Just Back from POP...NEVER AGAIN

[Colleen27]

When did you stay at ASMu? I'm wondering because I have had great stays at Value resorts, but my stay this month at the Music was not one of them. And there have lately been many posts about how horrible all of the Value resorts are! Makes me wonder what the heck is going on.

I think it is the same thing that is going on property-wide - attendance is picking up, occupancy is picking up, but staffing levels are still down. There have been a lot of complaints lately that can be attributed to that across all aspects of a Disney vacation, from servers at the restaurants handling too many tables and too few bussers clearing empty plates/glasses, to too few bathroom attendants resulting in messy bathrooms and stalls without TP, to long lines at check-in desks and deferred maintenance issues in resort rooms/grounds.

 

[TDC Nala]

would like to mention that I do not see why anyone allows a small child to push their own stroller in a crowd. I see that all the time and they invariably collide with someone or come close to it.

 

[time4Mickey]

We stayed at Music almost 2 years ago. The resort was fine and like I said the staff was great. It was the other people that were staying there. I thought we may try a value again but with all the bad reports I doubt that will happen anytime soon. The food was great but as we sat in the food court there were several tables of people with language I wouldn't use in a bar. Men sitting by the pool drinking talking about the teenage girls. At the bus stop, I saw a couple of children(8-12 years or so) push a older woman out of the way(almost made her fall) to get a seat on the bus. Their parents laughed. I stood with my 2 year old so this woman could have a seat. Yes you can find rude people at all the resorts but it is usually an isolated incident. It was not one or 2 people/families, it was the atmosphere and definately didn't feel like Disney to me. Thankfully, we had booked a split stay so this didn't ruin our vacation.

 

[australiankaren]

I'm so glad its not me...i thought i was just getting picky in my old age [43]lol. If the staffing is down, that may explain why the resort is looking a tad dirty/ messy/ not well kept.
hopefully disney get the message and hire more people....otherwise it will affect their bottom line eventually.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We had an absolutly amazing trip and have no complaints (checked in November 18 at ASSp.) We did have the same thing happen with the room keys on my grandparent's room though. It took 4 times to get them fixed. We were in the furthest building from the lobby so DH and I took care of it for them each time (they are in their 70s and were tired.) It took over an hour to check in (once we got to the counter) so we opted not to go back to check in and instead went to the guest services area to get it fixed. The lady kept appologizing and said how most people were so angry and while she understood their frustrations they were doing their best with the new upgrade. My DH is an IT Director and said he could totally relate, same thing happens in their restaurants and n matter how ready you think the system is, you don't know till it goes live where the bugs are. She kept thanking us and we said don't worry about it, not her fault. 4th time was the charm and all was well. We didn't ask for compensation and didn't get any, didn't want any.

I agree, it took more time this time then most check ins but things need to be upgraded and it has to effect someone at some point. It was a busy time of year for them to do the upgrade, not sure why they did it then but what I know for sure is that the CM were doing their best to deal with it and it was just as stressful on them as it was anyone who had glitches.

Sorry OP and so many wern't happy, but it can and did happen at all levels of resorts, to blame the values doesn't seem too fair IMO.

 

[goofy4tink]

You should try a deluxe resort next trip. The differences are quite apparent. We stayed one night in POP, and vowed to never stay there again.

I own DVC at BWV and BLT. But...when I'm not staying on points, you will find me happily at POP. I have no issue with Pop at all. Have yet to have a bad stay there.

Many of the problems with Values are solved by renting a car IMO. You can bottom-feed on priceline or hotwire.
I stayed in building 2 in September and parked my car very close to the building. No 15 minute walks for me if I can avoid that for $15/day.
Food courts can be the most unpleasant places at WDW.
People in every resort have complained about KTTW problems during the upgrade.
Sorry your trip was disappointing.

The new system they are implementing is causing havoc everywhere. Almost every time I had to deal with the front desk, there was some kind of 'system issue'. The poor CMs weren't happy, the guests weren't happy. Hopefully, it gets straightened out sooner rather than later.
As for transportation at values, I have to say that I have had the best bus transportation when staying at Pop...much better than at any deluxe I've stayed at.

Can someone please explain what is so "Disney" about giant Big Wheels and the like? I simply cannot fathom how the stuff of various eras is remotely "Disney". Other than the obvious exception of the Mickey Mouse phone, the other things are not Disney at all. Big Wheels? Wasn't that Mattel? Peace Signs? Not coined by Disney. I don't get it. It just seems tacky from the pictures I've seen. And tacky is NOT Disney in my experience.

It's 'pop' culture theming...not Disney theming. Disney took various pop culture icons from various decades and used them for theming. The 'mansions' at POR are not very Disney either..nor are the casitas at CSR. It's all about the theming. Personally I love the theming at POP. Bright, upbeat, and fun.

I was at WDW from 12/6-13. I have never seen such huge numbers of people there at this time. This was my 7th stay at this time of year...give or take a day or so either way. Usually, it's a great time to go. but not this year. I refused to go to one of the MVMCP this time around. Have never missed one before, but the crowds going to them just made me nuts. I refuse to pay Disney an addtl $50-60 for a 'private' party that has been hugely oversold. I dealt with huge crowds in the parks during the day..wasn't spending addtl money to deal with them at a private party.

And the rudeness???? Oh man. It was awful this year. I got banged into by more strollers than ever before. Not even an 'I'm so sorry' was heard, not once. Just a dirty look for making them stop and off they went. ECV's??? More than ever. And many guests using the ECVs weren't very experienced in riding them.

Just not a very 'magical' stay for me either. And it's too bad. When that many guests are negatively impacted by other guests' rudeness, it's just sad.

 

[stitchaholic]

we stayed at ASMov and enjoyed our stay very much, the next year we tried POP, and after the 2nd night, I woke up in the morning barely able to move from a horrible sleep in a horrible,old,little bed, in a badly worn room. I went straight to concierge and got moved to CSR where we very happily stayed for the rest of our trip
never again POP

 

[Nik's Mom]

Yes. Several people got cheeseburgers. There was pretty much next to nothing pre-made since it was a mini-rush when we were in there. They kept looking at her "Whoops, forgot her cheeseburger." Someone else would order one from another of the CM's and they'd grab her cheeseburger and give it to the next person instead of her.

The same thing happened to me at Pop. The first time, I said it's ok, everyone makes a mistake. The cm said they were sorry. But when they tried to do it again, I had to jump in and remind them that I had been waiting and that cheeseburger belonged to me. I hated to do that, but it was just getting ridiculous.

We have stayed at a few deluxe, one moderate and one value (Pop). For years we had said we wanted to at least try a value and finally did just that 2 years ago. We were pleasantly surprised by Pop. Most of our experience was positive. The resort was clean and the location of our room was pretty quiet. We also enjoyed walking around and seeing the sights.

The bus service was better than most of the deluxe resorts we have stayed at. We had only one long wait, but that can happen with every resort. Really, my only complaint was the food court. It was very loud, crowded and the waits for food were long at times. But the experience wasn't that bad that it would cause us never to return there.

In my opinion, you will find rude people everywhere. I thought that the stress caused by the crowds in the food court brought out the ugly in people at Pop though. I think people were just annoyed by having to fight crowds to get their meal. We ended up just taking our trays back to our room so we didn't have to sit in the foodcourt. And eventually, we stopped eating there, other than to re-fill our mugs.

 

[Kay1]

The same thing happened to me at Pop. The first time, I said it's ok, everyone makes a mistake. The cm said they were sorry. But when they tried to do it again, I had to jump in and remind them that I had been waiting and that cheeseburger belonged to me. I hated to do that, but it was just getting ridiculous.

.

I had a similar experience at Mara. I tried to order a shrimp basket and they sent me to the next person who was busy and ignored me. To make a long story short, I had to intervene to place my order. Disney food courts get so busy they need expeditors, but it's not just at the Values.

And I couldn't agree more that I've had much better bus service at the Values than the other resorts.

 

[toodycat]

Sorry that you had a bad experience. We've never stayed at POP. We try to stay at resorts with fewer rooms. POP has close to 3000 rooms. In my experience, fewer rooms=fewer people=fewer demands on the staff=less potential for bad service. This is not to say that a small resort can't be just as understaffed proportionately as a large resort, but I think you have a better shot at being taken care of and not becoming just a number.

 

[momtotwoteens]

We just returned yesterday from staying at Pop and I enjoyed our time there. I was a little worried, but we had a clean room, comfortable bed and were close to our car in the parking lot. The food court was a little crazy and loud, but I guess we picked the worst times to go. It wasn't any louder in our room than when we stayed at AKL- we took a box fan this time to drown out the toilet flushing! The walk from our car to the room was much shorter than our walk to our room at AKL. That seemed like a hike! I know everyone has different experiences, but ours was a good one.

 

[Nik's Mom]

We just returned yesterday from staying at Pop and I enjoyed our time there. I was a little worried, but we had a clean room, comfortable bed and were close to our car in the parking lot. The food court was a little crazy and loud, but I guess we picked the worst times to go. It wasn't any louder in our room than when we stayed at AKL- we took a box fan this time to drown out the toilet flushing! The walk from our car to the room was much shorter than our walk to our room at AKL. That seemed like a hike! I know everyone has different experiences, but ours was a good one.

That walk from the AKL parking lot to the rooms is pretty long. Especially if you are at the end of the corridors. Pop parking was better. Personally, I'd rather stay at AKL, but Pop wasn't bad at all. Every hotel will have positives and negatives.

 

[momtotwoteens]

Every hotel will have positives and negatives.

That's so true! We've only stayed on-site two times and both times we've thankfully had positive experiences. (Well, our one night at ASMo before we started our AKL stay wasn't as good as I had hoped, but not horrible.)

 

[larryz]

ECV's??? More than ever. And many guests using the ECVs weren't very experienced in riding them.

My DS made the comment that between the strollers and the ECV's, the parks were looking more and more like the recreation deck of the Starship Axiom...

 

[bbak30]

Wife and I usually stay at CSR but wanted to try others and chose POP...our reservation was for a room in the closest 50's building to lobby and a bottom floor due to hip problem...ended up with 50's building 2 rm 2309...a long walk with bad hip...3rd floor...so much for requests...day 1 wife went to use snack credit did not work...got new keys...then would not work in door..,.went back a 2nd time...told all was ok...my key worked hers did not...another long walk...we had to walk 4 times to lobby...to get keys straightened out...day 2...took shower...tub did not drain...another waqlk but this time we were going to a park...asked to be compensated...got flowers in room...somethying more substantial was expected....1 good thing house keeping was excellent....
on to the food court...hello....anyone ever hear of manners...guests there were the most impolite rude people...kids running...screaming....kids pushing me a 56 yo man out of way to get to soda...got a bacon cheeseburger....tasted like vomit.....only halfway decent food was pizza ...but not that good....and another thing was the piggyness of families....throwing things on floor....saw one family get up and leave and floor looked like it blew up...WE ARE A SPOILED SOCIETY....I could go on and on but will not....all I can say is Never again at POP...now on to MVMCP....again does anyone have manners...strollers must have hit my feet 100 times...note to DISNEY....YOU ARE SELLING WAY TO MANY TICKETS TO THESE EVENTS....
One more general comment...we were in the happiest place on earth and NO ONE WAS HAPPY....just my 2 cents....want to flame me...BRING IT ON!!!!!

AMEN. I was here last week and was ready to go home by the second day. The food court was PURE HELL. Manners are non-existent here. I got ran over by scooters all week long and several CMs gave me attitude. The only thing magical about the trip was how many people they can fit into one place. Not only no more POP for me, but highly unlikely that I will go back to
WDW for a very long time. When did people start being so rude? It was everywhere? I can't tell you how many times I stood up on a bus holding a sleeping child when young men stood there and looked at me. I gave up my own seat several times to elderly or people with small kids when my mom, dad or hubby had the baby. ***?

 

[Sue M]

Sadly, I agree- Rudeness is everywhere. I've had strollers used as battering rams to get thru crowds, and have been run over and legs banged. Ouch. It hurts, and never a backward glance or apology.

And leaving your mess at any food court table is just plain inconsiderate of fellow guests. We always clean up our table and dispose of our trash at any CS-resort or park.

I rarely see young people -teens & 20 something giving up their seat on a bus or monorail for an elder person.

Once at TL, we were heading to the only table left in the shade (in August), and another family saw us going to that table, ladden with trays, so they sent their 2 sons to run ahead and grab the table just before we got to it. Wow! These will be the adults that cut you off to get to the parking spot first.

It's a sad statement on todays society.

Some parents are clearly not teaching their children consideration, and appropriate behaviour.

My "kids" are in their 20's now but when they were little, I took the time to teach them manners, didn't let them run wild in restaurants and supermarkets like they were in a play ground, which I see all too often at home.
Were they perfect? heck no! They had melt downs like every other child.
But they grew up with manners, and having consideration for others.

 

[jelloarms]

we stayed at ASMov and enjoyed our stay very much, the next year we tried POP, and after the 2nd night, I woke up in the morning barely able to move from a horrible sleep in a horrible,old,little bed, in a badly worn room. I went straight to concierge and got moved to CSR where we very happily stayed for the rest of our trip
never again POP

Did you have to pay extra to get moves to CSR or was it free?

 

[maxiesmom]

When did people start being so rude? It was everywhere? I can't tell you how many times I stood up on a bus holding a sleeping child when young men stood there and looked at me. I gave up my own seat several times to elderly or people with small kids when my mom, dad or hubby had the baby. ***?

Here is the thing--I think it is rude to get on a bus and expect someone to get up and give you their seat. You have no idea what is going on with the person who is sitting. No way of knowing if they have problems of their own that mean they can't stand on a full bus. So if you have to have a seat, you need to take care of it yourself. Rent a car, use taxis, or just wait for the next bus.

You can't judge just by looking who deserves a seat more than someone else.

 

[verticalchaos]

It's 'pop' culture theming...not Disney theming. Disney took various pop culture icons from various decades and used them for theming. The 'mansions' at POR are not very Disney either..nor are the casitas at CSR. It's all about the theming. Personally I love the theming at POP. Bright, upbeat, and fun.

BINGO! That's my point. It's NOT "Disney"! And yet people are always saying "Oh Pop is the MOST Disney of all the resorts!" which is why I asked. I don't see it as "Disney" at all, but rather like you said, culture themed. I never see that "It's so Disney!" about Port Orleans or Coronado Springs, which is why I didn't ask about them.

 

[bookgirl]

I stayed 2 days at ASMu and while I prefer mid to upper level accomedations I was fine there and would have no problems staying there again for a budet stay.

That being said I have doubts as to whether I would EVER stay at POP. ASMu was basic and a little crowded at times but was a great size, clean, quick and reasonable. POP is huge and I think that would make it just too much to deal with. This thread while a little bit of he said she said does resonate with some of my thoughts on avoiding this particular value hotel.