Disappointed in Pop/Value Level

[djmeredith]

I just returned from 8 nights at POP and was very disappointed in the quality of the resort. I have stayed at Value level before (*** 2001 and ASMo 2006) but felt the overall quality of the rooms at this level has gone way down. It wasn't basic cleanliness (except for the large amount of mold between the shower tiles) because mousekeeping did a decent job. It's just the overall quality is low. I will never again stay at a Disney Value resort because I felt the room was on the same quality level as a Motel 6 or Days Inn type motel which does not meet my standards. I generally stay at 3 star hotels (at least) when I travel, and Pop would be considered a 2 star at best if it were not on Disney property. Next time I would choose to stay offsite if I couldn't afford a higher level resort. Just be warned, if you are picky about where you stay, don't choose value!

 

[Disneymommyof4]

I agree. We spent one night at the POP in May 2012. We were not impressed and ended up switching to CBR. My Mom's room had red stains In the carpet, cobwebs, the air didn't work properly, and she discovered rat trap boxes right outside her door. (She is terrified of mice/rats). Needless to say, we had to change resorts bc she wouldn't hear of staying another night. Not knocking anyone who stays in a value resort. We just had a bad room/experience but we fell in love with CBR and will always stay there for all future trips. Our next one being May 2014

 

[JennyDrake]

It's nice that WDW offers lots of options, isn't it? In over 30 visits over the last 10 year I have stayed deluxe only 4 times, moderates ~10 times and values the remainder. I have 3 more trips this year and they will also be to value resorts.

I don't spend a lot of time in the room and they suit my needs nicely.

 

[scjo68]

You are scaring me....

We have always stayed in a moderate or deluxe. But since we are staying at the Contemporary at Thanksgiving, we are trying to make our August trip more economical.
So we are trying POP this summer. I know that the room will be much smaller than we are used to, and the décor will not be as nicely done, but I figured we can get used to that.

I am picky about where we stay. I don't need luxury, but I need the room to be very clean, and everything (especially the A/C) needs to work. I can say that I have not ever had a problem in any of the onsite rooms at any of the resorts we have stayed in, though I had read complaints about them here. I have seen lots of complaints about POR and POFQ, and we love both of them and have never had a bad experience there.

Now I am second- guessing our upcoming POP stay. Wonder if I should switch the reservation to POFQ, which we love-it feels like home to us. It's just that I was so proud of saving money on this trip.

I would love to hear what other folks thought of POP, compared to moderates and deluxes.

 

[OurBigTrip]

You are scaring me....

We have always stayed in a moderate or deluxe. But since we are staying at the Contemporary at Thanksgiving, we are trying to make our August trip more economical.
So we are trying POP this summer. I know that the room will be much smaller than we are used to, and the décor will not be as nicely done, but I figured we can get used to that.

I am picky about where we stay. I don't need luxury, but I need the room to be very clean, and everything (especially the A/C) needs to work. I can say that I have not ever had a problem in any of the onsite rooms at any of the resorts we have stayed in, though I had read complaints about them here. I have seen lots of complaints about POR and POFQ, and we love both of them and have never had a bad experience there.

Now I am second- guessing our upcoming POP stay. Wonder if I should switch the reservation to POFQ, which we love-it feels like home to us. It's just that I was so proud of saving money on this trip.

I would love to hear what other folks thought of POP, compared to moderates and deluxes.

Our family has stayed at POFQ twice, my DD and I stayed at POFQ once, and DS and I stayed at POP once. POP was fine for just the two of us, but I wouldn't have done it with all four of us...it was clean, and DS (9 at the time) loved it, but I kept wishing I was at POFQ, just because I love it so much.

 

[kandb]

PP I would stay at POR or POFQ, especially if you are used to deluxe resorts.

 

[djmeredith]

You are scaring me....


I would love to hear what other folks thought of POP, compared to moderates and deluxes.

I don't mean to scare anyone, but just wanted to give people my opinion and a realistic view of what to expect at Pop. My last trip before this one was 2007 and we stayed at the Contemporary Garden Wing. That is much more the type of quality I am looking for in a hotel. You said you were staying at POP this summer, which means super busy time of year so factor that in as well. The noise level outside the rooms at POP is much louder than deluxe because of the outdoor corridors (and we were on the parking lot side of the 50's so I can't imagine how loud it would have been in some of the busier areas). We were 3 adults and one child and it was a tight fit in that small room for 8 nights. As others have mentioned, our A/C did not seem to cool properly. We set it at the lowest setting which is 68 degrees, but it never seemed to get that cool. I tried using the "bypass" trick found on disboards to set the temp lower, but that wouldn't work either. We weren't miserably warm, but it wasn't as cool as I would have preferred.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Well, we have stayed at all levels of WDW resorts, each level several/many times in the last 9 years and we find the values fine as far as level of quality.

Granted the rooms are smaller and the beds double sized but we still find them to be very clean, the cm's have always been great and the grounds, common areas, pools and food courts have always been well maintained.

To be honest, I am confused as to what specifically the OP thinks has gone down since their last value stay in 2006. Since then pretty much all three All Stars as well as Pop have had refurbs which has given them in my opinion higher quality than they used to.

Sometimes its just luck or lack thereof. We have never noticed the sound inside the room at a value vs. any other resort overall. However there have been trips at each level that our neighbors were noisier than usual which made that room (at a resort we had stayed at before with no problem) much noisier.

I do find the food courts and lobbies of the values to be a bit more hectic. They seem a bit more condensed in that everthing is right there together vs. the mods and deluxe's which have a more spread out set up. I think Pop is the worst on that front since the gift shop is attached to the food court. However, if you go at off times, it can be nice and calm in the food court and again, any resort of any level at WDW is going to have a lot of people, noise and foot traffic.

No resort can be all things to all people but for us, the values have always been fine. We do prefer the mods however we only go once per year now. In the days when we went twice or more, we always did at least one trip to a value to make the other trips happen and we never had a bad experience at any of them. And we have stayed at all the values except AoA and all of them but Sports more than once.

 

[lovesdumbo]

You are scaring me....

We have always stayed in a moderate or deluxe. But since we are staying at the Contemporary at Thanksgiving, we are trying to make our August trip more economical.


I would love to hear what other folks thought of POP, compared to moderates and deluxes.

I've stayed at BWI, Poly, CR, AKL, YC, POR, POFQ, Ft Wilderness Cabins, ASMo, ASMu, & Pop. I really enjoy my deluxe stays and if funds were unlimited I would always stay deluxe. I've actually stayed at Pop the most with 8 stays there. I really enjoy the resort. I think if you go in with a positive attitude you can have a great trip too. I think it will also help you to know that you have a trip to the CR already booked.

 

[Bon]

DD and I stayed at POP not long ago and we really enjoyed it. It was very clean, the air conditioner worked great and we loved the theming

 

[GrandAdmiralStrife]

Stayed at POP in Feb 07 (just me and the DW), and stayed at CBR in Aug 2010(me, DW, and MIL). Liked both, just depends on what you're really looking for. First trip it was just a place to crash, second trip was more for having a bit more space since MIL was with us (and I will NOT be bringing her ever again, she hated every moment she was there, but that's just her )

I'd stay at POP again, but not with kids, unless you're getting adjoining rooms. Once you've got kids Moderates are the way to go, you'll appreciate the extra space.

 

[brertoad]

We stayed at POP once, we didn't like it. We knew going into it that it was a compromise, just a place to stay and so we had EMH and were on site, rather than offsite.

We had stayed at deluxe resorts prior to trying POP, and we only booked POP to save money because we were taking more frequent trips. Our round-about solution to this problem was to purchase a DVC contract, i.e. no more value resorts. And all the money we were spending on deluxe hotels will eventually make up for the money spent on DVC. In the end, we'll be saving money and not have to book moderate or value.

 

[WDW in Pearls]

Haven't stayed there since 2008, but my friend did less than a month ago and got bed bugs. They got moved to Yacht Club.

 

[Patience]

We stayed at Pop in October, 2011. It was clean, we had a good mousekeeper, and the public areas of the resort were nice. However, I found the room to be a little too basic for my tastes and very plain. While the resort has a lot of theming, the rooms are generic with almost no theming and do feel a little Motel 6-ish. The look and feel of the room is important to me, not just the resort public areas. I did consider a Little Mermaid room at AoA for our upcoming trip (even had it booked) because I knew my daughter would love the theming and I would have enjoyed a new, fresh room but switched to a royal room at POR when free dining was offered for our dates. I'm very much looking forward to the theming in both the room and the resort, not to mention the extra space in the room.

 

[MommaBearof4]

You are scaring me....

We have always stayed in a moderate or deluxe. But since we are staying at the Contemporary at Thanksgiving, we are trying to make our August trip more economical.
So we are trying POP this summer. I know that the room will be much smaller than we are used to, and the décor will not be as nicely done, but I figured we can get used to that.

I am picky about where we stay. I don't need luxury, but I need the room to be very clean, and everything (especially the A/C) needs to work. I can say that I have not ever had a problem in any of the onsite rooms at any of the resorts we have stayed in, though I had read complaints about them here. I have seen lots of complaints about POR and POFQ, and we love both of them and have never had a bad experience there.

Now I am second- guessing our upcoming POP stay. Wonder if I should switch the reservation to POFQ, which we love-it feels like home to us. It's just that I was so proud of saving money on this trip.

I would love to hear what other folks thought of POP, compared to moderates and deluxes.

We stayed at Pop with our 4 kids 2 summers ago. The rooms were always clean. We did see critters on the grounds, but they were the bunny sort, nothing scary. We were in the 50s building, nice and close to everything, but not right next to the pool which can stay noisy late into the night. The staff were fabulous, including the cleaning crew who rearranged my kids toys everyday. The rooms were always spotless. The air conditioning was perfect (sometimes too cold for me). The benefit of 2 rooms was less disagreeing about temp. When the air was too cold in one room, I went to the other. The rooms are a little smaller than moderate ( we haven't stayed Deluxe yet, so I can't compare). There are no water slides at the pools, so that might be an issue for your kids. Bathroom tissue was 1 ply when we were there. That was probably my least favourite feature. Nothing huge. We had previously stayed at POR in a regular room, and to be honest, we all preferred Pop to that. It is designed and decorated with kids in mind. It feels like Disney all the time. We spent many a happy afternoon and evening walking around the resort taking pictures. Lots of great activities in the pool area to make up for the lack of slide. I thought it was a fabulous family resort and a fabulous value.

 

[dpswift]

The values are fine. How much time do you really spend in your room at Disney anyhow? Value resorts = more time at Disney. I would much rather take 2 trips in a value than one in a deluxe.

It depends on your attitude going in. If you go in thinking this will be a nice preview to our Contemporary stay, you will be fine. Yes it can be loud. I would not get a preferred room because they tend to be noisier. We have stayed value many times and had great trips.

Our rooms have always been clean and the air conditioner working. If you have a problem with your room tell them at guest service.

 

[crazycatlady]

My family loves POP and has stayed there 3 years in a row. We have never had any cleaning issues and found the resort to be fun and a bargain.

 

[Jrabbit910]

We stayed At POP in October of 2011 (2 adults and 3 babies) and used our room very much on our trip. Having 3 babies with us we needed lots of downtime in our room and we had a great time. Room was always cleaned, CMs were wonderful, grounds were really nice and we didn't have noise at all. It was Also one of the only resorts that we stayed at that people decorated their windows so beautifully with Halloween decorations!

As pp have stated every stay will be different then the next. Some you will love and some you will love to hate. One of the great things About dis is getting to hear what everyone thought about their stay and their experiences and for the ones that didn't have a great time, you can only wish its better the next time around.

 

[Kay1]

When it's just my son and I, we stay at a Value. I really have no complaints with the Values except the food courts at ASSP and ASMU (where we stay.) I don't care for the food quality or the menus, and I think the rooms should have coffee makers.

Otherwise, we're fine and have always had clean rooms. When my husband is with us we stay in a Mod, mainly because of the space and he prefers a higher quality room. (I think he's been spoiled by the really nice rooms he stays in for business travel.)

Sorry about your room, OP.

 

[Blessedwithboys]

So sorry OP I hate to hear about anyone have a less than steller experience anywhere. Did you address the mold issue with a front desk CM??