools, and dining. Transportation includes bus service to the Walt Disney World theme parks and boat service to Disney Springs. In this episode, we discuss the resort’s history and Imagineering, and we share everything you need to know for your next Port Orleans Riverside stay.
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Transcript (Auto-Generated):
Are you looking for? A hidden gem moderate resort at Walt Disney World? In this episode, we discuss Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Welcome aboard Imagination Skyway. Your guided tour through the worlds of Disney and Imagineering. I’m your host, Matthew Krul, and it’s my job to explore the stories and places we love and the people who bring them to life. In today’s episode, we discuss everything you need to know about Disney’s Port Orleans Resort Riverside. Opening in nineteen ninety two as Dixie landings, Port Orleans Riverside immerses guests in a rural late nineteenth century setting along the Sasagawa River. Surprisingly, this resort has one of the most in-depth backstories from Walt Disney Imagineering, which you’ll learn more about. In this episode, we’ll also discuss why you should stay here on a future Walt Disney World vacation, and how to make the most out of your stay. As you fasten your seat belt, I encourage you to take out your phones and search for Imagination Skyway on your favorite social media app. And if you’re looking for ad free episodes and bonus content, become an Imagination Skyway Pass holder at patreon dot com slash Imagination Skyway. And if this episode leaves you yearning for a trip to Disney or any other destination, reach out to our partners and sponsors at K M V Travel voted the top travel agency in Orlando in twenty twenty five. To get started, visit kmtv travel dot com. As we begin our journey, please remain seated. Keep your hands and arms inside the podcast at all times and enjoy your journey aboard Imagination Skyway. Welcome to Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort. I love this spot. I love the vibes here. It’s so quiet. It’s so relaxing. It’s a gorgeous evening and I have Kelly from K M V Travel with me. How are you? Thank you for having me. I’m doing well. Good. I’m. I’m so glad you’re here. I mean, we are continuing our little tour. And I did tell you this would probably be our first moderate resort, not knowing I was going to be staying here for this trip. But I have so much nostalgia. This was listeners know this because I’ve said this before, but when I was in, I’d say like the last couple of years in middle school, high school, actually, even I’d say most of middle school and high school. Um, this is where my family stayed year after year. In fact, when I arrived, I sent a whole bunch of photos to my, my mom, my dad, and my sister just to reminisce. And they, they still talk about how much of a hidden gem this resort is. And I think it is to still to this day, it is probably like Coronado Springs has my heart because of Grand Destino Tower. Don’t get me wrong. But like outside of that, if we take Grand Destino Tower out of the picture, this is my favorite moderate resort on property. It is a hidden gem. I think there’s a there’s a lot here that families can take advantage of that you don’t think about when you first look at this resort. And it’s normally priced very, very good. It is. Yeah. I don’t know if that’s because we’ll talk about transportation. We’ll talk about lots of things, but this is an exclusive bus resort. There’s you know, Caribbean beach. You’ve got the Skyliner. Um Coronado Springs is also an exclusive bus resort, but then you’ve got the amenities at Grand Tower in the convention center. This is just one of those, like good old fashioned like Disney Resort properties. It’s just sprawling grounds, beautiful landscapes, just the right amount of amenities and services and recreation, and very laid back low footprints, low traffic footprints, um, sort of location. So we’ll talk all about it. But I have to start with our rapid fire questions first. Um, so I think that there’s no walking when I talk about transportation, there’s no walking for this one. So you cannot give the walking answer. Um, let’s start with the, uh, there’s two sections of this resort. There’s alligator bayou and magnolia bends, which is your favorite Magnolia bend? Yeah. Me too. I mean, that’s, that’s where we stayed growing up. And it’s hard to beat the gorgeous landscape of Magnolia Bend and the gardens and the archways. It’s just feels very much like a like a mini deluxe resort. Yes. When you’re over there. Definitely. It’s just literally a wedding that is being set up right there. That’s right. We’re looking across the way. If that is your wedding, let us know. Um, love to love to give you a shout out if you’ve gotten married recently, let’s say, you know, May twenty twenty six at, uh, at Port Orleans, Riverside. Um, okay. Now there are lots of places to eat in here, but I’m gonna just highlight two that are very unique to this property, boat rides and river roost. Which of those two is your favorite? I love boat rides. I think it is one of the most underrated restaurants at Disney. And people, if you love uh, oh my gosh. Chef. Chef. Uh. Homecoming. I’m like, why can I not get this out? Chef. Mickey’s, um, you will love boat rides. It’s a, it’s a different vibe, but you kind of get that nice, like New Orleans type food. It’s really good. Yeah. That’s excellent. Um, all right, here comes the transportation question. So are you taking the boat to Disney Springs or the bus to Disney Springs boat for sure. It’s such a relaxed boat. It’s the calm Pascagoula River. You get to stop at French Quarter and Old Key West, and then around that corner to see that gorgeous view of Disney Springs. So I think that’s an excellent answer. Now, when I was going through research, I thought to myself, compared to a lot of the other properties we’ve discussed, maybe there’s not as much to discuss about this property from an engineering perspective, but I was I was completely wrong. This is one of the most complex and intricate resort storylines I have ever seen, and I’m. It’s so long, I’m not going to talk about all of it because it would literally take probably thirty minutes for me to go into the backstory of Port Orleans Riverside. Wow. That is how how incredibly structured the storyline is for this, this property. So, um, let’s talk a little bit about first, just the history of it. It started really with Port Orleans Resort, which was French Quarter. Now it’s French Quarter that opened on May seventeenth, nineteen ninety one, and in Riverside opened as Dixie landings on February second, nineteen ninety two. So less than a year later and in April first, two thousand and one, the Resorts combines. They changed names to Disney’s Port Orleans Resort Riverside and then Disney’s Port Orleans Resort French Quarter. Combining them as one complex similar to a yacht and beach club. And as we said, they’re split into two sections Alligator Bayou and Magnolia Bend. Magnolia bend, as we said, is has got these like beautifully manicured gardens. And that’s because it’s themed after southern plantation mansions and alligator bayous, themed after rustic, weathered lodges. But both of them surprisingly have the same number of rooms. They both have one thousand and twenty four rooms, so there’s an equal split between those two sides of the riverside resort. Now, what makes the backstory of this resort so intricate is when the resort opens, they. And you’ll. If you. You know, I’ll share one of the stories here. They had, um. It was back when Dixie landings opened and French Quarter opened. They had these fictional newspapers called the Times and the Sasagawa Sentinel that sort of documented the resort’s history. And it was also a resort directory. So I’m just going to briefly read for you instead of reading all of them The history of Dixie landings. And this is an article, um a fictitious article of course, but it says. A colonel comes up the river to build a home, a family and a mill. Dixie landings takes roots and the boom begins. In a sense, Dixie landings was settled in three distinct phases. First, there were trappers who found the area a convenient gathering place to meet with those merchants willing to venture that far up the sasagawa to purchase their prized pelts. Then, in a story that is often as much legend as fact, mysterious and reclusive, Everett Peace became the area’s first permanent resident when he established his isolated home on Old Man Island. The place that was to become Dixie landing was established largely through the efforts of the outgoing and ambitious Colonel Jake, who saw the locale as the ideal spot for a cotton mill serving Louisiana’s growing cotton industry. Hardly out of his teens, young Jake married Millie, his longtime sweetheart, and the two moved away from Port Orleans to seek success and happiness. At first, Jake and Millie were shunned by the many trappers who haunted the abandoned bayous or abundant bayous. But the colonel had no interest in infringing on their swamps. He had his eye on the higher, drier land around the Riverbend near Old Man Island. Captivated by the lush grasslands and spectacular stands of stately trees, he claimed a modest stretch as his own, dubbing it Magnolia Bend and set about building both a mill and a mansion. I’ll read one more paragraph. There’s a lot more. Though it took some years, the colonel’s dream was destined to come true. The home he constructed for his expanded family grows slowly into a stately structure known as our Acadian House. The Colonel’s ancestors among the first settlers in Louisiana had hailed from Nova Scotia, which was so-called Acadia. The odd blend of English, French and Indian words which crept gradually into their speech, eventually shortened Acadian to Cajun, the name by which we know their descendants even today, and testimony to the quality of the craftsmanship that went into Acadian house today, serves as a welcome home away from home to many, many visitors every year. And then it goes on to talk about, like every aspect of this property. So that was just the back story, and I had no idea how intricate the back story was. So that gives you a little bit of idea of, of the history and the very basic back story. But I’ll, what I’ll do is there’s a really great website I have, I have to give a shout out to because they’re clearly fans of this property. They have no idea. I’m plugging this right now, but it’s called Portolans dot org. And you can actually find they have uploaded PDF images of the Sasagawa times and the Sasagawa Sentinel. So you can read through the stories of the story of Old Man Island, the story of Alligator Bayou, the story of Magnolia Mansions, the story of Dixie Landings Bridge, the story of boat rides, and Fulton’s General Store and the Riverside Mill Food Court. And these all have backstories. So that is how intricate the story is. Um, anyway, so I just wanted to start with that because I thought that was so interesting. And the first question I generally ask when we start with a property like this or any other. A Disney is to ask Kelly what you love most about this resort. So okay, logistical Kelly LA loves that. And I said it kind of when we started talking the price of this resort. I think there is this is almost like a um, you can sometimes get this resort for less than you can get a value resort and, you know, kind of a value plus like a pop century or a, um, art of animation. I think as a travel advisor, when I have a family that, you know, they’re really, they want to be budget conscious, but I want to give them the best experience they can. And it’s not saying that a value isn’t, but they’re going to do a few, you know, resort days or whatever it may be. I love being able to say, hey, here’s another option that we can look at. And now you’re going to get the boat to Disney Springs. You’re going to get six pools plus actually seven because you can use French Quarter. Um, and then all the dining options that you have here. And it’s just, it is a really great resort. If you do want to have some resort days, just rest days, but you don’t want to go up to the deluxe level. Um, or you don’t, you know, you don’t need the amenities that you have at the tower at Coronado. I think it’s one that people kind of overlook because they almost think like, oh, why is it priced, you know, at that? But it really is one to take a look at and consider staying in a fifth sleeper. If you have, you know, two mom and dad and the three kids. Um, just really great options here. I think for families that a lot of times people kind of just overlook when they think about Port Orleans. Yeah. The price of this resort is really in a sweet spot. Um, because it is, I agree, often overlooked. Now staying here and posting about it, I’ve received a lot of messages from people who say this is where they always stay and this is their favorite property, but I get that no matter where I post. So, um, that’s just going to come with the people are going to come out and say like, yeah, this is, this is my favorite. But again, that personal connection for me, just I remember being in awe of this property when I was staying here as a kid. And I loved to draw. And I remember I would take pictures and then I would go home and try to draw. Um, I still have somewhere. Maybe it’s buried in my dad’s house, a photo I drew of magnolia bends like I took a picture and then I recreated. I drew it at home. But I love how laid back this, this resort is. It’s a place that you can come back at the end of the day and escape the hustle and bustle of the parks. You could be in the middle of the day to, um. Old Man Island is so much fun. I was just walking by before and noticed the playground that’s over there, which not every resort has a playground. And I was thinking to myself, Maggie and Emily will love this resort just for that. This would become their favorite place to stay for that really fun playground that’s over there. And the fact that, like you said, it shares a home with French Quarter, which we’ll talk about in another episode someday, offers a different vibe, a more French Quarter. Of course, you know the French Quarter, New Orleans vibe. So you’re gonna get a different theme. You get a lot more brick work there. You get a lot more iron iron work. You get the Mardi Gras infused into the resort’s character that the characters themselves that are there. So you can easily either if you don’t want to take the walk, which really is not that far, um, you know, literally passing by right now is the, is the riverboat that will take you down next office. French Quarter or just as big as this resort is if you’re staying in Alligator Bayou about equidistant from the lobby than the other direction is French Quarter. So I love all the little, the little nooks and crannies and the overall theme. And then, as I just said, the backstory of this property is incredible. So let’s talk about room options. You talked about fifth sleeper rooms, which I know is one of them, but what are the room options at Port Orleans, Riverside. And is there a difference between Alligator Bayou and Magnolia bends when it comes to the actual structure of the rooms? Yeah. So interesting. Now this is a update for Disney. Um, they are now noting on the website which location these rooms are in, which is very nice because sometimes you do have families that, you know, like if your family were to come back, they probably want to make sure that they’re in Magnolia Bend. It definitely was always my dad, my mom, and my dad’s list to stay there. Yeah. Um, so the different types of rooms to start out, we have a king size, uh, king bedroom, which I really do love that they have this as a set option. Um, because not all resorts do. And we do get a lot of families that they want to make sure that they have that king bed. They don’t want to just request it. They want to guarantee they have it. Um, so there are king bedrooms in Alligator Bayou and Magnolia Bend, um, standard location. So the way that they’re going to kind of break these up with, um, Port Orleans Riverside is location based. So King Bed, we kind of have them in both of them. But then standard location is going to be Magnolia Bench. Now that’s not going to be all of Magnolia Bend. It’s going to be certain buildings, but that’s going to sleep up to four adults if you want to have a fifth sleeper. So you want to have two queen beds and you want to have a child size pull down, um, that’s going to be Alligator Bayou that all those are located in. With that, I do always make sure I say to, it’s not going to be a fifth sleeper that can sleep an adult. It is going to be you can get, you know, mom and dad, maybe two other, you know, kids and then another little one in the child size pull down. Um, I feel like we’ve talked about Maggie loves these, right? Yes she does. Yeah. They’re just perfect and they’re I haven’t seen these, but a lot of them are very low to the ground. So as a parent with a little one, I feel more comfortable putting her in that as opposed to putting her up on the queen size bed. You can, of course request bed rails, although now they have not bed rails anymore. They have the bed bumpers. Yeah, little wedges basically that you can put on there. But either way, you know, I’d much rather her be on a lower bed that’s lower to the ground and she’s clearly outgrown a crib or playpen. So the fifth sleeper, the fifth bed is that pull down bed. It’s just wonderful. It is the best, I think, to when you have even if you’re a family of four, I always still recommend this to take a look at because if you have, you know, brother and sister or sister and sister, whoever it is, and they don’t want to share bed, you’re going to have the. They’ll be fighting over the the child’s size pull down, not the queen bed. It’s always fun. Yeah. Um, so then preferred location is going to be in either Alligator Bayou or Magnolia bed, but it’s going to be closest to our food court, our all of our food dining options over here. Um, and the main transportation in the front. So if you do think you’re going to be doing the bus over, I’m sorry, the boat over to Disney Springs, this is a nice one to select because you’ll make sure you’re kind of near where the launch is going to be. Um, then the other option that we have here, which is really great and always a good one for families that are really focused on the princesses is the Royal Guest Rooms. So these were just recently redone. Um, and now they have these beautiful headboards that light up. Um, it’s basically like going into Tiana’s room and she’s, you know, inviting you in. Um, and so those are all going to be at Magnolia Bend. Those don’t have any fifth sleepers and they all are going to be two queen beds. So lots of different options here. And the nice thing too to always remember is that we can request specific buildings. So if you get a preferred location and you really want to be in Magnolia Bend in this, you know, first building here, um, we can request it. You can’t guarantee it, but it is something that if it is important, definitely make sure you have that request on the reservation. That’s great. And speaking of the fact that there are those, those, uh, royal rooms that you can go into, it’s interesting that I haven’t stayed here since they remodeled the rooms. I remember what it looked like before, and it definitely fit within that Port Orleans Riverside resort. It still does. But what I love about it is those Princess and the frog touches that are in there. When I walked in the room and I started exploring, I realized I felt like I was in a guest room in Tiana’s house because there were photos on the wall of her and Prince Naveen. A very stately looking photo of her and Prince Davion. And then on the other side of the room are a photo of, uh, Tiana and Charlotte as kids reading The Princess and the Frog in Charlotte’s home, and photo of Tiana’s family when she was a kid. And, uh, you know, there’s also the Tiana’s Place poster that’s in there, so you get the sense that she’s put up in that room, all the family and friends and loved ones that she is the most that she finds to be the most important to her. And so walking in there, you get that sense of family. And I found that to be really just a little warm hug when you walked in. So I really like that because you don’t get a lot of Princess and the frog touches on the rest of the property. The main area is still are very true to the original riverside theme. But then in the rooms you get that Princess and the frog. There’s just little subtle touches here and there, and I’m sure there’s Easter eggs in the room I’ve missed. Then you need to go back and look at um, so other than the room options, we, you know, there’s other things we like to talk about with the properties. And one of those is recreation. We’re actually right across from one of the things that you might not know if you haven’t stayed there before you can do, which is to rent Surrey bikes, which is something we talked about for our boardwalk episode, um, that they have the Surrey bikes over the boardwalk, but you know, you’re not going to see that at Coronado. Um, as far as I know you’re not going to see that at Caribbean Beach. It’s been a while since I’ve stayed there. Um, you know now that your value resorts, but it’s something that’s a nice little addition to, to Riverside. Um, but other than the Surrey bikes, what else can you do for recreation here? Yeah. This is really where I think this resort does kind of stand out amongst the other moderates, but also even some of the deluxe. Honestly, exactly like you’re saying, with the Surrey bikes, you have that option. You can do regular bike rental. Um, if you are a family that enjoys fishing, they have the fishing excursions from here. So they are two or four hour long experiences, three or up to five guests depending on the boat you get. Um, it is something that does have to be booked in advance. And I will say they’re pretty popular because there’s not very many of them. So that sixty day mark, you definitely want to make sure you grab that. Um, but if fishing isn’t your thing, there’s still a lot of other things. So they have the campfire on the bayou. Um, tried to say that correctly. It doesn’t sound when you’re ready to come in. Exactly. Um, so that will be most evenings they do the movie under the stars. Um, so these types of things, when you get to the resort, just check out that board that’s going to have the resort happenings. Um, and that will have all the times and information for you there. Um, one of my favorite things they do here is the horse drawn carriage rides. I saw one of those yesterday. It’s just so great to see a literal horse drawn carriage riding through the property. You could hear the horse coming. It’s just wonderful. Yeah. And it’s it is a nice, um, when families are looking for something a little bit more special to do. This is a really nice thing. Even if you’re not staying here. Pair it with like dinners at dinner at boatwright’s and then do this. It’s a twenty five minute long, um, experience. Um, so if you have little ones, it’s a nice thing to do because they’re not going to have to sit for that long. Um, and it’s sixty five dollars for up to four adults or you can do two adults and three children for that. Um, so another thing we do need to reserve in advance so that sixty day mark is super important. Um, and then you mentioned it, the playgrounds, there’s playgrounds at both resorts. Um, there’s also arcades at both resorts and there’s a really nice jogging trail around here. So, um, if you are someone who’s into fitness, you have little ones that you know, are gonna have to burn off some energy. There’s a lot that they can do here. Yeah. it’s it’s great that there is so much to do. Um, and that actually brings me to one of the things we, I didn’t answer the question about, but rights or reverse, we were talking about it, but, um, there’s entertainment at this resort and iconic entertainment that’s been here for decades. Um, and that is Yeehaw. Bob Yeehaw. Bob Jackson, um, I interviewed him back in twenty twenty, back when I could interview as many people as possible as they were, you know, unfortunately, you know, not not either working the same jobs or they were, um, at home doing virtual work. And it just made easy to connect with these, um, with these people. But I remember as a kid coming back to this property and there would be, um, you know, Bob playing in the lobby and as our in the river and so in the river lounge is basically a bar. It’s a lounge and um, I believe it’s Wednesdays to Saturdays that he still plays, but he’s been doing this for over twenty years. Um, and he’s a legacy cast member. Well deserved. You have never seen someone exert so much physical energy into a, like, truly what was otherwise like sitting down at a piano playing music. This is not your. As much as I love the Grand Californian and Grand Floridian piano players, this is not that. This is loud. This is fun. This is energized. Um, he’s just. And he’s got one of those like rocking pianos. It kind of like rolls back and forth. Um, so there’s so much movement and he plays Disney songs. He sings iconic folk songs, um, throughout, uh, sixties, seventies, you know, so on and so forth. But anyway, uh, we should talk, I guess, about dining is my point. Yeah. Um, and we should maybe start with river roost. So yeah, this is the dining room. Definitely. So there’s a few different bars here which. This is another thing where when I have families that are maybe just all adults and they know they’re going to want to come back and get a cocktail or just even have somewhere to just hang out, this is a great resort because you do have the river roost. So it’s a bar inside and there’s lots of seating. Um, plus on Wednesday to Saturday night you do have your bob and he, I believe he starts around eight thirty and goes until around eleven thirty. But you know, with sets within that. Right. Um, so you can definitely bring the kids in the beginning. Um, and it’s very, uh, engaging. So it’s super fun to do. Um, there’s also the muddy rivers bar. So that’s going to be, um, kind of like the pool bar, but it’s not the same as like what we would think of as a pool bar. As you just walk up, there’s some tables there. It’s a really nice, um, area over there that’s over by old Man Island. Um, then there’s also going to be boat rights dining hall that we talked about. So New Orleans style home cooking. Um, and then riverside mill food court. So just kind of your general food court options there. But then you also can go right over to Port Orleans French Quarter, where you have Sasikala Float Works and Food Factory. So another food court. You also have more live entertainment because you have Scat Cats Club lounge, which is a bar. And then they have a jazz quartet that will be there, which is my favorite. I go over there even though your job is fun. Yeah. Um, and then there’s also the scat Cat Club Cafe, which is where you get your Mickey beignets. So that’s a must do. I mean, we’re definitely gonna talk about French Quarter and we’re gonna do it while we’re eating beignets, just so you know what we’ve got planned. Perfect. And then the final one is we have Mardi Frogs, which is the bar, um, the pool bar over there. Um, now that’s all the things that you can get to within walking distance here. But then I always have to remind people that when you’re here, you have like sixty restaurants at Disney Springs. Yeah. So if you are a foodie and you know you’re going to want to try a lot of places. This is a good place to stay. It is. Yeah. You’ve again just hopped right on that riverboat and bring it down all the way to the last stop at Disney Springs. Or again, you can also take the bus if you prefer, but there is so much dining to that is accessible from here. It rivals. We’ve talked before about the boardwalk area having so much dining available, but it. It doesn’t even come close to the number of dining options you have when you add Disney Springs. Plus the fact that now by boat you can get to old Key West so you can. You can dine there and. Saratoga Springs is also a boat ride away, so you open up lots of. You know, old Key West and Saratoga Springs don’t have a. You know, collectively they have just a few restaurants to choose from, but it still just adds so much to your to your dining options that are available. And I, you know, I also happen to love just the, the Riverside Mill food court. It’s got just the right amounts of, uh, options to choose from. Um, and the other day I was like, the big challenge for me is when I’m going for, and I think for anybody, um, is to try to stay, um, you know, I try to eat a well balanced meal as much as possible when I’m here. It’s, I, I definitely buy like they do two or three. I’m like, nope, give me the Mickey waffles and the chicken nuggets and fries and the, the beignets and, you know, like, uh, hand me those Mickey Premium bars. But the, uh, the first thing that popped out here was like, they have similar to what I like to get at Columbia Harbor House, they’ve got, um, a salmon with mashed potatoes and green beans or broccoli. And you can actually pick any of those two, three. So you could do salmon, green beans, broccoli, salmon, mashed potatoes and broccoli or sort of pick and choose. But then you’ve got, you know, like your, your burgers, chicken sandwiches. They have, uh, they have jambalaya. They have like, they have some southern comfort options. And then they also have some traditional staples. And then the, some grab, there’s a grab and go section, which again, you know, over at Fulton’s General store, like many of the the gift shops and the resort hotels, you can pick some essentials up there too. So, um, great options for dining. Uh, the easy one here I think is transportation because we talked about that a little bit already. But if you’re going to a park, you’re probably taking the bus. You could also hop in a minivan if that’s, um, that’s preferable. Uh, if, of course, if you’re not renting a car and then the boats, uh, or the bus down to Disney Springs is a way to go. And because this is a large property, it’s nice that there are bus stops on the outskirts of the various sections of the resort. So you don’t have to take that, you know, from my room, it’s like a six ish minute walk to the bus stop at the front, but it’s a two minute walk to the bus stop behind, uh, behind where I’m staying. So it’s, it’s great that you have that bus loop that is available. So what could someone do here? Um, on a, we actually talked about this a little bit already, but is there anything else I should add that you would recommend to somebody who’s looking to spend some time at the resort, either have a resort day or a late start to the day, um, or perhaps come back early and enjoy the property. Yeah. I think the one thing that I haven’t touched on when we talk about recreation was the pools. I know we. That’s true. We just sort of glossed over that. We talked about the playground next to it. Um, you know, we said there was the five pools here, um, which are actually, I’m sorry, six pools. Um, which this is the one thing that I really enjoy here is that there are so many of the leisure pools. So you do have your old man Island, which is kind of kind of be the main pool. So, um, you have a, um, three wooden bridges that are going to go across the pool area. You have a ninety five foot long water slide. Um, you do have a kiddie pool area. You have daily pool parties, you have the whirlpool tubs and everything, plus the pool bar, the muddy rivers. Um, but then those leisure pools are kind of going to be the more quiet. They’re not going to have all that, you know, all the, the extra things there. Um, but it’s really nice when you have three of them in Alligator Bayou, two of Magnolia Bend. So they never really get that busy. And especially if you’re coming back in the middle of the day with the kids and you don’t want to, you know, if you are staying in Magnolia Bend, you don’t want to go back over to where Old Man Island is. Um, it’s nice to have those there. Um, so you can definitely pair that with maybe, you know, some food at one of the quick service locations here and then head back to the parks in the evening or spend the whole day here, um, and head over to Disney Springs super easily as well. Yeah, I’m going to switch things up. I normally like to ask why someone should consider staying here, but I think we’ve outlined a lot of the reasons why. So instead I’m going to ask what three words would you use to describe Disney’s Port Orleans Resort Riverside. Ooh, okay. I think the first one I do have to say is nostalgic because especially I think for anyone who grew up when we did, you know, eighties 90s, this opened in the nineties. It kind of was the, I think, ninety one, ninety one French Quarter, ninety two for Riverside. Yeah. And I think a lot of people, when you talk to people from, you know, our generation, this is the resort that they think of that they went to as a child. Um, I, we were DVC members, so we stayed at old Key West, but Sasagawa River is it will always be nostalgic to me. So I think anything kind of in this area will always bring back that kind of, you know, love of Disney growing as I was a child. Um, I think the other thing I would say is flexible. I think this resort more, even more than some others. Um, there is a lot of opportunity for you to decide where you want to be because of the different room types that they have and kind of control it more than other resorts have. Um, you know, when you stay at a value, most times it’s going to be, do you want standard, do you want preferred. Um, you know, pop century is a little bit different there. Art of animation a little bit different, but this one, you can kind of be a little bit more specific about what room type you want, the bed setup, things like that. Um, so I think the flexibility here is very nice. And then I think I’m gonna say family. I feel like, you know, when you’re talking about the different touches that you see in the room, um, with Tiana and you know, that’s Princess and the frog is just so much about family and the connection that you have. Um, and I think there’s so many activities here that you can do as a family, no matter if you are outdoorsy or if you are not outdoorsy like me, there’s lots of things that you can easily do together that also aren’t terribly expensive to add on to a resort day or something like that. Yeah, those are great words to pick. I have three as well. UN charming, cozy. And the last one is also technically three words, but it’s a one phrase New Orleans Square. Because this inspiration that one of things I didn’t talk about in the history was back in the eighties. Um, one of the ideas pitched for a resort hotel for Walt Disney World was a New Orleans Square themed resort. And that more directly coincides with Port Orleans French Quarter, but also Riverside. If you think about even the the bayou scene in the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean and the Louisiana influences of this property, it does tie into the New Orleans Square theme. It feels like a bit of an extension of New Orleans Square. And in this case, Riverside is more like the suburbs of New Orleans, um, as opposed to French quarters like downtown New Orleans. So, uh, you know, it’s just it’s all an extension of New Orleans Square. If you love New Orleans Square in Disneyland. There’s good reason to believe you should probably love this property, too. And the last question before we make sure people know where to find you, is advice you would offer to someone staying here for the first time to make the most of their stay? Oh, okay. There’s a lot with this one, actually. I think the biggest piece of advice I would say, is to be aware of all of the different things that you have here. Um, consider I will, I think I probably say this for every resort, but building a resort day. Yeah. Um, I do think that that’s just a big part of a Disney vacation is where you stay. Um, but when you’re staying here, there are so many of those amenities that you can do those experiences. So look and see if that’s something that your family is interested in, um, or even go and take the day to go around on the boat and check out the other hotels and things like that. Um, I would say to be aware of the transportation, sometimes families will come here and they’re, you know, they’re not really sure where do I go for the bus and how does that work? Um, so that’s always something that, you know, you can talk to your travel advisor about or of course Google search too. That will always work normally. Um, but those are a couple things. And the other thing I would say too, as, um, a dog mom, this is a pet friendly resort. So, um, if you do have, you know, a fur baby you want to bring with you, um, this is a really great one for that because you are right across the street from best friends pet care, which is, um, a dog daycare that they have right on property. So if that is something that, you know, you’re looking into, this is a nice one for, but also think about that if you are staying here, if you have kids that are not comfortable with dogs, you don’t see a ton. But I’ve only seen one. Yeah, I literally just saw one. That’s why I love it. I’ve seen two. Um, yeah. But, um, that is just something to think about. It’s they are, there’s not many, um, and people are very good, but it’s always something to keep in mind. Yeah. That’s a great addition as well. So I want to make sure people know if they’ve been listening to the show, they already know where to reach you. I’m sure a lot of them have already worked with you, but where can people go to find you, connect with you, and work with you? Yeah. So if you are interested in working with me or one of our members of KMV travel, best place to go is KMV travel dot com slash skyway so that I know they came through, um, Imagination Skyway. But if you’d like to just connect, I love talking to Imagination Skyway. Um, listeners love working with you guys too, but, um, you can reach out to me at Kelly’s magical vacations on Instagram or to KMV Travel co on Instagram. And then we are on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, basically everywhere. Search KMV travel and we’ll come up. Perfect. Well, we’ll come back for another episode about Port Orleans French Quarter. But now I think it’s time for Kelly and me to head over to scat cats and, uh, and grab some beignets. 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