POR room advice please

[maxiesmom]

I am planning a stay at POR for this September. It will be me, my sister, and maybe her youngest daughter (age 23). What is keeping me from booking is that I am struggling with which type of room to book.

First thing is I usually share a scooter with my sister during our trips (I have an achilles that has disintegrated along with some knee issues, she has a few hip and back problems) but can walk without one. So if I rent a scooter from an off site vendor I am worried a bit about getting on the buses. I worry about having a spot for the scooter with so many stops.

I know POR has 4 stops, and that the West Depot is the first stop. Which makes me think of booking a 5th sleeper room(which will put us in the bayou section) and asking to be close to the West Depot. Or as both of us can walk without a scooter most of the time, do I book preferred to be close to the front of the resort and the gift shop and food, hop on the bus at that stop, and rent a scooter at the parks? I know September has a lot of rain, so maybe a scooter really isn't needed at the resort. With this trip being just us girls we can go at our own pace, and not have to worry about running around the parks.

What do you think? Should I have a scooter at the resort and book a 5th sleeper room and try to get near the West bus stop? Or do I skip the scooter at the resort and go with a preferred room?

 

[dpswift]

Personally I would probably book preferred (make sure to call in a request for ground floor because those builds do not have elevators)

Also If a scooter is necessary I would book one off site and get up a little earlier to get to the first bus stop. It may not be often but there is a chance that scooters will sell out in the park.

Part of what makes POR so special is exploring the resort. As much as you will be close to everything in preferred you still might want the scooter to explore

 

[lanejudy]

Bayou buildings do not have elevators, only the mansion buildings do. So keep that in mind with an ECV.

 

[elvispursley]

Bayou buildings do not have elevators, only the mansion buildings do. So keep that in mind with an ECV.

I don't know why I never knew this and we've stayed in the Bayou a couple times. I guess we've always had ground-level.

OP, for us it wasn't a long walk to the lobby/food-court/feature pool from the Bayou. It's a gorgeous resort and if you have a scooter, it'll make things easier exploring the resort. As for rooms, I'd ask your sister and niece which is more important...getting on a bus at the first stop or being closer to the other amenities. We stayed at OKW last year with a scooter and were the 2nd stop. We always were able to get on the bus without waiting for a 2nd bus and that resort is ENORMOUS!

I think it also depends on your park-touring schedule: are you one to get up earlier for rope-drop/EE? Or do you get to the parks a little later? If it's later, than you probably won't have any issues getting space on the bus. I know September is a less busy time of year so maybe the resort is less crowded?? If you wanted to avoid the whole issue of internal bus loops, you could always opt for POFQ?

 

[mamabunny]

PortOrleans.org is a great "fan site" that is run by the moderator of the POR & POFQ Resort forums here on the DIS. Andre has layouts on the website that show the type of room for every building at both Resorts. Just click on the building number to see what type of room is in that building.

Remember that at POR and POFQ, all roll-in shower rooms are on the first floor. You can see my post about that here (from an older trip to POFQ, but not much has changed LOL)