My view on POP

[mizzourah]

I have been back from my very 1st trip to Disney now for a couple weeks. We were going to originally stay in a moderate resort until we found out we could use our military 40% off discount at the value resorts as well. So we chose to save some money on lodging to have more money for souvineirs. I was overall disappointed with my stay at the POP. My next trip I will probably opt for a moderate.

My issues:

1. We had 2 rooms reserved, one for our family of 4 and one for traveling companions with 3. Upon arrival even though both rooms were beside one another 1 room was ready and 1 room was not. Front Desk gave us our key card and told us they would text our cell phone with a room number on it when it was ready. It took probably 20 minutes.

PRO: we did request connecting rooms and we did recieve them.

2. The rooms were small. We did spend the majority of our time at the parks, however with the additional PNP, suitcases and strollers there was very little room for our girls 4 and 1 to move much when we were getting ready in the morning or getting ready for bed at night.

PRO: The beds were comfortable

3. I know that the Wash cloth characters are not a quaranteed but between the 2 rooms we got one toothbrush holder castle each the entire 7 days we were there.

4. Housekeeping was less than stellar. Our room was never vacuumed, sometimes the trash was taken and sometimes they remembered to leave trash liners in the trash cans. We requested that we be able to reuse our towels on a couple of occasions (via thier instructions on the little placard in the bathroom), each time to come back and find they replaced the towels but left the dirty washclothes. Sometimes the beds would be completely remade and others the blackets just pulled snuggly to the top.

5. Transportation was at time very bad. One night coming back from Mickey's Christmas Party at MK we waited over an hour for a bus to even come to the park. Then when one finally arrived it was filled with scooters, wheel chairs and their accompanying family members first, leaving us to stand there for even longer. Other resorts had multiple buses one after another picking up people, even stopping when there was no one waiting. We did ask some of the transportation people what the hold up was and they told us that POP was only running 2 buses that night. On another occasion in the middle of the day my hubby ran back to the room and it took him total round trip from Epcot to POP over an hour and a half.

 

[Sue M]

Sorry you were disappointed. I am not a fan of the values either, I stayed at Pop only 1 night because we were arriving late, and didn't want to spend the $ for WL our first night when we weren't arriving till midnight.
We found the room size too small.
But, you can have a bad night with busses at any resort. We left MK an hour before EMH closing, and had to wait for 3 busses to get back to POR, the lines were so long. It happens, no matter what the resort.

 

[jemgumby]

Thanks for sharing! The great thing about Disney is that there are many resorts and you can look forward to a mod now. I don't mind the values for maybe 1 or 3 nights but that is about it for us. Different strokes for different folks!

 

[turkeymama]

We've had unpredictable results for towel animals at Pop and CBR. I guess it all depends on your "Mousekeeper".

If space is what you're looking for, I don't think a Mod is going to do it for you. You'll have to bump up to a Deluxe for that. We didn't find a noticeable difference in room size between Pop and CBR. We did have a nice, spacious room at the Swan however.

And no matter where we are and no matter what we do, they take our towels every day. We try to reuse them, but it doesn't seem to matter how we hang them up.

 

[foulkfamilyof5]

Hey I see you were using a military discount. Did you ever think of staying at the Shades of Green? Discount prices - $130 a night but it is a deluxe resort. Rooms are big, there are five of us and we were all comfortable in one room even with the stroller.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Issue 1: Really, truly, NOT any kind of big deal, or even issue worth considering. Odds are - if you need an explanation - both rooms were serviced by the same housekeeper; since one person can't be in two places at the same time, twenty minutes' wait is truly negligible.

Issue 2: Yes, the rooms are small. They're 240 square feet, including the bathroom and the 'closet' area. It's possible and acceptable to move any furniture not bolted down, to make the room more habitable.

Issue 5: Extremely surprising that there was an hour wait for a bus during/at/after an evening event. Even more surprising that 'only two buses' were being run to/from Pop, especially since, for the most part, buses don't loop.

Then when one finally arrived it was filled with scooters, wheel chairs and their accompanying family members first, leaving us to stand there for even longer.

Highly unusual, especially if the 'only two buses' was factual. Not sure where these passengers would have boarded, given that Pop Century buses to/from Magic Kingdom only stop twice to unload and load - once at the park, once at the resort. It would be reasonable to expect that any passengers on the bus when it arrived at the Magic Kingdom would be exiting - not remaining on the bus taking up all the seating spaces. Also, perception is an interesting thing. The absolute most wheelchairs/ecvs on a bus at one time is three - and only a very few buses hold that number. Most frequently, there are only two spaces. For all the seats to be taken under these conditions, there'd have to be fifteen people in each party, all remaining on the bus.

 

[kmvand1]

I have been back from my very 1st trip to Disney now for a couple weeks. We were going to originally stay in a moderate resort until we found out we could use our military 40% off discount at the value resorts as well. So we chose to save some money on lodging to have more money for souvineirs. I was overall disappointed with my stay at the POP. My next trip I will probably opt for a moderate.

My issues:

1. We had 2 rooms reserved, one for our family of 4 and one for traveling companions with 3. Upon arrival even though both rooms were beside one another 1 room was ready and 1 room was not. Front Desk gave us our key card and told us they would text our cell phone with a room number on it when it was ready. It took probably 20 minutes.

PRO: we did request connecting rooms and we did recieve them.

2. The rooms were small. We did spend the majority of our time at the parks, however with the additional PNP, suitcases and strollers there was very little room for our girls 4 and 1 to move much when we were getting ready in the morning or getting ready for bed at night.

PRO: The beds were comfortable

3. I know that the Wash cloth characters are not a quaranteed but between the 2 rooms we got one toothbrush holder castle each the entire 7 days we were there.

4. Housekeeping was less than stellar. Our room was never vacuumed, sometimes the trash was taken and sometimes they remembered to leave trash liners in the trash cans. We requested that we be able to reuse our towels on a couple of occasions (via thier instructions on the little placard in the bathroom), each time to come back and find they replaced the towels but left the dirty washclothes. Sometimes the beds would be completely remade and others the blackets just pulled snuggly to the top.

5. Transportation was at time very bad. One night coming back from Mickey's Christmas Party at MK we waited over an hour for a bus to even come to the park. Then when one finally arrived it was filled with scooters, wheel chairs and their accompanying family members first, leaving us to stand there for even longer. Other resorts had multiple buses one after another picking up people, even stopping when there was no one waiting. We did ask some of the transportation people what the hold up was and they told us that POP was only running 2 buses that night. On another occasion in the middle of the day my hubby ran back to the room and it took him total round trip from Epcot to POP over an hour and a half.

Welcome to the resort boards, however, you will probably be thrashed since this is your first post, and you are complaining about all of the extra people with the scooter, even though I do agree with that complaint.

 

[nurse.darcy]

Issue 1: Really, truly, NOT any kind of big deal, or even issue worth considering. Odds are - if you need an explanation - both rooms were serviced by the same housekeeper; since one person can't be in two places at the same time, twenty minutes' wait is truly negligible.

Issue 2: Yes, the rooms are small. They're 240 square feet, including the bathroom and the 'closet' area. It's possible and acceptable to move any furniture not bolted down, to make the room more habitable.

Issue 5: Extremely surprising that there was an hour wait for a bus during/at/after an evening event. Even more surprising that 'only two buses' were being run to/from Pop, especially since, for the most part, buses don't loop. Highly unusual, especially if the 'only two buses' was factual. Not sure where these passengers would have boarded, given that Pop Century buses to/from Magic Kingdom only stop twice to unload and load - once at the park, once at the resort. It would be reasonable to expect that any passengers on the bus when it arrived at the Magic Kingdom would be exiting - not remaining on the bus taking up all the seating spaces. Also, perception is an interesting thing. The absolute most wheelchairs/ecvs on a bus at one time is three - and only a very few buses hold that number. Most frequently, there are only two spaces. For all the seats to be taken under these conditions, there'd have to be fifteen people in each party, all remaining on the bus.

Gee, I cannot believe you took that persons opinions and just poo poo'd all of them. I hope you never have a negative experience, share it, and then get shot down for it. Such Disney spirit you have.

As for the OP. I enjoyed the fact that you gave timing and facts in your post. Nothing horribly wrong just not what you would have liked. I do suggest that when using a PNP, you try booking a bigger room such as a mod. The moderates are noticibly bigger in my opinion (when opening the door the door does not hit the first bed - two sinks, etc). As for transportation, the longest bus wait I have ever had was at the Boardwalk for a bus to MK. . .an hour and a half. There were others there timing the wait with me so I am positive of the wait.

I am sure that when you were leaving the park at night and waiting for a bus to Pop, the bus would first load scooters and wheelchairs and their families. The line was long, everyone was tired and the bus would fill up before you could reach the front of the line. I have been in that situation and it does happen often, regardless of the resort you are staying at.

 

[goofy4tink]

A few thoughts...
the rooms at the values are about a foot shorter and a foot narrower than the moderate rooms..there truly isn't a huge difference. You do get the double vanity at a moderate, but the toilet/tub areas are smaller than at POP. And you do get that privacy curtain at the moderates, but you can put up your own at a value if you wish.
Transportation? Pop still has some of the best transportation onsite. There can only be two scooters or wheelchairs per bus. There is only room for two scooters. Yes, it can be annoying to walk up to an already long line at the bus stop, and stand there waiting for 15 mins and have a scooter pull up just before the bus does, and then you have to wait for the next bus. I had to wait through three bus cycles at the Pop bus stop earlier this month..there were three scooters waiting!! And probably about a total of 20 people with those three scooters. Not a ton of fun to say the least.
The worst transportation I had on that two week trip? At AKL. Miserable bus service. When we left MK on Sat night (the 5th) around 11:00ish, it took three bus cycles before we got on a bus, and the line was humungous when we were pulling out. The next morning, the bus to DHS was brutal..huge number of guests waiting outside Kidani for various buses. It certainly didn't help that there was work being done on the bus stops so now everyone had to wait for all the different buses in one spot..where DME usually picks up/drops off. When our bus to DHS finally got there, it was mass chaos..people that had just walked up to the stop were complaining that others (who had been waiting for more than 30 mins) had cut in front of them to get on the bus. It just was not a good experience. When we got to Jambo House, only about 10 people could get on our bus.

No one resort is going to be perfect for everyone. I have stayed at POP about 6 times now. It is my favorite value resort. I just spent 5 nights there this month, for free dining. For some reason, I just didn't have the same good feel that I usually have there, and I can't put my finger on it. I think I'll just stick to my DVC stays for the forseeable future.

 

[Nadjalu]

Not that it really matters but I would wonder what you think a moderate has over POP?
Since this was your first trip I assume you haven't stayed at a mod resort. I would hope you would really research it before you do.

Last March was our first time to WDW and we stayed at POP. (at that time my dream resort was AKL) We chose value to save money, and while I liked it, there was no complaints on the resort I just thought the mods/deluxes would/could offer more.

So I researched for weeks day in and day out on every resort on WDW property for our Dec. trip.
Had made my mind up to go ahead and do AKL (I had a pin code), well I had a conversation with my niece who sat down with me and went over all my research on mods and deluxes. She explained more than I had researched (she is a type a personality and is thorough). Needless to say after her pointing out the pros and cons of all mods/deluxes (AKL included) what I thought was my "dream" location wasn't. So we booked POP again.
I am SO glad we did!!! POP was perfect, after learning all there is to offer with all resorts POP made the most sense for us.
I took a little trip to AKL and was hugely disappointed. The bus service we encountered was horrible, the CM's weren't as friendly and there definitely was a smell to the hotel.

Needless to say our favorite is POP, always will be. I am sorry you didn't have a steller stay, but before you leap on another resort I urge you to really know if it will live up to your expectations.

 

[mizzourah]

Thanks for all the feedback. Sorry if it came across as complaining, it was intended as mere observation from my very first trip to Disney and my first stay at a Disney resort.

Not that it really matters but I would wonder what you think a moderate has over POP?

I really don't know what a moderate would offer over POP, but I reserve that right to try it out and see if I like it better. As I did with this trip I will most definately research it and see what each has to offer.

Welcome to the resort boards, however, you will probably be thrashed since this is your first post, and you are complaining about all of the extra people with the scooter, even though I do agree with that complaint

Not really a complaint as much as an observation. But thanks, I wish I would have known about the thrashing before I made the post. Guess freedom of speech has gone out the window. Thanks for the welcome

Hey I see you were using a military discount. Did you ever think of staying at the Shades of Green? Discount prices - $130 a night but it is a deluxe resort. Rooms are big, there are five of us and we were all comfortable in one room even with the stroller.

We did consider Shades of Green, however at the time we were looking for the best deal being our first trip and all. Thanks for the info, maybe we will try that on our next trip.

 

[NancyIL]

Thanks for your review. I booked Pop Century for January because of the 40% discount for AP holders. I have stayed at All Star Movies and Sports in the past, so I won't mind the smaller room. I am used to small cruise ship cabins, and Pop's rooms are considerably larger than most of those!

 

[marciemouse]

Sorry your first experience with POP was disappointing. We've stayed there a few times now and really like it. In fact, it's my favorite value resort. I've only stayed at a mod once (CB, way back in the day) before though, so I don't have much to compare against. We also spend most of our time in the parks, so a huge room isn't a big deal. Of course, now that we have an active toddler, I'm definitely looking into other resorts... more for park proximity (monorail access) than room size though. Still, I'd go back to POP in a heartbeat.

 

[shellybaxter]

Welcome - glad you enjoyed your first trip. A couple of comments to consider for future trips

I have been back from my very 1st trip to Disney now for a couple weeks. We were going to originally stay in a moderate resort until we found out we could use our military 40% off discount at the value resorts as well. So we chose to save some money on lodging to have more money for souvineirs. I was overall disappointed with my stay at the POP. My next trip I will probably opt for a moderate.

My issues:

1. We had 2 rooms reserved, one for our family of 4 and one for traveling companions with 3. Upon arrival even though both rooms were beside one another 1 room was ready and 1 room was not. Front Desk gave us our key card and told us they would text our cell phone with a room number on it when it was ready. It took probably 20 minutes.


Twenty minutes was actually good. The person in that room could have been a late check out and could have thrown the housekeeping schedule all off. This could happen at any resort. So glad they were able to honor your request for connecting rooms.
PRO: we did request connecting rooms and we did recieve them.

2. The rooms were small. We did spend the majority of our time at the parks, however with the additional PNP, suitcases and strollers there was very little room for our girls 4 and 1 to move much when we were getting ready in the morning or getting ready for bed at night.

AGREED - the rooms at Pop are small. Moderate and deluxe rooms are larger and will be more comfortable for your family. Also consider DVC - either buying your own points or renting from an owner

PRO: The beds were comfortable

3. I know that the Wash cloth characters are not a quaranteed but between the 2 rooms we got one toothbrush holder castle each the entire 7 days we were there.

I've found this to be more of the norm now - a simple towel animal for each room - probably not any different at a mod.

4. Housekeeping was less than stellar. Our room was never vacuumed, sometimes the trash was taken and sometimes they remembered to leave trash liners in the trash cans. We requested that we be able to reuse our towels on a couple of occasions (via thier instructions on the little placard in the bathroom), each time to come back and find they replaced the towels but left the dirty washclothes. Sometimes the beds would be completely remade and others the blackets just pulled snuggly to the top.


5. Transportation was at time very bad. One night coming back from Mickey's Christmas Party at MK we waited over an hour for a bus to even come to the park. Then when one finally arrived it was filled with scooters, wheel chairs and their accompanying family members first, leaving us to stand there for even longer.

Was this a special assessable bus? Buses only hold two scooters/wheel chairs?

Other resorts had multiple buses one after another picking up people, even stopping when there was no one waiting. We did ask some of the transportation people what the hold up was and they told us that POP was only running 2 buses that night. On another occasion in the middle of the day my hubby ran back to the room and it took him total round trip from Epcot to POP over an hour and a half.

I would have talked to the POP manager about this and expressed my disappointment. It is my understanding that each resort decides how many buses they want to run.

Not really a complaint as much as an observation. But thanks, I wish I would have known about the thrashing before I made the post. Guess freedom of speech has gone out the window. Thanks for the welcome



ip.

Nope - thats what freedom of speech is all about. You have the freedom to speak about whatever you want - and others have the freedom to reply however they want

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

Thanks for the review! Pop is one of my favorite values (the only one I'll stay in) but I love to hear others' experiences.

1. We had 2 rooms reserved, one for our family of 4 and one for traveling companions with 3. Upon arrival even though both rooms were beside one another 1 room was ready and 1 room was not.

Sorry to hear about the delay and unfortunately it does happen. I've had my room not ready at the Poly but ready at Pop. Guess it depends on what mousekeeper is working the rooms. Glad to hear you did get the connecting rooms!

2. The rooms were small. We did spend the majority of our time at the parks, however with the additional PNP, suitcases and strollers there was very little room for our girls 4 and 1 to move much when we were getting ready in the morning or getting ready for bed at night.

Let me say that even with just me and DD10, and our bags, and the stuff we'd accumulate over a few days, the room was *still* too small. It worked for us but I've never recommended Pop for a family of 4 in one room unless there was no room in the budget. Moderates aren't that much better in size and only a deluxe like the Poly gives the additional room I like. For that reason we only stay at Pop for a max of 4 days before checking into a Deluxe.

I agree about the beds! After my first stay at Pop I wasn't going return because the beds were so hard! But after the new beds were put in I slept so much better.

3. I know that the Wash cloth characters are not a quaranteed but between the 2 rooms we got one toothbrush holder castle each the entire 7 days we were there.

This really does depend if the mousekeeper you have can make these. During our 5 day stay we only got one towel creation but what a creation it was! The mousekeeper put all of DD's plushes in a towel 'boat' complete with oars.

4. Housekeeping was less than stellar. Our room was never vacuumed, sometimes the trash was taken and sometimes they remembered to leave trash liners in the trash cans.

Again, this depends on your mousekeeper but if the cleaning isn't up to standard you should always contact housekeeping right away to get the problem addressed. I've only had to do this about once out of several WDW stays but I feel whether you're in a Value or a Deluxe, you're paying your hard-earned money and deserve a clean room. I have allergies to dust so if the room hasn't been vacuumed and I start sneezing like crazy, a call is forthcoming from me.

5. Transportation was at time very bad. One night coming back from Mickey's Christmas Party at MK we waited over an hour for a bus to even come to the park. Then when one finally arrived it was filled with scooters, wheel chairs and their accompanying family members first, leaving us to stand there for even longer.

I've stayed at Pop for Christmas and this seems very out of the ordinary. I've waited about 20 - 30 minutes for a bus, and sometimes they had several Pop buses come at the same time *but* dispatch problems do happen. And as for the scooters and people accompanying them--it is what it is.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there are taxis available at all park exits. I've used these when my patience with the bus system has worn thin (which happens more often than not). It can be an absolute sanity saver at times.

Thanks again for the review!

 

[mom2val]

We just got from our first stay at Pop Dec 12-18 and thought it was a great value. The rooms were small but we expected that. I unpacked all our stuff and used the dresser and hung up stuff also. The suitcases went up on the luggage rack except we left one on the ground near the dresser to throw dirty clothes in. We stored stuff on top of the dresser/tv combo also.

Each morning I made our beds but mousekeeping remade them.... I know because they tucked and pulled everything super tight. We got our first towel animals ever: a dog and an elephant.

The busses were ok.. similiar to when we stayed at CBR. Yes we waited longer than we did last trip at AKL. There were alot of people on scooters but often they pulled up a second bus and loaded it also. Dh did give up his seat most rides to ladies with babies. Shocking how many grown men will sit and look at a woman trying to hold on to the pole overhead and hold a baby! The busses were full with 10 or more standing each trip. I think the longest we ever waited for a bus was maybe 20 mins.

Paying for a preffered room was awesome. We loved being in the 60's 3rd floor we looked down on the Goofy water jet. We were super close to everything. We will definately stay at POP again.

 

[drewbie'smom]

I am so sorry you didn't enjoy your Pop stay! As others have said, it is our favorite resort! (and I grew up staying at the Contemporary and honeymooned at the Grand Floridian)

Part of that may be because out of 5 stays there, we haven't had any of the issues you encountered.

I hope that,outside of the hotel issues, you and your family had a fantastic trip!

 

[Nadjalu]

Sorry I wasn't flaming you. Just wanted you to consider everything before your next vacation.......that way you can be pleased with the choice.

POP is our favorite, but isn't for everyone, sorry if you took it wrong. You are free to have your opinion, I don't usually post to "opinion" threads as my view can be very different from yours. Was just giving some thought as to things you may want to consider to enhance your next trip. Lessen the mistakes so to speak.