Just back from a 7 night stay @ POP....

[wildcatfan]

We just recently returned from a 7 night stay at Pop Century. We were there June 10-17. We had an awesome trip, the weather was great and the crowds were very managable. A couple of things I thought were worth sharing.....

1. I noticed that Pop Century does not play music in all locations like they did in previous trips.
2. Bus service was excellent and they did not share buses with AoA.
3. Definitely walk across the bridge to AoA and check it out. We did and ate at the food court. It was a good experience, but it was not something I would like to eat everyday.
4. This year we decided to sleep in mornings and stay late nights for extra magic hours. It worked perfect for us! We found the parks to be less crowded and easily manageable.
5. The new (or enforced) fastpass system was not a problem at all. We were able to ride everything and the times were not an inconvience.

For those of you planning to go down soon, I hope you have a magical time! We really enjoyed our time and are looking forward to returning again next June.

If you have any questions, please ask! I will answer them if I can.

 

[BearcatsFan]

Thank you for sharing! Glad you had a great trip!

 

[smitch425]

We just recently returned from a 7 night stay at Pop Century. We were there June 10-17. We had an awesome trip, the weather was great and the crowds were very managable. A couple of things I thought were worth sharing.....

1. I noticed that Pop Century does not play music in all locations like they did in previous trips.
2. Bus service was excellent and they did not share buses with AoA.
3. Definitely walk across the bridge to AoA and check it out. We did and ate at the food court. It was a good experience, but it was not something I would like to eat everyday.
4. This year we decided to sleep in mornings and stay late nights for extra magic hours. It worked perfect for us! We found the parks to be less crowded and easily manageable.
5. The new (or enforced) fastpass system was not a problem at all. We were able to ride everything and the times were not an inconvience.

For those of you planning to go down soon, I hope you have a magical time! We really enjoyed our time and are looking forward to returning again next June.

If you have any questions, please ask! I will answer them if I can.

Glad you had a great time! #3 on your list is exactly why we are sticking with POP for our Oct. trip. I think AoA looks amazing and would love to stay there, but no way am I giving up my POP ice cream shop.

 

[*Fantasia*]

Thank you for sharing your positive experience with POP! I'm glad you had a great time!

 

[wildcatfan]

Glad you had a great time! #3 on your list is exactly why we are sticking with POP for our Oct. trip. I think AoA looks amazing and would love to stay there, but no way am I giving up my POP ice cream shop.

I could not agree more! You can not beat the ice cream at Pop! We had free QS dining so it was always a great choice for dessert! I really believe that AoA will change their food court. At the end of our meal there, we were asked to do a survey and I think Disney is trying to get a feel for what the guest are wanting. I talked to several other guests while we were there to eat and they all said they had walked over to Pop several times to eat.

 

[PHLtoMCO]

We stayed at POP once and really liked it! Glad you had a wonderful trip! Thanks for sharing your experiences with us

 

[mlittig]

Glad your trip was so magical and that you enjoyed your time at Pop

 

[hippieck12]

Were you able to check out the gift shop at AOA? We're staying at Pop in August and looking forward to walking over the bridge, have to check out their foodcourt too, did you notice if they had babycakes over there? I had heard they did, my son has allergies and we're looking forward to babycakes. It will be nice if I don't have to take a bus to dtd if he happens to like it.

 

[SgtsWifeandmommyof4]

Were you able to check out the gift shop at AOA? We're staying at Pop in August and looking forward to walking over the bridge, have to check out their foodcourt too, did you notice if they had babycakes over there? I had heard they did, my son has allergies and we're looking forward to babycakes. It will be nice if I don't have to take a bus to dtd if he happens to like it.

Can I ask what Babycakes is? We have allergies in 1 of our 4 little ones. Sorry to barge in on an excellent post. Just interested when I read it.

OP, thank you so much for sharing! Glad that you had a great trip. We are staying at AoA in Jan and we were already talking about walking to POP to check it out. We are newbies in the world of Disney trips. Never too soon to be thinking of future vacations, right??

 

[crazyfordisney2000]

Glad you enjoyed your trip!

How many in your party? Did you find it crowded in the room? We are considering switching our upcoming vacation to Pop, but I'm afraid the room will be too small for the 4 of us. I remember a few years back my DH and I stayed at Pop and we thought, "no way with the kids, it's too small". But we really could use the xtra cash.... Thoughts?

 

[*Fantasia*]

1. I noticed that Pop Century does not play music in all locations like they did in previous trips.
2. Bus service was excellent and they did not share buses with AoA.
3. Definitely walk across the bridge to AoA and check it out. We did and ate at the food court. It was a good experience, but it was not something I would like to eat everyday.
4. This year we decided to sleep in mornings and stay late nights for extra magic hours. It worked perfect for us! We found the parks to be less crowded and easily manageable.
5. The new (or enforced) fastpass system was not a problem at all. We were able to ride everything and the times were not an inconvience.

For those of you planning to go down soon, I hope you have a magical time! We really enjoyed our time and are looking forward to returning again next June.

If you have any questions, please ask! I will answer them if I can.

Where were they playing the music? I hope they are playing it at the pool and the bus.

What did you think about AoA over all? Was it crowded there? Did you see many POP guests visiting?

Thank you! We are planning to have wonderful time on our August trip! Will you be returning again at POP in June or will you be trying something new?

 

[pooh4brains]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the parks in the evening. This our plan for our trip next summer! What time did you head out for the night?

 

[I Love Pluto]

Glad you had a great time at Pop. We love it there, too!

 

[AJ1983]

We just recently returned from a 7 night stay at Pop Century. We were there June 10-17. We had an awesome trip, the weather was great and the crowds were very managable. A couple of things I thought were worth sharing.....

1. I noticed that Pop Century does not play music in all locations like they did in previous trips.
2. Bus service was excellent and they did not share buses with AoA.
3. Definitely walk across the bridge to AoA and check it out. We did and ate at the food court. It was a good experience, but it was not something I would like to eat everyday.
4. This year we decided to sleep in mornings and stay late nights for extra magic hours. It worked perfect for us! We found the parks to be less crowded and easily manageable.
5. The new (or enforced) fastpass system was not a problem at all. We were able to ride everything and the times were not an inconvience.

For those of you planning to go down soon, I hope you have a magical time! We really enjoyed our time and are looking forward to returning again next June.

If you have any questions, please ask! I will answer them if I can.

Thanks for this! I was convinced that I had to do the early morning at park/afternoon break/evening at park route, in order to see everything. My bf likes to sleep in so its nice to know that if we do the late morning/early afternoon to nighttime we'll be ok. Glad you had a good trip

 

[crazycatlady]

Glad you enjoyed your trip!

How many in your party? Did you find it crowded in the room? We are considering switching our upcoming vacation to Pop, but I'm afraid the room will be too small for the 4 of us. I remember a few years back my DH and I stayed at Pop and we thought, "no way with the kids, it's too small". But we really could use the xtra cash.... Thoughts?

We've stayed at POP for eleven nights each trip the past two years, and we have been just fine with 4 people in the room (and my kids are teens and taller than me). You will get differing opinions about this, but since we don't spend that much time in our room anyway, we prefer to save the money for other things.

We are staying there again this October and are very excited!

 

[nhtinkerbell]

Thanx for all the info. Staying there for the first time with my DS. Cant wait to check out the food court.

 

[hippieck12]

Can I ask what Babycakes is? We have allergies in 1 of our 4 little ones. Sorry to barge in on an excellent post. Just interested when I read it.

OP, thank you so much for sharing! Glad that you had a great trip. We are staying at AoA in Jan and we were already talking about walking to POP to check it out. We are newbies in the world of Disney trips. Never too soon to be thinking of future vacations, right??

Babycakes is a bakery that specializes in gluten free and dairy/egg free donuts and other bakery items, they are starting to spring up around the country and last year they opened one in dtd and I had heard they offer their cupcakes over at AoA foodcourt. My son is so looking forward to a "real" donut, I make him homemade ones but he's always wanted to try a bakery shop one and I'm so looking forward to him trying one!

 

[gogo]

Babycakes is a bakery that specializes in gluten free and dairy/egg free donuts and other bakery items, they are starting to spring up around the country and last year they opened one in dtd and I had heard they offer their cupcakes over at AoA foodcourt. My son is so looking forward to a "real" donut, I make him homemade ones but he's always wanted to try a bakery shop one and I'm so looking forward to him trying one!

I haven't been on the boards lately. Is there a new fastpass system in place? Thanks.

 

[smitch425]

I haven't been on the boards lately. Is there a new fastpass system in place? Thanks.

Currently the same system, but they are STRICTLY enforcing the return times (in the past, you could use a FP late, this is no longer allowed). They recently tested a new type of FP system, but to my knowledge it is not currently being used.

 

[wildcatfan]

Were you able to check out the gift shop at AOA? We're staying at Pop in August and looking forward to walking over the bridge, have to check out their foodcourt too, did you notice if they had babycakes over there? I had heard they did, my son has allergies and we're looking forward to babycakes. It will be nice if I don't have to take a bus to dtd if he happens to like it.

I did check out the gift shop and I was not as impressed with it as the one at Pop. It just did not seem as large. It could be that it was not full of people as Pop and maybe they have not received the full supply of merchandise. I do not recall seeing the baby cakes, but I can not say for sure if they did or did not have them. Sorry. Enjoy your upcoming trip!