First (and last) Pop Century Visit - Review/Thoughts

Given that many of you who have gotten ill were there in early-mid June, it could very well be mold, etc. from the air conditioners. Now that it's warmed up, I'm sure the ac's are being used more than they have been in previous months.

We've encountered similar situations over the years, and on a few occasions, I've asked for the AC filters to be changed or cleaned.

Trust me, when I was younger, it was almost a running joke that I'd become sick with a sinus infection, etc. halfway through the vacation. Once I was older and tested for allergies, it was clear that I was reacting to mold/dust/feather pillows, etc.

Nevertheless, I'm glad that Guest Services followed up with you.
 
We stay at Pop every trip. Last October the mousekeeping was lacking for us too. I asked for a new comforter and they laid it on the bed. I called again before the parks and they said they would do a full bed change. I come back at almost midnight to the comforter and all the sheets and blanket on the bed. I called the mousekeepers and they sent someone to me and she complained the entire time. I was so ticked off that I did discuss it and the fact that I paid for preferred pool view and the heater was broke and had to use another pool with a manager at the front desk. But on that note I will still stay there and love the tye dye cheesecake. But next time I am staying in the Little Mermaid room. Oh yeah I also get sick every time I go in February.
 
Yuck :eek: there is no excuse for poor housekeeping. Especially when you made them aware if the room condition.
I always bring a travel size of Disenfectant wipes, and before unpacking wipe every surface I can think of, incl all door and dresser knobs, phone, TV remote, bathroom, inside drawers, and still my daughter gets the stomach flu :confused3
Maybe the spray is better?

Last August she got sick for 3 days, then in January she was sick for 24 hrs. Ugh. Our rooms were clean when we checked in, they looked good. No prev. Families left over dirt. Or smells.

I'm glad we are only staying one night at pop in August. But if room is dirty when we get in, I'll ask to be moved. No way I want to risk my entire vacation.
 
Oh jeez...now I am concerned.

I just booked 5 nights with my husband at POP for our anniversary. I would hate to have issues...

Maybe I should reconsider and change my reservation.
 

Oh jeez...now I am concerned.

I just booked 5 nights with my husband at POP for our anniversary. I would hate to have issues...

Maybe I should reconsider and change my reservation.

I wouldn't. If I started a I Love Pop Century thread, you'd get a lot of people singing praises.

No knock on the OP but this is a negative Pop Century thread. You aren't going to get a ton of people disagreeing with the OP.

I don't base anything at Disney World on what a bunch of people on a discussion board say. I judge for myself.
 
Oh jeez...now I am concerned.

I just booked 5 nights with my husband at POP for our anniversary. I would hate to have issues...

Maybe I should reconsider and change my reservation.

Stayed at pop this feb. no issues. :-) they were actually pretty accommodating when we asked for different rooms (wanted some that could be ready early so the kids could nap). There are bad experiences at every resort.
 
I wouldn't. If I started a I Love Pop Century thread, you'd get a lot of people singing praises.

No knock on the OP but this is a negative Pop Century thread. You aren't going to get a ton of people disagreeing with the OP.

I don't base anything at Disney World on what a bunch of people on a discussion board say. I judge for myself.

That's true. I am sure people have had bad experiences at other resorts as well.
I just want my trip to be special. Disney is not cheap! :)
 
I received a call from Guest Services at the request of the manager at Pop Century. She was very concerned about the situation. Disney was on it before I could even reach out out to them. ;)

That is one thing I love about Disney. If you have issues they do contact you to hear your side of it. I have had many fabulous stays at WDW and always email praise when well deserved. But on the other hand the only time I have written WDW about bad experiences has been after my stays at POP and they now know that after my last one in December 2012 it will be my last one at POP. Too many issues to repeat but the biggest one was the horrible treatment by a front end supervisor. Got 2 great phone calls from Guest Services - hopefully this person was retrained or reprimanded because they certainly deserved it.

Hope everyone's next trip is magical. For me it's POR or AKL from now on!! :thumbsup2
 
Stayed at pop this feb. no issues. :-) they were actually pretty accommodating when we asked for different rooms (wanted some that could be ready early so the kids could nap). There are bad experiences at every resort.

I also stayed at POP this year (May 2013) had no issues, will definitely return. All resorts have issues, sorry OP will not return to POP because of this experience.

I stayed at AKL in December 2012 and had issues with the room. Slow drainage in the tub, called and reported it but it was not fixed, also had a leak under the sink that was never fixed. However, I would still return because I might not have the same issues on the next trip.
 
We returned from Disney earlier this week; we stayed at Pop Century (our first ever value resort visit) and we were very underwhelmed. :( I wanted so badly to like this resort. We are DVC owners and usually stay at Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani. Prior to becoming an owner, we have also stayed at Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club, Port Orleans Riverside, French Quarter and Coronado. For the most part, we liked all of them except Coronado. My in-laws paid for this trip, so of course we didn't have any input about where we stayed. There was a total of 9 people in 3 rooms.

There is no good, bad and ugly.... just our experience.


Bus Service
The bus service was good, despite the fact that it was summer and a bit crowded. I really like that they have queues for the buses so that those who are walking up later cannot push their way onto the bus first. I wish all resorts had this. The only bus issue we had was a particular guest who each time he got on the same bus we did, he would take the first seat up front and block almost the entire aisle with his double-wide stroller causing an issue with other guests getting on the bus. I was really surprised the drivers didn't say anything? :confused:


Pop Everything Food Court
We found this to be disappointing. We tried several things from here. Breakfast platter, waffles, french toast, french bread pizza, create-your-own salad, chicken nuggets, tie-dye cheesecake, Cesar salad, cappuccino and a few other items. The create-your-own salad wasn't bad and my husband liked the french bread pizza, but we didn't care for the other items. The breakfast items were cold and had a texture like they sat for a long time. I couldn't figure out what all of the excitement on the message boards about the cheesecake is all about; I have had better cheesecake from the Wal-Mart freezer. :(


Cast Members
They were all wonderful (with the exception of 2 in the gift shop)! We had to reach out to a manager and she was beyond awesome! Anytime we had to go to the front desk, the gift shop, food court, etc - we were greeted with smiles and thanked warmly for our purchase. Very friendly, too. There were a lot of CMs 'earning their ears' on this trip and they were all as organized, efficient and professional as a CM who had been there for years. For the two in the gift shop that were not wonderful, one was ugly to my niece when she asked to look at the pins the CM was trading. (she seemed really put out) - My niece wanted to trade with a CM with a green lanyard and because she is only 6, I approached the CM with her. The CM didn't even ask me if it was for me or the little girl with me; she just chastised me for asking her because her lanyard was green. I was surprised at how ugly she was about it. I pointed to my niece and said "she wants to trade" and then she said "well, she needs to be the one who asks, not you". Really? Please tell me that my niece is not the only shy child to ever visit Disney World. :rolleyes:


Housekeeping
I have nothing but negative comments here. :sad2: When we checked in, our room was DIRTY! We were given our keys when we arrived around 11 AM and we went to our room to drop our carry-ons. We noticed a smell in the room and though it was familiar to me, I couldnt quite place it until we got back that evening. It smelled like somebody had been sick (like sinuses). If you have kids, you know what I am talking about. We went straight to Disney Studios and didn't really look around. We got back late and were very tired since we had woken this morning at 4 AM. When we began to unpack, we found that there was popcorn, candy, empty boxes and other food in the drawers. Because it was late and we were tired, we got Clorox wipes and cleaned out the drawers. We also noticed the next day that under one of the beds there were juice boxes, small toys and food from previous guests. We called the Housekeeping line, told them and requested that somebody come remove the stuff under the bed and thoroughly clean the room. The next day all of the junk was still there. We called again twice during our visit and the same thing.....it was never removed. About 4 days into the trip my daughter started getting sick. The 5th day in I began getting sick and my husband on the 6th. We do not have any actual proof that we caught it from the room, but given my medical experience, I feel strongly that we caught it in the room because it was not thoroughly cleaned after the previous guests left and the smell. We spent the last half of our vacation in the hotel room. The day before we left, I went down to talk to a manager to request that they thoroughly clean the room before anybody else stays in it and their vacation was spent ill. She was awesome and handled it very professionally. We got home Tuesday.... my husband has an ear and throat infection, my daughter has an upper respiratory infection and I have walking pneumonia and a sinus infection. The families in the other two rooms are generally the ones who are always sick and they are still healthy. That is another reason I think we caught it in the room. I chatted with both the manager at Pop and my doctor and both agreed that we most likely caught it in the room.


Room Location
We were in a Preferred room. We didn't quite face the pool, but we were very very close. We could hear everything and every noise. We were on the 4th floor. It was a very close walk to the food court/lobby. The location was great, despite the noise. That is why I bring ear plugs. ;)


Rooms
The rooms and bathrooms are very very small. We were technically 3 adults in 1 room with 2 full-sized beds. The beds are so uncomfortable. I wish all resorts had the same beds as Coronado. The bathroom was very smelly, too. I don't know if that was because it needed to be bleached and cleaned with vinegar or because the people who were there before us were sick.


Overall - I was not a fan of this resort because of the food court, room size and housekeeping, but if the family wants to go again and stay here, we will of course go if they are paying.... if we are paying we will go stay at the sister resort (Art of Animation) and get a family suite so that we can have a little more space. Outside of that, I will continue to go to my home DVC resort. I will also be taking a small can of Lysol on every future trip regardless of where I stay and I will spray everything down upon initially entering the room.

Ohhh, so sorry you didn't like POP. It has always been our favorite resort. Our last visit to POP was last August.
We've stayed Contemporary, CaribbeanB, POR, ASMU & just this past trip we stayed at Coronada Springs.
 
Oh jeez...now I am concerned.

I just booked 5 nights with my husband at POP for our anniversary. I would hate to have issues...

Maybe I should reconsider and change my reservation.


I agree with disnut8 100%!
There are more people that love POP than hate it and i am one of them. We love POP. :goodvibes
My daughter is there now celebrating her 1 year anniversary and when her DH asked where she wanted to stay she said POP. We love the decor, the CM's and we love the food court.
OP I hate it that ya'll didn't have a great experience and I hope, hope, hope that Disney will make it right for you (if they haven't already) Unfortunatley, we can find the same experiences at every hotel whether it is Disney or not.
I would definitely email Disney so they can get these issues fixed immediately, it is so sad that you had to experience what you did. :guilty:
We go quite often to Disney. When we take our grandkids we always return to POP and after 7 stays we have had nothing but GREAT experiences! On the other hand, when my DH and I take our alone trips we stay at different resorts. So far we have stayed at CS, AKL, WL, Poly and CB, (ASMu & ASSp when our kids were little). The only 2 times we have found less than amazing service/accomodations has been at CS and AKL. And yes, I do love the beds at CS :cloud9: but the ones at POP are fine, just remember to request a King room if it is just the two of you :thumbsup2.

OP, thank you for your review along with your positive comments. As much as we love POP, there is no excuse for a nasty dirty room. I hope that since our last trip in January the service hasn't gone down that bad:sad2:

I hope you and your family are feeling better :dance3:
 
I hate to hear that there are issues at Pop right now. We have stayed there 3 times (but it has been over 2 years since the last stay) and we loved it. Our room was spotless. The only complaint that I could make with mousekeeping was that several mornings they were outside our room wanting to clean before we were ready to leave the room for the day. We have stayed at all the value resorts except Art of Animation (we are planning to) and we have stayed at several of the moderate and deluxe results. The only one that I had any issue with as far as cleanliness was Caribbean Beach Resort and that was just the first day we checked in. There was no trash left, but there was a smell and something spilled on the table. I called mousekeeping and told them. We left our luggage and headed for Downtown Disney. When we returned, the room was spotless and the manager called the next morning to make sure the issue was resolved. I think the problem may be with individual employees and not with the resorts as a whole.
 
I think the problem may be with individual employees and not with the resorts as a whole.

I have to tend to agree. My daughter is there now for her and her DH 1st wedding anniversary. She requested a king bed, high floor, lake side. She got there at 11am this morning and checked in. Their room was ready and it was exactly what they requested. They are in the Tramp building overlooking the lake with a beautiful view of AoA resort on the 3rd floor with a king bed. Her husband is kind of a germaphob but she said the room is pristine! :woohoo: and she said the king bed is extra comfy. :cloud9: She also said when they checked in the CM made a big deal about it being their anniversary. He gave them both an Anniversary pin that says "they lived happily ever after" with the Cinderella castle and chariot on it and he handed her a card, when she opened it, it was a happy anniversary card signed by all the characters. When they got to their room they had a Mickey head shaped like a heart on their bed. She said her stay so far has been magical pixiedust: with lots of :tinker:extra pixie dust!
 
I've stayed at Pop ~ 6 times, the most recent last August. I've never experienced any of the major issues that you did--but I have to agree about the cheesecake! LOL! Oh well, it's not like there aren't other desserts I enjoy.

NOT belittling any of your complaints, but last year I stayed at Kidani for the first time ever (usually I'm Queen of The Values and quite happy about it!) and frankly, I don't think ANY place can compare to that resort.
 
Hi
I've stayed at Pop a lot, but can't anymore due to the really hard beds that they have now. The beds they used to have were really comfortable. I don't know how anyone can sleep on them. We had backaches and had to changed resorts.
 
Housekeeping
I have nothing but negative comments here. :sad2: When we checked in, our room was DIRTY! We were given our keys when we arrived around 11 AM and we went to our room to drop our carry-ons. We noticed a smell in the room and though it was familiar to me, I couldnt quite place it until we got back that evening. It smelled like somebody had been sick (like sinuses). If you have kids, you know what I am talking about. We went straight to Disney Studios and didn't really look around. We got back late and were very tired since we had woken this morning at 4 AM. When we began to unpack, we found that there was popcorn, candy, empty boxes and other food in the drawers. Because it was late and we were tired, we got Clorox wipes and cleaned out the drawers. We also noticed the next day that under one of the beds there were juice boxes, small toys and food from previous guests. We called the Housekeeping line, told them and requested that somebody come remove the stuff under the bed and thoroughly clean the room. The next day all of the junk was still there. We called again twice during our visit and the same thing.....it was never removed. About 4 days into the trip my daughter started getting sick. The 5th day in I began getting sick and my husband on the 6th. We do not have any actual proof that we caught it from the room, but given my medical experience, I feel strongly that we caught it in the room because it was not thoroughly cleaned after the previous guests left and the smell. We spent the last half of our vacation in the hotel room. The day before we left, I went down to talk to a manager to request that they thoroughly clean the room before anybody else stays in it and their vacation was spent ill. She was awesome and handled it very professionally. We got home Tuesday.... my husband has an ear and throat infection, my daughter has an upper respiratory infection and I have walking pneumonia and a sinus infection. The families in the other two rooms are generally the ones who are always sick and they are still healthy. That is another reason I think we caught it in the room. I chatted with both the manager at Pop and my doctor and both agreed that we most likely caught it in the room.

IMHO, most housekeeping at Disney has been sub-par in my experience. Having worked in the hotel industry, I would have to think that it's likely due to overworked/underpaid housekeepers and/or short-handed housekeeping staff. Also, often tourist areas like Orlando have housekeeper unions. I don't know if Disney's housekeepers are unionized but if they are, that might explain it. Also, Disney's resorts are high capacity all year long. Think about the local Marriott or Holiday Inn in your hometown. Sometimes they are basically empty, and other times they are very busy. This allows housekeeping to work intermittently, and sometimes giving them more time per room. The Disney housekeepers are pressured to turn over rooms quickly, resulting in things overlooked I'm afraid.

We have stayed at Poly and POR and had the same experience at both. Last trip at POR, our room had someone else's fingerprints on the mirror (never cleaned the whole 8 days we were there), crumbs under the table and by the window, and someone else's drink rings on the dresser (also never cleaned). Not a huge deal, but something that's easy to spot/clean. I too felt sick at the end of our trip, and on our last day I had to travel home with a fever. When I came home from that trip, I went straight to urgent care the next day and was diagnosed with pneumonia and given steroids to treat it. I can't say for certain it was due to the room because obviously you come in contact with a lot of germs at Disney, but its worth mentioning.
 
Yuck :eek: there is no excuse for poor housekeeping. Especially when you made them aware if the room condition.
I always bring a travel size of Disenfectant wipes, and before unpacking wipe every surface I can think of, incl all door and dresser knobs, phone, TV remote, bathroom, inside drawers, and still my daughter gets the stomach flu :confused3
Maybe the spray is better?

She could have gotten sick anywhere in the parks not just the room. More than likely it came from a hand rail or casual contact with another guest elsewhere.

I always get sick when I go to Disney and I attribute it to being around thousands of people with different germs than I am used to. I like to say it's good for my immune system.
 
She could have gotten sick anywhere in the parks not just the room. More than likely it came from a hand rail or casual contact with another guest elsewhere.

I always get sick when I go to Disney and I attribute it to being around thousands of people with different germs than I am used to. I like to say it's good for my immune system.

This. You can't possibly pin down the source of the illness to the room. It is FAR more likely you picked up something from one of the surfaces thousands of other people touched in the parks, in the airport, at the restaurants, on the rides, in the gift shops, in the restrooms etc.
We have never come home from a Disney trip without one of us being sick. It's a fact of travelling for us. You will be exposed to millions of new germs and the likelyhood of transmission is high.
In fact, we usually come home with one of us sick from any vacation.. not just Disney. We don't eat or sleep the same on vacation and often get run down. Once you add in air travel, hotels and things that thousands of people touch it's bound to happen.
 
I wouldn't. If I started a I Love Pop Century thread, you'd get a lot of people singing praises.

No knock on the OP but this is a negative Pop Century thread. You aren't going to get a ton of people disagreeing with the OP.

I don't base anything at Disney World on what a bunch of people on a discussion board say. I judge for myself.


As the thread starter..... I will pop in and say I do agree with this. People tend to chime in where they have an experience. You could go and have a wonderful time. We didn't. If my in-laws wanted to go there again, we will do it again. I will just be sure and ask for an overhaul to the room upon check-in.
 
I am usually a nice person and dont biss alot, but man I would have been Standing at the front desk DEMANDING a Manager after my room room hadnt been Serviced after I called the FIRST time.


Sorry but your room sounded disgusting. I would not have been able to sleep in there. Especially the Sinus smell. Made me gag when I read that. And I am not a carry my lysol around type of gal.

I am a believer in the exception is not the rule. Most likely you mousekeeper was waaay off and Needs to find a new Job, or Management made a mistake in planning.. maybe mixed up on who was doing the room, got stop mid-way.. who knows....

I am surprised you let it go that Long. like I said, I'd been there in my pj at midnight demanding a room cleaned NOW, after coming back that first night.

Makes me wonder, maybe I do Need to get a can of lysol on my way from MCO this Sept.
 












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