A Pop Century Review

[Minnie]

Pop Review

I’m just back from our first stay ever in a value resort. Please do not flame me for my opinions I just want to give an honest review of my personal experience.

The check in line was very slow as the line was long. However I was showered with Pixie Dust by the CM when I asked if my request for a close building was honored. He said we were in the 80s but said, “Let me see what I can do.” Great CM by the way other from Germany. He offered me a choice of the 50s or 70s building. I selected the 50s because the room was 4th floor around the corner from the elevator with a view of the lake. Perfect location! 5min walk max to the food court, pool, or parking lot. We would have even see fireworks from this location but we were at the main pool at the time or at one of the parks. Oh and another great thing about this location - the 50s & 60s have the 1st driveway - very close to the front! I think our room location was even closer to the main area than some of the 60s rooms.

BTW - The room was in the Tramp section almost directly behind the icon but on the other side facing the lake. Great quiet room location!

The room itself was clean, the beds were comfortable (but very small), and the shower was hot. This is really all one can ask for at a value resort. I did notice a little mildew in the shower (to be expected in FL) and mouse keeping missed a scrunchi ponytail holder let by a previous guest.

The pool was never overly crowded in the evenings and some great teenagers played games with my preteen son for quite a while. Great kids!

The food court was a zoo though morning or night. We only had dessert one evening and breakfast one morning and that was enough for me. I would avoid this area if at all possible especially during busy times.

Okay final thoughts. For this quick weekend trip the Pop met our expectations. However I do no think we will ever return. For one thing I missed the hot tubs that the moderates offer and the zoo of people is something that I do not care to repeat. If you are a sleep and run person then this would be okay as this was what we did this quick trip. For our long trip in July we are heading back to the WL. We missed the balcony, the free mini fridge, the size of the beds, the hot tub, the small size of the resort, and the transportation options.

Overall we had a fantastic trip and loved every minute. I can’t wait to go back!

 

[Pixiedust34]

Thank you for your report! I'm glad that you were able to get a good room location.

Did the buses to the park run pretty regularly?

 

[Minnie]

Thank you for your report! I'm glad that you were able to get a good room location.

Did the buses to the park run pretty regularly?

I'm sorry but I cannot report on the busses as we only used our rental car.

 

[BamaFan121s]

We also just returned from a stay at POP. I think this will also be our last stay there and we will return to our favorite, Carribean Beach.

The check out line was virtually non-existant, we were the first in line and waited maybe 30 seconds...not bad for mid day! (In Nov, late night, the line was huge!) Of course our rooms weren't ready yet-expected. We were told we would have a king size bed in one room (my hubby is 6'5" and physically WILL NOT fit in a full size) and connecting rooms. (Me, hubby, kid in one, mom and sis in the other.) Called later...rooms not ready. Called an hour later, around 3:00...rooms ready. Get there, open the room door to find someone else's luggage and stuff still there. (We were told these people were supposed to have been out by 11:00.0 Called the front desk, they sent someone to let us into another room. Opened the door...no king bed. Then we were told they could move us the next day to either a king room OR connecting rooms, but not both and we wouldn't have a room from 11:00 till possibly 4:00. (Um, hello, we paid for it already didn't we?) We finally gave in, said we'd keep the room and hubby and I took turns sleeping in seperate beds w/ a 5 y.o.

We were in the 80's building and the pool was always clean, great attentive lifeguard staff and not overly crowded, but, there always seemed to be at least one couple of young adults/teenagers making out in the pool at night. Not what I want my 5 y.o. to see!

I think there seemed to be a larger number of younger, seemingly unsupervised kids at that resort. Plus, our neighbors I think stayed totally blitzed to the point of not being able to walk most of the time and their 3 boys ran up and down the balcony until about 1:30 each night and beginning at about 5:30 each AM. They would flip the metal safety lock out so the door wouldn't shut and go in and out letting it bounce and bang on the lock over and over.

Food court wasn't bad...my child LOVED the tie-dyed cheesecake and we never ran into long lines.

Buses weren't bad leaving the hotel, getting back late at night was another story. Severely overcrowded buses...as in people crammed on standing in the doorways and LONG lines at night coming back from the parks. (when the lines for other resorts are empty)

Definately not our favorite hotel, but still had a blast just the same.

 

[scrapbookworm]

We returned from Pop Century on Saturday. We stayed in the 50s as well. I liked that our pool was no where nearly as crowded as the Hippy Dippy pool. We only went to the parks for 2-1/2 days. And I honestly think DD loved the pool more than being shuffled around the parks. I would definitely stay at Pop Century again. But I would like to be in the 80s section, cause I grew up in the 80s I guess.

We didn't have a lake view, but I did walk by the lake, and explored the rest of the resort. DD and I walked all the way down to the Potato Heads (in the 70s area I think). It was neat (and sad) to see those unfinished buildings across the lake. From our room we could hear and almost see the fireworks, which I think were at MGM.

I did hate how crowded it was in the food court during the regular meal times. The food was pretty good, but all of the World food is WAY overpriced, KWIM? The day we were to MK we took one look at the food court, and decided to hop on the bus instead. We ate at the bakery on Main Street. Even managed to get a seat inside it!

I've stayed at both All Star Movies and Pop Century. I liked them both, but would give Pop Century the slight edge because of the theming (I've always enjoyed looking at memorbilia from previous decades).

 

[cottontail]

Hi: Thanks for the honest reports. I guess it depends on what you want out of your resort.

Sounds like this has been a busy couple of weeks, as I have read other reports of port orleans riverside being busy as well in the food court.

Deb.

 

[Tracey1974]

Great thread- I am in the minority with wanting stay Moderate for our quick trip after the cruise in Dec when everyone else wants Pop so these reports are helping me if anything to save money. This way we can do value, MVMCP and a park instead of moderate and just MVMCP!

 

[Minnie]

Definately not our favorite hotel, but still had a blast just the same.

This was very similar to our feelings. We enjoyed every minute of our trip to the WDW. We tried a value and now know that it is not for us. If we need to stick to a certain budget we will make sure to book early enough to get a moderate.

 

[beckasher]

I will be there in a couple of wks with my 2 sm grandsons. I hate the thought of a crowded food ct. May I ask what time you were there. I planned on being there about 7am each morn. Is it crowded at that time?
I'm glad you all did have a good time there.

 

[mkjmom]

Thank you for sharing your opinions of Pop Century. We are staying in a value for the first time in Sept and chose this one. I've almost changed my ressies about a dozen times to a moderate, but I'm going to stick it out (this was a trip not originally in our vacation budget, but I couldn't resist free dining) and hopefully we'll have a great trip. My kids will be 8 and 7 when we go and they really only care about being at Disney, so the room shouldn't be a big factor since we won't be there too much.

Keep those reviews coming - I love to hear the Pros and Cons - helps plan and have realistic expectations.