On this episode, we have a resort review and talk history, rooms, amenities, and more at Port Orleans, French Quarter, and Riverside. Today's June 28th, 2024, and this is episode 680 of the Main Street Magic Podcast. Hello and welcome to another episode of Main Street Magic. I'm your host, Jeremy Stein, and as always, I'm joined by my lovely wife, Rhonda. Hey, guys! Make sure you check us out on the web at mainstimagic.com, as well as follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @mainstimagic, and on TikTok @msmpodcast. If you want to be part of the community, and join the conversation, in addition to live streams from the parks and our weekly live show, head to Facebook and search for the Main Street Magic community and ask to join. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you can get brand new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Planning a trip to Disneyland or Walt Disney World can be overwhelming and at times, just downright frustrating. But don't worry, because mouse dining removes the frustration, of booking Disney dining reservations, alerting you when they spot availability for your desired restaurant, date, meal, and time. Visit msmfriends.com to use this free service. Boy, what a week with tons of news out of Disney. So we actually recorded this episode on Sunday, June 23rd, so we could get ahead of a very busy week of work, and then traveling to Disney from the 27th to the 29th for Tiana's Bayou Adventure opening. During that time, since we recorded, there has been a ton of news that came out, including Sleepy Hollow menu changes that got everybody in an uproar, some announcements about Disney Adventure, the Disney Cruise Line, all of the menus for this year's Florida Fresh at Disney Springs, more details on the holidays, coming to Walt Disney World, and more. And of course, the changes from Genie Plus turning into lightning lane, multi and single passes, which we'll launch on July 24th. Because we're not having a live show this week due to us being down in Disney, but we want to talk about this news and a lot more. We will look at doing a special live show on Sunday once we were back home, so stay tuned to our social media channels @mainstmagic to learn more about when that is coming. Something else we did not get around to due to the early recording is this week's poll. So I want to go ahead and talk about the poll that we put out on Monday. The question was, which fall and winter holiday ticketed events do you plan to attend at Walt Disney World? You could check all that apply. We had Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party, Mickey's very Merry Christmas party, Jolly Wood Knights, candlelight processional dining package, none of them are worth it to you, or you don't visit Disney World during these times. At the very bottom, with 6% was none of them are worth it. Coming in next at 8% was Jolly Wood Knights. So I think last year's debacle has a lot of people not quite sure about this year, but hopefully they can fix everything from last year and this year will be a huge success. Next up at 12%. Don't visit Disney World during these times. Coming in also at 12% was candlelight processional dining packages. Of course, those are only really necessary for some of the big name narrators, Neil Patrick Harris, when Josh Gadd was there, John Stamos, Wolfie Goldberg, some of those. Coming in at 24%, Mickey's very Merry Christmas party, and then finally, number one, that 38% of those folks in the Main Street Magic Facebook community plan to attend is Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party. Luckily this year, we will be able to bring you information on all of these. As we plan to attend, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party, Mickey's very Merry Christmas party, Jolly Wood Knights, and then the candlelight processional dining package, most likely we'll be checking out Neil Patrick Harris again, unless they just wow us with a new narrator that we've not seen before. Okay, now that that stuff's out of the way, on to your regularly scheduled podcast program. So on today's episode, we are talking Disney's Port Orleans Resort, Riverside and French Quarter. Yeah, we figured we'll do kind of just an episode dedicated to this. It had been a while since we had stayed at either of these resorts. Yeah, it's funny because we're actually, I feel like, been a while since we've stayed at like thinking about like this one, we haven't stayed at the little mermaid room in a while. Oh, I know, I know. Yeah, and it's another one of those where like we're trying to get back to some things that we haven't done in a long time. You know, we used to do resort specific reviews because a lot of times it was like the first time when we first started the show, it'd be the first time at a resort, and we'd spend all weekend there and we'd that specific trip, like we'd do all the things, you know, so that we could come talk about it. And then now, since we've stayed at every resort, except for Grand Flow and Riviera, you know, a lot of these resorts, we kind of pick and choose based on price, based on what that weekend looks like, you know, but we don't, we don't get to do everything there, right, but collectively, like we have, like we stay at a multiple time. So this was one where I was like, all right, we can talk Riverside, but I mean, if you go back to the last or two episodes ago now, when we talked all the dining, we're like, all right, we're not fitting it in here and talked about, you know, Tiana's bio adventure. So I had actually booked several months back Riverside. They had a really good passholder rate going. And we had not been there in a while. And the original idea was that our friends, Robin Tina, we're going to come with us for Father's Day weekend, because we did that last year, State of Caribbean Beach. And we thought, you know, maybe we'll make that like a yearly tradition. Right. And so they could not come, they had other plans already, that they had to do. So it was just going to be Rhonda and I. But when I started looking at even saying, well, you know what, if we're going to spend a lot of time in the parks, and maybe not a ton at the resort, let's maybe, you know, downgrade to like a value, but none of the price differences were enough where it felt like worth it. And I was like, so let's go and let's stay at Riverside and enjoy it. And we did. We did. Very, very much. Yes. So a couple like quick bullet points to go over. This is the Disney Springs resort area. And of course, is at the moderate level. Now, Porter Lane's resort is as a whole. So these are two sister resorts, right? Correct. You could think of them very much in that same manner of, you know, yacht and beach club. Right. So you either hear people say, but they don't share the pool. No, they don't. So they're there. Yeah, they don't. They don't share those main amenities like the pool. The way that maybe like pop an art. Swan and dolphin. Swan and dolphin. There you go. It would be a good well, they share the main poll too, though. They do actually pop an art. Yeah. Yeah. This is what this is what pop century was going to be. Because you remember, we were going to get the legacy years, which were going to be 1900s up through the 1940s until 9/11 happened. They stopped the construction and then eventually came back to start and they turned it into art of animation instead of the legacy pop century. So yes, it is very much like that. Each has their own stuff. Yes. But what makes them sister resorts is you can walk from one to another. Yeah. You can vote from one to another. So that kind of makes a big difference. And it is both Porter Lane's resort. It is Riverside and then French court. Yeah. So where that comes from is originally Riverside open in February 2nd, 1992 is Disney's Dixie landings resort. Oh, that's right. Because didn't you stay there? I stayed there. Yeah, I stayed there. And now I'm thinking I must have stayed there in because I don't believe this is where we stayed when we went our senior year in high school. I think we stayed at Caribbean Beach. So I stayed here with my parents and it had to have been. I bet then I'll have to ask my dad to go back and photos. I bet it was somewhere between 92 and 94 maybe it must have been in those early years. So it was Disney's Dixie landings resort. But prior to that, French quarter had opened up as just Port Orleans resort in May of 1991. So it was called Porter Lane's resort. And then in 2001, you know, so so here much, much later, a decade or so later, they decided to update both of them. And they turn Port Orleans resort into the French quarter. And then they turned Dixie landings into Riverside. All that happened in 2001, making the entire complex Disney's Port Orleans resort. So these are the ones where you'll see, you know, P.O.R. would be Porter Lane's Riverside P.O. FQ would be Porter Lane's French quarter. Okay, so let's talk. Let's go over the rooms real quick. And we pulled, um, we pulled a little bit of numbers of rack rates just to give you an idea. Why don't you go over kind of what the cost looks like? All the rooms are the same size at 314 square feet, but we do have some different layouts. What kind of cost are we looking at? And this is without any kind of, you know, special deals and all going on, but it'll give you a range. And this is cost is, you know, including two adults, two kids. And Jeremy pulled August 9th through 11th with a standard view for Riverside is 332 a night. They do have royal rooms and a river view for 443 a night. If he pulled July 12th through the 14th at French quarter, standard view is 307 and then a pull view is 352. Yes. Those are bottom end top end rack rates. Right. So for example, we all in, when we stayed on an AP rate was 249 a night, which is really not bad, especially that you're pulling, you know, August 9th to 11th, 332 for a standard. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a really great price still at those, those moderate levels, especially, you know, when you, when you look at everything that they have to offer. Now, there's a ton of different booking categories. Oh, I use a travel agent. Yes. I use Main Street Magic Travel. Yes. Is to understand all these and the prices that will go with them, you know, we're looking at everything from standard to garden and woods views in alligator by you only, which is one of the sections over in Riverside. Those are the only rooms to have a fifth sleeper. So get extremely important to know because if you were just looking on your own and you needed that fifth sleeper, for whatever reason, whether it's a family of four, and you got two kids that don't want to sleep in the same bed, right? Or you've got a family of five, you want to be looking for that. Now those have standard and woods view. But again, this is only in the alligator by you. Wow. So if you're looking at, you know, it's just some other views or you're looking over at French quarter or a royal room, royal room, they don't have those flip flippers. You've got king, you do have some that have king beds. So your three layouts are two queens, two queens and the fifth sleeper, which would be alligator by you only in Riverside. You have king beds available at both Port Orleans, Riverside and French quarter. Nice. And then you have these royal guest rooms and those come in either standard, woods, pool, or river views. So let's start with alligator by you and how those rooms are, because we have stayed in those and we've used the fifth sleeper. Yes, we have. How would you describe, I guess, that decor in that section, right? Oh, it's very woodsy. Yeah. It's very, I don't know where I am. Like walking around that area. I mean, we actually got off recently and I was like, do you even know where you are? Because it's so, to me, I don't want to say isolated, but it just takes you out and completely puts you in a. It has an isolated field. Yeah. It has a field comparable to Fort Wilderness. Yes, actually. I agree with that. Yeah. And the room decor, the same, you know, the room decor is like, use, you know, artificial looking crates or like, I'm trying to remember. Yeah. Yeah. And the table looks like it is, you know, kind of like handmade out of logs and wood, you know, so it all has that kind of feel. So it is very, yeah, it's very like woodsy, natural. Yeah. And it is very comfy. And if you want those fifth sleepers, this is where you want to be. And it is a great section. You know, Riverside in general is huge. It is a very large resort, multiple bus stops. French Quarter is very, very small. And when you're looking at picking, not only as we go through the rooms, the locations, the amenities, what you really want to think about is the size of the resort. You know, if you are somebody that does not want to have to walk, you know, far for amenities or somebody that does not want to get on the bus stop right outside your building and then have to stop at two or three other bus stops, like you want to be at French Quarter. Yes. I, everywhere at Disney's family friendly. Of course. But I view French Quarter. If you're as, all right, we've got an adult only weekend, I would pick French Quarter. Okay. We've got a family weekend or, you know, we're traveling with another family, friends, like, whatever, I would recommend Riverside based on the feel and all of that, right? Yeah, I can agree with that close Ned. It's got yeah, and it's very New Orleans, like, whereas, well, it's very French Quarter, like, like downtown. Yeah, that's sorry. That's what I meant. French Quarter is like French Quarter downtown. Riverside is like New Orleans on the outskirts of the city area. Well, I, I've never been outside of the outskirts. But I will say, I just love it because, um, Riverside to me is so just fancy looking and like, it looks like getting the Magnolia bend. Yeah, it looks like some of them should be mansions. And then alligator bayou is super cute and comfortable, but like woodsy, like we said, and I don't remember where the royal rooms are, but still like, like I said, still in the Magnolia section. Okay. Well, I should say walking that way. Like, it's just, I love all the outside buildings and the way, like, like things that they, the landscaping of how they have things leading up to the buildings. Like it just, I don't know, it's just really cool. Whereas I've been to New Orleans and the French Quarter side reminds me of that. So I thought it, I think it's really cool. And I completely agree with you on that. Yeah. What I love, I don't think, you know, and again, when we talk about Port Orleans, you really do talk about it as a whole. Yeah. You know, I mean, I think you can talk about, yeah, you can talk about Port Orleans as a whole. This, you know, especially when it comes to your dining in amenities that are at French Quarter, when you're staying at Riverside and vice versa, to me, it has that feel of going, Oh, we're staying at boardwalk or yacht and beach or swan and dolphin. Look at all we have access to, you know, we have access to the entire boardwalk area. Therefore, it feels as though these are all part of those combined amenities, you know, even when you're staying at yacht and beach or swan and dolphin, you feel like advocate Abbar and flying fish and, you know, the margarita stand and boardwalk pizza. All of those you feel as though are part of that collection of resorts. And that's the way that this gets that same feel. And I can't think of another, well, I can tell you there's not another resort on property when you look at it as a whole, the way that you do this one that offers such diverse sections. When you go from alligator bayou, to Magnolia Bend, to French Quarter, all three of those feel very different in their own way. Oh, 100%. And that's what's amazing about them. So like, you know, for me getting up in the morning early and saying, I'm going to go out and walk around, like Riverside is just amazing for that. And you could walk down to French Quarter if you wanted. But when you get into the Riverside area in that Magnolia Bend where we stayed most recently, these are the two queen beds. These have a their princess in the frog themed. Yes, they are very much overly. Yeah. And all these got soft goods referred back in 2020, believe it was, or 2018 to 2020. So soft goods got, you know, new curtains and, and, you know, new bedding and all those types of things shower curtains and stuff like that. And then it's it's a curtain to shut off the and that's a whole Tiana. Yes, it is. Yeah. And then, and then the curtains are princess in the frog, which is super cute. And then you have got some our headboards is artwork. And you see, you know, Tiana and Navin and these are large spacious rooms at 314 square feet, all of them are. And they're, yeah, they're just, they're super like just chill. And they're, these are ones where like, I would love to see a full reefer when it comes kind of to the bathroom area of providing that extra storage of the barn door. But at the same time, I hope they don't touch them because, and I think they're working on some now. Oh, they're starting to do, you know, fuller refurbs and gutting over in these areas. And I just, I hope we don't lose. I hope they don't go the the full route of like a pop century in the all-stars. Where it's one piece of, it's just art. Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. They could. They can go back to saying that I mean, all the interiors look very much the same. Right. Or yeah, I mean, I just, you know, I hope we don't get away from like the alligator bayou and that, that homey wood-carved sense. Yeah. You know, like your uncle made it. I would hope your cage and uncle made this table, right? Right. Like with the moderates and that, like I hope they would be especially charging the prices that they are. I hope they would keep some stuff for sure. And if they go the route of the Coronado, if they go the route of Caribbean Beach in Trinidad, where they were upgraded to those sea rooms, I think it all will be well. Yeah. But even, even even the Coronado rooms, because they were, you know, those were done back in what, 16, 17, I think. It was still, I feel like before that major shift came. Whereas if you look at the Coronado refurbs compared to the refurbs in Trinidad at Caribbean Beach, the refurbs in Trinidad at Caribbean Beach are beautiful. Mm-hmm. But they're definitely going, I think, a little bit more on their brighter in a way that makes them tend to feel sterile. Like, I love the dark tone. Like, okay, look at the new poly tower, right? Right. Those rooms look beautiful. Right. But they're all almost so light and so bright that I think that's where a lot of people get that feel of, oh, I'm just staying at a hospital room or some sterile location or this could be a Hilton. Okay. Because I think they're missing those comfortable tones that we're all used to. You know, Coronado holds onto those in the refurbs with browns and tans, arnges, reds, things like that. Okay. When you start going to whites and creams, like blues, like greens, like yellows, like this, like that, I think they all tend to become, they feel more one noted. You know what I mean? I think I do. Yeah. Well, let's talk about the royal rooms because I really, I wish, again, it just wasn't worth the extra money. I wish I booked a royal room for us for this just because we were going for Tiana's Bayou adventure. But yeah, talk a little bit about the royal rooms because it's not specific to any princess. That's right. And it's actually kind of specific to all of them. I feel like there's a nod to quite a few of them in there. I think, if I remember correctly, there's even the carpet from Aladdin in there. There's quite a few different princes and princesses. Yeah. All represented throughout. Yeah. If I remember correctly, and we haven't stayed in one of these since May, in a while, 2022, right? It would have been when cosmic rewind opened. Okay. No, I'm sorry. We stayed in the alligator Bayou then. We have not stayed here since August of 2019 in a royal room. Yeah. When we did Galaxy's Edge opening. And if I remember the sink faucets or lamps. Oh my gosh. You got a good memory. Yeah. There's artwork. There's artwork throughout that will represent all the princesses. Yes. And like I said, I think there's the carpet from Aladdin. And yeah, there's just different, and I can't remember now. But the main part is in the headboards of the beds. There is a little button that you can push and basically fireworks go off. Now they are just lights. So it's not like you're having this pop pop pop, which it is because then like, it's just neat. You can turn, you know, almost all the lights off and, you know, hit that one last time before bed and it goes off. And it's just, I love it. Yeah. And this is where we start again, coming down to recommendations of room types and all. You know, if you've got little princesses or princesses in your family, I would look at book in these. It's going to be a little bit more, but it is well, well worth that experience. I think so. You know, a kid, a little kid is not going to appreciate as much that a core in the French quarter rooms or the alligator bayou. Right. Now I do think, you know, if you've got a princess loving child, especially a princess in the Frog, Tiana, or Nabeen, then I think that the standard of the rooms in Riverside would be fitting. But this is one where, I mean, yeah, you surprise your kid with this. They're just going to absolutely love it. It's amazing. Yeah. All right. Let's talk some about recreation because of the size of this resort, there is a lot. We've got everything from horse drawn carriage rides, you know, down to the bike. Bicycle and Surrey bike rentals. We've done a Surrey bike here. We have, let's see, we've done Surrey bikes here. We've done them at a boardwalk area. But this was the one. This is trying. Yeah. This is hard. We had to push uphill. You do. Yeah. Because it's bridges. I mean, much like, I love bridges. I just started to say that. Much like if anyone gets that reference, you're awesome. Boardwalk, there's, again, there's bridges. There's bridges to get over these waterways. And those parts are rough. We hit to get out. Especially when you have two people paddling. Yes. They're not doing anywhere. Correct. I don't even know. I don't even know when we last did it. It must have been 2019. Yeah, we did. Yeah. So you would have put the kids, I mean, you're talking five years ago, right? 11. And, I mean, right. So nine and 11 years ago. I don't even know if they could reach the pedals is my point. Yep. So a little front rack seats for like, baby, really young ones, younger, but they're worthless. Kids are worthless when it comes to Surrey bike. 100%. All they do is weigh the whole thing down. Yep. They're not giving any sort of pedal foot motion. No good. It was so funny though. Yeah. Lord of mercy. Oh, we had a blast. We did. It is. It is. Yeah. It is tiring, but it is fun. I recommend it once. Yeah. And then regular bicycle rentals, they do have there as well. They've got multiple pools throughout, including the old man island pool. Yeah, that was right there on Riverside. Yeah. Talk about old man island pool. It's super cool. It is. It's it's very large. I feel like and it's it has this center, like island, basically, that you can get out and jump out off of and stuff like that. And it's got like this, like water. Like, what would that be called where it kind of goes down? You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. But what it's not a wheel, but no, I know what you're talking about. I know. It's like a water pump coming down that flows into the pool area. And it's it's like on tangled. It's like on tangled where it's that water that goes down where when Flynn like surfs down all the yeah, I think it's so cool. It's a it's a great pool area. It really is. Right there. Yeah. Over at French Quarter is the, what is it? Dublin lagoon with that big scales is the name of the dragon in the water slide there has a really good kid's area. Yes, it does. Really good. Unbelievable there. And then now this one, the hot tub is very separated. Yes, it is. And it is very quaint and it's very quiet and it's its own little private area on the other side of Mardi Gras, which is their bar area, pool bar area. And it's like surrounded by hedges and bushes and has a little gated entry into it, which is awesome for the privacy, but it's awkward when you go to walk in there and because you can't see from a distance, if anybody's already in the hot tub, you've made a commitment to this hot tub. The time you go in and then you see there's people in it. Yeah. And you know, for us personally, like if it's just the two of us going to get in the hot tub, we understand it probably isn't just going to stay that do all that stuff. Right. But it's awkward sometimes when you go in and there's just two other people in there or one person or something. Well, I think it's because I don't want to sit in it like you do and I go with you, but it was yeah, it is funny. Yeah. But yeah, this is this is a five other quiet pools throughout and you know, that's a lot of quiet pools. It is. Yeah, it really is. You know, we and we go back and we're making these kind of references to a yacht and beach. Okay, they do share a pool. Right. So they both have access to it. But you can't go to the boardwalk pool. You know, if you're staying a boardwalk, you can't go to the storm long Bay. If you are at pop century, you can't go to big blue pool over an art of animation. If you're an art of animation, you can't technically go over to pop century. These because they're sister hotels, you can go. Yeah, each, whatever you want. You can if you're, you know, you want a little bit more of a quieter atmosphere because it probably won't be quite as crowded, you're going to maybe head over to Dublin lagoon. You know, if same thing, if you're at French Quarter and you're like, man, I really am not into the big giant pool right now. You can go over and enjoy one of the quiet pools over here at Riverside. And then there's a boat system that will go between I just started to say, but let's talk about that because it's, it's not a short walk. Yeah, you know, it's not so we don't want you to think that these are in relation to each other the way that yacht and beach. Yeah, it is much more in relation to going from a pop century to an art of animation. Yes. And depending on where the buildings are, I would venture to say it can yeah, definitely be further. Think of, think of going from a preferred room at pop century, which is going to be closer to the lobby to potentially going to a little mermaid room of art of animation. It's a decent enough walk, 10, 15 minutes probably, right? Maybe I'm trying to think that you're going to lobby to lobby. We should have timed it. But yeah. And I mean, just know that it is because, because sometimes it is like you don't want to walk like, you know, I know we're going to go ahead and get to Yihabah, which is at Riverside, he plays. Yeah, I always forget because they are in cohe, like together, like sister hotels, basically. But I will say wanting to see him, I'm like, oh, well, I'm glad we're staying here so we can see him. Yeah, you're glad you're at Riverside if you're seeing Yihab on wait for sure. Um, but then like in the morning to go get bignets. You wish you were at French Quarter a little bit. A little bit, but it was fine to like walk because then we were walking over there to get the bignets then to go and get on a bus. Right. So, and then you can, you can hop a bus either side, either what you want. Um, so yeah. Yeah, but all, all things is you're trying to, and that's what we want to do is we want to either, you know, help you make a decision on booking Port Orleans in general or not booking it because that's a point where someone might say like, well, you know what? Yeah, I like to, I like these certain things, but I don't want to have to, I don't want to be at Riverside and have to walk in the morning to get my bignets. I want to do that every morning. So I'd rather stay at French Quarter or, you know what, we're going to come back from the park at the end of the nights and Yihabah is playing late, you know, 11 midnight or something like that. Well, maybe we'd rather stay at Riverside. So we're on that side. So it's kind of giving you that idea of how to pick between the two. They do have a jogging trail. And we're actually going to do on an upcoming episode is recommended by a listener, the best resorts for exercise like jogging and walking and walking. And we'll actually map out, you know, some of these areas because there are very specific areas, you know, you can go anywhere and just be like, I'm going to run. But with an area, you know, kind of built for it, especially one that is circular, you know, so you can start and stop at the same point. Live entertainment, as we mentioned, Yihabah Jackson will perform at River Roost Lounge that is on the Riverside. He's been doing that since May of 1997. Oh, yeah, which is amazing. That is amazing. I mean, this show is never 25 years. It's so good. Like, this is one you make a point, you know, times and dates and all can change. You want to keep up with the resort calendar and all. But it's, I mean, it's like it's like doing pianos without the second piano. I mean, really. Yeah, he's really good. Energy to it though. It doesn't seem feel except there's not a second piano. So he's playing everything. You know, a lot of Disney hits and others. It's a sing along. It's a dance along. It is crowd partition, participation and involvement. It is, I mean, it's one of the best live entertainment things I think on property. You know, this is one where you make a point to get over here. Yeah. To see Yihabah, regardless of where you're staying. You know, like, if you have that opportunity, if you need night, okay, what other nighttime entertainment is really available anymore? Yeah, that's true. But a lot of times, I mean, well, this will be for your maybe you've kind of rested at your resort the day and you're kind of like, I want something at night because I'm thinking, man, I'm tired. This is celebration night. Yeah. If you're not sure what to do, if you're like, okay, you know, we can just go up to like Disney Spring and we can go somewhere, do this or whatever. You're like, this is a great one to say. All right, we want a, we want a night out, a fun night out. We're celebrating a birthday. We're celebrating something, whatever. You know, you go and you have a good dinner at Disney Springs. And you don't want to go to jelly rolls and pay that. Exactly. Cover charge. Yeah. That's true. You then vote over. Now, check, you know, boats just recently started running again after a good month long shutdown. Well, yeah, for the rain, right? You know, we've had rain, so you want to make sure the boats are running. But you go to a good dinner over at Disney Springs and then you hop on a boat and you come over to Riverside to see Yee Ha Bob. But that is a fun night out. Like, that's the type of thing you want to do. Yeah. If you want something that is more chill, then you go to Scott Cats Club, which has nightly jazz music. Yeah. And a much more laid back, relaxed atmosphere. You can get bignets there. You can all kinds of handcrafted cocktails and mocktails and whatever you want. And you can just chill and get boozy bignets as well. You can just chill here. So I think I love that it has this very high energy song. Yeah. And then this very chill, relaxed, like jazz, like, I I don't care for jazz music unless I'm here, like seriously, like to sit here and just jazz. Yeah. Just so nice and relaxing. Same with the whole ambiance and decor and theming of this entire resort. And you know, both sides of it is just that it's that jazz. It's that New Orleans jazz that's like so nice and like chill. Movies under the stars, your poolside activities, campfire, they'll have, you can actually do a cane pole fishing here on Old Man Island, like old school. Pole fishing. That's cool. So there's a lot of those opportunities. There is some different boating excursions. Like there is a ton to do here. You know, this is when we start to talk about staycations. Yeah. This is a very much staycation. Yeah, I was a little sad. We had so much planned, but it was still fine. We had a great time. Yeah. And you know, to be honest, I think we lucked out in some ways with the rain because, you know, it forces just to hang in the room for a little bit and relax. It forces the, like, walk around. Both of these shops are outstanding, yep, especially over at French Quarter with resort specific wear. Yes. You know, in Benet all day shirts. Yeah, that is cute. Coffee mugs. And they've got scat cats, Dr. Facilier themed merchandise there as well, shirts, mats, mugs, tumblers, like, so those are very well done. Let's finish off with a little bit of dining here. Okay. Because they have a good amount. Yeah, they do between both of them. The downfall here and, you know, maybe now, Tiana's Bayou adventure, I would love to see them lean all in. There is no sit down restaurant at French Quarter. So not traditional with moderates, you know, moderates have sit down table service. There's not one here, right? Huh, because over here we have sasagula float works in food factory, which is located in the French Quarter, and that is going to be their food court, right? You do have scat cats club that we talked about, right? Cafe, which has the biniers and the coffee, and then later the boozy biniers. So you have those options there. Now, you do have Mardi Gras, which is going to have drinks and some snacks, like some sandwiches, some salads, is their pool bar. Huh, when you get over to Riverside, you do have the Riverside Mill Food Court, which is going to, it's the big building with the 32 foot waterfall. That is the water wheel wheel. Yeah, it is. I love that part. Gorgeous. It is. Like, and they redid the inside, right? Yeah, I think so. It's just gorgeous. It's such a great food court. And it really is like, like, I mean, sitting in an old mill that has been refurbed and is like a dining hall, and it's just, it is really cool. It's awesome. Both the food courts are great here, and you can get different tastes between them of some things, like some creole cooking, some gumbos and jambalayas and shrimp and grits and things. Yeah, yeah, then you have Mardi Rivers, which is going to be the pool bar there. Now this is much more attached right there at the pool. You go up, out of gate, up a couple of stairs. It's a nice covered large outdoor area. It is. They're seating as well, and you can get sandwiches, snacks, salads, things like that. River Roost, where you had Bob performs, is indoors. And I only just realized what this reminds me of, and I wish they were utilizing this space mark. This reminds me so much of being in the after hours area on the magic on a Disney cruise. It has a Disney cruise feel in there. Like, it's darker. It's, it's, you know, like, man, I wish they were doing during the day here, what they do on the cruise line, like that this had trivia and all, like, I wish that this had a yeah, because there's a full bar day long. Yeah. And then I love how there's a little fireplace. Yeah, nice lounge, nice lounge sitting where and they will, it is first comfort serve. So if you see a table open, if you see this, you know, open, but yeah, and then they'll come and serve you. And it's really a great place. One thing you can get here, and I believe you can get over at scat cats club. And you can get at boat rights. We talk about it. And I highly recommend you do is the Mardi Gras Fritters. They are deep fried pimento cheese fritters served with like a jelly, like a good, yeah, would you call that like a spicy jelly, the daddle? Yeah, it's like a daddle almost jelly. They are so frickin good. But we should have got some, but man, I just, I walked past this a few times and I was like, oh, this would be so good if it was open all day for activities, like coloring and crafts. And I know they do some of this stuff by the pool, but the trivia is all day long. And they might bring it in here too, right? But it reminds me of ogills on Disney magic. Just, you know, this is French quarter in New Orleans inspired as opposed to being British pub inspired, but has that same feel. Yeah, that's true. And you have boat rights dining hall. There's a full service 208 seat table service restaurant. It's got a big ship. Yeah, like a skeleton thing in it. It's like an old shipbuilding yard. I yeah, I would, if they're going to start to refurb rooms and all just go all in and and either turn this into a Tiana's palace. Or find the space in the room to either build or renovate or change something over at French quarter and do Tiana's palace there. I think it's much more fitting over here on this riverside area right here along the waterway and the river mill. Like, I think boat rights converting boat rights into Tiana's palace is an absolute no-brainer. Okay, Disney, you heard it here first. It's a no-brainer. I don't see any reason why they they wouldn't do it. Take your your defunct plans from reflections, which reflections is probably still coming. The DVC resort between Fort wilderness and wilderness lodge. They just extended. What was it? They extended, I think, some sort of lease or not least, they extended the permits, I believe, for the project for another five years, most recently, which means which I'm guessing and I don't know these facts. There's a lot smarter people out on social media doing Disney stuff like Alicia and all. But I believe that just means that if they want to build on here in the next five years, they don't have to redo all that permitting. So they extended for five years, so they still not saying that they will, but I think they're still potential and originally a Tiana's inspired restaurant was supposed to go here at reflections. But you have Port Orleans. You have right. I just started to say why would they do one there? What is reflection supposed to be like a Tiana? Well, it's well, no, it's supposed to be because I think when you got into, if I remember, because now I mean, shoot, remember reflections was was around and they broke ground prior to to COVID. That's what shut down this project amongst many other things. But if I remember correctly, there was like theming throughout the lobby of different princesses, like there was Bambi or princesses and Bambi. If I remember, like, so it's going to have a very woodsy feel. Okay. But yeah, Tiana's palace taking over boat rights. Yeah, it would be perfect. It's not a huge setting. But and it's stuck right in the middle, where you're actually walking from the food court to the lobby, right? And you pass pretty much through boat rights really, you pass through the check in area, right? And not for nothing. I mean, Tiana, they have put Tiana here at Riverside and Port Orleans. I mean, we're French quarter, because you've got Dr. Facilier over there, you've got stuff like that. Like, then you have, I mean, now they do lend to all the princesses. We were walking by one and I remember like, Oh, look, there's because you've got the royal rooms, which shows all the princesses. But yeah, I mean, yeah, I would just continue and keep this, especially now with Tiana's Bayou adventure. I mean, it's Mardi Gras. It's party. It's New Orleans. Yeah, 100%. And if they don't, Disney missed the mark. Oh, they're going to miss it. I don't think they're going to do it. And boat rights is fine. It's fine. Yeah, the last time we've eaten there, we had a much better experience. Well, we've never had a bad experience. We ate there once for anniversary. You and I, which I actually think would have probably been back around 2017, 2018. We had a good experience. We went with Chuck and Alex when we were there for cosmic rewindo. And everything was fine. It's not like, don't don't come here unless you're staying here. Okay. This is my thing. Right. One of our listeners, Jeremy, he had messaged me and was like, yeah, we're going to boat rights. And I said to him, I said, it's fine. You know, it's, it's good food. Right. It's, it's a good atmosphere. Did he write back? Yeah. And he agreed. He was like, you're right, it was. It was fine for what it was. You know, it is. Yes, it is good. It's like, that hits the mark. I wouldn't, I wouldn't be anywhere else on property and think, oh, let's, you know what? Let's book boat rights. I just, I wouldn't. I don't think it's going to be that good for you. Even if you're at Disney Springs, unless you've absolutely exhausted every possible dining scenario at Disney Springs, and you don't want to go to any of them and go, well, it's quick boat, right? But even at that point, I boat ride to boat rides. But at that point, I would make my way to turf club at Saratoga, or I'd head to Olivia's. I'd head to Olivia's over this. And it's, you know, if you're looking at, Hey, it's a boat ride, right, you know, or even I want to go to a resort. Now, again, if you want to come here to experience, you know, if you're thinking, Hey, we're going to take you up on what you said, Jeremy, we don't want to go to Disney Springs to do our dinner, but we've got a night out, we've got a birthday night out. We want some live music and we want some boozy bignets, but we got to eat some dinner first and go, by all means, I think it's perfect for a whole night. Yeah, you uber or you make your way over here via boat or bus from a park. And you go have dinner at boat rights. And then you make your way, you know, on down or do a carriage ride and then make your way on down to French Quarter and walk down there a boat down there and get your bignets and get your live music at Scott Cats Club. Or stay and you're, you know, more energetic. So I think, you know, again, we hadn't been here in so long. And like, I love, I love Coronado. Yeah, I love the grounds of Coronado. Yes, I love walking around Coronado, because we feel like we're home. We feel like we're home, right? Right. Apples to apples, though. The feel just the walk around feel the leisurely walk about of resorts. This beats Coronado hands down, I think. Wow. I really do. I'm shocked. You said that. You know, you can truly get lost in here, mentally and physically, possibly physically too. I thought, yeah, I'll just cut right through here. It'll be simple. It wasn't as simple. But, you know, like I said, you're going from, you know, downtown French Quarter style New Orleans to the, you know, the Southern was Antebellum, you know, mansions to the alligator Bayou and true Cajun feel like I and when the boats are running and you have those boats running through on the sasagula river. And I just, I, this resort is so good. Like, you know, there's part of me that's like, all right, do we, do we need right now, do we kind of need a new Coronado, right? Do we need a place that is kind of our go to on a moderate level in this? I mean, this could almost be it, you know, it, it suffers that fate of a Coronado where accessibility is not the best, you know, you know, the boats, but those boats are only serving to and from Disney Springs, right? You know, it's not like saying, oh, well, this resort has a Skyliner, which has multiple, you know, purposes and areas that it'll serve. So this really is relying on buses. So it does suffer some of that fate. For me, like, with being as big as it is, it still fits that bill of Coronado, where it's easy to start and stop at the same point, right? Caribbean Beach. I can't, I can't stand Caribbean Beach as far as a layout. Oh, because again, it feels very linear. Yeah, you know, you have two sides that run along the water and where the bridges are located, they're split by that waterway, where bridges are located, doesn't give you a true sense of, let me walk this resort in a very circular, I'm stopping where I'm starting fashion, right, whereas you get that a Coronado, you get that over here at Port Orleans. Yeah, you know, and then obviously we would love to say, well, you know what, our new kind of home resort will be poly, but we got to look from a financial situation and looking right now, you know, those are rack rates that we looked at, right? I could probably look right now and take some of those rates and you can knock almost, I guarantee probably 85 bucks off. Well, and maybe that is, you know, maybe it's something we compare like, well, what would it cost to stay at Coronado? What would it cost to stay at one of the Port Orleans? Yeah. So, and then Main Street Magic Travel can help you with that. Yes. Yes. I actually wanted to say this on this, not live, but whatever, the podcast instead of just in person to you, I went to work yesterday and my co-worker. We're almost a week ahead, by the way. Oh, this is for Friday. Oh, on Sunday. Yay. Yeah. But my co-worker was like asking me if she could pick my brain about Disney and to obviously make a long story short, I told her $75 an hour in addition to hair. I told her to contact Main Street Magic Travel, and she did, and she got hooked up with Amy. And she, so apparently was working with another travel agent for like a couple of weeks. And she had a 30-minute conversation with Amy, and she said, "I have learned more from Amy in that 30-minute conversation than I did from this other woman for two weeks." And just, I mean, the amazingness she had to talk about it, I just was like, "Oh, I have to tell you me." That's a major thing when it comes to using a travel agent too, and obviously we'd love for you to use the ones that we work with. Correct. Obviously. But make sure that your travel agent knows Disney or knows locations that you're going to, because there are a lot that haven't been to Disney or don't go. I mean, both Chuck and Amy go to Disney. I feel like no forwards and backwards. Yeah, exactly. So it's just something to look out to. If you do link up with another agent, just do some research and make sure that they do know. And especially when you look at breaking something down like this resort, as simple as that may seem. And that's what we love. Ask us. And then obviously we'll get you connected with them. But if you need like, "Hey," and we do, I just had somebody message me via Instagram the other day and say, "Hey, I'm actually going to Boardwalk. I think they were going with their sister. It's their sister's first time staying on property. They were much more normally like a chill, old-key West, Saratoga type person. But what do I think?" And so we'll give you all those opinions because it's again, very easy for us to sit back and say, "We love Coronado. We didn't mind staying there last month in Ranchos. But for other people, that's a game changer in a potentially negative. Oh, 100%. How far it is. I mean, same thing here. Like, you could think like, you know, you could just, you could, if you're looking up and going, I love French Quarter. French Quarter looks beautiful. It's small. I've done all this research. It sounds great. I'm just booking it site unseen. And then you get there and go, "Wait, how do I go see this guy? Yee-haa, Bob? Wait, there's not a sit-down restaurant?" You know, because a lot of things you'll see, we'll advertise these two as feeling very much a, you know, conclusive together resort when they are separate technically. So, you know, those are the types of things you just want to always ask those questions when you're booking and when you're researching. And that's why we do episodes like this is to hopefully help you with every point because what's good for us might not be great for you, but we'll always try and give you all those different levels. And that's why I always, you know, I do find funny is you'll have somebody posting some of these Facebook groups, you know, that have 50,000 people. Which resorts the best? Okay, well, you're about to get 50,000 different answers. So, what you want to do is, and we understand, like, we don't know your person, you want to say, "Which resort is best?" Four. Four. Me. Family. Yeah, me and my husband. We have a nine-year-old and a 12-year-old. We are adventurous eaters, or we're not. We want to spend all our time in the parks, or we don't. We're absolutely, somebody in my family is scared to death of heights, all right? Well, let's take some skyline and stuff. You know, so every single family is so different, but what's so great is that there is something for Disney, for every single family, you know, and every resort caters to very specific types. Which is funny that you say that too, because Alex, that was looking, she was looking at art of animation. You have this guy liner, you know, she was super excited when I was like, "You don't have to fold up your stroller." She was like, "Oh, my gosh." But the main thing was, is she thinks they are instead of staying in a family suite, going to pick two little mermaid rooms. And because there are six adults, and even though there are a couple of little children, the adults wanted beds, and not the pullouts, which you do have a pullout couch in the family suite. And the table Murphy bed. Yes, but that's more to me. It's much more bed friendly. It is. So it is a bed instead of like... It's a true bed mattress. Correct. It's a bed mattress. Yes. It's not a pullout couch where it has the, like, I feel like the bar and everything. But you have, then you have four queen beds and two bathrooms. If you get a joining room. And that's the thing, too, with travel and when you are looking to plan is, you know, if you came to Rhonda and I and said, "We have unlimited money. Here's what we like. What do we book? It'd be very easy for us to go. All right. What's the most expensive one? That'd be good. And we're not going to do that. You know what I mean? We're going to tell you, okay, you know what? Actually, you know, you could save a lot of money by staying at this resort at a moderate level instead of this resort at a deluxe level because you're not, because of the the makeup of your group, your family, your trip, you know, and all that money. Sure. You guys say you have unlimited funds? Cool. But we can figure other things out. We can figure other things you can do with funds. Let's get a plaid. Let's get a... I mean, yeah, I mean, but seriously, you know, you could end up saying somebody who just... And that's the thing too. You know, like, you know, I love my brother to death, but I think he would tend to go, "What's the best nicest resort at Disney? That's where we'll stay." And you go, "Okay." But let's think about that. You know, is that really the one that would be best for your family or your trip when you're going? Sometimes it is. Instead, you might go, "You know what? Yes, it'd be amazing. You could go stay at Grand Floridian or the Contemporary or something or Polly, but you could stay at Riverside. It's gonna have these benefits that your family's gonna enjoy. And you're going for five nights and just saved a grand or more. Just so you saved $1,500. Here's where you could spend that $1,500 instead. 100%. You know, here's some, some cool experiences. Here's some dining. Here's some after hours. Here's a Halloween, a Christmas party, whatever those things may be. So, and that's what we hope to do with these style episodes. But with all that being said, we are going to wrap this one up. As you are listening to this episode, please, if it is on Friday, June 28, send out good thoughts, good vibes, good weather, because that is the night we have rescheduled our H20 glow nights. So hopefully we will have the weather for that. We will be enjoying Tiana's Bayou Adventure, the official opening. We will be reviewing merchandise. Yay. We'll be buying it so we can use it firsthand and give you a true lightning bug lights up. We'll be doing all that. That'll be fun. And yeah, Main Street Magic Community on Facebook is where we're doing all these live streams along with our weekly live. So it is well worth going out and checking out that community. It's worth getting a Facebook page. That's sure. We'll have one get it just for this and go ahead and ask to join. Of course, you can follow us on Instagram. You can follow us on Twitter at Main Street Magic and TikTok at MSM podcast. And finally, hit that subscribe button, get brand new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. And Ronda and I would be super thankful if you could please leave us a rating and reveal because it'll help our show grow. That's all we've got. We'll see you real soon. ♪ Jeremy and Ronda are more than a little pond of Disney World ♪ ♪ So they made this podcast to share it all with you ♪ ♪ Reports and resorts, top 10 lists of all sorts ♪ ♪ Main Street Magic's bringing it home for you ♪ ♪ music ♪ [ Silence ]
