NMAmy
Can speak food in German
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2000
- Messages
- 15,229
We just got back today from a wonderful trip after a 3 year WDW hiatus. The weather was great and the crowds were manageable. We did online check in and received a text with room info at Pop and OKW but AKL was having technical difficulties on our arrival day. Here are a few thoughts on the resorts:
Pop Century - We were here for 4 days. I did not pay for a preferred room but loved our location. My only request was near transportation and we got Building 10, Room 257, in the 70's. It was awesome--just in front of the playground and we were close to both the food court and could cut across the parking lots for easy bus access. We have stayed at Pop before and after a long absence, I was surprised by how much we enjoyed the resort. I've spent a lot more money on fancier hotels in big cities over the last 3 years. Pop Century was bigger, more efficiently set up, and definitely cleaner. The food court was the best of all three resorts we stayed at with better food and quicker service. All the CM's we interacted with were wonderful. Bus service was efficient and quick and I enjoyed having dedicated buses. No complaints and would definitely stay again.
OKW - We stayed in a studio on points that we rented from a friend. I received the text at around 11:30 a.m. with the room number which was much earlier than I expected. The room was lovely--Room 3420 - Building 34 in the Old Turtle Pond area. It was right across the street from the Turtle Pond bus stop with a water view (a creek or a water feature from the golf course.) This was our first time at OKW and, honestly, it would not be my first choice. The buses were slow with multiple stops, no food court, and really, it was like staying in a condo anywhere in Florida. The artwork in the studio was really kind of blah. The room itself was large and in great shape so no concerns there. We had no complaints and did not interact with any CM's except in the gift shop on one visit. We did like the boat to Disney Springs and just ate there multiple times. The walk to the Hospitality House was not as long as I'd thought from the maps--probably 10 minutes tops.
AKL - We stayed in a 1 bedroom value on points that we rented from our friend. I did not receive a text. We stuck around Epcot for our Frozen Ever After Fast Pass so just showed up at the resort around 6 pm. The CM we checked in with was awesome and explained we didn't get a text because they'd had technical difficulties all day. There were a lot of guests being rude to CM's at check in because they were unable to charge to the room. We were not able to either but it was no big deal for us--we just used our credit card instead. The CM who helped us told me we'd gotten a fantastic room for a value and he was correct. It was a partial savanna view, room 5136, the last room on the Ostrich Trail hallway. The room was beautiful with a large balcony and we saw a ton of animals (ostriches, zebras, giraffes, antelope.) The CM's were all very helpful and nice. I didn't care for the food at the food court (I had a tomato flatbread one day and a ruben hot dog another day and neither was very good.) We did have lunch at one of our old favorites, Sanaa, and that was as wonderful as always. Our server, Tim, was awesome.
Interestingly, I've seen a lot of posts on here complaining about the values lately and that was not our experience at all. In fact, I pointed out to DH that there were loud, unruly, unsupervised kids both times we ate at The Mara at AKL and I didn't see any of that kind of behavior at Pop over 4 days. AKL had the best strawberry margarita at the pool bar and I had one at each resort!
We used bell services for each move and had absolutely no issues at all and the luggage was brought to our room within 15 minutes after we called.
I'm happy to try to answer any questions. We had such a wonderful stay that we upgraded to annual passes and will be going back with my dd and her family in the fall. That stay will be at Shades of Green which we love.
Pop Century - We were here for 4 days. I did not pay for a preferred room but loved our location. My only request was near transportation and we got Building 10, Room 257, in the 70's. It was awesome--just in front of the playground and we were close to both the food court and could cut across the parking lots for easy bus access. We have stayed at Pop before and after a long absence, I was surprised by how much we enjoyed the resort. I've spent a lot more money on fancier hotels in big cities over the last 3 years. Pop Century was bigger, more efficiently set up, and definitely cleaner. The food court was the best of all three resorts we stayed at with better food and quicker service. All the CM's we interacted with were wonderful. Bus service was efficient and quick and I enjoyed having dedicated buses. No complaints and would definitely stay again.
OKW - We stayed in a studio on points that we rented from a friend. I received the text at around 11:30 a.m. with the room number which was much earlier than I expected. The room was lovely--Room 3420 - Building 34 in the Old Turtle Pond area. It was right across the street from the Turtle Pond bus stop with a water view (a creek or a water feature from the golf course.) This was our first time at OKW and, honestly, it would not be my first choice. The buses were slow with multiple stops, no food court, and really, it was like staying in a condo anywhere in Florida. The artwork in the studio was really kind of blah. The room itself was large and in great shape so no concerns there. We had no complaints and did not interact with any CM's except in the gift shop on one visit. We did like the boat to Disney Springs and just ate there multiple times. The walk to the Hospitality House was not as long as I'd thought from the maps--probably 10 minutes tops.
AKL - We stayed in a 1 bedroom value on points that we rented from our friend. I did not receive a text. We stuck around Epcot for our Frozen Ever After Fast Pass so just showed up at the resort around 6 pm. The CM we checked in with was awesome and explained we didn't get a text because they'd had technical difficulties all day. There were a lot of guests being rude to CM's at check in because they were unable to charge to the room. We were not able to either but it was no big deal for us--we just used our credit card instead. The CM who helped us told me we'd gotten a fantastic room for a value and he was correct. It was a partial savanna view, room 5136, the last room on the Ostrich Trail hallway. The room was beautiful with a large balcony and we saw a ton of animals (ostriches, zebras, giraffes, antelope.) The CM's were all very helpful and nice. I didn't care for the food at the food court (I had a tomato flatbread one day and a ruben hot dog another day and neither was very good.) We did have lunch at one of our old favorites, Sanaa, and that was as wonderful as always. Our server, Tim, was awesome.
Interestingly, I've seen a lot of posts on here complaining about the values lately and that was not our experience at all. In fact, I pointed out to DH that there were loud, unruly, unsupervised kids both times we ate at The Mara at AKL and I didn't see any of that kind of behavior at Pop over 4 days. AKL had the best strawberry margarita at the pool bar and I had one at each resort!
We used bell services for each move and had absolutely no issues at all and the luggage was brought to our room within 15 minutes after we called.
I'm happy to try to answer any questions. We had such a wonderful stay that we upgraded to annual passes and will be going back with my dd and her family in the fall. That stay will be at Shades of Green which we love.
