The popular Royal Rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside have been changed considerably from their previous bold look inspired by Disney Princesses and Princes. These popular rooms have been closed since last year for updates, and many fans have been worried about the fate of these upgraded rooms.
We just got a new look at these new changes and compared them to the old look of the Royal Rooms based on our previous stay at this popular Disney resort hotel. Disney fans of this resort are going to have a lot of strong opinions on these changes! Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including five new Star Wars popcorn buckets at Disneyland and a big Disney World hotel discount available now.
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Royal Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside Reopen with Big Changes
The Royal Rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans- Riverside are located in the Magnolia Bend section of the moderate Disney resort hotel. These hotel rooms have been incredibly popular with guests for years due to their bright, Disney Princess-focused color scheme and light-up headboards. You can see a look at the previous design of the rooms above and the old light-up headboards below.
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The rooms have been closed since last year for a redesign, and guests have anxiously been awaiting updates on what the new rooms look like.
The pictures below come from Facebook user, Johnathan Cole, who happened to be staying at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort a few days ago. On his way back from Disney Springs, he noticed the construction barriers for these new rooms were down, and the curtains were pulled back to reveal the first look at the new room design. Thanks to this lucky timing for a fellow Disney fan, we have the first look at the new Royal Rooms. Thank you to Jonathan for granting us permission to share these photos on Mickey Visit.
These new updates have changed the color palette of the rooms to align more closely with the lighter room designs in this area of Port Orleans Riverside. While the updated color scheme of the rooms still focuses on Princess Tiana, the details are far more minimalistic in appearance than their previous, bold look.
Tiana is now predominantly featured in the room with this stained glass-inspired portrait seen on the left and the singular portrait of her and Naveen next to the beds.
We can see from this wider angle that the light features in the room have also been updated, and the table still features a welcome note from Princess Tiana.
Johnathan went back at night and was able to see the headboards lit up, which was such a cool detail to catch spontaneously! I’m thankful the light-up headboards for these iconic rooms were preserved. Now, instead of fireworks lighting up, which always reminded me of the Disneyland Hotel, so perhaps a bit out of place, they feature firefly effects in the artwork on the headboard.
The bathrooms have received a major update with fresh cabinets, tile flooring, and sliding doors instead of curtains. Sadly, it does appear we’ve lost the Aladdin-themed faucets (scroll down to see all the pictures of the previous look of the Royal Rooms!), which is a bit of a bummer, but it does make sense now that the rooms are just The Princess and the Frog themed. The top of the mirror now features the initials of T and N at the top for Tiana and Naveen.
The first guests who checked into the new Royal Rooms this week were given these plastic tiaras, which are seen in the photo above. This would be a cool feature to keep long-term for guests who upgrade to these new Royal Rooms.
Overall, I am actually quite happy with the design because I did find the previous color scheme of the Royal Rooms to be too dark. But this new theme is far more subtle and minimalistic than before. And considering these rooms are an upgrade at an average of about $100 extra per night, was a subtle redesign the right move here? They are beautiful rooms but not much different than the other redesigned rooms at Port Orleans, aside from the light up headboard and Princess Tiana touches.
Disney guests do not necessarily want subtle with their Disney theming, as we saw with the other more minimalist update that came to Disney’s Pop Century Resort when they removed the themed shadowboxes in the lobby.
Comparing the New Royal Rooms to the Previous Design
We have stayed at the Royal Rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside hotel in the past, so let’s take a closer look at the prior design. I loved this room design when we stayed here, and the bold theming definitely felt far more immersive.
The Royal Rooms featured dark, bold furniture paying tribute to Disney Princesses and Princes.
This close-up on the wall shows how the rooms featured portraits of all the Disney Princesses.
The table featured a letter from Princess Tiana as part of its design, which I’m glad to see was kept in the new look.
Above the table, you would see silhouettes of Disney Princes.
The carpet design incorporated the iconic Aladdin Carpet.
The bathrooms were far overdue for an update. I think it would be hard to argue against that, even for nostalgia’s sake.
But of course, it is sad to see the Aladdin-themed faucets go!
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These rooms are available to book now, and if you stay at the Royal Rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort, you will be experiencing the new design. Do you prefer the new lighter design or the previous bolder theme?
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