Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Alligator Bayou Room (Photos + Tour)

We’re off to Port Orleans Riverside once again. But this time, we’re changing things up and visiting the Alligator Bayou section of the resort. Until this staycation, I had never stayed in the Alligator Bayou rooms. Our previous trips have always been in Magnolia Bend. So, this stay was planned to remedy that, and we’ll soon have a comparison report between the two resort areas.

However, this post is specific to the Alligator Bayou rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside. Let me preface this room tour by saying I had sorely misjudged how I would feel about staying there. Many years ago, before I ever even thought about starting a blog, we stayed in the Royal Rooms in Magnolia Bend. It was an okay trip, but I was miserably out of shape at the time. Riverside is a massive resort, and our room’s location required a good deal of extra walking. The stay left a bitter taste in my mouth for the resort.

Years later, I became an avid walker turned slow jogger. During that time, I decided to start jogging the grounds of each resort to learn more about them. About once a week, I would drive over to one of the resorts in the evening and jog. Then, I would usually have dinner at the resort’s quick-service restaurants. That’s how this website became what it is today and how I grew to love Port Orleans Riverside Resort.

Anyway, when I initially reviewed Port Orleans Riverside for Resorts Gal, I returned to the Magnolia Bend rooms. In design, those rooms are entirely different from Alligator Bayou. So, I reserved a woods view room with a fifth sleeper for this stay. This room sleeps up to four adults and has an additional pull-down bed that works for a small child.

Here is an alternate view of the room from the bath area facing the entrance.

A Mickey Mouse-shaped towel was waiting to greet us.

These rooms are fairly dark. Alligator Bayou has a good deal of trees and shade. While these rooms have an exterior entrance, they don’t let in much natural light. However, I found the light fixtures provided plenty of bright light if that’s what you prefer. Our room also had a ceiling fan.

We had two queen-size beds.

They were both platform beds, allowing plenty of room to store luggage underneath. You might also notice the solid surface flooring.

Here’s an overall view of the room before we folded the pull-down bed.

When not in use, the 5th sleeper serves as a bench. It has a few drawers underneath it. So you could sit here, remove your shoes, and place them in the drawers to keep them out of the way.

Here’s an alternate view of the room with the bed folded.

When you pull the bed down, darling artwork is revealed.

A few outlets and USB ports are on a ledge above the bed.

Here’s a closer look at the artwork featuring Louis, Tiana, Naveen, and Rey as they snooze in the Bayou.

These beds are designed to sleep a small child. We have traveled with an 11-year-old who has enjoyed this style of bed comfortably. But I would say somewhere around that age range is probably the breaking point, depending on their size and height. Everyone needs a good place to rest after spending a long day in a theme park.

An old-fashioned air conditioner sits in front of the window. It was a loud unit, but it wasn’t necessarily a nuisance, and it worked well. If you are sensitive to noise, it’s something to consider.

Our room had a table with two chairs.

A nightstand sits between the beds. It had accessible light switches overhead and built-in outlets.

I’m sorry, but I have yet to use the Hey Disney! device. I’ve read that you can use it for a variety of purposes, such as having someone bring extra towels to your room. When I’m at Disney World, I like to escape from electronics as much as possible. I’m on this computer most days, preparing room tours and reviews to share with our readers. So I like to get out and enjoy the fresh air. When in the room, we usually watch cartoons, Star Wars, or whatever movie series airs on regular television (commercials and all). It’s like a step back in time, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, our room had plenty of pillows.

A small crown, fit for a frog, was stenciled on the headboard.

We had a cabinet that offered some storage space and a few in-room amenities.

On top of the shelf, we had a Cuisinart single-cup coffee maker and accompaniments.

I appreciated the extra place to hang items but it felt like it was in an odd place.

We had one of the older black beverage coolers instead of the newer ones with see-through doors.

Here is a look inside. These do hold more items and tend to get pretty cold.

We see the typical layout of the bathrooms for a moderate resort. I actually prefer the open closet and bathroom area.

The sink had a decorative washboard.

Moderate resorts have two sinks. A ledge is built-in over the sink providing space to store items.

Here is that open closet with an extra pillow, blanket, safe, iron, and ironing board.

The safe is a good place to get those pesky electronic devices out of the way.

All rooms at Disney World have a hairdryer.

Moderate resorts usually offer a bottle of lotion and a package of soap.

A makeup mirror is available so you can come to terms with how you really look during your vacation. (I’m only kidding, kind of.)

I was surprised to see the bath and tub combination in the water closet. The woodsy tile look made it almost feel like an outdoor shower. Almost.

Built-in shampoo, conditioner, and body wash are provided in the shower.

Who doesn’t like Ray and Evangeline on the shower curtain? But I would prefer shower doors.

Speaking of curtains, a room divider is available between the bath and the bedroom area.

I don’t recommend upgrading room views when staying at a moderate resort. For example, this was a woods view. Below is a photo of the view with the windows open. Sure, it’s a beautiful area, but it wouldn’t have made any difference if we were facing the river or a parking lot.

Here’s a photo from outside our room.

This was room number 3515 in building 35 of Alligator Bayou.

It was pretty. This was our view when we left to go anywhere.

Port Orleans Alligator Bayou is meant to resemble a swamp-like area. If you love the woods or are outdoorsy, you will adore this area. We love it, and I much prefer it over the rooms at Magnolia Bend.

An enclosed ice and vending area was a few doors from our room.

One of the laundry rooms at Port Orleans Riverside was a little further down.

The quiet pool for our area was next to the laundry room. Our room’s location was exceptionally convenient to the ice machine, laundry, pool, parking lot, and bus stop. When you check in, I recommend taking the time to familiarize yourself with these things. On the first day, I thought we were far from the bus stop. But the next day, I realized I didn’t have to walk around our building to get to the path leading to the bus stop.

That thought leads to one potential dealbreaker. The buildings in Alligator Bayou do not have elevators. I requested a first-floor room, and it was granted. However, that is not guaranteed. All of the buildings have a porch that requires a step-up. If you’re rolling luggage or have accessibility needs, you’ll need to locate the closest ramp. Here is a photo of the staircase that leads to the second floor. (Each building in Alligator Bayou has two stories.) So, if you cannot or do not want to deal with stairs, this might not be the option for your group.

Overall, we loved the Alligator Bayou rooms. I was happy that we revisited the resort even though it hadn’t been terribly long since our last stay. We have a separate review of Port Orleans Riverside that details our last visit.

For more on the resort, you might enjoy The Resorts Gal Guide to Port Orleans Riverside or some of these other popular articles:

• A Photo Perspective of Port Orleans Riverside Resort
• Magnolia Bend or Alligator Bayou: Which One is Right For You?
• Port Orleans Riverside Walking Distances

What Do You Think?

As always, we love hearing from you and learning from your experiences. What do you think about the Alligator Bayou rooms at Port Orleans Riverside? Have you ever stayed in this section of the resort? Would the lack of an elevator be a dealbreaker? Let us know below in the comments.