Home from POP!! Oh the crowds!!

[desertbloom]

Well, we are finally home. I kept hoping to win the lotto so I could just stay in the warm weather...but no luck there. We stayed at Pop from Mar 14th to the 18th and then visited family until the 23rd. The first thing that I will mention is that I could not believe how CROWDED the parks were!!! A 40 to 60 min wait for everything. We fast passed our way to Space Mountain,Thunder Mountain, Mission Space. The only day we had any luck getting on rides without a huge wait was on Tuesday at AK... I am sure that is only because it was POURING off and on all day. Hey we were already soaked so we took advantage of the river rapids. The POP resort was nice, we had an 80's room with a pool view. I liked the big Potato head family, as did DD. The bus system was pretty good, though it was so crowded I was almost always standing or had someones butt in my face. Sun night at MK closing we went to catch the bus and waited almost 45 min... they finally sent out a fleet of 3 busses to save us because the line was so long I couldn't even see the end of it. People were cheering....lol. It went Waaaaaay past the corrals for other resorts. We only ate at the food court once. It was pretty good. I over estimated my hunger and got a double cheeseburger. The thing was HUGE!! DH and I could have split one. We ate at Marrakesh and Cinderellas castle for lunches and did the ice cream social at the Garden Grille. That was the best part of the vacation I think!! The sundae was yummmmmy. Well, that's all I can think of for now. Maybe I will post more later,as it comes to me.

 

[MamaKate]

Thanks desertbloom!

I will be staying at Pop Century in October & am really looking forward to it. Hopefully it won't be as crowded !

Did you find the food court to be packed when you went??

Hope you had a great time !


,
Katie

 

[Bonnie40]

Hey DesertBloom

We were there at exactly the same time. Wasn't that some line on Sunday night? Unbelievable!

We also only ate once at Pop. I thought we would eat there more, but it didn't work out that way. We were in the 50's building and unfortunately, only the kids got a chance to check out the entire resort. That will have to wait until next time I guess!

Have a great day!

 

[desertbloom]

I was ready to drop when those 3 busses pulled up. I don't think I have ever been so excited in my life...LOL. As far as the food court goes, I never saw it crowded despite the gazillion people staying there. Of course, we tend to eat at odd times but even just walking by it on the way to the arcade as such it never really seemed jam packed.

 

[OhMari]

I just received a post card for Pop Century for $59 a nite from April 18 to July 4. I want to go so baaaaaa.

Anyway, where the crowds families or college kids on spring break.

 

[mugglemom]

We were in that mass of cheering people on Sunday night too! I was decked out in green ribbons but I never saw a single Dis person! Where was everyone hiding?

We had just gotten in that day and had spent the afternoon checking out many of the resorts and just taking it easy. I really don't know what we were thinking to end up at MK on Sunday 3/14 at closing and have to stand in that line. To top it off we went the wrong way when the sidewalk divides into two bus lanes and ended up on the wrong side and tried to cross the street only to be stopped my CM's. We walked up the walkway toward the Contemporary a bit and then crossed and walked and walked until we finally found the back of the PoP line.

That was the only time all week we had to wait a long time for a bus!

We had a great room on the second floor of the 70's. Nice and close to everything but quiet! Our only regret was no hot tub to rest our tired feet and legs!

We only ate at Pop one night too. Ended up eating pizza and carrot calke. We had many meals with Q & C vouchers at Pepper Market and had some wonderful meals.

But oh yes the parks were all crowed but we had a great time any way. Now I am itching to get back!

 

[disneyjunkie]

How was check in? Was the area crowded? Did you get to use the arcade or the laundry room?

We'll be there Friday! I can't wait to see the resort.

I'm trying to prepare myself for the HUGE crowds.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[MickeyMommy2]

Hi! Glad to hear that you had a good time, even tho it was crowded. We will be there 4/5, staying at the POP and I was wondering...What time is best to catch the bus to go to the parks for the Early Entry mornings? I am reading that if EE is at 8am, you should be at the stop by 6:50am in order to catch the first 7am bus. Since POP has direct busses (is that still the case?) do you really need to be at the stop this early? Thanks!
MickeyMommy2
P.S.
Also, does the arcade use quarters or tokens?

 

[mugglemom]

Check in at Pop was simple and I think we waited for one person in front of us. There is a entire wall that is counter with people to check you in!

I never used the laundry or the games so I can't help you there.

We had a very nice room in the 70's and it was near to everything and on the second floor so it was quiet! One in a while you could hear a toilet flush at night but other than that it was quiet.

The buses are only for Pop but they do get busy at opening and closing times. Most people are very nice about the crowds although one night I was upset that a very pregnant lady was left standing all the way from MK. It seemed to bother me more than her but usually people survey who is around them and offer seats to those in need!

We used EE and found it really didn't matter all that much if we were on the first bus or the one that left at 7:30 AM. For example at AK the check your bags and want to see a resort key and your pass and then hold you up around Discovery Island to have a little character presentation and then the ropes drop again and insane people start running for the safari. Unless you want to be a rude insane person and do a sprint you are not going to be first for anything! We walked quickly and got fast passes and came back later!

It was the same at MGM, except the lines for security were much longer. There was a line to the far right for people with no bags to check but we had cameras and fanny packs so we had to wait.

We stayed our EE day at AK but at both MGM and Epcot the EE crowd plus the regular crowd(in March) was just too much and we switched to another park after just a few hours.

At MK EE we headed to the back of the park right away, after getting fast passes for Space Mountain and it was super busy already. Plus Splash Mountain broke down. We got on the train and headed back to ToonTown and caught it right as the characters were opening it from the other side. We are adults but we got on the Barn Stormer and ended up riding with Chip and Dale. It was a riot and actually a very good way to avoid the crowds at the ToonTown 9AM rope drop.

We headed back to splash mountain to try to get a fast pass for later and it was still down. We got a Thunder Mountain fast pass and the CM at the fast pass told us we could us fast passes later in the day than what was printed on them but not earlier. So we did a few other thing like Philharmonic while we waited the 2 hours to get another fast pass for Space Mountain and left the park to go enjoy some more AK and came back in the late afternoon and evening and used two expired and one still good fast passes in a row. Splash Mountain was finally working but all fast passes were gone so we waited the 45 minutes to ride it.

I don't know if this is normal policy or simply because Splash Mountain was down and had everyone's times all screwed up but it worked great for us!

Enjoy your time! I so want to go right back!