Disney hotel advice

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Hi there. My family has booked to go to Florida and are staying in Disney hotel Port Orleans. Can I have any recommendations for things to do? What not to do? Go early in the morning or late at night? Any advice is welcome. Thank you.

French Quarter or Riverside?
We stayed in French Quarter a few years ago now and loved it.
My advice would be to do a bit of planning, find out what parks have the extra magic hours and avail of them. We liked to take advantage of the time difference and get going early in the morning. We stayed all day in the parks though which mightn't suit everyone but was manageable for us even with small kids. We just stopped to rest/ eat whenever we wanted. If food is your thing and you are on a dining plan, don't just stick to the parks, some of the nicest restaurants were in other hotels It also really helps to at least have a vague idea of what rides you plan on going on and book fastpasses if they have them. Really saves some time and your feet as it will reduce crisscrossing the parks to get from one ride to another,

Thank you Goneback2school. DH thinks riverside.

We stayed at Riverside in 2016 and are going again in August.

It's a lovely resort. You can walk along the river to French Quarter, only takes about 10 mins. Sometimes the bus queues from the Parks for FQ are shorter too so we occasionally caught that bus and walked back to Riverside too

You can also get a water taxi to a Disney Springs, which is lovely.

The food hall is big with a good selection.

It has 3 pools and 4 bus stops. We were lucky with our room in the Alligator Bayou section. We were really close to one of the quieter pools and the first pick up bus stop (west).

The mansions look nice but I'm def going to request AB again. It's so green and lovely!

Have a fab time.

Thank you Slavetothemoney

Join the Disney Information Buuletin Board. It is a free site, just sort out a user name and a password. Check out the menu for the pages on the right of the screen and start reading. If you don't do some homework then you can miss a lot. Besides the parks there are early opening hours, fast passes, fancy dining, loads of themed shops and hotels to visit. I have been going for over 20 years and just when I think that I have seen it all they build something new. There is no need to leave the Disney bubble as it is known. The success of your holiday will be reflected by the homework. It's one of those places where if you are still lying in bed at 9am because you are on holiday then you have missed the point entirely. There is enough to keep you busy from 7am until 11pm every day and you still won't see it all in one visit.

Hi, if you're staying on site, it's important that you maximise your benefits of being an on site guest.

Have a read of this planning guide for recommendations of how to plan your stay to get the most out of it.

orlandoholidays128163419.wordpress.com/2020/01/22/theme-park-planning-for-beginners/

Join The Dibb, it's a great friendly website for all things Disney.

I stayed there many years ago. The resort has a lovely atmosphere so plan on a few evenings of chilling around the resort. If they still do outdoor movie showings and toasting s’mores then that is lovely. My only criticism is that the self serve restaurant gets way too busy and noisy with long queues, the French quarter one tended to be better.

There are some good youtube channels - Tim Tracker and the Disney Food Blog are the two that I like most. With the extra magic hours, you may find it better to plan to park hop on those days as most people go for the EMH and then stay all day so the park is really busy and queues are longer. We go for EMH and then change to the park with the lowest queue times shown on My Disney Experience app - if the EMH are at Magic Kingdom that day, you may find heading over to Hollywood Studios mid morning less crowded.

Other things to do that aren't Disney: Old Town Kissimmee on a Friday or Saturday night for the classic car procession, Kennedy Space Center, the big wheel on I Drive. You will also get Disney mini golf included in your tickets which is good fun.

I would always say go to the parks for when they open - jet lag is your friend!

You need to plan. You can book meals 6 months and fast passes 2 months ahead. You should do this as they both fill up. Use extra magic hours which are open to the Disney hotels. If got the free dining, there is so much food , you don’t need to buy much else although I did take fruit bars etc for kids and squash squirties to add to the water. You can get iced tap water in all food establishments in Disney, and Starbucks are included in meal plan.
We stayed at Port orleans and did washing half way through holiday, kids swam whilst I did washing for a few hours.
Key is planning though. Don’t loose out on fast passes and meal booking although you can change them when you are there if need be. But you need to book the most popular restaurants and rides as far in advance as possible.