Disney's POP CENTURY RESORT Information & Questions

[hdrolfe]

I'm super excited, just booked a magical deal for POP April 30 to May 7th for my son and I. He'll be 6 and I don't plan on telling him until much closer to going. Perhaps once it's paid for lol. Can't wait!

 

[WEDWDW]

I'm super excited, just booked a magical deal for POP April 30 to May 7th for my son and I. He'll be 6 and I don't plan on telling him until much closer to going. Perhaps once it's paid for lol. Can't wait!

Congratulations!

Have a POPPIN' good time at POP!

 

[Nathansmommy]

We're officially booked for pop for nov 2016! Not sure on the exact dates just yet, were pretty flexible at this point, we're waiting to see if any discounts pop up, but yayyy!! We are officially booked to back to our happy place.

 

[WEDWDW]

We're officially booked for pop for nov 2016! Not sure on the exact dates just yet, were pretty flexible at this point, we're waiting to see if any discounts pop up, but yayyy!! We are officially booked to back to our happy place.

Congratulations!

Have a POPPIN' good time at POP!

 

[lilclerk]

We arrive tomorrow for a quick 2 day trip! Has anyone been there in the past couple of weeks and know if the rooms have those USB ports instead of alarm clocks yet?

 

[MinnieMSue]

Just checked out today and we didn't have anything different than the usual alarm clock but I must confess I didn't really look at it closely

 

[shh]

another for loss of Thanksgiving Sandwich...my DH was really looking forward to that one. He had it late one night last year after we returned from parks and has been looking fwd to it ever since.

 

[bluezy]

Wow! Part of the reason we decided to stay at Pop was the good transportation and to a lesser degree the decent food court. I'm wondering about all of that now.

I can just drive each day I guess but what about the food court? What is good there? Would it be worth to walk over to AoA?

I wouldn't worry about the transportation issues. Sometimes the delays/long waits are just due to bad timing and bad luck. Many years ago when we stayed at ASMovies there was another DISer who happened to be there at the exact same time as us. He wrote a trip report and complained about long waits for the buses every single time they were leaving or returning to the resort. We didn't have any waits longer than 10 minutes except for the night we went to Fantasmic and left the park at the same time that thousands of other people did. We expected a long wait that night. The guy also complained about the food court being a madhouse and not being able to find a table. We didn't have that experience and we ate dinner at the resort almost every night of our stay. So, we were two families at the same resort on the same days but we had polar opposite experiences. I think a lot of the long waits for buses and "madhouse" experiences at food courts happen when people show up at those places during the peak busy times with the expectation that no one else will be there. I also think that exhaustion from busy days in the parks cause us all to perceive things in a more extreme way. For example, when we were at Disney in June, I kept *very* detailed notes of our wait times for everything (buses, food, attractions, etc.). There were many times that it *felt* like we were waiting for 20+ minutes for buses but in reality, it was less than 10. If I hadn't kept detailed notes, I'm sure I would have told people we waited much longer than we actually did (not saying anyone here is exaggerating their wait times, just sharing my experience). We always plan to be at bus stops at least an hour before park opening times in the mornings and find the lines to be short and the buses arrive frequently. And if we're staying at the parks until they close, we expect long lines when we leave. We know there probably aren't as many buses running in the afternoon, so we assume we're going to have a 15-20 minute wait. We also try to eat an early lunch and a late dinner to avoid the crowds at the food courts. By staying at Pop, you have the option of taking a bus back to AoA and then walking over to Pop. In our experience, it seems like if one of those resorts has a long line, the other one is much shorter. Just jump in the shorter line.

As far as the food court food...I'm not much help on that one. We've stayed at AoA on our last two trips but walked over to Pop for a meal each time. We were underwhelmed both times. There just wasn't much on the menu at Pop that interested us (and we're not fussy eaters for the most part). After our meal at Pop in June, we said we really don't feel the need to go back to that food court and if we ever stayed at Pop again, we'd request a room near the bridge so we could walk over to AoA to eat. We prefer the food court at AoA.

 

[Planogirl]

I wouldn't worry about the transportation issues. Sometimes the delays/long waits are just due to bad timing and bad luck. Many years ago when we stayed at ASMovies there was another DISer who happened to be there at the exact same time as us. He wrote a trip report and complained about long waits for the buses every single time they were leaving or returning to the resort. We didn't have any waits longer than 10 minutes except for the night we went to Fantasmic and left the park at the same time that thousands of other people did. We expected a long wait that night. The guy also complained about the food court being a madhouse and not being able to find a table. We didn't have that experience and we ate dinner at the resort almost every night of our stay. So, we were two families at the same resort on the same days but we had polar opposite experiences. I think a lot of the long waits for buses and "madhouse" experiences at food courts happen when people show up at those places during the peak busy times with the expectation that no one else will be there. I also think that exhaustion from busy days in the parks cause us all to perceive things in a more extreme way. For example, when we were at Disney in June, I kept *very* detailed notes of our wait times for everything (buses, food, attractions, etc.). There were many times that it *felt* like we were waiting for 20+ minutes for buses but in reality, it was less than 10. If I hadn't kept detailed notes, I'm sure I would have told people we waited much longer than we actually did (not saying anyone here is exaggerating their wait times, just sharing my experience). We always plan to be at bus stops at least an hour before park opening times in the mornings and find the lines to be short and the buses arrive frequently. And if we're staying at the parks until they close, we expect long lines when we leave. We know there probably aren't as many buses running in the afternoon, so we assume we're going to have a 15-20 minute wait. We also try to eat an early lunch and a late dinner to avoid the crowds at the food courts. By staying at Pop, you have the option of taking a bus back to AoA and then walking over to Pop. In our experience, it seems like if one of those resorts has a long line, the other one is much shorter. Just jump in the shorter line.

As far as the food court food...I'm not much help on that one. We've stayed at AoA on our last two trips but walked over to Pop for a meal each time. We were underwhelmed both times. There just wasn't much on the menu at Pop that interested us (and we're not fussy eaters for the most part). After our meal at Pop in June, we said we really don't feel the need to go back to that food court and if we ever stayed at Pop again, we'd request a room near the bridge so we could walk over to AoA to eat. We prefer the food court at AoA.

Thanks. This is just what I needed to hear and I'm probably not the only one. I was still excited but you helped me get back to the fever pitch I've been at.

I think that we'll go over to AoA anyway. It's so adorable and eating there is a good reason to go.

 

[bobf320]

Good news for the flatbreads, they showed up on tonight's dinner menu. Not sure if it's just random nights, but they were on tonight's!
No sign of the turkey. I asked one of the castmembers, and he said it was removed. Who knows!

 

[MrsB1228]

Good news for the flatbreads, they showed up on tonight's dinner menu. Not sure if it's just random nights, but they were on tonight's!
No sign of the turkey. I asked one of the castmembers, and he said it was removed. Who knows!

That's great news! I can at least let DH know that we can still try the Cheeseburger flatbread, LOL. Thanks for the update @bobf320!

 

[lvloopingbag]

I just made an 8:30 AM reservation at BOG on a day when the MK opening is at 9 AM. Is the earliest bus around 7:30 AM since breakfast reservations start at 8 AM in the MK, or will it be around 8 AM, an hour before the park opens? Thanks!

 

[BStew]

61 days! Get to make our FP tonight and getting so excited!! Telling our two kids Christmas Day!

 

[dansdad]

I just made an 8:30 AM reservation at BOG on a day when the MK opening is at 9 AM. Is the earliest bus around 7:30 AM since breakfast reservations start at 8 AM in the MK, or will it be around 8 AM, an hour before the park opens? Thanks!

Buses start rolling at 6:30 every day for pre park opening ADRs.

 

[WEDWDW]

I just made an 8:30 AM reservation at BOG on a day when the MK opening is at 9 AM. Is the earliest bus around 7:30 AM since breakfast reservations start at 8 AM in the MK, or will it be around 8 AM, an hour before the park opens? Thanks!

"First bus times" vary a little from day to day,but they are "usually" between 6:30 AM and 7:00 AM.

Here are "first bus times" on one of my days at All-Star Sports during my last trip(The 6:09 AM MK bus that day was very unusual-it's usually much closer to 6:30 AM).

 

[j2thomason]

"First bus times" vary a little from day to day,but they are "usually" between 6:30 AM and 7:00 AM.

Here are "first bus times" on one of my days at All-Star Sports during my last trip(The 6:09 AM MK bus that day was very unusual-it's usually much closer to 6:30 AM).

Are these bus arrival signs up at Pop now? We didn't see them on our last trip there. We have been driving to the parks more lately because the wait for the buses is such a hassle, but if I knew when they were arriving I might give them another try.

 

[jcarwash]

I got an email that I can bypass the front desk and go directly to my room next week when we arrive at POP. How does this work when I still owe my room balance (I booked a room only reservation)? I want to pay the room balance off with Disney gift cards.

I think you just need to visit the front desk before you check out and have them apply your gift cards. You can take advantage of going directly to your room and then going to the front desk when it isn't busy. Otherwise, the room balance will be charged to the credit card you have on file with your online check-in.

 

[MinnieMSue]

Are these bus arrival signs up at Pop now? We didn't see them on our last trip there. We have been driving to the parks more lately because the wait for the buses is such a hassle, but if I knew when they were arriving I might give them another try.

No bus wait time signs yet at Pop. Just left Pop on Monday.

 

[NJlauren]

Just got back from my very first POP stay!

Happy to report I enjoyed it very much! I would stay here again in a heart beat! As a person who has previously stayed only at Disney Deluxe and the Swan/Dolphin I was very happy and have no complaints at all!

 

[samsteele]

I just made an 8:30 AM reservation at BOG on a day when the MK opening is at 9 AM. Is the earliest bus around 7:30 AM since breakfast reservations start at 8 AM in the MK, or will it be around 8 AM, an hour before the park opens? Thanks!

Last month I had an 8:15 am ADR for BOG and so caught the MK bus from the POP at 7am. I got into the breakfast ADR early admission line (the far left line once you clear security) and they let all of us in line into the park at the same time . . . regardless of whether our ADR was for 8am or later. I was in and out of BOG by 8:30am and then had 3x rides on 7DMT before the crowds arrived. They kept us early ADR people in a small line just outside of the regular FP+ line and then opened up the FP+ line for us around 8:40 am. The CMs just kept waiving us through and back into line for multiple rides. Now, there is no guarantee this will happen every time as the ride could be down or the CMs may not be that accommodating. But it was an incredible perk and made the $20 BOG breakfast very worthwhile. ps I had the eggs florentine and they were a bit bland and could have used some seasoning or something. People around me had the open faced egg sandwich and that looked incredible. Enjoy and fingers crossed that you have the same great luck!