The beautiful Port Orleans French Quarter

Finally uploaded pics from my weeklong conference and Disney visit!

I figured my first posted photos should rightly be the hotel where I stayed - my first time staying at French Quarter, by the way (I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside for 2 days many years ago, and never saw more than my room and the parking lot).

And let me say...WOW! For a moderate priced resort, it might well be the most beautiful on Disney property. And that's saying alot. While I love the architecture of Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge, and some of the thematic grounds decor...and everything from Polynesian to Grand Floridian to Coronado to Boardwalk are wonderful places to stay with great themes and decor...the Port Orleans French Quarter combines so many great attributes that it really took me by surprise.

First off, I'll start with the least impressive aspect of the resort - the rooms are the standard moderate-level fare - nothing special, though nicely decorated and thematic to the design and name of the resort. Still, it's just the common-corridor and window-unit-AC type hotel design.

But the building architecture is wonderfully thematic, and captures very good detail from the real city on which it is based (having gone to college for 4 years in New Orleans, I am intimately familiar with the real French Quarter!). The roof designs, the wrought iron railings, and the colors all work wonderfully to capture the New Orleans feel. Here's the staircase to my 3rd floor room in building 1, on the river:



Then, you add in the fantastic 'street grid' design of the whole resort - each hotel building is separated by courtyards, and accessed by a series of 'streets' and alleys, lined with sidewalks and proper paving. The street signs are dead ringers for the French-style ones used in New Orleans, as are the horse posts and the blue-tiled street names on the corners:





The streets are properly shaded by stately trees, and have all the right smells - mixes of jacaranda, live oak, and other southern trees:



Though the streets are closed to traffic, they are plied by the occasional horse-drawn carriage, a la New Orleans (as well as the service carts and golf-carts by hotel staff).

The gorgeous, rich foliage not only provides shade and scent, but properly delivers the colorful, rich, and tropical look of New Orleans and its many cultured influences in design and landscaping - which combined with the Spanish-style courtyards and fountains, and French street grids, make it feel like you are in the Big Easy:







Entering the lobby, you get a taste of the vibrant fun and Mardi Gras flair of the city, with an architectural design right out of the artistic Warehouse district:



Across from the checkin, the other side of the lobby is inhabited by Scat Cat's club...a surprisingly hopping little jazz bar with nightly live bands and a good crowd:



Once you pass through the lobby, you enter 'St Peter's Square', the center of the resort, with the stores on the left and the food court on the right...with the whole resort spread out in front of you down various streets. The pool area is straight ahead; the large pool area continues the Mardi Gras theme, with giant float-like structures housing slides and fountains:



And of course, Old Man River just keeps on rolling along, just off the back of the resort. You can take boat shuttles down the muddy brown river all the way to Downtown Disney and Marketplace:



At night, the resort is so quiet and peaceful - I've rarely experienced such peaceful solitude at any other resort - with such vast, spread out streets and courtyards, it's simple to find a little spot with noone else around, or just walk the quiet and beautiful resort to take in the night atmosphere:





During the last three days of my stay, I moved to the huge studio room of Old Key West, in a nice, peaceful room overlooking a golf course...I've always enjoyed the extra size of the DVC rooms there. But I distinctly missed the ambiance, atmosphere, decor, and design of the French Quarter. Something about the place just stuck with me - coming back from a day of finance and insurance seminars at the Marriott, it was a real decompression to park my car at my resort, and walk into that picturesque, quiet resort, walking those shaded streets over to the Square to get some Beignets and coffee, listen to some live jazz, then stroll back the long way along the river to my room.

Hope you enjoyed a little tour of this beautiful resort, as much as I enjoyed staying there. It's certainly on my list for future stays, if ever I'm looking for a moderate-level resort. I've stayed at and enjoyed Coronado, Caribbean Beach, and Riverside...but French Quarter is where I'll be wanting to stay again!

 

That is beautiful Justin; thanks for sharing! I'll have to keep it on my list. Even though the next trip may be at the Boardwalk.

 

Those are great shots Justin. I love the fourth photo of the "street". We have never stayed at French Quarter, but we did stay at Dixie Landings a few times . And we loved it too. We spent a long time walking around the resort and just enjoying the quiet and the scenery. We sat on a bench on the river, benches in front of fountains, and sat in the gazebos near the river.
We always had breakfast at BonFamilles. Boy do I miss Satchmos Skillet and the beignets.

 

Thanks all. I was taking most of these pictures the first few days, either before or after the conference...so most are taken with my little T100 ultra-compact (except the two night shots at the end).

I was mighty impressed with the ambiance of the place. And the late night beignets were worth going there alone! I might just boat my way over next time even when I'm not staying there, just to chill out on a nice bench with some coffee and beignets.

 

Thanks Scott and geek. It's worth a side trip IMHO if you've got some spare time during your next vacation. Being so close, I have the advantage of an open schedule - I can go to Disney and spend a day just visiting resort grounds and riding boat and bus transportation to and fro - never even going to a park. The resorts themselves are so unbelievably detailed and decorated, and have great scenic views, walking paths, and restaurants, that it's almost like going to a park!

If you've not done it before, I'd recommend a walk on the grounds of both French Quarter and Riverside, the lobby and pool area of Wilderness Lodge (including the boat ride to Contemporary or Magic Kingdom from their dock, which is wonderfully peaceful), the lobby and animal viewing area of Animal Kingdom Lodge, a walk around the beautiful lake of Coronado Springs, some time at the Boardwalk and Epcot resort area, including the convenient 'back door' entrance to Epcot, and a walk of the sprawling grounds of Saratoga Springs, which like Port Orleans includes a convenient and peaceful boat launch to Downtown Disney. It's a cinch to visit any of these hotels - just jump a bus or boat headed to any of them. Remember that Marketplace is a great 'hub' for visiting any hotel you want - they all stop there regularly. and I'd heartily recommend the wonderful, long, scenic boat ride from Marketplace to Port Orleans - it's like a theme park ride, except it lasts alot longer!

 

That's actually what Disney says too. My parents almost came out during my last trip (before the rest of my family had to bail), but Pop was booked solid, so they would have been elsewhere. So Disney transportation's official line is: To go to another hotel, take the bus to Downtown Disney and transfer to the other hotel.

 

Justin, I have to say I like your photo's a lot. I have stayed at Riverside and won't do it again because of the shear size of the facility. I have heard though that French Quarter is MUCH smaller, and I will consider staying there, thanks to your photo's.

 

Thanks Polynesian! Yes...Riverside is huge - if you know where to book, you can get close to the main building, restaurant, and docks...but you could be in one of those outlying areas that feel like miles away!

The French Quarter is about the size of just a single section of Riverside (which is split into two large sections). I believe there are 7 hotel buildings, with the main building. pool area, and docks being fairly well centered between them. I was in Building 1, which is all the way to the right and out on the river...so it's one of the furthest points from the main building and bus stop...and I never felt like I was all that far away. And the walk was so beautiful to get there, that I didn't mind either way!

Riverside is not only twice the size, but some of the outlying hotel buildings are quite far from the main building, unlike French Quarter where they're spread out fairly equally on either side of center. And though they are both greatly themed and very pretty...I think French Quarter takes the prize!