Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside (sometimes “Port Orleans — Riverside” or “Riverside”) is a moderate-level hotel at Walt Disney World. Often considered one of the best moderate resorts, Riverside comes up a lot in planning a Walt Disney World trip because of its reasonable prices and huge room count. So, should you pay a visit to this lush resort along the Sassagoula River? Read on to find out!
Basics of Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside
Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside is one of four moderate hotels at Walt Disney World. If you’re considering Riverside, you may want to read some of our other posts. We have a ranking of the best Disney World moderate resorts. We also have a guide to all the hotels of Walt Disney World. And here are our reviews of all the moderate resorts (links open in new tabs):
Review of Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort (Separate Review of Gran Destino Tower)
Review of Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside (you are here)
The Cabins at Fort Wilderness fall into a similar price category, but aren’t technically considered moderate hotels. And if you’d like to see where this resort falls overall, check out our complete Disney World hotel rankings.
As a moderate resort, Riverside will fall between the value resorts and deluxe resorts in price and quality. Non-discounted nightly room rates at Rack rates for standard rooms at Port Orleans Riverside in 2024 range from $289 to $476 per night. Non-discounted nightly room rates at Royal Guest Rooms (more on these special rooms below) in 2024 range from $353 to $554.
Staying at Port Orleans, you get the perks of any Disney stay. You’ll have access to free transportation (by bus, as discussed below) to and from the parks and Disney Springs. You’ll also have access to Early Theme Park Entry and the ability to book your individual Lightning Lanes at 7AM (as opposed to when the parks open).
Port Orleans — Riverside vs. French Quarter
We don’t want to rehash the discussion of why there are two Port Orleans resorts (Riverside and French Quarter) and what that means practically. You can find that over in our review of Port Orleans — French Quarter, which you should probably read anyways if you’re already considering Riverside.
The short version is that these are two separate resorts located within walking distance (5 minutes campus to campus). This post will make a lot of comparisons to French Quarter because its proximity makes it an obvious alternative choice.
Theming and Grounds at Port Orleans — Riverside
The theming of Riverside is a somewhat fraught matter. Wikipedia gets straight to the heart of the matter with “antebellum South.” Disney formerly used the terminology “romance and casual charm of a bygone era” but has switched to “rural Louisiana.”
Personally, I like the Port Orleans fan site (a great site), which goes with “Experience the sprawling mansions and genteel feel of the picturesque Louisiana towns along the Mississippi.”
Whatever the case and however you want to describe the theming, there’s little denying that it’s a beautiful resort. The best way to convey the theme is just to let the pictures (in the above gallery and throughout the review) speak for themselves.
Royal Rooms aside, the theming at Riverside is very “grown up.” It’s a good pick for adults at Disney World, as it replaces the kitsch of the value resorts with beautiful views and lots of nature.
Port Orleans Riverside Layout
Riverside can be divided into four areas—Sassagoula Steamboat Company, Ol’ Man Island, Alligator Bayou, and Magnolia Bend. Alligator Bayou and Magnolia Bend are both huge though, and you can see there are essentially seven sections of rooms at the hotel.
Here’s a map of the resort:
Sassagoula Steamboat Company is the main building where you’ll find check-in, the main bus depot, dining, and shopping. Ol’ Man Island is the island in the middle of the resort with the pool, playground, and “Fishin’ Hole.”
Alligator Bayou contains original Dixie Landings buildings—16 buildings of hotel rooms, with a nature/cottage concept.
Magnolia Bend consists of four (very large) Southern-style mansion themed buildings. Two of these contain the Royal Guest Rooms.
I will say, I find the mansions to be a bit much. Let’s remember, these are moderate rooms. But they do look cool from afar.
Riverside sits at the north end of Sassagoula River, so doing a lap around the resort requires you to walk around the end of the river and then across it by bridge. There are five bridges at Riverside.
Three connect the north end of the river to Ol’ Man Island, and two cross the river farther south. A full lap around the resort is 0.9 miles, making it larger than Disney’s Boardwalk (home to Yacht Club, Beach Club, and BoardWalk Inn).
Booking Port Orleans — Riverside
We booked our most recent stay at Riverside through our our great travel agent Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character LLC.
For the Garden View room, we paid $305 nightly, the rack rate for the room. For our last stay in a Royal Guest Room, we paid $229.50 nightly using a Disney World annual passholder rate. The rack rate was $287, meaning we saved 20% with our discount.
Arrival and Check-In
We checked in online, which we generally recommend at Disney World unless you have questions for the front desk or you’re staying club level (not an option at Riverside).
At the moderate resorts, you might make an exception and at least plan to visit the front desk to get a map. The moderate resorts are huge and the buildings fairly indistinguishable, so it helps to get directions to your room.
Since Disney has ended their Magical Express shuttle service you’ll have to find your own way from from Orlando International Airport if you’re flying in. We were already in town, so just drove over.
Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived, so we stopped by the front desk. They queued us for the next available room, so we only waited about 15 minutes, during which time we just browsed the store.
Rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans — Riverside
There are three categories of buildings at Riverside that have different room designs. The Alligator Bayou room and Magnolia Bend rooms comprise the standard room types. The Royal Guest Rooms are a separate (more expensive) category. This post contains a look at newly refurbished Magnolia bend room and a Royal Guest Room (these rooms haven’t been refurbished recently). The non-Royal rooms were refurbished between 2019 and 2021. To the best of my knowledge, the Royal rooms have not received significant work since their 2012 debut.
Our Garden View (Regular) Room At Port Orleans — Riverside
Our Garden View room was in the Magnolia Bend area.
I’m glad the Riverside rooms have finally all (other than the Royal rooms) been refurbished. They were behind most other moderate rooms, including those at French Quarter, but now have the larger TV and hardwood floors:
They’ve adopted a mostly-subtle Princess and the Frog theme, the bathroom curtain being not-subtle-at-all. It’s obviously a great pick for the resort. The old headboards remain in place, which is the tiniest clash you’d probably never notice.
I’m not a fan of every design choice. They kept the old dressers, which I think should be replaced by the wider more modern and functional ones that are standard now. We’re also at the point price-wise where all moderate rooms should have Keurigs instead of Cuisinarts.
The bathrooms have moved from a pair of smaller mirrors to one big mirror, a nice change. As with almost all moderate rooms, the main toiletries are dispensed from large containers in the shower, not individual-sized bottles.
Our Royal Guest Room At Port Orleans — Riverside
The Royal Guest Rooms are a great “bucket list” item for Disney fans. With the deluxe resorts adopting heavily themed rooms, the Royal Rooms are perhaps not as standout as they used to be, but they are still a step above when it comes to detailing.
They’re not too expensive (starting at $353 and only about $60 more than a regular room) and they’re something that will really impress kids.
If you don’t mind moving your stuff, you could easily do a split stay between these rooms and another room at Riverside or French Quarter.
The Royal Guest Rooms are themed generally to the Disney princes and princesses. While Tiana is particularly prominent in the rooms (you’ll recall she’s from New Orleans), there are also nods to several Disney princess films.
The bathroom heavily features gold, including on what might be the top “wow” item, the Genie lamp faucet.
Now, these rooms are certain to impress kids. Adults might be a bit more on the fence. Yes, there are some cool features, but unfortunately the closer you look the more disappointing the room becomes.
These rooms are starting to show their age (going on seven years).
If Disney refurbished these, I’d come back in a heartbeat to see what they came up with. As they are, I’ll be waiting at least until I have a prince or princess of my own.
Dining and Drinking at Port Orleans — Riverside
Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside has one table service restaurant, one quick service restaurant, one lounge, and one pool bar. You also may want to remember there’s boat service to Disney Springs from 10AM until 11PM, if you’re looking for more food and drink options. The proximity to Disney Springs makes it a good hotel option for adults visiting Disney World.
The Sassagoula Float Works Food Court at French Quarter is also worth considering, though I’d probably only make that hike in search of a specific item, as the general menu won’t be much better than the options at Riverside.
Boatwright’s Dining Hall
Boatwright’s is the only table service restaurant at the two Port Orleans resorts. It’s located just a few steps from the Riverside lobby. It’s a casual restaurant requiring one table service credit for those on a Disney dining plan. We passed on the chance to eat at Boatwright’s, as it’s unfortunately open only for dinner. Here’s a review from WDWNT. The menu is available here.
Riverside Mill Food Court
The Riverside Mill Food Court is—you guessed it—the food court at Port Orleans Riverside. It serves three meals a day, opening at 6:30AM and closing at 11PM. There are four stations—bakery, grill, pizza & pasta, and salads & sandwiches. There are a few “local” items, like the Bayou Burger, Cajun Turkey Club, and Southern Fried Shrimp Platter. The full menu is here.
There is ample seating. In contrast to the floats factory theming over at French Quarter’s food court, the Riverside Mill is relatively plain—though it does have a gigantic mill system operating inside it, which is pretty cool.
Muddy Rivers
Muddy Rivers is the pool bar at Port Orleans—Riverside. Not much else to say about it, honestly. It’s not a standout pool bar.
River Roost Lounge
River Roost Lounge is the main bar at Riverside. It’s relatively spacious and has a small food menu. Apparently there are sometimes performances by Yehaa Bob Jackson, though we’ve never had the pleasure of seeing him. We did see another pianist perform, and that was enjoyable enough.
Transportation at Port Orleans — Riverside
From Riverside to the four parks (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot) and two water parks (Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach), you’ll be relying on bus transportation. The bus makes four stops around Riverside. Buses will also rarely be shared with French Quarter.
As we wrote in our review of Caribbean Beach, multiple bus stops are a nice convenience for a huge resort, but they make for long travel times and crowded buses. There’s no way around the size of the resort, so this is just something you’ll have to plan for until Disney World resolves its abysmal bus problems.
Guests who drive will have free parking and theme park parking is included. Plus you’ll have the convenience of parking in a lot very near your room. The size of the moderate resorts making driving a good option.
And in general, we still recommend using Uber to get around Walt Disney World, with Minnie Vans an alternative when those make sense.
You can get to Disney Springs by bus or boat. The boat runs roughly every 20 minutes and takes 15 minutes to get to Disney Springs. The last boat departs Disney Springs at 11:30. I suppose that beats the bus, but it’s not a huge benefit in our mind.
We stayed at Riverside for the 2019 Walt Disney World 5K and Walt Disney World 10K races and found it a good option for those, with the included bus transportation not being overwhelmed by guests.
Recreation at Port Orleans — Riverside
Like every Disney hotel, Riverside maintains a decent roster of activities. These vary day-by-day and month-by-month, but some highlights include:
Daily pool party
Weekly trivia night
Campfires (multiple times each week)
Movies under the stars (multiple times each week)
Painting ($)
Surrey Bike Rental ($)
The main pool at Port Orleans — Riverside is on Ol’ Man Island. It has a cool saw-mill-inspired water feature as well as a small water slide. Nearby is a jacuzzi, as well as a pair of hammocks.
Shopping at Port Orleans — Riverside
The store at Port Orleans — Riverside is Fulton’s General Store. In addition to the typical vacation items, Fulton’s has a decent collection of Riverside gear.
Conclusions About Port Orleans — Riverside
With its updated rooms (except the more expensive Royal Guest Rooms), Riverside is at least no longer behind the other moderate hotels. And Riverside has some elements that make it really stand out.
In particular, Riverside is one of Disney’s most beautiful properties. The first time I visited, I was in awe of my surroundings. It’s stunning—more stunning than several deluxe resorts.
Once you look past the scenery, things come a bit down to earth. Your dining and drinking options are average for the moderate resorts. Transportation is a problem.
The Port Orleans rooms aren’t anywhere near the quality of Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs, or even the rest of Coronado Springs. But if Port Orleans is more your style (or price range, depending on the dates), you’ll still need to grapple with the fact that adjacent French Quarter has a single bus stop close to every room.
All in all, the moderate resorts all have something going for them. At Riverside, you’re talking about unbeatable scenery. Its disadvantages usually won’t be enough to make it a bad choice.
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