Carrieberry
<font color=9999CC>Has to post on the right thread
- Joined
- Nov 30, 1999
- Messages
- 2,071
Hi all! Just back from our trip of 8 days!
First of all I would like to say that the following is just our opinion. and should in no way be taken as a bash against the Pop Century resort. The rooms there were very nice, but it just wasn't for us at all.
We flew in on American last Friday and used Magical Express ( I will put up a review of this service on the Transportation Boards, but we loved it!) and arrived at Pop at about 3:30pm after a 2:15pm landing. Not bad. We waited in line about 10 minutes to check in-also not bad. We went to the food court for a bite to eat (it was practically empty), bought 4 refillable mugs, and then headed to our connecting 2 rooms. We had paid for the preferred rooms, but these rooms were further away then some of the other bulidings. I knew this would probably be the case before we went, so I was not too bummed about it. One room had a king bed and was handicapped accesible, and the other was the double double room. Also fine. My son and husband went for a walk and saw some cool turtles in the lake. The pool was a little crowded.
Then the next day it all went downhill. The food court was totally packed, the pool was packed, and the lines for the buses (that have NO shade over them in the 90 degree humid Florida heat) were long and crowded. We packed ourselves onto a bus(after waiting over 20 minutes) and stood for the ride to the studios. Then when we came out of the park we stood for the ride back to Pop. When we got back there the food court was jam packed again, people everywhere and not a table to be seen. We went back to the rooms and hung out and tried to go to bed by 10, but there were screaming kids out at the pool until we finally fell asleep after 1am. We don't know how late they were out there but they were still going strong when we fell asleep even though the pool was supposedly "closed". The next day it was more of the same. We had some room charging issues as well, but concierge was either closed or unable to help every time I needed something so I had to wait for the front desk each time. The lines both times I waited were over 20 minutes each time. At this point we were really sick of the packed buses, crowded food court and pool loudness, so we called CRO and booked Wilderness Lodge. 1 room was about equal to what we were paying for the 2 rooms at POP ($25 a night more) so we switched the next day. When we told Pop we were switching to Wilderness Lodge because we were not enjoying our stay, they did not even ask why. They just said ok, we will transfer over your portfolio. That was that.
We moved to a bunk bed room with a standard view at WL and it was great! Shade over the bus areas, we never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus either at the parks or the resort, and sometimes the buses were one right behind the other! Our room was nice and quiet and even had some Disney Magic since we could see Wishes from our room!! All in all the switch was the best thing we could have done and really made the last 5 nights enjoyable. We loved everything about WL and would not hesitate to stay there in a second and we will avoid the value resorts from now on. They are fine if you don't mind all the people, but we just did not enjoy the "cattle call" feeling Pop gave us. Look for my trip report for all the extra details about both resorts!!
First of all I would like to say that the following is just our opinion. and should in no way be taken as a bash against the Pop Century resort. The rooms there were very nice, but it just wasn't for us at all.
We flew in on American last Friday and used Magical Express ( I will put up a review of this service on the Transportation Boards, but we loved it!) and arrived at Pop at about 3:30pm after a 2:15pm landing. Not bad. We waited in line about 10 minutes to check in-also not bad. We went to the food court for a bite to eat (it was practically empty), bought 4 refillable mugs, and then headed to our connecting 2 rooms. We had paid for the preferred rooms, but these rooms were further away then some of the other bulidings. I knew this would probably be the case before we went, so I was not too bummed about it. One room had a king bed and was handicapped accesible, and the other was the double double room. Also fine. My son and husband went for a walk and saw some cool turtles in the lake. The pool was a little crowded.
Then the next day it all went downhill. The food court was totally packed, the pool was packed, and the lines for the buses (that have NO shade over them in the 90 degree humid Florida heat) were long and crowded. We packed ourselves onto a bus(after waiting over 20 minutes) and stood for the ride to the studios. Then when we came out of the park we stood for the ride back to Pop. When we got back there the food court was jam packed again, people everywhere and not a table to be seen. We went back to the rooms and hung out and tried to go to bed by 10, but there were screaming kids out at the pool until we finally fell asleep after 1am. We don't know how late they were out there but they were still going strong when we fell asleep even though the pool was supposedly "closed". The next day it was more of the same. We had some room charging issues as well, but concierge was either closed or unable to help every time I needed something so I had to wait for the front desk each time. The lines both times I waited were over 20 minutes each time. At this point we were really sick of the packed buses, crowded food court and pool loudness, so we called CRO and booked Wilderness Lodge. 1 room was about equal to what we were paying for the 2 rooms at POP ($25 a night more) so we switched the next day. When we told Pop we were switching to Wilderness Lodge because we were not enjoying our stay, they did not even ask why. They just said ok, we will transfer over your portfolio. That was that.
We moved to a bunk bed room with a standard view at WL and it was great! Shade over the bus areas, we never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus either at the parks or the resort, and sometimes the buses were one right behind the other! Our room was nice and quiet and even had some Disney Magic since we could see Wishes from our room!! All in all the switch was the best thing we could have done and really made the last 5 nights enjoyable. We loved everything about WL and would not hesitate to stay there in a second and we will avoid the value resorts from now on. They are fine if you don't mind all the people, but we just did not enjoy the "cattle call" feeling Pop gave us. Look for my trip report for all the extra details about both resorts!!
We were extremely disappointed with the Pop as well! I'm glad it wasn't just us becaus a majority seems to love it! 
). 
Who knows, maybe I'll see this tag under your name yet.
I chuckle at friends who hate DW because they sleep late and hate the long lines for buses, the crowded food courts and when they arrive at MK at 12 there are lines for splash mt. I try to tell them timing is everything.
