Walt Disney World has introduced resort refurbishments and different resort development initiatives at Walt Disney World for 2025 & 2026. Two of those contain visitor room renovations at Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter Resorts. This shares dates, particulars, and our commentary concerning the doubtless scope, scale, and impacts of the work.
As steered above, that is the primary of some initiatives that had been simply introduced, with the Yr-Lengthy Pop Century Room Refurbishment being the opposite huge one. These in all probability should not the one resort renovations on the horizon, both–simply those which have begin dates earlier in 2025. Control our Walt Disney World Resort Building Tracker for additional updates.
The previous couple of years have thrown a monkey wrench into Walt Disney World resort refresh timelines, with a number of resort refurbishments being delayed as a result of closure and the pent-up demand in its aftermath. The excellent news is that this hasn’t been as unhealthy on the resort facet as with DVC properties, so Walt Disney World received’t be spending the subsequent few years enjoying catch-up, however between a couple of postponed initiatives and the probability of larger-scale reimaginings and new development, there’s doubtless so much on the horizon.
Let’s begin with the official announcement from Walt Disney World concerning the Port Orleans French Quarter room redo:
From Could 2024 by way of Spring 2025, some Visitor rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter might be underneath refurbishment. Visitors may even see or hear development work throughout daytime hours. Most Resort resort facilities will stay obtainable.
That is nothing new, at the least partially. This room mission was added to the schedule earlier this 12 months, and initially had an finish date this month. After studying it was a tough items refurbishment, we rapidly concluded that it couldn’t conceivably be performed by November 2024. And now we all know that it received’t be, as Walt Disney World has added a second section, which can presumably resume after the WDW Marathon Weekend in mid-January 2025.
The following couple of months are Walt Disney World’s highest occupancy time of the 12 months, so it’s not unusual for Walt Disney World to do phased refurbishments that skip November and December (generally expanded to October by way of January). That’s nearly definitely what’s taking place with Port Orleans French Quarter. It’s not that the mission has been delayed by a number of months previous its unique November finish date–it’s that this month by no means actually was the complete completion date.
Let’s begin with the official announcement from Walt Disney World concerning the Port Orleans Riverside room redo:
From early April 2025 by way of the tip of January 2026, visitor rooms within the Magnolia Bend at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside will endure refurbishment. Throughout this time, visitors may even see or hear development work within the space.
We beforehand predicted this might occur subsequent in 2025 and 2026, which was hardly a daring guess. Walt Disney World follows a schedule with room refurbishments, and Riverside was slated to be subsequent up after French Quarter.
The fascinating wrinkle right here is that Port Orleans Riverside had been within the midst of a resort-wide tender items refurbishment in 2019 and 2020, with the Royal Rooms subsequent as much as go underneath the knife in March 2020. The entire Alligator Bayou rooms had been completed and, to the very best of my information, so had been the usual Magnolia Bend rooms.
Nevertheless, the Royal Rooms in Magnolia Bend had been largely untouched. Some did find yourself changing the carpet with new laminate flooring and different gentle refreshes, however that’s it. The overwhelming majority of the five hundred+ Royal Rooms are materially unchanged since 2012–save for the mattress runners, which had been lengthy gone even pre-closure.
It’s a provided that the Royal Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside will obtain a tough items refurbishment in 2025-2026. They largely missed their final tender items refurbishment and could be due for a gutting, regardless. Main renovations will doubtless occur.
What’s utterly unclear at this level is whether or not the Royal Rooms will live on post-refurbishment or if a brand new idea might be launched. It’s our understanding that the Royal Rooms aren’t almost as well-liked as they as soon as had been, and are routinely given out as a free improve to visitors.
Though we’ve got no inside data to recommend as a lot, we’d additionally hazard a guess that the Royal Rooms are dearer to create and keep. There’s a whole lot of consideration to element and customized design all through the Royal Rooms, and that can not be as cheap or environment friendly as a few of the fashionable rooms at Walt Disney World.
I hope that the Royal Rooms live on. We stayed in a single earlier this 12 months and located it to be in shockingly fine condition regardless of the dearth of refurbishment, and likewise thought that the model largely stood the take a look at of time regardless of being over a decade previous. That’s greater than I can say about lots of the “fashionable” rooms that happened in 2013-2017, a few of that are already lengthy gone as a result of they aged so poorly.
With that stated, I can’t assist however suppose again to the Pirate Rooms at Caribbean Seaside being transformed to the new ‘Underneath the Sea’ Little Mermaid rooms. It’s completely potential that it is a blueprint for what’s to return at Port Orleans Riverside, albeit (hopefully) not Little Mermaid impressed.
The important thing distinction, in my opinion, was that the Pirate Rooms, whereas thematically sturdy, had all types of points. Their location and uncomfortable beds had been the 2 huge ones, they usually turned notorious consequently. Even after Walt Disney World opened the Skyliner (thus bettering their location) and made tweaks to the rooms, they couldn’t overcome their repute as terrible. The Royal Rooms don’t have any such points with their notion–so maybe that’ll be their saving grace?
Nonetheless, I’m skeptical that the Royal Rooms will live on. I wish to be incorrect as a result of, as I wrote earlier this 12 months, these are among the many very best-themed rooms in all of Walt Disney World. Making a brand new model of the Royal Rooms simply doesn’t appear to be the course Walt Disney World will go given every thing we’ve seen over the past a number of years.
And I write that as somebody who is mostly happy with the trajectory of room redesigns. My intestine is that they’ll take the trail of least resistance and ship one thing within the present blueprint that balances space-saving fashionable design options with thematic prospers, making an attempt to appease each diehard followers and first-timers.
Personally, I believe that’s the incorrect method. Port Orleans Riverside wants one thing to provide it a promoting level among the many Reasonable Resorts. French Quarter has the compact format; Caribbean Seaside has the Skyliner, nicer facilities, and proximity to Riviera Resort; Coronado Springs has Gran Destino and convention-caliber amenities. Port Orleans Riverside hasn’t had any resort-wide upgrades and seems like time has handed it by.
For years, Port Orleans Riverside was our favourite Reasonable Resort for this very motive–it felt like a bygone period of Walt Disney World, was thematically unblemished, and had lovely grounds. But when I’m being sincere with myself, I like the concept of Port Orleans Riverside greater than the precise resort.
We nonetheless love to go to and spend time at this thematic exemplar, however when push involves shove and we’re really doing a keep for sensible functions, Riverside is considerably low on our Listing Rating The entire Finest & Worst Resorts at Walt Disney World.
I don’t suppose Royal Rooms alone are that “one thing” to distinguish Riverside from the opposite resorts, however it could be cool in the event that they supplied a greater diversity of themed rooms. Failing that, perhaps Riverside would profit from a personality eating expertise, immersively themed bar, or different marquee draw.
Finally, it stays to be seen whether or not Imagineering revisits the Royal Rooms idea with a modernized take or goes in a unique course utterly. Our hope is for the previous, so our daughter can take pleasure in them once more if/when she enters her princess section. For these of you with women who’re presently already on this section, you may wish to contemplate a Royal Room keep ASAP in case I’m proper they usually do go extinct.
I’ll take this a step additional and hope that Imagineering doubles-down on such a room, including themed classes like this to resorts all throughout Walt Disney World–or simply a greater diversity to Port Orleans Riverside (the once-rumored Haunted Mansion rooms and particular person character rooms could be nice). This kind of idea has been an enormous hit on the worldwide resorts and it looks like Walt Disney World visitors would go loopy for one thing related! (At the same time as I write this, I understand how far-fetched it’s.)
One factor that’s not far-fetched is for the Port Orleans Riverside refurbishment lasting longer than presently scheduled. By the point Magnolia Bend is finished in January 2026, it’ll be time for Alligator Bayou to obtain its subsequent spherical of room redos. If the conventional mission cadence is adopted, that’ll even be a tough items refurbishment and will final till early 2027.
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Your Ideas
Do you just like the Royal Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside? Would you like such a highly-detailed model, or desire one thing extra refined like the brand new rooms at French Quarter? Hoping Magnolia will get one thing just like the ‘Underneath the Sea’ rooms at Caribbean Seaside (however themed in a different way)? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation of the Royal Rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside? Any questions we may also help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
