Back From Pop Century!

[Tigger&Belle]

We got back last night and enjoyed our trip a lot. I flew to Orlando with my 4yo and my sister drove down and stayed with us.

All in all we liked Pop a lot. We never met Tyler--I seemed to rarely make it up to the lobby area, other than to the food court to quickly refill my refillable mug.

We stayed in the 70s building, in a ground floor room overlooking the foosball area (6102 I think it was). It was a nice area, but was a little noisy at times with people walking by on their way to or from the food court, etc. I can't believe how noisy some people can be, even late at night. One person (sounded like an adult) was whistling while he was walking the whole length of the building at around 11pm or so. Of course that is not the fault of the hotel. In the future I would request a room facing the lake to cut down on people walking by late at night.

I didn't notice a lot of noise from the other rooms, especially when we remembered to close the bathroom doors at night.

The pillows were my only real complaint. I called on the second day and was told that those were the only pillows that they had and there was nothing that they could do about it. I asked to speak to a manager and when one called me back he did have a runner get a couple of pillows from another resort, but it was not a big improvement (a little better than the original ones, though).

Mousekeeping was ok, but not as good as I've had with other WDW resorts. No cute animals, etc, which I was ok with. They weren't great at taking the used washcloths that were on the bathroom vanity. I tried to remember to toss them on the bathroom floor, but they didn't seem to go out of their way to do a quick check of some obvious areas. Nothing too serious, though.

My son got the dreaded stomach virus early in our visit and passed it on to my sister on our last day there. Again, not a problem with the hotel.

I saw a DISer pass by my room, but she was already too far away from me when I noticed her green ribbons (pushing a stroller, carrying a red backpack on her back).

I would stay here again and if I am able to get a good rate for this April I may try to talk my husband into staying here for a couple of nights before we move to Hard Rock Hotel for our Universal vacation.

If you have any questions please ask. I'll think of more later, but have come down with a sore throat and am not remembering a lot of what I wanted to pass on.


T&B

 

[tcfdick]

Tigger&Belle,
Did you request the 70's building on your reservation before you went? I have requested this building and am hoping to get it because of the location. Also, are any laundry facilities fairly close? I will be staying 16 nights when I go in June/July and will definitely be doing laundry so I don't have to bring 2 tons of luggage! How was the food in the food court? Were the lines long when ordering and then paying for the food? (I know the two lines are separate) I usually stay at ASSp and I'm trying to get a feel for the newest resort. Thanks for offering to answer my questions!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I requested either the 50s or the 70s. At the time I put the 50s request in it was simply for the location, but it turned out that my my sister joined us and I would have liked the 50's since that was her "teenage generation" (I'm the baby of the family and the 70s were mine). Either section would have been fine from a location standpoint.

I walked to the 80s/90s area to do laundry since I figured that a lot of people might have put laundry in the washer and then headed to the food court to eat while the laundry was washing. Since I was doing laundry at peak time (evening after park closing) I decided that I stood a better chance of getting a washer at the laundry that was far from the food court (it worked--there was one available washer). BTW, I wasn't planning on doing any laundry, but stomach viruses sometimes change plans...

It probably took me 3-4 minutes to walk from my room to the laundry, but that was with my 4yo so it might not take you that long. If you are staying a lot of days in summer when park hours are longer you will be more likely to do laundry during the day when less people are using the washers/dryers and you can use the closest facilities.

I only used the refillable mug in the foodcourt. We had breakfast food in the room and ate there every morning and then either ate out at the parks or offsite or made sandwiches in the room for lunch/dinner. When I was in the foodcourt it seemed busy, but I didn't notice real long lines. If everyone wants food from a different station I wold imagine that it would take awhile to stand in the different lines, but I bet they move fast.

T&B

 

[tcfdick]

Thanks! The long lines at the foodcourt was a problem at the ASSp and they seemed to take forever to get an order. There's only 3 going in my family and they are all older so we can all stand in different lines if necessary. I thought about going to the 80's/90's laundry for the very reason you mentioned! I'll make sure to do that. Thanks again for the fast answers!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I'm sure that someone who has had used the food court more can give you more details on the lines, how fast they move, etc. It does help that you can stand in different lines. It would have been hard if I had of gone there with my 4yo since he probably would have wanted a different type of food than me.

One laundry tip that I didn't see anyone else doing the night I was doing laundry is to bring your dirtly clothes in a wheeled suitcase. The clothes can then be folded and put back into the suitcase after they are dry (or you can say forget it and toss the pile of clothes into the suitcase like I did since I was so exhausted). It sure beats carrying the laundry bags of clothes back and forth like others were doing. I brought the wisk laundry tablets and quarters with me and I was ready to go.

T&B

 

[tcfdick]

Wow, what a great tip! Makes me wonder why I never thought of it! I always bring my own laundry supplies from home too. It beats paying the high price there, plus my family has skin allergies and I have to be very careful what I use. Thanks for the tip!