Disney World has been giving hotel room updates across many hotels recently!

In the years since the pandemic, we’ve seen a variety of hotel overhauls with newly-themed rooms, updated furniture, and often, the removal of carpet. Some of these renovations have been wildly popular, while others have caused uproar among Disney fans. So when we started to see some controversy surrounding the Royal Rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside, we knew we had to check out the space for ourselves.

What Are the Royal Rooms?

The Royal Rooms are a batch of rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside that are available at an upcharge from the standard hotel rooms. Previously, these rooms were themed to a variety of Disney princesses with memorabilia and nods to many fan-favorite leading ladies. 

Recently, these rooms have been in the process of being updated, and as guests have begun to stay in the new version of the Royal Rooms, photos have been shared online of the renovation. And let’s just say…fans aren’t very happy with some of the changes.

What Changed?

For starters, many of the same changes have been made to this room that we’ve seen in other hotel updates recently. The carpet has been removed and replaced with a vinyl wood-like flooring. The heavier curtains have been removed to be replaced with a design that lets more light into the room, and much of the dark coloring has been swapped out for brighter tones.

The furniture has been completely swapped out — everything from the beds and headboards to the dresser and chairs. The artwork above the beds has also been changed. It used to feature a fireworks design that would “burst” with light when you pushed a button, but now offers a light-up firefly design inspired by the bayou.

But perhaps the main change to the Royal Rooms is the theme. Previously, the backstory of these rooms was that a variety of Disney Princesses were visiting Tiana and bringing trinkets with them. Now, the backstory is that you’re a guest of Tiana and Naveen, staying in her “guest room.”

Because of this, the rooms are now heavily themed to Princess and the Frog, without representation of other Disney franchises. There are still hidden details around the room, but it’s not quite as overly themed as before.

So why are people upset?

What Fans Are Saying

When the photos of this room makeover surfaced, fans had a LOT of opinions, which were heavily leaning into the “negative” category. Folks have described these rooms as “losing character” and “lacking in whimsy.” They’ve said that the old version of the Royal Rooms was more thoroughly themed and that this feels like a downgrade. To be fair, those older rooms used to have cool features like Genie’s lamp as the sink faucet!

Mostly, people don’t like that these rooms are still available at a premium price, when they don’t stand out as much from the standard rooms in the Alligator Bayou section of Riverside or the standard rooms at Port Orleans Resort — French Quarter. They’ve noted that this makeover looks too similar to other room rethemes recently, with the lighter color palette and clean, more minimalistic design.

Well, we stayed in these rooms ourselves, and we have some thoughts to share on the topic.

What Are the New Rooms REALLY Like?

We’ll start with the positives — the rooms fit their new theme and backstory well. They include several nods to Tiana and Naveen, and there are still some hidden details to find that are inspired by their movie. It does feel on brand with “staying in the guest room,” and they flow well with Port Orleans Resort — Riverside as a whole.

Also, the main pro with this renovation is that the space in the room has been used more efficiently. There’s more storage overall, and the furniture fits and flows better than it did before. Previously, it felt a little cramped in here, particularly with the dark color palette. Now, you’ve got more drawers and cubbies, outlets, and even under-bed storage for your luggage.

The items in the room are of good quality, too. Our team member who stayed in the room described it as feeling a little less “hokey” than before. It genuinely feels like a nice hotel room…it just may not be what you’re looking for.

However, we definitely agree that these are suuuuper similar to other standard room rethemes we’ve seen in Disney World. It feels on par theming-wise with makeovers like the basic rooms at the Contemporary, Polynesian, All-Stars, or Caribbean Beach. They do not feel like rooms that you would pay an extra $100 a night for.

They don’t have the uniqueness and novelty that they did before, and really, the only draw to pay for them is if you have a major Tiana fan in your group. They kind of blend in with the other recently redone rooms, too, thanks to all the blue-and-white accents. Disney has been very fond of those same vibes with many of the refurbishments.

We’ll be interested to see if these rooms lose some of their popularity or stay booked after the retheme. We’ll keep you in the loop with any more hotel updates in Disney World. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest.

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Would you stay in this hotel room? Let us know in the comments!