We just got back from POP last night. I know that many of you love this resort!! I have to say that I was not impressed with it though. Disney has many, many difererent resorts and not all the resorts will be a match for each family. I do have to say, if this was my first Disney resort, my view may have been quite different.
On to the review---
My DH arrived first with the kids. I was at the Gaylord Palms at a convention. They picked me up after dropping off the luggage in the rooms (we had connecting rooms). I asked my DH how he liked the resort?? He said that we were really far away from everything. I was surprised to hear this because I had read on here that nothing was really too far away at the POP and we had a prefered. We drove in the gate and I loved the huge icons. I knew I was HOME!!! We parked the car and walked to the room--and walked and walked and walked. We had a room in the 60's section (room 5406-07--I think). So where we had to park was a long walk to the room--just grin and walk on!! I finally saw the "flower" pool and thought that it was really well done. We walked onto our room. All I can say is that I felt we were staying at a Super 8. (A foot note to say that my DH does travel for his job, and stays in Hilton brand hotels. While on vacation we generally stay at Hilton hotels because of this. So, I went in the POP thinking that the room would be just under this standard--the POLY was nicer than some of the Hilton's we have stayed in and Port Orleans was similiar to a Hampton Inn. So, like I said I was expecting a little less than a Hampton Inn--anyway....) The rooms were small, the towels, paper thin, the toilet paper horrible. Well, I thought, we do not spent that much time in the room. But, over the course of the week, the overall "cheapness" of the resort started to drive me crazy.
The buses did come about every 20 minutes, but the waits to get on were horrible (one bus coming every 20 minutes--if the first bus becomes full, we had to wait another 15-20 for another bus). This resort has so many people in the ECV's and having 4-5 per bus did get pretty old. I am not complaining about the ECV's or the people in them--I would not want to be in their shoes, but with there being soooo many of them today, WDW needs to find a better way to get people on and off the busses in a timely matter. Maybe two buses at a time (which did happen at the parks during closing time) all the time. It did seem that POP had the most people waiting in line at every park no matter which park it was. We only got to sit down one time on the bus the entire time we were there. It was quite fun for my 2 yo to stand on a moving bus--I wonder how long it wil be for him to ask if he can stand up in the car
The food was good. I did expect the food court to be larger for some reason??? I think the Port Orleans has a much bigger food court. The lines moved fast and the fries were really good. I was really excited to try the tie dyed cheesecake. I was surprised that it was not all cheesecake--but had red velvet cake at the bottom. It was good though!!
One other negative--I was very surprised with all of the smokers that were at the resort. While walking from the food court toward the pool, you get bombarded with smoke from those haging out at the exit smoking. That was a surprise for me. Also, there was a ping pong table set up near the pool bar. Several nights there were people playing beer pong at the ping pong table. Not something that I thought was appropriate for a WDW resort--at bar in pleasure Island, yes, but not at the poolside of a Disney resort.
Sorry to be such a downer, but this resort was not my cup of tea.
If you have any questions, please ask!!
On to the review---
My DH arrived first with the kids. I was at the Gaylord Palms at a convention. They picked me up after dropping off the luggage in the rooms (we had connecting rooms). I asked my DH how he liked the resort?? He said that we were really far away from everything. I was surprised to hear this because I had read on here that nothing was really too far away at the POP and we had a prefered. We drove in the gate and I loved the huge icons. I knew I was HOME!!! We parked the car and walked to the room--and walked and walked and walked. We had a room in the 60's section (room 5406-07--I think). So where we had to park was a long walk to the room--just grin and walk on!! I finally saw the "flower" pool and thought that it was really well done. We walked onto our room. All I can say is that I felt we were staying at a Super 8. (A foot note to say that my DH does travel for his job, and stays in Hilton brand hotels. While on vacation we generally stay at Hilton hotels because of this. So, I went in the POP thinking that the room would be just under this standard--the POLY was nicer than some of the Hilton's we have stayed in and Port Orleans was similiar to a Hampton Inn. So, like I said I was expecting a little less than a Hampton Inn--anyway....) The rooms were small, the towels, paper thin, the toilet paper horrible. Well, I thought, we do not spent that much time in the room. But, over the course of the week, the overall "cheapness" of the resort started to drive me crazy.
The buses did come about every 20 minutes, but the waits to get on were horrible (one bus coming every 20 minutes--if the first bus becomes full, we had to wait another 15-20 for another bus). This resort has so many people in the ECV's and having 4-5 per bus did get pretty old. I am not complaining about the ECV's or the people in them--I would not want to be in their shoes, but with there being soooo many of them today, WDW needs to find a better way to get people on and off the busses in a timely matter. Maybe two buses at a time (which did happen at the parks during closing time) all the time. It did seem that POP had the most people waiting in line at every park no matter which park it was. We only got to sit down one time on the bus the entire time we were there. It was quite fun for my 2 yo to stand on a moving bus--I wonder how long it wil be for him to ask if he can stand up in the car
The food was good. I did expect the food court to be larger for some reason??? I think the Port Orleans has a much bigger food court. The lines moved fast and the fries were really good. I was really excited to try the tie dyed cheesecake. I was surprised that it was not all cheesecake--but had red velvet cake at the bottom. It was good though!!
One other negative--I was very surprised with all of the smokers that were at the resort. While walking from the food court toward the pool, you get bombarded with smoke from those haging out at the exit smoking. That was a surprise for me. Also, there was a ping pong table set up near the pool bar. Several nights there were people playing beer pong at the ping pong table. Not something that I thought was appropriate for a WDW resort--at bar in pleasure Island, yes, but not at the poolside of a Disney resort.
Sorry to be such a downer, but this resort was not my cup of tea.
If you have any questions, please ask!!
