Disney's POP CENTURY RESORT Information & Questions

[happymommy]

As far as the motion sensor for the a/c, I have issues sleeping (blame my hormones!) so would have them send maintenance in to disable the motion sensor. I used to do that all the time at the Swan/Dolphin before they got rid of them. All they did was open it up and remove the fuse.

I'm wondering, what is landscape view? We have standard so would request highest floor, but what else to be away from the elevators? Maybe lake view is quiet.

 

[bluezy]

One more question...

I was looking at this chart from WDW Prep School:

View attachment 84860

According to it, you can book preferred and request a lake view. I wasn't aware that this was a possibility. Does anyone know which building(s) offer this?

I'm thinking that if you're in a room at the end of building 4 or 5 closest to the Generation Gap bridge, you might be able to see a little bit of the lake from your room....if you look to the side.

 

[SmithSmith]

I'm thinking that if you're in a room at the end of building 4 or 5 closest to the Generation Gap bridge, you might be able to see a little bit of the lake from your room....if you look to the side.

Oh cool, thanks. I hadn't thought of that. Then there's probably only 8-16 rooms that could fill that request, so it's probably pretty tough to get...

 

[kbmartin]

Hi everyone! My DH and I are staying at POP for the first time this August. I definitely don't know as much about POP as I do POR (where I've stayed twice now). I didn't read through all 44 pages of this thread, but I feel like I understand the layout of the hotel pretty well from reading through some of them and checking out maps! Thanks for all of the GREAT info! I do have some questions still, though... I'm hoping someone can help!

1. My DH and I are booking a standard room, which is listed as either 2 double beds or a king bed. My DH is 6'4", so we would be miserable if given a room with double beds. Is there a way to make SURE you get a King room? I haven't actually booked our trip yet - it's in the WDW Cart. I'm going to have to call to book our trip as we have a PIN code to use! Is it possible to make sure of this when you call?

2. We really don't care about having a lake or pool view, the Hippy Dippy pool, or the food court. Our biggest concern is being as close as possible to the buses and having a quiet room in the evenings. We might go to the pool a few times at most and prefer a quieter pool. Looking at this map, it seems that our best bet would actually be in the 80s or 90s, in a building closest to the 90s parking lot. (Both of us were born in the 80s and grew up in the 90s, so it seems fitting.) If we were there, basically we would just need to walk across a parking lot to get to buses. Am I correct in thinking that this is our best bet? Is there any fence that would block us from walking across the lot to get to the bus area?

3. What IS the procedure for setting the A/C to work even when you're not in your hotel room? We don't want to come back for a break from the parks in August to a hot room!!!

Again, THANK YOU for any help!

 

[ETICKETTORIDE]

Just returned earlier this week from our stay in the 60's,
It was a nice overall experience, ten nights, very crowded, lots of teens (buses of?)
Food court experience was eh. When we went to order some food and sit down, we went to the corner section of the room. I had put our tray down at the table and went to get some spoons and forks, and two clean up people had roped it off (despite us and about 6 or 7 other people eating in this area) Frustrating with a stroller to get through the ''barricade'' , and just seemed unnecessary considering this was at about 10:50 pm with more than an hour to go before they closed.
The go to food court item that we enjoyed a couple times was the alfredo pasta with chicken breast and breadstick.

The parks were heavily crowded, but we managed a pace to our liking along with some past experience of what and what not to do during these crowds.
Pirates of the Caribbean had shut down a few times at random on our three days in that park. Lots of mini light sabers come out at night, and crowds move much like cattle. It amazes me how many people move aimlessly or without consideration for their surroundings, which tends to create more traffic jams and congestion. Maybe it's because I've been use to pushing a small stroller for the past 5 years for my two kids, but I find it nearly impossible to just move throughout the park without having to stop, literally every ten seconds due to people cross cutting or stopping dead in their tracks...

With that said, the weather was near perfect, and overall it was a great time.

 

[PrincesCJM]

Are the washer and dryer machines still coin operated? They were are our last trip in July 2013 but I want to be able to plan accordingly.

 

[Applemomma]

Are the washer and dryer machines still coin operated? They were are our last trip in July 2013 but I want to be able to plan accordingly.

They are! $2 each and $1 for detergent if you need it. Change machines are in there too. You'll need your magic band to get in of course.

 

[PrincesCJM]

They are! $2 each and $1 for detergent if you need it. Change machines are in there too. You'll need your magic band to get in of course.

Thanks! I have plenty of quarters at home and bring my own detergent/dryer sheets.

 

[CuracaoGirl]

Just returned earlier this week from our stay in the 60's,
It was a nice overall experience, ten nights, very crowded, lots of teens (buses of?)
Food court experience was eh. When we went to order some food and sit down, we went to the corner section of the room. I had put our tray down at the table and went to get some spoons and forks, and two clean up people had roped it off (despite us and about 6 or 7 other people eating in this area) Frustrating with a stroller to get through the ''barricade'' , and just seemed unnecessary considering this was at about 10:50 pm with more than an hour to go before they closed.
The go to food court item that we enjoyed a couple times was the alfredo pasta with chicken breast and breadstick.

I thought they removed the alfredo pasta from the menu.
Good news if it's still there.
27 days and counting

 

[vrajewski10513]

Hi everyone! My DH and I are staying at POP for the first time this August. I definitely don't know as much about POP as I do POR (where I've stayed twice now). I didn't read through all 44 pages of this thread, but I feel like I understand the layout of the hotel pretty well from reading through some of them and checking out maps! Thanks for all of the GREAT info! I do have some questions still, though... I'm hoping someone can help!

1. My DH and I are booking a standard room, which is listed as either 2 double beds or a king bed. My DH is 6'4", so we would be miserable if given a room with double beds. Is there a way to make SURE you get a King room? I haven't actually booked our trip yet - it's in the WDW Cart. I'm going to have to call to book our trip as we have a PIN code to use! Is it possible to make sure of this when you call?

2. We really don't care about having a lake or pool view, the Hippy Dippy pool, or the food court. Our biggest concern is being as close as possible to the buses and having a quiet room in the evenings. We might go to the pool a few times at most and prefer a quieter pool. Looking at this map, it seems that our best bet would actually be in the 80s or 90s, in a building closest to the 90s parking lot. (Both of us were born in the 80s and grew up in the 90s, so it seems fitting.) If we were there, basically we would just need to walk across a parking lot to get to buses. Am I correct in thinking that this is our best bet? Is there any fence that would block us from walking across the lot to get to the bus area?

3. What IS the procedure for setting the A/C to work even when you're not in your hotel room? We don't want to come back for a break from the parks in August to a hot room!!!

Again, THANK YOU for any help!

1. You can request it, but theres no way to guarantee it. The best thing to do is when you check in, ask them if your in a standard or King room. If they say youre in a standard tell them you'd really like a king room, and you're willing to wait a little long for one to become available if at all possible. Hopefully you can go to the parks and hang out and one will be available by the time you get back. BUT, you dont relaly get to be picky on location if you REALLY want a king bed.

2. You are correct. You're best bet to be close to the busses would be the 80's 90's section, but also the 70's section is great too. The 80's and 90's section have the computer pool, but is far from Classic Hall. The 70;s section doesnt have its own pool, but is less of a troop to classic hall.

3. I've never had to set the A/C... its always cool in our room no matter how long were gone.

 

[kbmartin]

1. You can request it, but theres no way to guarantee it. The best thing to do is when you check in, ask them if your in a standard or King room. If they say youre in a standard tell them you'd really like a king room, and you're willing to wait a little long for one to become available if at all possible. Hopefully you can go to the parks and hang out and one will be available by the time you get back. BUT, you dont relaly get to be picky on location if you REALLY want a king bed.

Yikes, this scares me! Has anyone had a bad experience in which you could not get a King room??? This would negatively impact our trip in a huge way.

Does Pop Century do room request faxes like POR does? I am willing to do whatever is necessary to get a King room!!!

 

[dansdad]

Yikes, this scares me! Has anyone had a bad experience in which you could not get a King room??? This would negatively impact our trip in a huge way.

Does Pop Century do room request faxes like POR does? I am willing to do whatever is necessary to get a King room!!!

At the values and deluxes, King rooms are just requests. If you're willing to wait for a room to be ready and don't care what building you're in, I bet your chances are pretty good of getting a King. But just realize that it's a possibility you won't get one. It just depends on occupancy and how many others also requested a King.

I would recommend a moderate in the future as they have King rooms as a bookable category.

 

[Astylla]

At the values and deluxes, King rooms are just requests. If you're willing to wait for a room to be ready and don't care what building you're in, I bet your chances are pretty good of getting a King. But just realize that it's a possibility you won't get one. It just depends on occupancy and how many others also requested a King.

I would recommend a moderate in the future as they have King rooms as a bookable category.

All of this!! While we may request a King, it's not a deal breaker or we would have booked a moderate with a king bed bookable category. Requests can be affected by pickiness of room location, category, occupancy, etc. If it will be a deal breaker I'd highly recommend switching resorts. The worst thing as a hotel agent is wanting to provide a guest with their request but it can't be guaranteed. I highly advise moving to a moderate and booking a king bed room specifically in your case for your sanity.

 

[SPOERLX3]

Yikes, this scares me! Has anyone had a bad experience in which you could not get a King room??? This would negatively impact our trip in a huge way.

Does Pop Century do room request faxes like POR does? I am willing to do whatever is necessary to get a King room!!!

We requested a king room last year for our September trip and we were not able to get a king room till our 3rd night. We were given the option to move (which we did). We had not had that trouble in the past but it was because we needed a handicap accessible room. If you need a handicap accessible room, you can actually book a king room with a roll in shower or a room for hearing or sight impaired by clicking the box that says "accessible room". If you book an accessible room, you will need to be prepared to provide some type of documentation if asked. I have been asked a couple of times in the past but it wasn't hard since my hubby was in a wheelchair.
If you are going during a slow time, you probably won't have trouble getting a king bed but if you are going during a busy season, you may have a tough time since POP doesn't have a lot of king beds. As mentioned earlier, king bed is simply a request and is not guaranteed but as mentioned earlier, once you get to POP, simply ask the CM that gives you your packet, if you were assigned a king room. If not, kindly ask if they can check to see if they have an available king room. They will happily check for you and move you if they have one available.
If a king bed is your most important request, I would recommend that you call the main Disney reservation number and make "king bed" your ONLY request. By making king bed your only request, the room assigner can choose any king room anywhere on property to assign you on your check in day. You can always request 80's/90's section to your request but once you start requesting specific sections or floors then the room assigner may not be able to find a king bed in that area and wont be able to assign you one.
As far as faxes, some say they still accept them, others say they don't so only the room assigners know for sure.

Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[bluezy]

Yikes, this scares me! Has anyone had a bad experience in which you could not get a King room??? This would negatively impact our trip in a huge way.

Does Pop Century do room request faxes like POR does? I am willing to do whatever is necessary to get a King room!!!

There are a very small number of king rooms at the Value resorts. Pop Century has over 2800 rooms. Of those, less than 200 are king rooms. And the vast majority of king rooms are disability accessible so people needing those special accommodations get first priority for those rooms. There are many reports of people requesting but not getting king rooms. My son and his fiance have a king bed at home and that's what they prefer when they travel. They have requested a king room at both AoA and All Star Sports and were not able to get one on either trip. At All Star Sports, the check-in CM said they could move them to a King room on day 2 (of 7) of their trip but my son and his fiance decided it wasn't worth moving for -- they'd just take a room with double beds and be able to stay in the same room all week.

As others have said, if not getting a king room is going to ruin your vacation, you should consider upgrading to a moderate where you can guarantee a king room.

 

[Silvana]

When DH and I went in 2008 I asked for a king bed when I booked the trip. When we checked in POP told us that they were unable to get us the king bed on the first night but we could move the next day and we would have that room for the rest of the trip. We talked about it and decided to just stay in the double.

 

[SPOERLX3]

Yikes, this scares me! Has anyone had a bad experience in which you could not get a King room??? This would negatively impact our trip in a huge way.

Does Pop Century do room request faxes like POR does? I am willing to do whatever is necessary to get a King room!!!

I wanted to show you this map to give you an idea of just how scarce the king rooms are at POP and why I would recommend "king bed" your only request in hopes of having a better chance of getting one:
http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/1329/popcenturyroomlayoutlarge.jpg

When you compare it to the POP resort map and you read where the King rooms are located, you can see that building 8 & 9 only have a total of 12 king beds in those 2 buildings (rooms that end with 03 and 22 on the first 3 floors only) and on top of that the rooms that end with 03 are not going to be a standard room since they face the pool that would make them a "standard pool view" room. So truly only 6 king rooms total in those 2 buildings. All king rooms in building 7 are disability accessible rooms and the next closest building to your request would be building 0, which is also disability accessible. If by some chance you did need a disability accessible room and that is what you book, then you can see by this layout, that the disability king rooms would be in buildings 1, 3, 5, 0 or 7 since the other buildings do not offer disability accessible rooms.

I hope this helps and I hope the king bed fairy sprinkles you with Pixie dust
Just be available to move to a king room if they have one available later in your trip and if you are hoping to get a king room in the 90's, you can always make "king bed" your only request on your reservation and then when you are doing your online check in, you can always check 80's and 90's to give the room assigner a better idea of where you would "like" to be and just remember to talk to a CM when you get there and see what they can do if you don't get one initially.

Again, good luck and have a great trip! And keep us posted on what you get!

 

[Pumpkingirl7]

What building is close to parking and main building? We have a car with us

 

[jcarwash]

What building is close to parking and main building? We have a car with us

Building 1 / 50's is my choice for being close to parking and close to Classic Hall. Building 10 / 70's is also good for this purpose.

 

[SPOERLX3]

What building is close to parking and main building? We have a car with us

Here is the resort map that may help:
http://i962.photobucket.com/albums/...read/PopCenturyMap2012RoomCategoriesFINAL.jpg