need input on pop century!!

[bella-alexander]

hi all! i am new here. my family and i will be taking our vacation to wdw at the end of april. we went last year(march 2007) and we stayed at the animal kingdom resort. it was amazing, i would recamend it to anyone. however, it was definately pricy. this will be my 3rd trip to wdw, first was my honeymoon(no kids) & we stayed at the boardwalk resort(also beautiful) and like i said last year we stayed at ak. so, this year we decided to go "budget" (and i use that term loosely b/c you never are truly on a budget when your at wdw) and we are staying at the pop century.we have 2 small children (ages 6 & 3) so we needed something family friendly. i am a little nervouse that we are going to be dissapointed, our previous two stays were beautiful, we stayed the best resorts, and i feel we've made quite a leap going to a value resort. the last just being one short year ago at the ak, which in my opinion no one can compete with. so with that fresh in our heads as the "disney experience" do you think we will be let down? is the pop century kid friendly? is it clean? any advice about our stay there? any imput would be great! the one thing we have on our side is the fact that we are not "hotel people" we stay busy every minute of the day while we are there weather it's in the parks or at down town disney. we are out by 9 am and home @ 12 am. so we don't actually take time out to enjoy the hotel. (a shame i know, b/c disney hotels have so much to offer)anyway, sorry for rambling!! thanx

 

[cglaura]

I think so long as you go in knowing you will NOT get a deluxe experience you will be fine. It is very clean, the staff fantastic. I think your kids will have a blast with all the Disney theming.

Since you are really only sleeping there and spending the days in the parks and downtown why waste your money?

Not sure if you will be using the bus system, but that was also great, we rarely had to wait long. Although at EPCOT it is one major trek to your bus stop! But we are the type that don't look at these as minor annoyances. I'd rather be walking to a bus stop at Disney than home at work any day!

I've stayed at Boardwalk, OKW, Poly & Contemporary (used to own DVC b/f divorce...). I know the nerves you are feeling. My first stay after selling DVC was at ASMu and it was one of our best trips ever. But I went in knowing what to expect and just took the trip as just enjoy and have fun!

Have a great trip!

 

[David 1980]

I stayed with my family of seven last year at POP and will again this year. It was clean fun and the kids had a blast. WE love the bus to the parks we had to wait 10 minutes one time and that was it. I stayed in the 90,s section a far walk to the bus but it was not that bad. I am sure you will enjoy POP we sure did. Dave

 

[jennib5426]

I had stayed in all mod's and most deluxes before I first stayed at Pop a few years ago. I was very happy with Pop, so much so I choose it over a mod last year also.
I have stayed in the 60's and 70's section and was very happy with both.
Pop has the best food court on property, the pools are fun and they have a pool bar and a bar in the food court. They also have a water jet area for the little kids to play in.
Bus service was great and they have a nice size arcade.

Yes rooms are small, with double size beds not queen, but if you know that going in you won't be disappointed.

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

Just keep in mind that Pop is a value hotel with great basics and you'll be fine.

We've stayed at the Poly and AKL and at Pop and my DD8 loves Pop as much as the Poly. Our budget Easter stay is usually for a full week at Pop and we have fun at the pools, food courts and all that. I like staying in the 70's building because it reminds me of my early childhood plus they've got that big wheel and mickey phone outside their buildings.

 

[goofy4tink]

Welcome to the DIS boards!!! I own DVC at BWV and if I'm not there, you'll find me at POP. I love POR but I just can't see paying for a moderate, rather than a value. So....what's to love about POP? It's very clean, bright and fun. Although it's a large resort, it is very managable to get around. POR is much more spread out, with longer walks to the food court.
No, you won't get hot tubs or sit down restaurants at POP. You won't have slides at the pools. BUt, you will have a happy, cheery place to stay. The pools are so much fun..my 14 y/o dd loves them. Sure, she loves the pool at BW but if it's a choice of no trip or a stay at POP, she is happy to be at POP. The food court is fine, but try to hit it at less busy times. The bus system there is wonderful...no sharing a route with other resorts and that is a huge plus.
The rooms at POP are pretty much the same size as the moderates..I think you lose about a foot or so, but that's it. Beds are the same size...and it's a single sink rather than doubles like the moderates have.
Nope, there is nothing about POP that I don't like....I've stayed all over the place...50's, 60's and 80's...they're all good.

 

[DznyDreams]

I'm not the OP, but I'm in the OP's shoes this year. We'll be staying at POP in September, and this thread is very encouraging! Thank you all for sharing, and thanks to the OP for this thread!

 

[disnut8]

First of all, stop even thinking about the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I agree - that place will never be topped as a resort. Erase it from your mind. We are talking about Pop Century.

We love Pop Century and we've stayed at most of the deluxes and all of the moderates (and all the values). In fact, if we had a ton of money, I'd still want to stay at Pop Century. The icons are great, especially if you have little kids (we don't). But we took a picture of the big 8 track tape and showed it to our granddaughter. She had no idea what it was! That led to a conversation about how the music world has matured, etc. We told her that one day her kids would ask her what that big old cell phone was.

The shadowboxes in the lobby are not to be missed. We walked along there saying "we had one of those" or "my mother had one of those" or (worse) "my grandmother had one of those". I highly encourage anyone to stop by and really take your time with them. The walkway along the lake has signs from 1950 until 1999 with an important event on it (if you can count the opening of the first Wal Mart as important - that's 1962, my birth year). Again, leads to conversation.

There's a ping pong table somewhere and you can ask for the equipment at the pool bar. There's also a Twister game that you can play. And we have literally walked into Sandhill Cranes along the lake.

We have stayed at Pop Century three times and I have absolutely no complaints other than the positive ones I've mentioned. And we were even there during a 24 hour lock down during a hurricane.

 

[Crystal824]

We stayed at Pop last year. I liked it fine. Of course, it was very basic and the rooms are small. We did like the food court area but found it always to be very crowded and often hard to find a table. It was also hard to find each other if we went our separate ways to get different food items. My husband hated it and refuses to stay there again because it was too big, too crowded, too loud, and the rooms were too small. If you will be spending all your time in the parks, it is fine. It is clean and the CMs were nice. It is nice to try something different. I'm sure the kids will love the larger than life icons.

 

[roxy83]

We have stayed at most of the Deluxe resorts and the CBR twice. You can call us snobs. . That being said we stayed at the Pop two years ago and absolutely loved it. So much so that we are trying another Value resort with our upcoming trip. My dd (6) loved all of the towering figures and the food court (it was one of the better ones on property...moreso than the poly).

The things that I miss when going Value are: being able to walk inside to get to my room vs. outside with the motel type feel, sit down restaurants in the hotel, and the water slides. Do these things matter to you? If not, go Pop!! You will have a great time.

 

[bella-alexander]

o.k. so i'm feeling much better now. thank you for easing my worries. we are going to disney expecting crowds already, b/c we are going during spring break in our school. and we don't mind crowds all that much, hey, we're going to be in diney world what is there to complain about! although, this is kind of off topic but, it was just brought to my attention that extra magic hours are no longer for children!!!! THIS CAN'T BE!!!! we base so much of our trip around this! my kids loved it last year, we especialy loved seeing spectro magic and fantasmic during extra magic hours(way less crowded) TOTALLY PANICING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Lynne M]

it was just brought to my attention that extra magic hours are no longer for children!!!! THIS CAN'T BE!!!! we base so much of our trip around this! my kids loved it last year, we especialy loved seeing spectro magic and fantasmic during extra magic hours(way less crowded) TOTALLY PANICING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go check the thread you started on the Theme Parks board, and put your mind at ease. This is 100%, completely, totally, absolutely untrue.

 

[Tink215]

hi all! i am new here. my family and i will be taking our vacation to wdw at the end of april. we went last year(march 2007) and we stayed at the animal kingdom resort. it was amazing, i would recamend it to anyone. however, it was definately pricy. this will be my 3rd trip to wdw, first was my honeymoon(no kids) & we stayed at the boardwalk resort(also beautiful) and like i said last year we stayed at ak. so, this year we decided to go "budget" (and i use that term loosely b/c you never are truly on a budget when your at wdw) and we are staying at the pop century.we have 2 small children (ages 6 & 3) so we needed something family friendly. i am a little nervouse that we are going to be dissapointed, our previous two stays were beautiful, we stayed the best resorts, and i feel we've made quite a leap going to a value resort. the last just being one short year ago at the ak, which in my opinion no one can compete with. so with that fresh in our heads as the "disney experience" do you think we will be let down? is the pop century kid friendly? is it clean? any advice about our stay there? any imput would be great! the one thing we have on our side is the fact that we are not "hotel people" we stay busy every minute of the day while we are there weather it's in the parks or at down town disney. we are out by 9 am and home @ 12 am. so we don't actually take time out to enjoy the hotel. (a shame i know, b/c disney hotels have so much to offer)anyway, sorry for rambling!! thanx

Well we just got back from the POP this past weekend.....My family and I attended the P&PP on March 1st, its was a small weekend trip and we were only going to the Party no other theme parks, I made our reservations 2 month in advance and even faxed over to them our request of connecting rooms, This was our 5th time at the POp and by far our favorite Value, I too have 2 girls ages 6 & 3, and its a very family friendly resort. My kids love playing twister and looing at all the cool statues all around the resort and hubby loves to fish hourglass lake, But unfortunately I have to say this time we did not have the grooviest time at POP........They messed up our reservation pretty bad....Never got our connecting rooms, I Know they always say its not gauranteed but when you have about 5 different CM's and at check in someone telling yes its no problem , then at check in you dont get what you have requested, well it was a mess and they really didnt try to accomidate us at all which is very surprising, cause Disney in my oppinion and experience has always tried there best to accomidate or fix problems......

Then After 5 calls for bed rails for the girls, I finally got them on the nite before Leaving I tried my best to overlook this as they were having a busy weekend but then I had no housekeeping at all on Saturday, and thats when I finally called the manager and said hey something is not right here, They apologized and at 4:45 pm finally sentsomeone over to throw out the garbage and give us clean towels, I am dissapointed and saddened ...I really have liked the POP in the past, Its a fun resort, But hubby says No more, So if you encounter any problems Call the manager right away, But I do hope you have a good time, Everyone has a different experience each time they go, I guess mine just happened to be bad this time around.........

 

[goofy4tink]

although, this is kind of off topic but, it was just brought to my attention that extra magic hours are no longer for children!!!! THIS CAN'T BE!!!! we base so much of our trip around this! my kids loved it last year, we especialy loved seeing spectro magic and fantasmic during extra magic hours(way less crowded) TOTALLY PANICING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just to make sure nobody else prematurely panics here.....kids are still included in the EMHs in the parks. Disney stopped the Little Ones Magic Hours only, the regular morning EMHs are the same as always. No need to panic or worry.

 

[sgtdisney]

I have to agree with the others who have posted. As long as you go in with the understanding that POP is not a Deluxe and that room is a little more basic than the mods or Deluxe rooms, you should be ok. We stayed at POP a couple of years back inbetween stays at DVC and I was surprised at how much I liked it. I went in expecting a Disney motel and it just seemed more than that when I was there. I mean it is not a DVC resort, the rooms are small, but I felt the ambiance of the resort itself was fun. It was nice to see all the icons of years gone by and hear the music playing from each era as you walked through it.

I think every resort at Disney has it's own unique charms, you just have to take a moment to soak it all in.

 

[stan]

We were at POP this last weekend and had a great time. The staff and service were excellent, and the pools were fun. We loved the large icons and walking up through the yo-yos. Our housekeeping was fine and we had a wonderful experience there. It's no deluxe in terms of room size or amenities, but we're not in the hotel much - it was fine for us, and bus service seemed very good.