Just Back! Questions?

[Luv4Disney]

Hey All. Just got back on Saturday from a fabulous trip to the World. The crowds were no where near what everyone was predicting. The most we waited was 15 minutes for an attraction. However, the last two days of our trip (the 20th and 21st) were crazy busy! I mean an hour wait for "Stitch's Great Escape and an hour and a half for "Splash Mountain." Needless to say, we timed it well again this year. The Flower and Garden Festival was awesome as well as "Soarin'," which was AMAZING! (You have to get the front row, hands down.) We stayed at the Pop Century. It was nice, but we'll never stay there again. DME worked great getting there, but there were major problems getting back to the airport. The bus was over an hour late picking us up at our allotted time. Terrible. But other than that, our vacay was wonderful. Can't wait to go back! I'll be happy to answer any questions.

 

[nluvwithmickey]

Wow! Seems like there are still major problems with DME, hope they work them out soon. Glad you had fun though.

 

[Luv4Disney]

It all worked out. It's just when we first arrived in Orlando, everything worked like clockwork. It was great. We had landed at 9:10am and we were checked in (they even had a room ready) by 10:20am. It was fabulous! Then coming home. Sheesh! We had a 3:40pm pick up time and there were people with 5:45pm flights! The bus didn't come until 4:45! Wait...I'm sorry. A bus did come around 4:10pm, but he could only fit 5 people! What good is that? Luckily, we made it through security with no problem and even had time to grab a bite to eat before the flight.

 

[Luv4Disney]

Oh yeah. We also did the Segway Tour and the Keys to the Kingdom Tour!

 

[dismom9761]

Why wouldn't you stay at POP again? Just curious-I am staying there in Feb.

 

[Luv4Disney]

Why wouldn't you stay at POP again? Just curious-I am staying there in Feb.

Maybe that came out wrong. I don't want to discourage people from staying there, it's just that it isn't for us. Currently, there are slightly over 2000 rooms and they're adding about 3000 more - and there's ONE bus stop! Leaving the parks at night can be very trying, especially when you're tired. Although the buses seem to keep coming for the resort, the line never seems to shrink. One night we waited 45 minutes for a bus. Ridiculous. We waited longer for buses to and from the resort than we waited on lines for the attractions at the parks. Magic Kingdom is also the farthest park from the resort, so it's a good 15-20 ride, which seems longer if you have to stand. We were in the 1950's section in the building farthest from Classic Hall. About 5-8 minute walk to the bus stop. While we didn't hear our neighbors at all, we sure heard their plumbing. I knew everytime they washed their face, went to the bathroom, or took a shower. I almost felt bad turning on water because I knew our neighbors would probably hear it. On the good side, the resort has a very fun atmosphere and it is very well kept and clean. Our mousekeeper was okay - although she did forget to leave us clean towels one day. I think our mousekeeper changed midway through our vacation because then she started leaving us "fun things" to come back to. The room size provided more than enough room for two adults. We were on the third floor on a corner. I don't know...it's just a loud resort. Don't get me wrong, we had an excellent vacation and the resort certainly has it's good points. It's just for us, the bad outweighed the good this time. We stayed at POR last year and it was nice and quiet. Next time we'll dish out the extra money and stay at a moderate resort. But that's just us. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.

 

[dakyak]

i stayed at pop and came back on saturday the 21st

DME was early for us
the bus was empty when it got to pop
we arrived back at MCO without any issues

i LOVED pop
i would stay there again (but would not stay in the 90's section again)
it was the best week ever

 

[Luv4Disney]

i stayed at pop and came back on saturday the 21st

DME was early for us
the bus was empty when it got to pop
we arrived back at MCO without any issues

i LOVED pop
i would stay there again (but would not stay in the 90's section again)
it was the best week ever

We left the 21st as well. DME had many angry people. The Pop was about to call us all cabs.

 

[matt&jakesmom]

We are staying at the POP next month. Hope we don't run into any problems with the busing or the ME to the airport. As I have been saying to myself, I think this trip I will need a lot of patience..

 

[SpoonfulofSugar]

Hi Luv4Disney,
Small world we were also there the same time as you and were at the Pop but ran into some of the same problems with it and switched to the Poly after our 2nd night, we were in the 70's building and the neighbors were always noisy at night yelling from the balcony walkways and the frozen coke machine was always broken except at 6 in the morning for about 2 minutes. The ME service was great both ways for us, we couldn't have drove faster if we had a car. The crowds were low until the 20th and everyone was friendly! It was a great trip and we can't wait to go back!!!
Glad you had a great trip too!!!

 

[dakyak]

We though DME was great. When we arrived we didn't have to wait, we got in line just as the bus pulled up.

When we left, we got there early just cuz we thought about changing before taking off. We had no problem getting to two of our carry ons. We registered with the mears guy and talked to him for alittle bit. He did say that they were trying to set it up so when everyone got to the stop to wait for DME back to the airport, that you would sort your luggage by terminal a and b. They want to put up signs that will end alot of the confusion. We didn't have any problems and would definitely use the service again.

Also, while waiting to go back to the airport, we did see the truck pull up with luggage. The staff quite efficiently pulled the luggage off the truck by room in those metalk cages they have and emptied teh bus rather quickly.

Some thingsto learn about dme though:

--don't expect your luggage to arrive with you. They do bulk deliveries.
--make sure you call the number given to you the day before to make sure they have you scheduled and they are pickingup your luggage from your room (why bring the luggage down and wait in line to check it into the storage area?)
--the airlines that you can check into at the airport, you cannot check in after 2pm...don't even try it...

all in all, i think it is a great service...

 

[Luv4Disney]

Our DME bus driver said that Mears has been having to use their "regular" buses because the "special" DME buses that were ordered for them just aren't enough. I think they just need to work the kinks out.

 

[Lori-n-NY]

I was also at POP around the same time. I was at POP Fri 5/13 and Sat 5/14 and then BWV for 5 nights and back to POP for Fri 5/20 and Sat 5/21.

I was in the 50"s section both times. First weekend was building 1. Its the one on the right as you walk towards that area. I was on the fourth floor not facing the pool. My room view was parking lot and EPCOT ball. Yes I could see the EPCOT ball standing in front of my room door. The next weekend I was in 50's but the building on th eleft as you head to that area. This time on the third floor facing the pool. Both rooms were clean and the mousekeeping did what they were suppose to do.

The food court was busy in the morning but not to the point that I would skip having a quick bite to eat. I think the hardest part in the AM is where they have the self-serve danish, muffins etc. And grabbing a choc milk can be a task when each kid in front of you has their own tray and trying to balance what they have on it...I love the watch the CM sdo "The Hustle" dance at 6 pm. One of these days I will do it with them and have to embarass my child to no end. (shes 12...)

The buses were good, they ran often and I never had much of of wait. My expericnce on Sat 5/21 coming back out of MK at 10:30 was .....great. There was a 9 pm showing of SPectro and 10 pm WIshes and then SPectro again at 11. I video taped the 9 pm parade and the 10 pm Wishes including Tinkerbell flying. After Wishes I made my way to the front of MK with 30,000 others.
When I got to the line for POP we were not in the corral part yet...about 20 people ahead of us before we hit the actual corral. Well I was very impressed to see them loading TWO buses at once. We ended up half way thru the corral before stopping to wait for next bus. BUT wha tdo I see, two more busses pulling up. I was able to get on the bus, had to stand but no problem for me. WIthin 10 minutes they had filled 4 busses for POP and there were still people waiting and we could see the next bus pulling up as we left.

We had the BEST bus driver ever going back to POP that night. His name was JIM and we had a riot singing songs with hime the whole way back. He first few things he said to us were, if your sitting please stay seated and if your standing look for the closest lap to fall on to...and then he said something about we are on a 2 hour and 15 minute journey back to POP Century..A few groans but many giggles about that JOKE..He said more about the bad news is he is still learning to drive but the good news He just saved 15 % on his car insurance. And then the singing started. First the Mickey Mouse March song and then Mick...see ya real soon..key ..why becasue we like you. MOUSE
And to make sure everyone was singing he started with some repeat type songs, he would say a line and we would repeat it....

A-BOOM-CHICKA-BOOM

Was any DISers on that bus with me?

ANyway I love POP and will be going back there on June 10-13. Yes I just got back last Sunday but airfare was so low I had to go again.

I hope you have as much fun on your trip as we did on ours.

Lori

 

[Luv4Disney]

We had the singing bus driver as well. He was great. It's just the overall experience at the Pop is not something we'd risk repeating. We were in the 50's building with the juke box - which was neither of the buildings you were in. I'm glad you had a good time though.