Just Back from POP

[Karalea]

I just returned last night for a long weekend at POP and had a fabulous time. It was my first time staying there and I don't regret it.

The good:

I had a great room! I did not make a specific request and was put in the 60s building right behind the Jungle Book characters. 4th floor, corner, on the backside away from the pool - room 5424.

Buses were terrific. I never waited more than 10 minutes and never stood once. Most of the time, the wait was less than 5 minutes. The longest was from DTD.

The Food Court was awesome. Great food. The kids meals were plenty for me at breakfast and included a drink for only $4.25 including tax. I ate early and never stood in line to pay or had trouble finding a table.

The bad:

The rooms are noisy. Even on the 4th floor, I heard a lot of noise from people walking by the room. You can definetly hear every flush and shower from next door as well as baby's crying.

They did put a new alarm clock in my room Saturday and it had one of those sound machines that played the ocean, babbling brook, or wind chimes. That certainly helped drown out the outside noise. I think they were put in all the room because I saw a maintenace in the elevator with a handtruck full of boxes marked "alarm clocks."

I drove down and parking kind of stunk. The 60s parking lot was really far from the room. Way over past the 50s building. Even though I packed light, I had to make 2 trips to the car to unload everything.

Overall, a great stay and I will be going back as soon as the budget allows.

 

[michelle1]

Welcome back! I'm glad to hear such good things about POP since I will be there for the first time at the end of Oct. How far was your room from the food court and buses? Is there any advantage to a corner room? Less noisy? How long did it take to get to MK on the bus? Sorry for all of the questions!

 

[mrs_incredible]

Glad you liked POP! It is our favorite place - we'll be there in "6 more sleeps"! I totally understand about the parking lot situation. Las trip we were given a room in the 90's section. I was so disappointed because I felt kind of in no man's land - until I realized that we were parked just a minute away from our room. We ran back and forth to our vehicle to get forgotten items as well as to make drink trips to our ice chest. (It was Fevruary, so our one bag of ice lasted the whole week in the back of our truck LOL!) Another plus was the fact that we could cut across the same parking lot and go straight to the bus lines.
I'll have to check for the new alarm clocks - I hope it helps cover the flushing noises!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Karalea]

Welcome back! I'm glad to hear such good things about POP since I will be there for the first time at the end of Oct. How far was your room from the food court and buses? Is there any advantage to a corner room? Less noisy? How long did it take to get to MK on the bus? Sorry for all of the questions!

From my room to the food court/buses was about a 2-3 minute walk. Literally, just down the elevator and past the pool.

I think the only advantage to my corner room was that I only had neighbors on one side of me. On the other side was a walkway. Maybe that is why it was noisy

It took about 15 minutes to get to MK on the bus.

 

[spiceycat]

see why the 50's building is more popular than the 60's - closer to the parking and not that much further to the food court & buses.

 

[Lilolvr]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[yw8465]

I just returned from POP as well, stayed Saturday thru Tuesday. We had a king (handicapped) room in 50's facing the pool, so location was great. We had a totally different experience than the OP. We never noticed any noise (must have been lucky, I guess). The negatives were that the sheets on the bed did not fit, they wouldn't even tuck in so that by morning you had crumpled up sheets under you. The towels are small, and you have to use them to take to the pool. Are you kidding me! The shower tiles were moldy and disgusting. The bus lines were always long first thing in the morning and there was standing room only 90% of our bus rides.

I vowed to never again choose the values. Moderates such as CSR or CBR are well worth the money spent.

Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[disneydreamer1970]

Thank you for sharing your review. We love POP and can't wait to stay there next September!!

Trish

 

[Kaler131]

Pop is the BEST! We will be going back next September too!

 

[lynn46356]

Thanks for the report back. Glad you liked POP too. We found it wonderful like you. We had no problem with bus lines, the food court was awesome, and our room location we thought was great - 70's, bldg 6, 2nd floor. We never heard any noise during our week there back in February. Those new alarm clocks sound interesting. Maybe it will drowned out my snoring and my husband won't complain so much. We're going back to Pop in February and can't wait!!!!!

Lynn

 

[pjdkc]

I have heard so many conflicting reports about using the buses from POP to the parks. We had planned to rent a car just because I thought it would be easier with getting back to the resort at night when the park empties so many people all at once but then a friend told me it takes longer to ride the tram to your car and drive back.

Help! I'm not sure what to do! We are traveling from 11/1-11/7-maybe it won't be too crowded and therefore buses will be more efficient? Any input would be helpful!

 

[yw8465]

I have heard so many conflicting reports about using the buses from POP to the parks. We had planned to rent a car just because I thought it would be easier with getting back to the resort at night when the park empties so many people all at once but then a friend told me it takes longer to ride the tram to your car and drive back.

Help! I'm not sure what to do! We are traveling from 11/1-11/7-maybe it won't be too crowded and therefore buses will be more efficient? Any input would be helpful!

The main reasons the transportation can be undesirable is simply due to the mass of folks using it. This past week when I was there the resort was full, and the busses were over-full first thing in the AM, and again at park closing.

Because of when you are going, I wouldn't be too concerned. The busses are very efficient.

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

We just returned this afternoon from 3 days @ POP. Love the resort - didn't really love the room. We were in the 60's too - parking stunk - way over by the bowling pin area. We ended up moving car closer out in front of classic hall & leaving it there. We were supposed to have a "preferred room", but don't think the location actually was because it was on the back side of a building away from the hippy dippy pool, etc. All I can say is that it was closer than the room we had in the 90's 2 years ago. Next time I hope to get a better room, or maybe we'll upgrade to a Moderate now that we have AP's plus AAA. Check in was a breeze - pool was never crowded. We didn't have a new alarm clock in our room - wish we had. Last night was horrible. Little kids running up & down the hall on our third floor, and next door kept slamming their door open & close for about 1/2 hour - they must have had the latch open so that the could come & go from the room without using the room key. We actually had to turn the TV up in order to be able to concentrate. Forget about going to sleep early so you can get up early!! Wasn't possible this trip. Just wish that parents wouldn't let their little kids run around - just not safe. Plus they sure can scream awful loud when they're running!!

Bus transportation was great. Never had to wait for a bus to any of the parks. Only stood going to MK on Wednesday as it was LOEMH, and one trip back & that was from MGM after park had closed.

Enjoy your trip...............

 

[byoung]

Thanks for reporting.

 

[DisneyFan06]

Thanks for sharing. I stayed at All Star Sports earlier this year and thought it was teriffic. I am considering the POP this December. The Florida resident rates are in, and it would only be $62.00 a night - great deal, if you ask me

 

[caracap]

Just got back today too!! OK, I specifically called and asked if they had fans to block out the noise, they said NO. I am now finding out the new clocks that I even noticed, also had sound machines in them UGH!!! I usually stay at BWI, so this was a BIG change for me. I am still undecided if i would go back, I am leaning towards YES. It was a great value, and we had a very clean room. We were in the 70's section, building 6, 2nd floor. I thought the location was perfect, and I guess it was a standard room. I don't really understand people saying their rooms were so far from everything. I walked the resort, and found all areas to be close to everything. I also thought it was way too smokey. I wish more people respected the designated smoking areas. It amazed me the amount of people who didn't think the rules applied to them, and would light up right outside their room.

 

[milouster]

I have heard so many conflicting reports about using the buses from POP to the parks. We had planned to rent a car just because I thought it would be easier with getting back to the resort at night when the park empties so many people all at once but then a friend told me it takes longer to ride the tram to your car and drive back.

Help! I'm not sure what to do! We are traveling from 11/1-11/7-maybe it won't be too crowded and therefore buses will be more efficient? Any input would be helpful!

We stayed at POP September 14-23 and it was wonderful! Yes, the buses were crowded, but they had them stacked two and three deep at closing at MK so you FLEW through the line and onto a bus! Very efficient, IMO. Of course, I also go into it realizing that if we stay until closing then the buses are going to be busy

We had friends at POFQ and their bussing was truly rough!

Melissa

 

[TwingleMum]

Thanks for sharing. I'm hoping to stay at POP in 08.

 

[Twende]

We are just back tonight and we had a wonderful stay. We were in the 70's room 6265.

I am so glad that you mentioned about the clock. It drove DH crazy the last few nights because there was this SNOOZE button on the top. It had a light on it that we could not get to go out. It did not bother us the first few night but all of a sudden it was lite up. It never occurred to us that it was a new clock!

Our room was pretty quite. We were near the end of the building so only a few rooms had to go past our room. You can hear toilets flush but shoot we hear them at home too!

Did anyone notice anything weird about the vanity lights? I swear they would get brighter the longer they stayed on!

 

[caracap]

We are just back tonight and we had a wonderful stay. We were in the 70's room 6265.

I am so glad that you mentioned about the clock. It drove DH crazy the last few nights because there was this SNOOZE button on the top. It had a light on it that we could not get to go out. It did not bother us the first few night but all of a sudden it was lite up. It never occurred to us that it was a new clock!

Our room was pretty quite. We were near the end of the building so only a few rooms had to go past our room. You can hear toilets flush but shoot we hear them at home too!

Did anyone notice anything weird about the vanity lights? I swear they would get brighter the longer they stayed on!

OMG!! We were right next to you! 6266 & 6267!! YES, we had 3 little loud ones!!