Few Random Thoughts From Me Upon Returning..

[RCMommy]

Hello, just back from another trip to WDW. I am not nearly creative enough to do a whole trip report but I thought I would share a few experiences/thoughts from this trip.... We were there Dec 13-20 with DDP at Pop.

First stay at Pop- overall opinion good. We have now stayed at all three Disney resort levels. I can now saw I see the advantage of saving the money and staying at a value but I also see the benefit in spending the extra money for the extras you get at a Deluxe. The Pop had beautiful grounds and the pools were super clean. I used the laundry and it was clean. The food court was awesome and efficient. The rooms were okay. I would have liked them to be cleaner but I 'get it' Mousekeeping was driving us batty our last day. The maid knocked on our door a total of 11 times. Starting at 9:45am. Check out was 11:00. We told her we would be leaving shortly before 11 please come back. She said okay but kept coming back. At one point she knocked and before we could even get to the door she had it open with her head popped in and my DH is there in a towel.

Crowds - not bad at all until you count this Saturday the 19th. HOLY CROW !!! Very busy! Luckily we anticipated it to some degree so just hit the shows like Tiki Room and Country Bear Jamboree. I heard a CM telling a group that it was the last day for Seasonal pass holders before black out dates. I think it was also just b/c it was the last Saturday before Christmas. This Sat. they also did a "one time" parade at 3pm. We waited for the hordes of people to find out it was the same as the parade for the MVMCP. So we opted to snack at the main street bakery instead

DDP - we knew going in to it that the basic plan would not be enough for us and we did the DX last trip so we were skeptical. The middle plan was great for us. We actually didn't get to use two counter service meals and used the 6 remaining snack credits on stocking stuffer treats to bring home with us. We did a number of character meals that were buffet so I guess that helps 'miss a meal' if you know what I mean.

Character meals - We have 6yr old twins so we have done A LOT of character dining. This trip however I have never seen the character fly though the restaraunts so quickly. No joke, each character probably spent 30 seconds with our kids before leaving. Now I know it is busy and yadda yadda yadda, but come on! You pay big money for some of these and if you are in a room when all the characters happen to be going through at once, you can easily have 5 minutes or less with all these characters and that is your grand sum of 'character dining experience." At Chef Mickey's it was one after another and over within 6 minutes.

We only rode the monorail once this trip and that was to Chef Mickey's. We did hear on the news that there was some serious issues and one involved I think three trains with hundreds of people being trapped for hours. Something about losing power. Of course noone was injured but with the recent death of the driver I guess this made it very big news.

Buses - we waited nearly 20-30 minutes for every bus to and from the Pop. I know that is what they advertise but I know they often come much sooner.

MVMCP - This is our second one and we still didn't get to do it all. Did manage to get front row for the parade so we were happy about that. The charac dancing in the grotto my kids loved. We waited 15 minutes to see Minnie dressed up, Mickey we gave up on. It was an hour wait at least.

Tiana's Show Boat Jubilee - Lots of fun to watch Catchy Tunes. Took the kids to see the movie on opening night and it is great. Meet the prince and princess and they were really into character. One of the best meet and greats for my kids so far.

Kim Possible at Epcot - Wasn't sure about my kids and this as they don't even know the character but they LOVED it. We actually went back another day to do another mission. Really gets you into each world to see the parts you never have before in World Showcase.

Trying to think of more of what people would be interested in hearing. It is all our opinion of course...but I know I like to read others so..........

 

[AndyLL]

Buses - we waited nearly 20-30 minutes for every bus to and from the Pop. I know that is what they advertise but I know they often come much sooner.

We also returned from a week at the Pop and although I agree with most of your observations I disagree with this one.

Half the time there was a bus there or pulling up when we made it to the stop and the times there wasn't a bus there we only waited more then 5 minutes once... and that was about 10 minutes.

At closing (and sometimes opening) it was not unusual for 2 buses to pull up.

I spoke with a driver on one trip and he said not only does the Pop have the luxury of not having to share buses with any other resorts but that also because of its size a lot of the non-allocated buses get sent there also. He said the average time for buses at pop were 10-15 minutes while at other resorts there were never more often then 20 minutes.

As a Disneyland APer who is used to being able to walk to the parks I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[Nadjalu]

Sounds like you had a good trip!

We too are recently back from a 7 day stay at POP.
As PP said, we only spent 20 mins waiting for a bus from WL to DHS (and that had nothing to do with POP). Every POP bus was either pulling up as we got in line or 5 mins.

We experienced the same scenario with mousekeeping you did on our last trip. So this trip we used the "private" sign constantly. Every night it went in the lock and in the morning we were never disturbed, upon leaving for the day (on the days we wanted the room clean) we would take it out and the room would be cleaned. Even on check out day we had the sign in the lock and we weren't disturbed.
Maybe try that trick next time....it worked for us.

 

[RCMommy]

We have young kids so were not getting on the buses at opening or closing times so maybe that explains the difference. I am not complaining about the wait times. I was just stating that is what we waited on average. There may have been one or two bus trips were it was a shorter wait, but on average more than I have waited before in the past.

Few other thoughts:

Behind the Seeds Tour - Interesting, we enjoyed it. Had one guy with us who was asking great questions the whole time. Feed the fish but didn't get to release ladybugs (which my kids were told at the beginning)

Mickey Backyard BBQ - it was okay, but we wouldn't rush back. Food was decent, rope tricker cowboy rocked, singing and dancing was fun. I wish people wouldn't rush the character before their turn. I swear poor Mickey was literally trying to escape the people chasing him down. At DHS we saw one woman pushing a stroller shouting "Handy Manny Handy Manny" as he was leaving to go inside. He waved and didn't stop (he is no fool!) and the woman was pissed. I guess she doesn't get it. For us the bbq was great but the people fighting to be the one dancing right next to Mickey and the rest kind of killed it for us. As the characters were going up and down the tables people were walking over and jumping in. I had backpacks rammed in the back of my head as I was trying to eat.

 

[RCMommy]

Sounds like you had a good trip!

We too are recently back from a 7 day stay at POP.
As PP said, we only spent 20 mins waiting for a bus from WL to DHS (and that had nothing to do with POP). Every POP bus was either pulling up as we got in line or 5 mins.

We experienced the same scenario with mousekeeping you did on our last trip. So this trip we used the "private" sign constantly. Every night it went in the lock and in the morning we were never disturbed, upon leaving for the day (on the days we wanted the room clean) we would take it out and the room would be cleaned. Even on check out day we had the sign in the lock and we weren't disturbed.
Maybe try that trick next time....it worked for us.

I was tempted to use it, should have on the last day (check out day - for sure) I just wanted our room cleaned every day. Fresh towels anyway and the beds made. I know they want the rooms to get done but can they not move on to the next one or two and come back?

 

[DonaldTDuck]

I also just returned from 7 days(11-17) at POP. I'm gonna do the trippie thing but thought I'd jump in. I had amazing luck with buses both to and from POP. At least 3 times a bus arrived just moments before I did. And leaving MK one afternoon(I left HDDR tix in room) I saw a bus at the end of the loading area as I got past the boatdocks. The driver had a hard time loading a wheel chair and was just starting to load passengers when I got to the line. Then 15 minutes later, I got to the stop at POP just as a bus pulled in. I was back in MK less than an hour after I left. Our room was very clean and we got one towel animal in our window. A great trip highlighted for me by a terrific experience at CP with Abigail Breslin as our host. We stood in the standby line and sat 10th row 5 seats from center.

 

[skier_pete]

Just back from POP on the same dates. Didn't see too many bus problems though - waited a few times as much as 20 minutes...but more often less than 10. I was worried with such a large resort it would be much worse.

Agree with most every else...character interaction is often rushed. We did Akerhaus and it definitely was with the Princesses, they all came through at once, though we did have some fun with Cinderella talking about the Stepsisters, and how we had seen them wandering around outside her castle. ("Oh, I certainly hope the guards don't let them in!") But actually, at Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace we had pretty good interaction in both cases. Of course, I think we are getting a lot better at conversation with the characters....just tell Donald how you think he should be running the place instead of Mickey - and he'll be your best pal!

We were at MK on the 19th. They run all the MVMCP stuff every day from the 19th to the 1st of January. (The parades, the shows, as well as the christmas fireworks.) So, it wasn't just on the 19th, but every day thereafter. I think a lot of people arrived on the 19th, and they head right for MK. It was crazy there. We were at AK in the morning, busy but not THAT bad.

Liked Tiana's showboat a lot. WE saw the movie before we left - great music. Who knew Randy Newman could do "upbeat". We didn't get to meet Tiana because of a DD temper tantrum.

With so many DISers at POP, how is it I only ran into one!!!

 

[maroo]

We were in the parks from the 15th to the 19th and have to say that people started coming out of the woodwork on the 19th. I have never seen that many people in Disney.

I usually go during the slow times.

The 16th was supposed to be super crowded (you guys remember all of those threads)...and we walked up to Spectro and got a front row "seat" at Town Square at 6:40 PM (7:00 Spectro) - so I don't know about the crowds or where they were...but they weren't at the MK!

I imagine Sat Night was CRAZY because it was the first time they were showing the Christmas Parade at 3:00 and Spectro and Wishes were showing that night. We went to DHS to see the Osborne Lights on Sat the 19th and there were lots of folks there that were headed to MK to see Spectro and Wishes. (You could hear folks talking about it..."We have to hurry because we need to get to the Magic Kingdom".... eek!

Touringplans.com was pretty accurate about the crowd levels going up and when they would go up.

I guess Free Dining is packing the folks in!

 

[dburg30]

Bottom line on the buses, it's all in the timing. Some people have 'good luck' and some people have 'bad luck' on the timing. Everywhere I've stayed I've almost always had the 'good luck' except with DTD, I always have bad luck there. At parks I think when I was actually timing it, I only waited more then 20 minutes one or 2 times, and it was BARELY more then 20 minutes..

 

[Nadjalu]

I was tempted to use it, should have on the last day (check out day - for sure) I just wanted our room cleaned every day. Fresh towels anyway and the beds made. I know they want the rooms to get done but can they not move on to the next one or two and come back?

Yes they actually "skip" your room and come back.
Every morning at 9am they seemed to be next door vacuuming (could hear that)so they had skipped our room. If we wanted it cleaned all we did was remove the private sign when we left and found a clean room at night.
So they do check back to see when you leave.

DH and I had decided this trip we would awake without an alarm and move at normal pace...not frantic to get to a park like last time. LOL
So we slept in a bit, figured it would be best to use the private sign as we didn't want woke up early.
It really worked, won't go down there and not utilize that sign again.

 

[bumbershoot]

I am not nearly creative enough to do a whole trip report

I know there are some really amazing, funny, hilarious, etc trip reports out there that get big followings....but really, anyone can do one, and it doesn't have to be creative. I found that just telling what happened is really appreciated by people! Things you learned, mistakes you made, etc. Helpful!

 

[snowhyte]

Last year we went the weekend of December 12, and it was one of our favorite trips. I am interested in hearing from people who were there this past weekend as we are planning on scheduling a trip for December 16-20, 2010. I know you have to get to the parks early etc., which is what we do anyway. I just am scared about how stressed out I will be. I have a serious "crowd problem", so as soon as a park gets crowded, I'm out of there!! I would really like to hear some opinions on this, as I see the OP and several others were there this weekend.

 

[TinkerbellinLouisian]

I also just returned from 7 days(11-17) at POP. I'm gonna do the trippie thing but thought I'd jump in. I had amazing luck with buses both to and from POP. At least 3 times a bus arrived just moments before I did. And leaving MK one afternoon(I left HDDR tix in room) I saw a bus at the end of the loading area as I got past the boatdocks. The driver had a hard time loading a wheel chair and was just starting to load passengers when I got to the line. Then 15 minutes later, I got to the stop at POP just as a bus pulled in. I was back in MK less than an hour after I left. Our room was very clean and we got one towel animal in our window. A great trip highlighted for me by a terrific experience at CP with Abigail Breslin as our host. We stood in the standby line and sat 10th row 5 seats from center.

HDDR Tix? You need TIx? I got ADR's...do you get your tix at check in?

 

[RCMommy]

Yes they actually "skip" your room and come back.
Every morning at 9am they seemed to be next door vacuuming (could hear that)so they had skipped our room. If we wanted it cleaned all we did was remove the private sign when we left and found a clean room at night.
So they do check back to see when you leave.

DH and I had decided this trip we would awake without an alarm and move at normal pace...not frantic to get to a park like last time. LOL
So we slept in a bit, figured it would be best to use the private sign as we didn't want woke up early.
It really worked, won't go down there and not utilize that sign again.

I thought she would skip and come back after cleaning another room or two but it was 10 minutes after, then another 10 minutes after, etc.

A side note: we did find the rooms noisy. But that is not just the Pop of course. We could hear others showering and actually using the toilet. We could also hear the vacuuming and people sneezing from other rooms.

Mind you, you can get that at your neighbourhood Holiday Inn as well.

 

[skier_pete]

Last year we went the weekend of December 12, and it was one of our favorite trips. I am interested in hearing from people who were there this past weekend as we are planning on scheduling a trip for December 16-20, 2010. I know you have to get to the parks early etc., which is what we do anyway. I just am scared about how stressed out I will be. I have a serious "crowd problem", so as soon as a park gets crowded, I'm out of there!! I would really like to hear some opinions on this, as I see the OP and several others were there this weekend.

We went to AK and MK on the 19th (Saturday) and to MK in the 20th. Crowds were moderate in AK, but were very very large in MK. We went to MK on the 20th from 8 AM (CP breakfast) until 10:15 AM. Park wasn't too bad for the first hour (we did Buzzlightyear, TTC, and PotC, and no real wait on any of them), but people were POURING in at 10 AM.

 

[scribega]

We did 6 nights at the POP (Dec. 12-18). We had previously stay in moderate resorts and this was our first value experience. My DW and I were both impressed with the POP. We stayed in the 50s bldg 2 on the 4th floor and did the refillable mugs (stayed at CBR last year and didn't - too long of a walk).

We didn't have any mousekeeping problems. In fact, I don't even recall seeing them and we left early morning, mid morning and late morning during our trip.

We have always used our car to drive to the parks, but decided to try the bus after a couple days because we read on here that for getting to MK it is sometimes quicker and we had an early breakfast ADR. We were pleasantly surprised by the bus system. We never waited more than 10 minutes and several times a second bus pulled up as the first bus was filling up. We used the bus several times after that.

We also did the CP done by Abigail Breslin. We did the CPDP at La Cellier for the 5pm CP on the 15th. We got the preferred seating, but it was not crowded at all and standby's got great seats too.

 

[DisneySpaz]

We were in the parks from Dec 10 -14 and had a wonderful time. No real waits for the busses back to POP or going to the parks. The wait times for rides were very reasonable and overall we had a great time! This was our first time at POP and were pleased. The Christmas decorations were nice and not too over the top! The kids loved all the themes on the property. We stayed in the 90's in near the cellphone. It was close to the busses, we walked across the parking lot, close to the main building, etc. Mousekeeping was great. They left us LOTS of towels after the first day. Guess they realized that there were 2 adults and 2 kids! Breakfast was kind of crowded but we never got rolling before 8am and we never returned before 1am. The MVMCP was totally worth the $$ and we would do it all over again. This was a surprise trip and we plan on doing this again....maybe next year???