Just back, left POP and went to Coronado Springs

[NBFUN]

Just back from Disney today. We were originally booked to stay at POP for seven nights, but after two, we switched to Coronado Springs. The cast members at POP were all very nice, however, two nights is all we could handle. Remember this is only our opinion, many people love POP. We are 26 years old, and were traveling with our 2 year old. We are very laid back people, and were glad to give POP a try. However, after the first night of having very, very loud neighbors (and let me just say that if you have loud neighbors you can hear everything they say and do, the good and the bad), and then having my 2 yr. old trampled at the Goofy jets by unsupervied children, we decided this is not how we wanted to spend our vacation. My number one complaint with POP was unsupervised children. I'm not talking about the 14+ year olds being loud at 1 or 2 in the morning (which happened), but the 5, 6, 7 year olds that run around with no adult supervision. I was amazed at this.

We decided to switch to a moderate, and because of a "inventory crisis" Coronado springs is all we could get, and we were okay with this becuase we have never tried it before. Once we got to Coronado Springs we felt that we were on the vacation we wanted. It was great there, well worth the extra couple hundred dollars.

I am very glad we tried POP, but it just wasn't our style. Just to note, maybe we hit it at a bad time. There were a bunch of kids running around in uniforms, so maybe something was going on. Also, the food court reminded me of our mall food court at lunch time, it was very hetic. Again, this is just my opinion, and though we will never go back to POP (or probably any value), we are glad we gave it a try for a couple of nights.

 

[Disney Doll]

I like to try the different resorts as well. Some I "click" with, some I don't.

 

[cdntourguide]

Interesting thread.
I just got back (literally 90minutes ago) after nine nights at Coronado Springs. I originally wanted WL but could not get it, tried CSR could only get four nights on original reservation with final five nights at POP. I kept calling back and got five additional nights at CSR so cancelled POP.
Well, while I was there I had extremely noisy families on either side of my room. One family had five little girls who all seemed to live just outside my door from morning until evening. The other family had two boys who jumped, bumped, banged and yelled from 7pm until 11pm each of the two nights they were at CSR.
There was also a lot of noise because of Grad Night activities, but it was adults staying up all night at the Hot Tub and coming back to the room at 3am without a care in the world.
Worse I had somebody walk off with my new African Safari shorts, my new sweatshirt, and my pedometer while at the laundry building. I am sure it was unintentional, but never the less those items did not return home with me.
Plus I could not get housekeeping to leave me any coffee: the room had the coffee maker, but no coffee.
By the time I left CSR I had decided to only book POP for future visits to WDW.
All in all I did have a great though, but seriously I will book POP in the future.

 

[tubachick]

Sorry to hear about your POP experience, glad you were able to save your trip with CSR. Tell me more about the resort, I was thinking about it for our next trip, but would like a first timers POV Thanks

 

[Pea-n-Me]

IMO these are things that can happen at any resort, including the deluxes. But it is lousy when a few bad apples have to ruin it for others.

One of our trips was affected in a similar way by roving gangs of unsupervised teenagers loose in the parks on their end-of-the-year jaunts (experienced lots of swearing, cavorting, rudeness and general misbehavior).

Glad you exercised your right to move and that you liked CSR better. We really enjoyed Pop Century - everyone behaved themselves, LOL - and would like to try CSR someday also.

 

[SteinsLaFemme]

I had a similiar experience at All Star Music. Although I did not have loud neighbors or anything bad happen, I found the resort to be hectic. My husband vowed never to stay at a value resort again. The price was great, the place was cute and the room was well designed but after a high energy day at the park, you want a calm place to relax.

 

[232271]

oh man, we had trouble at POP, but i didnt realize I could have switched.

oh well, it ended up being okay. BUT I have decided that the MOD's And DEL
are all we will do from now on!!

We are trying AKL for the first time this next trip. I really prefere interior rooms.

 

[NBFUN]

Sorry to hear about your POP experience, glad you were able to save your trip with CSR. Tell me more about the resort, I was thinking about it for our next trip, but would like a first timers POV Thanks

The one thing we really liked about CSR was how we never felt crowded. We rarely saw that many people. Also, it is really great for taking walks at night. We would walk around the lake every night with our son and he loved it. Also, you can rent boats and bicycles there which we enjoyed. My 2 yr. old loved the sand play area and the slide, and we thought the pool was really nice and never too crowded because of the additional quite pools. We were in Casitas 3 which was close to bus stop 2 and we literally never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus, maybe it was always just good timing. Also our room had a refrigerator (for free) which was really nice to have. We did see a lot of "business" people walking around, but everyone was really friendly.

The one negative in my opinion was Pepper Market. I like the food courts where you can just walk in and get everything yourself. However, at Pepper Market it was more like a restaurant where they sat you and you paid gratuity. We only ate their once and the food was good.

Our true favorite resort is AKL, however, I think we would definitely stay at CSR again.

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

Thanks for the report We switched to CSR from POP for our upcoming trip, I hope we like it.

 

[TimNDansMom]

While we haven't had any problems with POP yet (rooms have been quiet) and are staying there again in a couple of weeks, we ended up at CSR one year after not being able to get the resort we wanted.

Although we haven't been back, I have to admit that we enjoyed our stay at CSR, that time. We also were in a Casitas building and found it convenient to the main building and enjoyed the walk around the fountains, lit at night. At the end of each day, DH and I would go to the coffee bar just outside the Pepper Market for a late night snack and then walk around the lake. It's a very pretty resort!

 

[Aimeedyan]

We only stayed 2 nights at Pop, as well, and that was enough for us We, too, realized that the value is just not the best choice for our family and lifestyle.

I'm glad you were able to switch easily and really enjoy the rest of your vacation!!!!

 

[deejohn]

Thanks for the post. We are going in Dec'05 and were planning on staying at POP, however, after reading all the "bad" about POP and finding out that it was Pop Warner Week, we have switched to CSR. There was a big price difference, and thanks to your info, DW has approved the increase!!! Do I owe you a commission??LOL

 

[drp4video]

I have stayed at POP three times now, the last time solo. I never had a problem. Yes the food court is crowded, ( I go in August, Christmas/New Years, and just got back twoweeks ago) but I am in the parks most of the time and not at the resort so I don't have issues regarding crowds.

I have stayed at Allstars five times, but prefer POP. I have never stayed at anything other than a value (have stayed in DTD), only because I am in the parks all day and night and only need a place to sleep. I can't see, for me anyhow, spending a lot of money for a room when I won't be there. IF I did spend more time at the resort, well that would probably be different. (altho once at CHristmas two years ago, we opted to hang out by the pool for the day, and as everone was in the parks, there was no one there).

 

[Kata]

Just back from Disney today. We were originally booked to stay at POP for seven nights, but after two, we switched to Coronado Springs. The cast members at POP were all very nice, however, two nights is all we could handle. Remember this is only our opinion, many people love POP. We are 26 years old, and were traveling with our 2 year old. We are very laid back people, and were glad to give POP a try. However, after the first night of having very, very loud neighbors (and let me just say that if you have loud neighbors you can hear everything they say and do, the good and the bad), and then having my 2 yr. old trampled at the Goofy jets by unsupervied children, we decided this is not how we wanted to spend our vacation. My number one complaint with POP was unsupervised children. I'm not talking about the 14+ year olds being loud at 1 or 2 in the morning (which happened), but the 5, 6, 7 year olds that run around with no adult supervision. I was amazed at this.

We decided to switch to a moderate, and because of a "inventory crisis" Coronado springs is all we could get, and we were okay with this becuase we have never tried it before. Once we got to Coronado Springs we felt that we were on the vacation we wanted. It was great there, well worth the extra couple hundred dollars.

I am very glad we tried POP, but it just wasn't our style. Just to note, maybe we hit it at a bad time. There were a bunch of kids running around in uniforms, so maybe something was going on. Also, the food court reminded me of our mall food court at lunch time, it was very hetic. Again, this is just my opinion, and though we will never go back to POP (or probably any value), we are glad we gave it a try for a couple of nights.

Do they charge you any fee for checking out early if you don't like a resort and if you have already paid will they refund your money?I wonder if the new resort will honor a AAA rate if you decide to switch does anyone have any experiences with this situation?
Thanks!!!!

 

[PatsGirl]

I've only stayed onsite once and that was at POP. We really liked the convenience of no car, the food mall, and the pool was also nice. This time we decided we'd like to stay at a moderate for our non-park days so we booked CSR for Thanksgiving through Sunday and then POP through the following Saturday. I figure we'll be at the parks most of the time while at POP but would like to try a mod when we wouldn't be doing the parks (though AK on Saturday is likely) and enjoy Pepper Market and the pools, etc. Also never had the time to ride surray bikes or water mice, etc. I'm hoping that with the parks so crowded over the weekend, the resorts won't be??? Also, we were going to go to WCC for T'dinner and wonder if anyone knows if they will offer a regular menu? I've looked over the many websites and know they do offer the traditional but I'm not a turkey person and prefer a regular menu.

 

[cobbler]

Glad everything turned out. I love CSR I have been to POP and I like that too. I think you may have hit it at a bad time. I am surprised about the non-supervision of kids so young.

 

[disneyfan61]

I have stayed at POP three times now, the last time solo. I never had a problem. Yes the food court is crowded, ( I go in August, Christmas/New Years, and just got back twoweeks ago) but I am in the parks most of the time and not at the resort so I don't have issues regarding crowds.

I have stayed at Allstars five times, but prefer POP. I have never stayed at anything other than a value (have stayed in DTD), only because I am in the parks all day and night and only need a place to sleep. I can't see, for me anyhow, spending a lot of money for a room when I won't be there. IF I did spend more time at the resort, well that would probably be different. (altho once at CHristmas two years ago, we opted to hang out by the pool for the day, and as everone was in the parks, there was no one there).

I'm with you. WE are just there to sleep & shower. I cannot see spending ALOT more $$ for a bed. I have read ALOT more positive reviews about Pop than bad. We will be there April 06!! Can't Wail!!!

 

[amshowers]

I never stayed value,but we visited All star movies and it seemed too loud and hectic. I get enough of that at home with 3 kids. On our 2003 trip we rented points at Okw for about 100.00 a night sun. night-fri.morning it's a great way to have relaxing atmoshere without having to go over your budget.

 

[arizonacolbys]

Sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy POP - nice to hear you enjoyed CSR, though! I'd love to try it someday. We really love the POP - stayed there Sept 2004, January 2005 & will be there again in just 10 days!! Sometimes room location can make all the difference. We've stayed on the top floor facing the lake in the 50's section both times & had pretty quiet experiences. We did stay next to a smoker last time just for our last couple of nights who was going outside of the room to smoke at all hours of the night & allowing the door to slam shut on the door latch. This can happen anywhere though.

 

[Ziggie]

My number one complaint with POP was unsupervised children. I'm not talking about the 14+ year olds being loud at 1 or 2 in the morning (which happened), but the 5, 6, 7 year olds that run around with no adult supervision. I was amazed at this.

To be fair, this really isn't a black mark against the hotel It's a *parent* thing. No matter where you go and stay, there will always be parents who neglect to supervise their kids.