Resort Thread Disney's POP CENTURY Resort

[brockash]

What building did you get with a refurbished room?

Building 1 and I believe they are currently working on bldg 2. - Signs up on windows on that bldg.

 

[bluezy]

I am not familiar with POP Century but I would love to uber over and get a photo in front of the '70' sign. Is that a doable quick thing if I tell my uber driver. If it is something quick and easy I am sure they will make a stop. Any info/pics I can get would be appreciated. Thank you

In addition to going to DHS and then jumping on the Skyliner to Pop Century, you could also go to Disney Springs and take a bus to PoP Century (or Art of Animation -- just walk to Pop from there). You can hop on the Skyliner for a ride while you're there if you want to experience that. Taking the Uber to DHS and then Skyliner to Pop is probably the easiest thing to do, but I thought I'd throw in the other option in case getting to DS would be easier than taking an Uber (not sure where you're staying).

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Hi all! Finally back from my trip to POP last week. It was a great week. I was assigned to a building in the 80's when I first arrived. I drove over that way when I got in but quickly noped right out and went to the lobby to ask to be changed. First, it was the building the farthest away from everything and second, the parking lot by it was all blocked off to be resurfaced. It looked like I was going to have to park FAR away from the room. The very nice CM at check in quickly got me moved to building 1 in the 50's. He said that the request from Touring Plans made it seem like I had 2 preferences - 1st floor and/or building 1. Since that combo wasn't available, they guessed that I would prefer a 1st floor. When I said I would much rather have a building in either the 50's or 60's, he quickly got on the phone to the room assigner and got me a 4th floor room in building 1 overlooking the bowling pin pool. It was perfect! And it was a refurbed room which was nice!

Skyliner went down every day with the storms but they got it up and running quickly. One of the managers said the lightning policy is now a strike within THREE miles (not 10.) I thought that was a weird adjustment since everything else is 10 miles, but do you Disney.

There IS music at the bowling pin pool, it is just REALLY quiet. I had to listen really hard to hear it. I also heard music at Hippie Dippie but it was evening when I heard it. Maybe they have just turned down the music volume everywhere??

I didn't see any characters in the lobby while I was there. I was in and out at all kinds of hours throughout the day and never saw anyone, nor did I see any signs for them. Maybe I just wasn't looking in the right place.

If anyone has any questions, let me know!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thanks for the update @Stacybaeasm. Glad you had such a great trip!

Thank you for sharing your experience re: how room assignments are done. I will submit just one request in the future (for me it will be building preference) as opposed to that plus another request.

 

[jesserina]

Hi all! Finally back from my trip to POP last week. It was a great week. I was assigned to a building in the 80's when I first arrived. I drove over that way when I got in but quickly noped right out and went to the lobby to ask to be changed. First, it was the building the farthest away from everything and second, the parking lot by it was all blocked off to be resurfaced. It looked like I was going to have to park FAR away from the room. The very nice CM at check in quickly got me moved to building 1 in the 50's. He said that the request from Touring Plans made it seem like I had 2 preferences - 1st floor and/or building 1. Since that combo wasn't available, they guessed that I would prefer a 1st floor. When I said I would much rather have a building in either the 50's or 60's, he quickly got on the phone to the room assigner and got me a 4th floor room in building 1 overlooking the bowling pin pool. It was perfect! And it was a refurbed room which was nice!

Skyliner went down every day with the storms but they got it up and running quickly. One of the managers said the lightning policy is now a strike within THREE miles (not 10.) I thought that was a weird adjustment since everything else is 10 miles, but do you Disney.

There IS music at the bowling pin pool, it is just REALLY quiet. I had to listen really hard to hear it. I also heard music at Hippie Dippie but it was evening when I heard it. Maybe they have just turned down the music volume everywhere??

I didn't see any characters in the lobby while I was there. I was in and out at all kinds of hours throughout the day and never saw anyone, nor did I see any signs for them. Maybe I just wasn't looking in the right place.

If anyone has any questions, let me know!

Oh no with the repaving! Did they happen to mention when it would be complete? I never have a car at Disney but we will have a car at Pop in a few weeks. Can I ask was it the blue or red circle that was being resurfaced?

We did stay in 80s building 9 in November and I loved the location!!

Also interesting that they specifically mentioned the touring plans room request!

 

[bluezy]

Hi all! Finally back from my trip to POP last week. It was a great week. I was assigned to a building in the 80's when I first arrived. I drove over that way when I got in but quickly noped right out and went to the lobby to ask to be changed. First, it was the building the farthest away from everything and second, the parking lot by it was all blocked off to be resurfaced. It looked like I was going to have to park FAR away from the room. The very nice CM at check in quickly got me moved to building 1 in the 50's. He said that the request from Touring Plans made it seem like I had 2 preferences - 1st floor and/or building 1. Since that combo wasn't available, they guessed that I would prefer a 1st floor. When I said I would much rather have a building in either the 50's or 60's, he quickly got on the phone to the room assigner and got me a 4th floor room in building 1 overlooking the bowling pin pool. It was perfect! And it was a refurbed room which was nice!

Skyliner went down every day with the storms but they got it up and running quickly. One of the managers said the lightning policy is now a strike within THREE miles (not 10.) I thought that was a weird adjustment since everything else is 10 miles, but do you Disney.

There IS music at the bowling pin pool, it is just REALLY quiet. I had to listen really hard to hear it. I also heard music at Hippie Dippie but it was evening when I heard it. Maybe they have just turned down the music volume everywhere??

I didn't see any characters in the lobby while I was there. I was in and out at all kinds of hours throughout the day and never saw anyone, nor did I see any signs for them. Maybe I just wasn't looking in the right place.

If anyone has any questions, let me know!

Glad you had a great trip! I don't blame you for not wanting to be in the 80's section (I'm guessing it was building 7). We stayed at AoA last year but got into town a day early so I quickly booked a room at Pop Century for that first night. We were in Bldg. 7, top floor, the room closest to the parking lot. While it was fine for one night, we walked to the Skyliner, Food Court, and bus stops during that short stay and I would not have wanted to do that numerous times a day as it was a bit of a hike (of course we're spoiled at AoA where the Lion King suites are pretty close to everything). We were in Bldg 8 for a 7-day trip, but our room was in the wing closest to the main building and that was ok. It was a quick walk to the bus stops when cutting through the parking lot, and the walk to the food court wasn't too bad (no Skyliner at that time). It was also a quick walk to the pool which was usually not very full. One night when the pool reopened after a thunderstorm, there were only 7 of us in the entire pool for the first 45 minutes it was open. That was sweet!

I use Touring Plans for room requests, but I always add a note to that and my room reservation indicating the order of preference for my requests. For me, it's: 1. First floor 2. Close to main building (or specific building number depending on where we're staying). I've always gotten the location/floor requested. There used to be a former room assignor on these (or maybe some other) boards who said you should always list the order of priority so that if the "perfect" room/location isn't available, at least the assignor can try to find something that will work for you.

It's interesting that Disney has changed the lightning distance to 3 miles (I prefer 5+ miles, but whatever...). It would seem that shortening the distance would reduce the number of times the Skyliner goes down for lightning. But based on what I've been reading on boards and FB pages over the last few weeks, it actually seems like it's been down more often than usual. We've done 2 stays at AoA since the Skyliner has been up and running and we've only been affected by a shut down once -- and we use the Skyliner a lot. One of our rooms had a lake view and we did notice it down once or twice during the week when we were in our room (but not planning to ride it at that time). I'm sure it was down other times that we just weren't aware of because we were in a park or in a room that didn't have a lake view. But I swear it just seems like people are reporting that it's down much more frequently in the last few weeks. Of course, that could be due to mechanical issues and not just lightning.

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

Thanks for the update @Stacybaeasm. Glad you had such a great trip!

Thank you for sharing your experience re: how room assignments are done. I will submit just one request in the future (for me it will be building preference) as opposed to that plus another request.

I sometimes think the room assigners read a language not of this earth. I've made clear concise requests and they seem to put me in a completely opposite place lol.
Our last trip they had us assigned in the 90's. When we arrived at 9:30 am and started the checkin a room obviously wasn't available but the csr refused to tell us which building we were assigned to. In the past they always told us the building but never the room. I asked if it was 50's and she wouldn't even tell us that. I went outside and chatted to the greeter with the iPad and he checked for us and said we were in the 90's, so i went back in to front desk and spoke to a more senior staff member and she made a call and got us in at the 50s. I was disappointed they couldn't help us out initially, as opposed to making us wait until we receive the 90s room assignments and then requesting a change. The reason we went so early was to get the building of our choice lol.

 

[Oneanne]

I sometimes think the room assigners read a language not of this earth. I've made clear concise requests and they seem to put me in a completely opposite place lol.
Our last trip they had us assigned in the 90's. When we arrived at 9:30 am and started the checkin a room obviously wasn't available but the csr refused to tell us which building we were assigned to. In the past they always told us the building but never the room. I asked if it was 50's and she wouldn't even tell us that. I went outside and chatted to the greeter with the iPad and he checked for us and said we were in the 90's, so i went back in to front desk and spoke to a more senior staff member and she made a call and got us in at the 50s. I was disappointed they couldn't help us out initially, as opposed to making us wait until we receive the 90s room assignments and then requesting a change. The reason we went so early was to get the building of our choice lol.

Same! Back in May I asked for 50's and ended up in 90's. I stopped at the front desk and putting on my saddest old lady face asked for something more central. They couldn't move me until the next day but I ended up in one of the 60's buildings at the end closest to the Skyliner... I could peep out the window in the morning and check how long the line was. It was perfection.

 

[rhenkt]

Another wonderful stay for us from May 27 to June 4. No complaints, got exact room location we wanted by calling about a week in advance. No issues whatsoever with Skyliner or buses.

Crowds were fairly low through June 1 but noticeable increase starting June 2 at Epcot with Nemo even hitting 50 minutes.

Only criticism would be dinner at Art and Pop really sucks now. Art used to be great but not so much now.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Only criticism would be dinner at Art and Pop really sucks now. Art used to be great but not so much now.

Particular dishes sucked? Or lack of options? Quality?

 

[rhenkt]

Particular dishes sucked? Or lack of options? Quality?

All of the above. Everyone knows the burgers and pizza aren’t great. The other options are mediocre quality. Art especially used to be fantastic, now it’s just premade stuff sitting around.

We ended up going to Primo and Caribbean quick service for almost all our dinners, both were fantastic.

 

[kuhltiffany]

Just booked a quick weekend trip with one of my teens. I haven’t stayed at Pop before, do I need to request 2 beds? Or do most rooms have 2?

 

[rhenkt]

Just booked a quick weekend trip with one of my teens. I haven’t stayed at Pop before, do I need to request 2 beds? Or do most rooms have 2?

Nearly all rooms have two queen beds, one normal and one pullout from the wall. You don’t need to request two.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Just booked a quick weekend trip with one of my teens. I haven’t stayed at Pop before, do I need to request 2 beds? Or do most rooms have 2?

No need to request 2 beds as that is the standard for Pop. Also, since you have 3 in your room they will not assign you to a room that will not accommodate all the people in your party.

 

[brockash]

All of the above. Everyone knows the burgers and pizza aren’t great. The other options are mediocre quality. Art especially used to be fantastic, now it’s just premade stuff sitting around.

We ended up going to Primo and Caribbean quick service for almost all our dinners, both were fantastic.

I totally agree. I so miss the days of pre-covid where there were so many more options and variety at the resorts abd restaurants in parks alike. - We actually almost left property (I'm a big stay in the bubble person) this past trip just because we were so sick of the food.

 

[scrappinginontario]

All of the above. Everyone knows the burgers and pizza aren’t great. The other options are mediocre quality. Art especially used to be fantastic, now it’s just premade stuff sitting around.

We ended up going to Primo and Caribbean quick service for almost all our dinners, both were fantastic.

Sadly they changed the food court options in 2019 and I still miss some of the amazing options AoA offered. Pop (in my opinion) was okay but AoA had a lot of GREAT options that they no longer offer. Sadly these menu changes happened sometime in early 2019 and affected many resort QS locations. I used to enjoy the design your own pasta station at AoA and POR but they removed it from both.

We enjoyed riding the Skyliner over to CBR to try out their QS last summer and will do that again as it has different options from Pop or AoA. We haven't visited Primo (at Riviera) yet but family has and they highly recommended it. It's on the plan for this summer's trip!

 

[Justrose]

We haven't visited Primo (at Riviera) yet but family have and they highly recommended it. It's on the plan for this summer's trip!

Primo is SO good. We have eaten there a lot over the past couple years. We also love the little coffee shop/bakery at Riv, too.

 

[bluezy]

Sadly they changed the food court options in 2019 and I still miss some of the amazing options AoA offered. Pop (in my opinion) was okay but AoA had a lot of GREAT options that they no longer offer. Sadly these menu changes happened sometime in early 2019 and affected many resort QS locations. I used to enjoy the design your own pasta station at AoA and POR but they removed it from both.

We enjoyed riding the Skyliner over to CBR to try out their QS last summer and will do that again as it has different options from Pop or AoA. We haven't visited Primo (at Riviera) yet but family have and they highly recommended it. It's on the plan for this summer's trip!

I loved the create your own pasta dish at AoA!!! I really miss that. And while we still have some meals we like at AoA/Pop (salmon, butter chicken, Mongolian beef were favorites for our family members on our trips in 2022 & 2024), we did find ourselves going to other resorts for QS meals more often on our last 2 trips than ever before. We enjoy eating at Capt. Cooks, Gasparilla Grille, and Riverside Mill. Having the Skyliner makes it so easy to get to other resorts to try their restaurants.

 

[tguz]

The only resort meals we eat during our stay at POP is Grand Floridian Cafe (we got engaged there), Capt Cooks for pulled pork nachos, and at POP for breakfast on our departure morning. Other than those, we eat at the parks or Disney Springs.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Let's draw this discussion back to Pop information to assist guests coming here to find out about Pop Century.

Thanks!