Resort Thread Disney's POP CENTURY Resort

[rhenkt]

Any signs of construction yet?

 

[DL1WDW2]

I agree that the tvs do not need to be replaced at any location as long as they still offer the fireworksHappily Ever After on Channel 74
(I think that’s the channel ) !
That is the only time I watch the resort TV .

 

[scrappinginontario]

Any signs of construction yet ?

The refurbishment begins in March.

 

[micandminforever]

I did not see any construction Feb1st - Feb. 5.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I did not see any construction Feb1st - Feb. 5.

Your visit was a month before construction is scheduled to start.

This is one of the original posts sharing about the upcoming refurbishments. Nothing is planned for February.

Here is a post from @scrappinginontario about 5 pages back

"The next refurb is Mar 2025 - Feb 2026. It is soft goods so is anticipated to be things like towels, bedding, mattresses, painting, general room maintenance, etc. I’m guessing they may close down blocks of rooms at a time to complete the maintenance, similar to how they did the major room refurbishments in 2017 and 2018. Maintenance will take place during daytime hours to cause as little inconvenience as possible.

We visited twice during the major refurbishment and did not find it affected our trip at all. Not anticipating this one will either other than there will be less room availability which will make Pop more challenging to book.

We will keep this thread updated during the refurbishments and if needed, will create a separate thread purely to track and discuss the refurbishments."

 

[DaBarretts]

Thank you for sharing all of this! Exactly what I needed to know!

 

[stal]

Stayed at Pop many many many many times, but never in August. Those that have, did you find the Skyliner going down for extended periods due to storms?

 

[brockash]

Stayed at Pop many many many many times, but never in August. Those that have, did you find the Skyliner going down for extended periods due to storms?

In our experience yes. I think if you're going to the park at rope drop to close it won't be as much of a factor, but it was such a pain when we were trying to go back for breaks. This was a number of yrs ago now, but it was a real PITA and we won't stay at a skyliner resort during rainier months anymore. The hassle is just not worth it.

 

[Sandi]

Stayed at Pop many many many many times, but never in August. Those that have, did you find the Skyliner going down for extended periods due to storms?

We have stayed at Pop in July and August quite a few times and have a trip booked for this August. There may be some interruptions, but we haven't experienced what @brockash did, so there may be some luck involved. That said, when the Skyliner is down due to weather, the busses get going quickly. I still think Pop is preferable to the other value resorts and love using the Skyliner when it's operational. It mostly impacts mid-afternoon plans and if you know that going in, you can set expectations.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

We have stayed at Pop in July and August quite a few times and have a trip booked for this August. There may be some interruptions, but we haven't experienced what @brockash did, so there may be some luck involved. That said, when the Skyliner is down due to weather, the busses get going quickly. I still think Pop is preferable to the other value resorts and love using the Skyliner when it's operational. It mostly impacts mid-afternoon plans and if you know that going in, you can set expectations.

As much as I hate to agree with Sparty (Go Blue), we also did not have many issues and the couple of times that we did it really was not that big of a hassle, you just head to the bus stops. Luckily for us, we do not like taking afternoon breaks and would rather just find spots in the park to sit and relax. So Stal, if you are not taking midday breaks then the interruptions should be a lot less.

 

[bluezy]

Stayed at Pop many many many many times, but never in August. Those that have, did you find the Skyliner going down for extended periods due to storms?

We haven't been there in August, but we've had 2 trips (7 days each) in late June/early July (also part of the "rainy" season) since the Skyliner opened and it's never been a big issue for us. We *do* take a lot of breaks during the week, so we rely on the Skyliner a lot. We ride it at least a dozen times each trip. Over those 2 weeks of stays, I remember needing to take a bus twice because Skyliner was closed. And one time we were on our way to DHS with sunny skies, but when we got off at CBR, the Skyliner shut down and we were held there. There were apparently thunderstorms in the area (but we couldn't see or hear them) so CMs had to just keep us in line until the "weather department" (I'm sure it has a much more official name than that) determined whether the storm would pass quickly or if they needed to start up bus service for those of us waiting at the hub. They definitely started buses back at the resort before we got off the Skyliner at CBR. Our son and his family were heading to the Skyliner at Pop/AoA about 2 minutes after we loaded and were in flight and by the time they got to the station, they had stopped letting people get on and were telling them to go to the bus stops and take a bus to DHS. The first bus came within 10 minutes. He had texted us when they got to the Skyliner station at Pop/AoA asking what was going on because he knew we had just gotten on a few minutes ago (we texted him when we got on to let him know we'd meet them at DHS). Back at the CBR hub, once they made the decision to bus us to DHS from CBR, it took about 5 minutes for the bus to get there. We complimented the bus driver for getting there so quickly and she said that there is literally a small fleet of busses that sits in a parking lot all day waiting to get the call to start service.

While I'm sure the Skyliner was down more than the 3 times that we knew of (there were definitely more than 3 thunderstorms during that time ), we were just fortunate that our timing was good and it wasn't really an issue for us. I'm kind of surprised that it wasn't down nearly every time we wanted to use it because that's usually how my luck goes.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

I will add that it is very sad with all the tech WDW has, that they cannot put a post on MDE when the Skyliner is down.

 

[bluezy]

I will add that it is very sad with all the tech WDW has, that they cannot put a post on MDE

I've seen it noted on the app. We were at the resort and I was checking the transportation area of the app and I noticed that for DHS & EP, it indicated that Skyliner was down and to use busses. I looked out our window and the Skyliner was definitely not running.

 

[tguz]

Not quite sure what is meant by, 'it shouldn't take toooo long' but, the refurbishment is scheduled over a 1 year period from March 2025 - February 2026.

I just read that the permit filed has an expiration date of August 28, 2026 for the room refurb at Pop. That doesn't mean it will last that long but the timeframe seems to have expanded from the Feb 2026 timeline that was originally reported.

 

[pix13dust]

Pop just offered us a free upgrade to Port orleans, Coronado or Little Mermaid rooms at AoA for our trip in April. Unfortunately it was for just 1 room and we have 3 rooms booked, so I declined. That’s the first time in 27 years of going to Disney I was offered a free room upgrade.

 

[Sandi]

Pop just offered us a free upgrade to Port orleans, Coronado or Little Mermaid rooms at AoA for our trip in April. Unfortunately it was for just 1 room and we have 3 rooms booked, so I declined. That’s the first time in 27 years of going to Disney I was offered a free room upgrade.

You'll be happy at Pop. If they don't get enough takers, maybe they'll come back with an offer for all three of your rooms. Personally, I would consider moving to Port Orleans FQ, but not Coronado or the Little Mermaid rooms. I like Pop better. I've gotten a couple of upgrades in 30 years of regularly going to WDW; keep the faith!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Are there any updates on the room refurbishments that I should be added to post 1? I’ll be offline for the majority of the next week but will check when we have wifi.

Add us to the group who regularly stay at Pop in Aug and have rarely been affected by the Skyliner stoppages. We’ll happily continue to stay there.

 

[ScarletFire]

I am checking into Pop tomorrow. I originally had a standard room reserved at rack rate. Although the 25% discount was an option, there was no availability at Pop. Until today! I stalk the Change Reservation option and got lucky!

 

[vintagemomma]

I have read that Pop is one of the few hotels that offer bus transportation to ESPN WIde World of Sports. Has anyone utilized these and can comment on how reliable/frequently they run?

 

[WEDWDW]

I have read that Pop is one of the few hotels that offer bus transportation to ESPN WIde World of Sports. Has anyone utilized these and can comment on how reliable/frequently they run?

Unfortunately that is no longer the case.

Disney used to run a Pop Century to Caribbean Beach to ESPN WWoS to Pop Century loop for Guests and an All-Stars to ESPN WWoS to All-Stars loop for Guests but terminated those routes years ago.

Unfortunately unless on a Spectator Package with a Competition or a Competition participant in an event that provides private buses and therefore able to ride the Competition private buses,Guests wanting to access ESPN WWoS have to drive themselves or use Taxi/Rideshare.