Pop Century stay 8/13 - 8/18

[shondad]

My family and I returned this weekend from a 5day stay at Pop Century, first stay there (second Disney trip). I think the resort was nice, the room was clean, no complaints with mousekeeping. We only used the foodcourt for the refillable mugs. The bus situation was generally unpleasant. At just about any time of the day and for any park we were going to the line was extremely long. Which made waiting in the debilitating, scorching hot sun even more unbearable. We either waited for a second bus, or barely got on the first one having to stand most times either way. The wait was most times 20mins leaving the resort and returning, only twice did they have two buses at the same time at the same location, which was good. The resort was very close to Epcot and like 5mins to MGM. A bit of a ride to Animal/Magic Kingdom, but not bad, aside from the wait for the wheelchairs/ECVs or people in general, not worse than if you drove yourself.

The walls were a bit thin, maybe the same at Sports, but I just don't recall being as privy to the conversations of others then, as I was this time.

It was nice having a lake view, and the kiddie pool was good for my children as neither of them can swim and I did not have to worry about them going deep or losing track of them with all of the people there using the larger pool.

Overall we had a great time, but I am not sure I will stay there again, at least anytime soon. My DH was extremely impressed with AKL during our visit there for dinner, so I may just have to start saving my $$$ for that tab, upon our next visit, perhaps in a year or two.

FYI
For those interested, the ICEE (frozen coke) machine was working during our entire trip, that was my usual drink of choice there, I preferred the blue one. I hope some/all of this info is helpful to someone.

 

[EjandMD]

Welcome back thanks for the update...for the record, we always rent a car now so that we can run to the parks when we want to and not on a bus schedule. We just rent the cheapest car we can get. Saves a ton of time!

 

[kimisabella]

thanks for the report - we always rent a car because dh hates to wait on the buses. this is our first stay at pop and I'm sure dd's will love it, hope I like it as well. As far as AKL, that's where we stayed last year and dh and dd's both wanted to stay there again, LOVED IT, but, because we just moved and are fixing up this house, we had to go value this time

 

[shondad]

Well, we had our own vehicle, as we drove from Houston. My DH was all too happy to park that puppy from Sunday until Friday. I did suggest we drive for one or two of our ADR's, as we were running late, he did not want to. Sooo, we were left to ride/stand on the bus.

 

[shondad]

Well, we had our own vehicle, as we drove from Houston. My DH was all too happy to park that puppy from Sunday until Friday. I did suggest we drive for one or two of our ADR's, as we were running late, he did not want to. Sooo, we were left to ride/stand on the bus.

You are both welcomed.

 

[David0454]

do they have kingsize beds at pop

 

[winterman]

Yes they do have king beds but not enough, apparently. I have read that many posters were unable to get a king bed when they requested one. We asked for one last year and did not get one. But overall DH and I enjoyed POP enough that we are going back this Sept.

 

[naz022292]

We were there at the same time as you - 8/13-8/19. We also stayed at pop. Although the bus lines were long (sometimes beyond the ropes - we never waited more than 10 minutes (& that was when we had to wait for the 3rd bus) for a bus (I timed the buses because it helps both my mom and my son wait - when they complain and I can say "o.k. it's been 6 minutes!" I do agree though that some of the days were very sunny and hot and felt more like an hour! We did stand most times to parks - but on EVERY trip someone gave up their seat for my mom, and she was the only one that it mattered. On the occassions that we had a seat we normally gave it up for someone who needed it. I loved not having to stop along the way - bus rides only took a few minutes. We were always to the park we were going to 30-45 min. after walking out of our rooms.

 

[tndisneyfan]

I really wish POP would put a cover over the lines for the busses. It would still be hot but at least the sun wouldn't be beating down on you.

 

[CamColt]

Ive heard mixed reports on this...do the rooms have irons in them?

 

[tiggerlover73]

Are there coffee makers in the room?

 

[naz022292]

There are irons and hair dryers. No coffee maker or fridge. The rooms are small but clean and comfortable.

 

[disney momma]

how were the crowds in the parks??? were the lines for the rides long???

 

[DisneyGirl928]

We stayed at Pop on 8/11...before moving over to All-Star Movies from 8/12 to 8/18.... Our room at Pop was much cleaner and wished we would have stayed at Pop for the entire trip despite the longer walk to the bus...

During our entire stay I do not think we waited longer then 10 mins to get on a bus to get wherever we wanted to go. Even our trips home were short waits as there were always plenty of buses waiting at park closing. The lines in the park got to be very long by the afternoon, but we had no problems with them. We got to the parks early and took advantage of all the short waits, really took advantage of the fastpass system, and barely waited in line. We did almost everything in everypark with no wait (longest wait all trip was getting a fastpass at Everest..we were there at 9:30 and waited 20 mins to get to the machine...at 11:30 the fastpasses were gone)

Overall we had a great trip..were just slighty disappointed with the room at Movies and thought mousekeeping could have done a better job.

 

[Nite0wl71]

We were also there about the same time Aug 11th-15th.

We always caught the bus between 8:15-8:30 am and the lines were not long. The only day we had to wait for a 2nd bus was the day we went to MGM because the people we went with were running late we didn't get on the bus until about 9:45 am.

Only ate breakfast at the foodcourt, and filled our mugs.

I didn't hear anything through the walls, we had connecting rooms and we couldn't even hear them.

We are also going back in September

 

[taximomfor4]

Well, we had our own vehicle, as we drove from Houston. My DH was all too happy to park that puppy from Sunday until Friday. I did suggest we drive for one or two of our ADR's, as we were running late, he did not want to. Sooo, we were left to ride/stand on the bus.

Same here. We drove down from NE Ohio. Parked the van, and left it. Although after waiting for second buses and STILL standing every morning, I kept trying to talk dh into letting us drive the van over to the parks. He never did agree.

We loved POP, though. We have stayed at all 3 Allstars, and didn't like them -- actually dh refuses to go to WDW if we are staying at an Allstars resort, lol. But even he really liked Pop Century (HATED being on the parking lot side of a 90s building though -- very,very far. We got moved when a neighbor's cigarette smoke stunk up our room, to the 50's. LOVED IT!!)

I bet we saw you around there. We looked for DISers all week, but never found a single one. I even had my lime green mickey head in my passporter lanyard.

 

[klwdisney]

We stayed at POP for the first time 10/1/05 - 10/8/05. And I agree about the horrible bus situation! It didn't matter what time of day we left the wait for a bus was incredibly long. The bus that pulled up was never the bus we wanted and we spent 95% of the week standing on the bus. And it is blisteringly hot waiting out there too!

We thought the rooms were clean and sufficient. The food at the food court was ok.

But there was something about this hotel that will keep us from staying there in the future. Not sure what it was. We really enjoyed our trip about 6 years ago to All Star Movies. Next trip we're staying at Port Orleans Riverside.

 

[ItaliaDisneyFan!]

we stayed at POP for the first time (first time on site too!) on july6-18 2006.. we loved it!! we bought the refillable mmugs on the first day and thought those were a nifty thing! the bus situation was not a problem for us.. we stood up half the time but we didnt mind as we were only in the bus for 10 minutes at the most!!! the pools were great, the rooms were pleasant although they lacked a coffe maker and fridge.. but we didnt mind that either!!! staying at the POP was sooo fun and was one of our most fun vacations!! (apart from going to Europe (Italy) to see our family!!)

 

[shondad]

how were the crowds in the parks??? were the lines for the rides long???

I found each and every single park to be awfully CROWDED!!!!!!!!!!! I figured a lot of people would be there to take advantage of the free dining, but I never expected to see the ocean of people we saw. We had a long wait for nearly every single thing, even during the EMH at Magic Kingdom. The park was open until 1am, and only after midnight was the wait/lines fairly low.

During our trip last year, while we did go during Labor Day weekend (and free dining), we did not see half as many people. I am not sure if I will go next year whether free dining is offered or not. While I don't like the heat (I live heat nearly year round for here in Houston, we only have two seasons, summer and summer, the only difference is I avoid the great outdoors like the plague, esp. during the hours before 6pm) I can deal with it, but I cannot deal with the heat and the crowds.

Hopefully when you travel, the crowds will be manageable. I believe the next time we go it will be during the milder months, maybe March/April, or October/November.

 

[shondad]

We stayed at POP for the first time 10/1/05 - 10/8/05. And I agree about the horrible bus situation! It didn't matter what time of day we left the wait for a bus was incredibly long. The bus that pulled up was never the bus we wanted and we spent 95% of the week standing on the bus. And it is blisteringly hot waiting out there too!

We thought the rooms were clean and sufficient. The food at the food court was ok.

But there was something about this hotel that will keep us from staying there in the future. Not sure what it was. We really enjoyed our trip about 6 years ago to All Star Movies. Next trip we're staying at Port Orleans Riverside.

You know, I was surprised to see that the all star resorts now each have their own buses, instead of sharing, I rarely saw long lines for them or any resort, like I did for Pop Century. So at least the bus situation was or should have been greatly improved for the all star visitors.