ptrbryant
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2001
- Messages
- 1,941
We recently returned (5/21) from a 9 day trip to WDW, 5 nights at Villas at Wilderness Lodge and then on to 3 nights at Pop Century. (I posted a brief comparison earlier.) We'd never been to Pop Century before, but I'd always read glowing reports here about the resort.
1. Definately NOT a Motel 6!!!
I really wonder if people who claim Pop is nothing more than a Motel 6 have actually seen a Motel 6? What we encountered was a bright, clean, colorful, almost festive atmosphere with a fantastic food court, huge pool and the friendliest CMs we've ever met at WDW.
Check-in/Main Building: The main building for check-in was busy, but efficiently handled. The environment seemed like a pre-show at one of the parks. The fun music tracks brought back great memories, but it was never intrusively loud. The CMs at Pop really seemed to love working there and were helpful and polite in a variety of situations. The gift shop, Everything Pop, wasn't huge, but had a good selection of items. The food court was fantastic! I think I ordered the Mediterranean flatbread three times while we were there---cooked to order each time. I didn't expect such a wide selection and you could really eat there everyday and not get tired of it (I was the exception with my Mediterranean flatbread fixation!) The tables were cleaned quickly and the whole area always looked well maintained. The frozen Coke machine was always broken, but that was the only complaint.
2. Guest Rooms and Our One Issue With The Resort Begins: No, the rooms aren't big, but for 2 adults and DS11, they're fine. [PLEASE NOTE: The bathrooms at Pop are LARGER than the ones in the studios at Villas at Wilderness Lodge! For everyone who complains about the bathroom size, you'd get LESS in a DVC studio!]. Our room was in the 50's bldg., top floor, lake view...perfect! We watched fireworks from the balcony and had no sound issues. The guestroom and bathroom were very clean, aside from brown smudges on one of the walls that were at toddler height...didn't want to spend too much time wondering what they were. I did notice the bed linens and towels were thinner than at non-Value WDW resorts and the toiletries were a notch down. Not a big deal. At about 5 a.m. on our first night, our room--in a non-smoking building--begin filling up with cigarette smoke. DS and I both have asthma and allergies and were given a non-smoking room in a non-smoking building. Bad behavior on the part of guests is a problem. We were all exhausted from a busy day/night at the parks, so kept trying to sleep for another hour or two. Finally, at about 8, I showered while DH tried to pinpoint where the smoke was coming from. Smoking room # in hand, I went to the Concierge Desk. They were great and offered to either 1. Ionize the room and call the offending guest to remind him it was a non-smoking bldg. (like he wouldn't already have known!) or 2. "Upgrade" us to the 60's bldg. We opted for the latter and didn't have anymore smoking neighbors.
3. Pool and Other Outdoor Areas/Etc..: We mainly used the Hippy Dippy pool, which was big enough to never seem at all crowded while we were there. It was a very fun, colorful area and the water temperature was just right. While we were there, we used the pool towels that were in a large rolling rack, labeled "Pool Towels". I know others have said they don't provide them, but that wasn't our experience. I was surprised--having expected bare concrete everywhere--that there were actually prettily landscaped pathways throughout the resort. We saw a few bunnies and lizards. It was a ridiculously short walk from either the 50's or 60's buildings to the Main Building. I didn't see trash anywhere. What I DID see/smell was cigarette smoke everywhere we turned. We'd stayed a night at ASMO last year and just never encountered this before. People were smoking by the pool, on the walkways, on the balconies...DH got irritated that it seemed like a "smokers-only" resort. I know all the resorts are going smoke-free at the end of the week and I truly look forward to hearing how this impacts the ONLY main drawback of the resort.
While it was a fun, bright resort, I can't say it was relaxing...just too much going on! Would we stay there again? If the smoking issue is dealt with, certainly. Our first choice, though, remains WL/VWL, primarily because it's SO restful.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Karla B.
1. Definately NOT a Motel 6!!!
I really wonder if people who claim Pop is nothing more than a Motel 6 have actually seen a Motel 6? What we encountered was a bright, clean, colorful, almost festive atmosphere with a fantastic food court, huge pool and the friendliest CMs we've ever met at WDW.
Check-in/Main Building: The main building for check-in was busy, but efficiently handled. The environment seemed like a pre-show at one of the parks. The fun music tracks brought back great memories, but it was never intrusively loud. The CMs at Pop really seemed to love working there and were helpful and polite in a variety of situations. The gift shop, Everything Pop, wasn't huge, but had a good selection of items. The food court was fantastic! I think I ordered the Mediterranean flatbread three times while we were there---cooked to order each time. I didn't expect such a wide selection and you could really eat there everyday and not get tired of it (I was the exception with my Mediterranean flatbread fixation!) The tables were cleaned quickly and the whole area always looked well maintained. The frozen Coke machine was always broken, but that was the only complaint.
2. Guest Rooms and Our One Issue With The Resort Begins: No, the rooms aren't big, but for 2 adults and DS11, they're fine. [PLEASE NOTE: The bathrooms at Pop are LARGER than the ones in the studios at Villas at Wilderness Lodge! For everyone who complains about the bathroom size, you'd get LESS in a DVC studio!]. Our room was in the 50's bldg., top floor, lake view...perfect! We watched fireworks from the balcony and had no sound issues. The guestroom and bathroom were very clean, aside from brown smudges on one of the walls that were at toddler height...didn't want to spend too much time wondering what they were. I did notice the bed linens and towels were thinner than at non-Value WDW resorts and the toiletries were a notch down. Not a big deal. At about 5 a.m. on our first night, our room--in a non-smoking building--begin filling up with cigarette smoke. DS and I both have asthma and allergies and were given a non-smoking room in a non-smoking building. Bad behavior on the part of guests is a problem. We were all exhausted from a busy day/night at the parks, so kept trying to sleep for another hour or two. Finally, at about 8, I showered while DH tried to pinpoint where the smoke was coming from. Smoking room # in hand, I went to the Concierge Desk. They were great and offered to either 1. Ionize the room and call the offending guest to remind him it was a non-smoking bldg. (like he wouldn't already have known!) or 2. "Upgrade" us to the 60's bldg. We opted for the latter and didn't have anymore smoking neighbors.
3. Pool and Other Outdoor Areas/Etc..: We mainly used the Hippy Dippy pool, which was big enough to never seem at all crowded while we were there. It was a very fun, colorful area and the water temperature was just right. While we were there, we used the pool towels that were in a large rolling rack, labeled "Pool Towels". I know others have said they don't provide them, but that wasn't our experience. I was surprised--having expected bare concrete everywhere--that there were actually prettily landscaped pathways throughout the resort. We saw a few bunnies and lizards. It was a ridiculously short walk from either the 50's or 60's buildings to the Main Building. I didn't see trash anywhere. What I DID see/smell was cigarette smoke everywhere we turned. We'd stayed a night at ASMO last year and just never encountered this before. People were smoking by the pool, on the walkways, on the balconies...DH got irritated that it seemed like a "smokers-only" resort. I know all the resorts are going smoke-free at the end of the week and I truly look forward to hearing how this impacts the ONLY main drawback of the resort.
While it was a fun, bright resort, I can't say it was relaxing...just too much going on! Would we stay there again? If the smoking issue is dealt with, certainly. Our first choice, though, remains WL/VWL, primarily because it's SO restful.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Karla B.
Glad you liked it.
